The Anambra State Authorities has unveiled ‘Onwa Dezemba’, a newly branded Christmas and end-of-year fiesta designed to mission Igbo tradition, deepen communal bonding and reposition the state as a serious tourism, leisure and cultural vacation spot in Nigeria’s South-East.
Based on Legislation Mefor, the Anambra State commissioner for data, Christmas in Igboland transcends spiritual celebration, serving as a interval of homecoming, stocktaking and pilgrimage for Ndi Igbo internationally.
“The yuletide goes past Christmas celebration, for Ndigbo typically. It serves as a tourism hub and a time for stocktaking, in addition to a pilgrimage vacation spot,” Mefor stated. “Igbo individuals return from everywhere in the world to hitch with household and pals at residence in auspicious celebrations that final for about two to 3 weeks on common in and across the communities throughout Igbo land.”
He famous that in lots of Igbo communities, burials are suspended from mid-December to permit for uninterrupted festivities.
“In most Igbo communities, burials are usually banned from mid-December to make approach for joyous Christmas celebrations and resume within the first week of the New 12 months,” he stated.
Mefor defined that whereas December, Onwa Dezemba in Igbo parlance, has all the time held cultural significance, what’s new is Governor Chukwuma Charles Soludo’s determination to intentionally model, unify and institutionalise the season as a state-wide celebration.
“What’s new is that Answer Governor Chukwuma Soludo needs it absolutely branded, unified, and celebrated yearly in Anambra State, probably on a grander scale than Detty December in Lagos [and] the Calabar Carnival,” he stated.
Describing the initiative as daring and bold, Mefor stated Onwa Dezemba is poised to turn out to be a worldwide gathering, attracting Ndi Anambra from the diaspora and throughout Nigeria.
“It guarantees to be a worldwide gathering. The Diaspora is flocking to Anambra State. Little kids of Anambra State are poised to make the annual Yuletide journey again to their homeland from all elements of Nigeria,” he stated, including, “Name it ‘Onwa Dezemba’, and Ndi Anambra will bow!”
He pressured that the pageant is family-friendly and culturally rooted, dismissing any comparability with unwholesome celebrations elsewhere.
Based on him, Soludo, by means of Onwa Dezemba, is fulfilling his pledge to construct “a peaceable and pleasurable homeland that stands tall as a vacation spot alternative, slightly than a departure lounge.”
Drawing from literary symbolism, Mefor cited the phrases of Chinua Achebe, Anambra’s well-known son, to underscore the communal essence of the pageant. “A person who calls his kinsmen to a feast doesn’t accomplish that to avoid wasting them from ravenous… We come collectively as a result of it’s good for kinsmen to take action,” Achebe wrote in Issues Fall Aside.
Mefor stated Onwa Dezemba formally started on December 10 with the lighting of the Christmas tree at Answer Enjoyable Metropolis, marking the graduation of festivities that can run till January 2026.
“‘Onwa Dezemba’, arguably Africa’s grandest communal occasion, has formally commenced and can proceed in full swing till January 2026,” he stated.
He disclosed that the inaugural 2025 version options 9 main occasions throughout Awka, Ekwulobia and Onitsha, with different cities throughout the state absolutely built-in into the celebration.
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“Key highlights embrace the Answer FunCity Christmas Cantata, the Masquerade Pageant at Ezechima Main Faculty in Onitsha, the Christmas Day Youngsters’s Carnival at Answer FunCity, and the Masquerade Pageant at Alex Ekwueme Sq. in Awka,” Mefor stated, including that one other masquerade pageant will observe at Township Stadium, Ekwulobia.
Different points of interest embrace the LOL (Chortle Out Loud) Anambra occasion, Stroll-for-Life, the All-White Outdated Faculty Evening, and MegaFest 2.0, that includes “elite performing artists anchored by Flavour na Abania & Mates.”
Mefor described Onwa Dezemba as a strategic platform to advertise Anambra as “the cultural, leisure, and tourism hub of the Southeast,” noting that it gives secure, well-organised occasions, helps creatives and MSMEs, and boosts funding prospects by means of intensive media protection and livestreaming.
“There isn’t any larger branding masterpiece than the 2025 ‘Onwa Dezemba’, and it holds a strong promise of surpassing comparable efforts in due time,” he stated.
