Olowu of Kuta, HRM Oba Dr Hammed Oyelude Makama, CON, Tegbosun iii, has received the UNESCO-TOFAC Cultural award 2025.

Welcoming Olowu to UNIOSUN, venue of the award ceremony in Osogbo, Osun State Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Abiodun Bankole, congratulated the monarch for a well-deserved award and for being Cultural Icon.

Responding, Olowu, who admonished traditional rulers to remove the toga of religion and be embodiment of culture and tradition, said, “That’s our calling.

“No, we are installed culturally, and we don’t have any role articulated by the Chieftaincy Law other than being traditional rulers for the maintenance of tradition and culture.

“We have a lot of cultural misfits among us. Please help us to fish them out and correct it because of posterity,” Olowu Kuta said.

Speaking further, Oba Oyelude, who was honoured alongside Eburu of Iba, Oba Adekunle Adeogun-Okunoye, the Aragbiji of Iragbiji, Oba Abdulrosheed Olabomi and the Orangun of Oke-Ila, Oba Adedokun Abolarin, urged scholars and opinion moulders to assist in promoting several positive stories about Nigeria to the outside world.

Earlier, in his welcome address titled ‘Culture Matters,’ Prof. Toyin Falola, in whose honour the conference was named, said that beyond preservation of people’s way of life, culture also remains a catalyst for creativity.

He recalled: “Throughout history, colonisers did not just take the African land. They tried to erase the African culture.

“They changed African names, outlawed African languages, made a mockery of African religions, and imposed foreign systems. They did all of these because they understood that to capture a people, you must destroy their culture.

“Culture, hence, is a tool for political power. Our ancestors resisted the colonisers not always with weapons but many times with language, with the rhythm of their drums, with their knowledge of culture.

“In the present day, symbols of culture like statues, official languages, and holidays are still political tools.

“They pass across messages about who belongs, who matters, who is remembered. That is why decolonising African education, literature, and public space is not merely symbolic but a fight to reclaim cultural dignity.”

Professor of History and TOFAC 2025 Co-convener Prof Olukoya Oghen said Olowu was carefully selected for the award as a monarch who upholds the tradition of Yorubaland.