Eze Aro Unveils Film Village Plan in Honour of Alex Ekubo, Announces Global Renaissance Initiatives

His Eminence Eze Dr. Eberechukwu Oji, Eze Aro IX, has announced plans for the establishment of an Alex Ekubo Film Village in Arochukwu to honour the late Nollywood actor, saying his life would serve as an example of what can happen when a person lives an exemplary life.

He made the announcement during the lecture and dinner marking his Second Coronation Anniversary, held at Alpha Plus Hotel, Amuvi, on Thursday.

According to him, the film village will preserve the legacy of the late actor while also serving as a training center where aspiring actors will be taught the art of acting.

He said the late Nollywood actor lived a good life and deserves to be remembered, adding that the project would also serve as a lesson to the younger generation that people who live exemplary lives can also be celebrated after their lifetime.

He stated that the people of Arochukwu Kingdom are now awake to their responsibilities and reminded them of the enormous task of rebuilding the Kingdom.

The Eze Aro charged the people to uphold and preserve their traditions, especially the proper reverence for the breaking of kola nut and the wearing of the Omu Aro regalia by all sons of the Kingdom

He advised parents to teach their children the proper dressing of an Arochukwu son and to give them original Aro names that reflect the heritage and identity of the Kingdom.

Explaining why the coronation anniversary is celebrated every year, Eze Aro said Arochukwu is currently undergoing a rebuilding process after years of decline.

He noted that while some communities celebrate their coronation anniversaries every five or ten years because they are already well established, Arochukwu is still on a renaissance journey and requires annual celebrations to sustain the rebuilding efforts.

He described the Kingdom as being on a renaissance path and called on all sons and daughters of Arochukwu to support the ongoing transformation.

His Eminence also highlighted the growth in trade and commerce during the annual celebrations and called for greater participation in the Arochukwu Renaissance Project.

He revealed that his aunt Mrs. Nwanganga Shields almost singlehandedly built the Mary Slessor Library project and that the extension of the Mary Slessor Library would be commissioned in 2027. He announced an essay competition on stories written in Igbo Aro, encouraging participants from every village who can write in Igbo Aro to participate in the competition.

He disclosed that the competition will run until September, with the winner receiving a prize of 1,000 US dollars. He added that a flyer containing details of the competition would soon be released.

In addition, he announced that the Uda Nkwa would be performed live in America, marking what he described as the first live performance from Africa.

Earlier in his welcome address, the Chairman of the Central Planning Committee, Barrister Uche Uba Okoro, lauded the people of Arochukwu Kingdom and urged participants to approach the lecture with open minds, describing it as one that promised to be both interesting and rewarding for all sons and daughters of the Kingdom.

The event also featured a review of the lecture titled “Reclaiming African Civilizational Voices: The Arochukwu Renaissance and the Future of Indigenous Knowledge in a Global Information Age,” delivered by His Eminence Eze Dr. Eberechukwu Oji at the University of California, Berkeley, United States of America.

Reviewing the lecture, Barrister Oscar Okoro, Ugwuaro, said the objective of the visit to the United States was to place Arochukwu firmly on the global map.

He explained that the mission was to spread the message of Aro Renaissance to Aro people in the diaspora and at home, while expanding the developmental vision of Arochukwu beyond its indigenes to Abia State, Nigeria, and the international community.

He said the lecture projected hope for Aro Renaissance through an African voice while presenting it within a global perspective.

Barrister Okoro further recalled that during the visit to the Mayor of San Francisco, members of All-Aro USA attended in their full traditional Aro regalia, known as Omu Aro, as a demonstration of cultural pride.

Also reviewing the lecture, Mazi Ernie Onwumere, Ugwuaro, described the address as an important intellectual intervention.

According to him, the Eze Aro was not seeking charity but genuine partnership.

He said the lecture at Alpha Plus Hotel challenged Igbo people in the diaspora to establish scholarships and educational empowerment programs.

He noted that the reference to the fact that “thousands of African languages remain poorly digitized” highlighted the urgent need to prevent linguistic extinction through computational linguistics and Natural Language Processing (NLP) development for low-resource African languages.

Mazi Onwumere added that the lecture made a significant theoretical contribution by distinguishing between legal authority, represented by the modern state, and relational legitimacy, which is rooted in indigenous governance systems.

He said the Aro governance model demonstrated that societies can sustain political order through cultural trust, shared norms, symbolic authority, and negotiated consensus.

He further observed that the lecture strategically leveraged the global prestige of the University of California, Berkeley, while maintaining Aro intellectual independence.

According to him, the address successfully established a historical connection between Aro and Berkeley and avoided the trap of academic dependency by proposing an intellectual partnership between equals rather than seeking external validation.

He added that the emphasis on interdisciplinary scholarship linking African knowledge systems with global intellectual debates correctly positioned the relationship as one of mutual knowledge exchange.

However, he noted that the lecture was relatively silent on issues relating to gender, youth, economic strategy, and Nigeria’s contemporary challenges, which limited its policy coherence.

Despite this, he described the lecture as strongest in its epistemological contribution and said it retains great potential as a blueprint for development.

He mentioned that the central question remains whether tradition can effectively engage with modernity without losing its identity.

According to him, the Eze Aro answered that question in the affirmative, although institutional frameworks, funding models, power-sharing arrangements, and accountability mechanisms still need to be developed.

In his response, His Eminence announced that the coronation anniversary lecture would be adopted as an encore event, which will be held on September 5.

Contributing to the discussion, Mazi Ezeani said the most remarkable aspect of the Eze Aro’s visit and speech in the United States was the declaration that “Aro has returned,” which, according to him, embodied the renaissance vision consistently preached and practised by the monarch.

He urged Aro people to always participate actively whenever All-Aro USA organised programs.

Speaking on the historical trade routes of Arochukwu before colonialism, Mazi Zulu Ofoelue explained that Britain’s decision to wage war against Arochukwu Kingdom was largely due to the Kingdom’s dominance in regional trade and influence.

He added that the international achievements of His Eminence Eze Dr. Eberechukwu Oji has positioned Arochukwu to establish direct partnerships with kingdoms and institutions around the world.

Also speaking, Eze Ibom Isii, Mazi Amos Okoro Egbu, called for reforms that would strengthen and advance the traditional governance system inherited from the forefathers.

He stressed that modernization should never erode the cultural values and practices that define the people but should instead strengthen and adapt them to contemporary realities.