GASPRO International Journal of Eminent Scholars

ABSTRACT

The study explores the place of cultural festivals in meeting the challenges of national development in 21st century in Nigeria with particular focus on the ònúnú festival in Nsukka-Ideke Igbo in Enugu State, Nigeria. The paper argues that cultural festivals like ònúnú festival, occupy significance position in the socio-economic lives of the Nsukka people. The study is therefore, borne out of the conviction that repositioning certain Nigerian cultures like ònúnú festival will in no small measure help to surmount the challenges of national development in 21st century Nigeria. The central question this study addresses is therefore the extent to which cultural festival contribute to national development. The study adopts a descriptive survey method as research design and analyses its data descriptively. The study gathers the necessary information for the study through unstructured oral interview, personal observation and introspection. The findings of the study reveal that cultural festivals embrace a lot of the peoples’ world view so much that, its place in understanding the culture and social life of a group cannot be over emphasized. For instance, family structure, belief patterns, political form, economic organisation, hospitality and recreational activities are all aspects of the peoples’ culture embedded in the cultural festivals. The result of the study proves that socially, festivals accord people a nice forum for interaction and peaceful co-existence.

KEYWORDS: Cultural Festivals, Challenges, National Development, 21st Century and Nigeria