Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, on Tuesday, thrilled participants at the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) global conference in Iganmu, Lagos State when he took a moment from his address to engage the audience in a rendition of Kizz Daniel’s 2022 hit, ‘Buga (Lo Lo Lo)’.
Osinbajo, who represented President Muhammadu Buhari, spoke on the theme, ‘Linking Tourism, Culture and Creative Industries: Pathways to Recovery and Improving Development’.
He noted that cultural genres, including arts, music, crafts, dances, and cultural festivals cut across culture and language.
“Music, for example, as we all know, is a global language. Even though people don’t know the meaning of the words of a song, they enjoy the rhythm, and some find out the meaning of lyrics discovering the cultures and ideas that inspire them,” he said.
“But let me just test that theory of mine, that is, that you don’t need to understand the words of any song to enjoy it and to be able to sing it, and that music is indeed a very global language. How many people know this song?”
Osinbajo then started a rendition of ‘Buga’, which drew cheers from the audience. Encouraging the attendants to accompany the song with its dance, the vice president said, “You know that your ‘buga’ has to be a real ‘buga’.”
According to him, with Nigerian music rendered in different languages all over the world, globally, people are now dancing to Nigerian songs like ‘Buga’.
“The phrase ‘buga won’ is a Yoruba expression. It means ‘flaunt your hard-won success, take the fruit of your work. Take the opportunity, show off your successes.’ Don’t sit down there thinking ‘my success is too small.’ Feel it, show it off.
“Many people all over the world are squaring up their shoulders and saying, ‘It doesn’t matter how hard it seems or looks, I must show off my own success, no matter how little it may seem to others. It may seem to you that it’s small but I’m just going to buga won anyway,’” Osinbajo said.