Olaniyi Oyatoye: How I Ply my Cultural Promotion Trade

For over a decade, culture enthusiast and promoter, Prince Olaniyi Oyatoye has been in the spotlight, marketing Yoruba culture and tradition all over the world. Precious Ugwuzor reports

Prince Olaniyi Oyatoye is passionate about promoting Yoruba culture. In fact, for over a decade, he has taken a big leap in cultural promotion by making efforts in exporting those cultural ideas to the global world.

Oyatoye, who is also the convener and president of Asa Day World Wide Incorporated, Canada, has had a fair share of testimonies, and is continuously bent on lauding the values of culture of the Yoruba people.

For the Canada-based Nigerian, wherever he is, you can hardly ignore the unrivaled passion with which he discusses anything that has to do with the various Yoruba culture and traditions.

For the Kwara State-born culture promoter, the reason for his passion is not far-fetched; the Yoruba language abd culture would be extinct if it is not promoted. Also he has been able to translate his passion to global business by exploring the movie and music industry in the most amazing way.

Going down memory lane he said, “In 2015, we started the promotion of Yoruba culture after reviews and research in diaspora. We observed with surprise that Yoruba language and cultural values have been going into extinction and if nothing is done it will surely go into extinction. So we decided that something urgent needed to be done to revive and restore our cultural heritage.

“While abroad, I formed a unit and encouraged children and adults from Yoruba backgrounds in Canada to attend so they can learn more about Yoruba culture and traditions. As a broadcaster, I also used my social media platforms to host and interview people about Yoruba culture. This great idea was later incorporated by our parental company Yatniy Communications International led to the creation of Asa Day with a vision to export Nigeria’s culture abroad and also make Asa Day a global project.

“I have invested a lot of time, I resigned from my job in Canada so as to give me ample and enough time to promote this culture in full swing. Also, I spend personal funds on this project, which is largely tourism and cultural promotion.

“To the glory of Almighty God, I have single-handedly sponsored about 100 cultural ambassadors to Canada where I was responsible for their flight ticket fees, visa fees, hotel accommodations and even feeding fee. This is just to ensure that we enhance the cultural tourism globally. So that we can revive and restore our cultural heritage.”

To show his love for the Yoruba race and the entertainment industry, Oyatoye, in 2018, took a big leap with a cultural programme titled Asa day- to expose many of the Nigerian Nollywood artistes and musicians to the global community and ensuring that they display their talents at the world stage.

The 2018 Asa Day, held in Manitoba Canada, was in fulfillment of his long term dreams and that of others as he sponsored five Yoruba movies stars to the global event. The artistes include Yeye Toyin Adegbola, popularly called Ajoke Asewo; National President of Theatre Arts and Motions Pictures Practitoners Association of Nigeria (TAMPAN) Bolaji Amusan, also known as Mr. Latin; Lizzy Anjorin and a few others. The event became an instant success as the following edition in 2019 triggered a global applause with many artistes on the train.

“What we do normally, is that we sponsor our artistes, mostly Yoruba sons and daughters both in the Nollywood and the music industry to Canada to explore their God-given talents. We take care of all the logistics and we make sure that they are comfortable during their stay abroad”.

“It is always my dream to explore the talents, especially, in the movie and music industry to promote our culture. What my organisation is doing with Asa Day is not new, but we are doing it differently in order to add value to what is truly ours.

“The Asa Day event is never a jamboree but a project that focuses more on pure Yoruba culture and tradition. We have people who appreciate our language, our tradition and heritages all over the world, especially, in Brazil and Canada where Yoruba are mostly appreciated.

“It is for this reason that I came out with the Asa Day event to transform the initial idea of using movie and music to entertain audiences and also make it a marketable and appealing venture that attract foreigners and people from other parts of the world.

“For instance, our first experience in Canada was exciting and it was the success that became the leeway to the second edition which was held the following year, that is in 2019 and by the Special grace of God, we are making progress on all fronts”

The attendance that greeted the second event in 2019 was massive, because we took about seven Nigerian artistes to Canada and the visitors did a wonderful job.

Oyatoye insisted that Asa day was a complete project designed to take the Yoruba youths off the streets, adding that the youths represented the strength of every race and if the southwest governors could key into the programme, it would add to the value and create the needed market for the youths .

“There is a global template to showcase the content of Yoruba culture to the world. We have made significant progress with the Canada events but Asa day is a brand on its own,and as a global event, it transcends beyond Nigeria and South West. It is our plan to extend this to other South-west states, including Lagos, Ekiti, Ondo and Ogun States”.

Music and movie veterans like Toyin Adegbola,and Alhaji Musiliu Ishola, in their separate remarks commended the efforts of Prince Oyatoye, adding that the promoter has been a strong voice in the entertainment industry and he is at the vanguard of restoring the hope and aspirations of Nigerian artistes, making sure that Yoruba race regains its lost glory.

“I am a regular traveller, and I know what it takes to explore the world of entertainment industry. I have had a brief stint in America, United Kingdom and a few number of the European countries, but my Canada experience was evergreen because it was a reflection of hope and success that up till date, I still have fond memories of how that experience had really catapulted my career to the spotlight.

The Yoruba Nollywood actress said Asa day was organised in Canada in order to promote the cultural identity of the Yoruba race and it went out to be the turning point of her career and that of the five others.

“I felt fulfilled by that experience because the organisers explored the unique cultural templates of the Yorubaland to sell the Yoruba culture to the people of the diaspora. If many of our music and film promoters could learn from the trail- blazing idea of prince Oyatoye, I think Yoruba movie artistes would be the kings and queens of the Nollywood industry.

“For me, it was an experience of a life time because it exposed us to many good things that ordinarily cannot be overlooked, especially, the culture of the Canadian people, the way they sell and appreciate their culture and that of others. Manitoba people are wonderful people,”she noted.

Meanwhile, Apala music maestro, Musiliu Ishola said the idea of the promoter was to sell the Yoruba culture to the people in the diaspora, adding that he was impressed by the way Oyatoye does his business.

“I am very sure that with people like him, the future of our race looks bright, especially,with his cultural promotional idea and plans. Baba Asa is a complete gentleman, very unassuming and humble. He was very passionate about promoting the Yoruba culture and tradition. He

has received several awards for being at the vanguard of projecting Yoruba culture at a global stage.

“His ideas of promoting local contents and products to the world also came to the fore recently in Ibadan Oyo State where he launched the Asa day Cultural Fiesta in Ibadan, Oyo statye. It was the Canada template that had opened a new vista of opportunities for the Kwara born promoter and I wish him well in all his future endeavours, “he said.