The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has given global recognition to the yearly Sango Festival and added it to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

The body inscribed it in the 2023 18th session of the Intergovernmental Committee Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Reacting to the development, Oyo State Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Dr. Wasiu Olatubosun, while briefing journalists after the State Executive Council meeting, said the enlistment would further strengthen the viability of the festival.

He said this had ranked Nigeria among the countries of the world as a giant in the tourism industry and by extension, cultural proliferation.

According to him, the next Sango Festival in Oyo Town, which will be held in August 2024, would be witnessed by over two thousand international tourists across 167 countries of UNESCO.

Olatubosun said UNESCO’s recognition of the festival was worth celebrating.

He said: “It is a beacon of expansion in the economy sector of the state, as well as unprecedented growth in hospitality business, with the astronomical influx of tourists in a space of time.”

Cultural Ambassador to the Alaafin of Oyo, Dr. Paula Gomes, who appreciated the recognition by the committee for the nomination of the Sango Festival of Oyo, which had been in process for a decade, stressed the significance of Sango to the throne of Alaafin, the Yoruba Kingdom and the global community.