Sukur Yawal National Festival

The Sukur Yawal National festival celebrated by the Sakun people of Sukur in the North-eastern part of Nigeria has been an integral part of the people for over 600 years. The festival is celebrated to appreciate the almighty creator, the gods and their ancestors for a successful harvest year and prayers made hoping for a good new year and hope for a bumper harvest.

Festivals like this connects to bring a group of people into a community. It also affirms how human rituals of creation and participation contribute significant public value in times of adversity.

The Yawal festival which held from Wednesday 23rd through Saturday 27th February 2022, was packed with a lot of activities and witnessed a great turnout and attendance from government agencies which includes the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM), Nigerian Tourism Development Commission (NTDC), National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC), National Television Authority (NTA), London Times Newspaper, Kinjir Foundation, non-governmental organisation and well-meaning members of the society. The festival also had in attendance chieftains from the neighboring Cameroonian communities.

For six years the festival could not hold due to the invasion of Boko Haram insurgents. However, the Sukur cultural festival finally held with the intervention of the Adamawa state government, the Sukur traditional Council, the National Commission for Museum and Monuments (NCMM), the African International Documentary Festival Foundation (AFIDFF), Kinjir Foundation and the North East Development Commission (NEDC) who worked in collaboration with various stakeholders.

Indeed, the successful celebration of the Yawal National Festival brought renewed hope and marked a new chapter for the Sukur Community.