A serving member of National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Ipuole Gregory, has donated a sculpture worth more than N700,000 to Wadata community in Makurdi Local Government Area of Benue State.
Ipuole, a graduate of Visual Arts and Technology from the Cross River State University of Technology in Calabar said at the handing over ceremony that the gesture was meant to give back to his agrarian host community which thrives in farming to feed the Nation
"I'm motivated in any environment I find myself. I was motivated to carry out this project because Benue State is the food basket of the nation. The state feeds the nation, and to do so, they must cultivate, plant and then harvest.
"The environment I find myself, the people I stay with as well as the market close by -Wadata market added to my inspiration. I thought it wise that this being a T-junction connecting most activities in the area where everybody meets, it would make sense to design an artwork depicting our heritage of a man cultivating his farm," he said. Gregory disclosed that he spent more than N700, 000 on the work.
He expressed optimism that Benue State which is not among one of the tourist States in Nigeria, according to the search engine, Google, would begin to impact the world in no distance future occasioned by his project. "I decided to produce an art such as this in order to boost the idea of tourism. The state government would also be motivated to give attention to tourism so as to grow the sector for maximum benefits of the people," Gregory added. Traditional leader of the benefitting community, Chief Zaki Asuma, in his response said that corpers had been coming to Wadata and doing wonderful project for them. Asuma noted that Gregory's project was one of the best things that have happened to the Wadata communit
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