Over 1,000 artisans empowered as Osun prepares for 2025 Adire Festival

By Deborah Oladejo, Osogbo –

No fewer than 1,000 artisans, fashion designers, craftsmen and accessory makers have already been empowered as Osun State gears up for the 2025 Adire Osun Festival.

Speaking at a press conference on the adire Osun festival 2025, the secretary to the state government, Teslim Igbalaye, emphasised Governor Ademola Adeleke’s administration’s determination to reclaim Osun and Osogbo’s historical place as the source of aro and adire.

Igbalaye said the festival, which has been declared an annual celebration by the governor, will showcase the unique adire textile — a symbol of Osun’s history and creativity — as well as create jobs, engage youths and launch local creatives onto global markets.

Earlier, in his welcome address, the chairman of the Osun Council for Arts and Culture, Hon Ebenezer Adeniji, noted that culture is a means of creating an alternative economy for any state, and that when the government invests in creative people — especially the youth — it weaves resilience into communities.

Adeniji charged the youth to claim the adire space, learn the craft, remake it, and build businesses that honour their lineage and engage the world.

He said, “The adire of Osun is more than cloth. It is an instrument of identity, a potential engine of jobs, and a promise to the next generation that their heritage will be a foundation for their future, not a relic of the past.”

Also speaking, the senior special assistant on creative economy, events and entertainment, Laface, announced that the adire Osun export summit will hold on December 19 at Oasis Event Centre, while the major attraction, the adire Osun carnival, is billed for Saturday, December 20, 2025.

While urging the governor to officially declare December 20 as adire day in Osun State, he said the carnival will be a massive Yorucentric street parade starting from Olaiya Junction through Old Garage, Ajegunle, Igbona, Ayetoro, Stadium Roundabout, down to the Imole De Flyover and back to Freedom Park, where celebrations will continue into a night-long concert featuring top artistes, DJs and cultural performers.