Zonal Intervention Funds and Reviving Indigenous Cherished Cultural Values through City of Culture.

Cherished cultural values give identity and sense of belonging to individuals in the network of human social relationships. Identity is constructed through culture. Cultural values provide social security and protection. It is worrisome to observe that cherished cultural values are going into extinction. This paper focuses on the South-West Zone which comprises mainly the Yoruba-speaking people of Nigeria. This paper argues that zonal intervention funds, through creation of city of culture, would revive cherished cultural values of the zone. Archival, Library and Internet-resources are used for this study in identifying some cultural values that must be revived and protected such as language, greetings, dressing, naming, tolerance, and pride. Community, individual, and Government intervention are needed to revive fading cultural values. The study found that there is cultural lag in Southwest Nigeria. Modernisation, Westernisation, and social networks have eroded a significant proportion of the Yoruba’s cherished cultural values. This paper therefore, suggests that annual city of culture festival can serve as an intervention model to revive the cherished cultural values in, Nigeria South-West through zonal intervention funds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]