A welcome Address presented by Amb.Dr.Joseph Udusan Orekereke, The Lord mayor of Urhobowood international organization on the Occasion of the 4th Edition of the Urhobo international film festival held on 30th June 2017. Mr, chairman sir, members of the high table, Our beloved Royal Fathers, Special invitees, Ladies and Gentleman. On behalf of the Urhobowood international organization and all mayors in Urhobo land, I welcome you to this 4th edition of Urhobo international film festival. It will interest you to known that the Urhobowood international organization is the only Urhobo based organization in the 24 kingdom of the Urhobo nation that promotes the language and culture of the Urhobo people irrespective of dialects. We have been in this business for over 15 years. We do this on the platform of films, music, dance, beauty pageants, trainings and awards. We are gathered again this year to celebrate the 4th edition of the Urhobo international film festival which I hope will launch us and the Urhobo nation forward. We have deliberately chosen the the title of our lecture to be “The Role Of Film In Reviving Our Cultural heritage” to be delivered by a quintessential and well grounded Urhobo son chief ( hon ) Agi Anthony Avwerutekpo of Effurun-otor kingdom. Over the years we have held tenaciously to our dream despite so many daunting financial challenge and lack of interest and patronage from our own people. It has not been easy but we hold on to our dreams believing that one day, we shall success if we not give up. We have trained several Urhobo actors and actress and we have produced several Urhobo movies, some of which are on the international arena. Our latest movie is “Queen Oroh” which shall be launched today. We have appointed Mayors in each of the 24 kingdom of Urhobo land who are the grassroots coordinators and mobilizers of our activities. In this 4th edition, we wish to move forward from being a local organization to an international recognized Urhobo movie producer. We aspire to have Urhobowood as one of the channels in satellite cable television to show case Urhobo movie just the Igbos, Yoruba and Hausa’s. We have the knowledge, human capacity, experience and the competence to go global but we lack the financial resources to do so. As we celebrate today, I appeal to all well meaning Urhobo sons and daughters both at home and in the diaspora to key into our dreams and come to our aid in whatever way they can. I also appeal to all friends of Urhobo land and all lovers of Arts and Culture to help us with whatever connections and resources they can afford. I cannot end this speech without acknowledging and appreciating all eminent Urhobo sons and daughters both at home and in the diaspora who have assistant us financially in the past and to the successful of this year events. May God bless you all. I also thank the mayors and all members of the Urhobowood international organization who have gone through thick and thin with me. I pray and hope that one day God will reward our efforts through several ways and means. Again, I welcome you and thank you for coming as I wish you all a happy celebration. AMB.DR. JOSEPH UDUSAN OREKEREKE, the Lord mayor or URHOBO international organization, Ughelli, Delta state Nigeria. 07037589037.
