“Whenever you search on Google, you are consulting Ifa the Oracle” – Ooni of Ife
The Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Ogunwusi, who addressed a press tour of the tourists’ sites within the ancient city ahead of the Tourism Innovation and Development Innovation Conference (TIDA) slated for April 24, stated that without Ifa there would have been no google.
The theme of the forthcoming conference is: ”Impact of Sustainable Tourism Development and Marketing of Tourism Destinations on Host Communities”, and NAN reported that the ‘ Odu Ifa’ refers to the verses of the literary corpus that are usually consulted by people who believe in its efficacy before embarking on any project or activity.
The Ife Monarch who described ‘Ifa’ as a form divination which was all about sourcing for information and knowledge through traditional consultation, added that Google could be regarded as the modern way of sourcing for past information and what was likely to happen in the future too.
According to him, ‘Ifa’ originated several thousands of years ago and is seen as the voice of the almighty God referred to as ”Orisa Oke” which is supreme to other lesser gods.
The Ooni of Ife who is the custodian of the Yoruba culture and tradition, called on Nigerians to embrace traditional worships peculiar to their communities as he further maintained there would have been no google without Ifa.
” Without ‘Ifa’, there could never have been the google, so the google is the modern-day version of ‘Ifa’. ‘Ifa’ is all about information, getting knowledge from the Almighty God. Whenever you search the google for information or knowledge, you are consulting ‘Ifa’; and without ‘Ifa’, there would not have been the google.”
He said that ‘Ifa’ was still relevant in contemporary time, saying that was why people were still consulting the oracle for information and solutions to their problems. He also explained that if the modern day youths and the educated wanted to know the date of any important event, they would search for it from Google. ‘That is part of the functions that Ifa’ does for its believers and followers; that is the truth but it may sound strange, ” he said.