Lagos — Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, has endorsed the proposed World Festival of Yoruba Arts and Culture (WOFEYAC) slated for the first quarter of 2008, saying, "it is one of the best things to happen to Africa and indeed the global village."

According to a release issued yesterday by Tope Seyi, Soyinka expressed his endorsement in Lagos when he met with the ALAROYE Group, Organisers of the event, led by its Publisher, Alao Adedayo, shortly before he traveled to Berlin,.

Soyinka said there couldn't have been a better time for the festival, since many people had been looking for something like this because culture unites the world.

He said "we are now in a world where many individuals want to know where their fore-fathers came from. They undergo DNA tests, conduct extensive research and do everything they could to link up with their ancestral homes. And there is no doubt that people outside Nigeria and Africa will want to come to be part of this." he said, adding that Yoruba culture is one of the most vibrant in the world and its festival would be of immense benefit not to only Nigeria, but to other countries of Africa.

He said the Festival would educate and inform the world about some hidden treasure.

The Publisher of ALAROYE Newspapers and the Chief Organiser of the festival thanked Professor Wole Soyinka for his support and there and then revealed that the Nobel Laureate had been chosen as the Global Ambassador for the Festival which he readily consented to.