The Association of Professional Traditional Wedding Comperes also known as Alaga, have renewed their pledge to continue to promote the people’s culture while they anchor social events, particularly traditional marriage.
The body made this known at a press conference ahead of the World Alaga Day holding on the 22nd of February 22 in Oregun, Lagos.
She said the event would bring together over 2, 000 ‘Alagas’ from within and outside Nigeria which would feature health walk, seminar, dinner and award night.
The professionals stressed that they have important role to play in taking Nigeria’s culture to the next level.
Speaking on behalf of the other leaders in the industry, Mrs. Titilayo Adegboye said that though virtually every sector was evolving, she insisted that certain things were sacred and fundamental which innovations shouldn’t be allowed to expunge.
“Marriage has been in existence from time immemorial. But we are now rebranding the ceremony in such a way that people will see what we are doing to promote different Nigerian beautiful cultures. Our culture is our pride and part of our pride is our language.
“In essence, we are re-echoing the true meaning of culture through marriage and engagement ceremonies. We also add value and peculiarity to every function that we handle. We do research and ensure that the people that are celebrating are not misrepresented by the person anchoring the function.”
She said that they were tutoring the younger generation to handle the job better than the way they met it.
“Westernisation cannot threaten the industry because we are a unique people. Though it is affecting it in one way or the other, we stand by our culture,” she said.
Adegboye called on the government to encourage and reckon with her members so that they could easily surmount their challenges.