Ba wo ni, ?

Over the weekend, one of my friends in the Tourism industry, Bunmi Akinyemi, launched the Naija Corn Festival.

It is an opportunity to showcase Nigeria's indigenous food where corn is a staple ingredient in most African dishes.

The plan was to gather corn lovers to display and devour all things corn.

But alas Covid-19 happened.

So she decided to host a CSR program by giving out free corn in her community, which is in Surulere, Lagos.

I was one of the lucky ones who got free corn delivered to my door steps *shines teeth*

She also asked participants to share and post their corn eating pictures to start an e-corn party! *throws corn kernels*

Trust ya girl to join the fun! *wink*

I posted my almost devoured cob of corn and delicious home-made bean-corn porridge *licks lips*

Delicious I tell you *burps*

One of the things I love about this initiative is how it connects to tourism.

The idea behind the festival is to put a spotlight on the tourism industry and grow the Agro sector by identifying a value chain for corn.

During the first Tourism Virtual Summit, we had two speakers who talked about developing both Agro-Tourism and Chocolate Tourism in Nigeria.

We need to host more Food Festivals, where Nigerian delicacies are displayed, such as food fairs like Eat.Drink.Festival and GTB Food & Drinks to help drive Food Tourism in Nigeria.

Here are examples of some Food Festivals hosted around the world:

Bacon Festival holds in California, USA

Dumpling Festival holds in Hong Kong

Oktoberfest is a beer festival held in Germany.

Salon du Chocolat festival which combines fashion and chocolate holds in Ecuador.

And the famous Jollof Rice Festival held in Lagos, Nigeria; Atlanta & Washington, US and London, UK *smiles*

I will continue to call Tourism the Octopus of the economy. 

Why? Because every industry can connect with tourism to create valuable resources that can develop the economy.

Such as Food Festivals like the Naija Corn Festival.

Honestly, I am already looking forward to next year's edition *dreams of corn delicacies + licks lips*

Hope you will join us in the 2021 corn rally, *wink*

Life is short. Live it to the fullest.

Till tomorrow. Ka o di *waves*

Your Wanderluster,

Ajala Nene