Cross River State will hold the 2026 Leboku International New Yam Festival on Aug. 24 in Ugep, continuing an annual Yakurr celebration rooted in the new yam harvest, agriculture, and community culture.

The event will take place at Yakurr Peace Stadium in Ugep from 9 a.m., according to an official announcement by the Cross River State Government. The state is organising the festival in partnership with the Yakurr community.

Leboku is an annual new-yam celebration associated with the Yakurr people of central Cross River State. The festival marks the new yam harvest and provides a public platform for music, dance and other expressions of community culture.

Yam occupies an important place in food production and harvest traditions in several Nigerian communities, although the names, ceremonies and meanings associated with new-yam festivals vary across ethnic groups and locations.

In Yakurr, Leboku reflects a longstanding relationship between agriculture, food and cultural identity. Over time, the celebration has also developed into a broader public cultural event promoted by the Cross River State Government and local community.

Ugep, one of the principal communities of the Yakurr people, is the main setting for the Leboku International New Yam Festival.

At the 2025 celebration, Cross River State Governor Bassey Edet Otu called for the continued preservation of cultural heritage and greater participation by young people in agriculture, according to Nigerian media reports.

Harvest festivals in different parts of Nigeria often mark important stages in the farming cycle and may include thanksgiving, communal gatherings, traditional performances and other cultural activities. The specific customs associated with such celebrations, however, differ from one community to another.

For the Yakurr people, yam cultivation and the seasonal harvest form part of the cultural context surrounding Leboku, while the festival provides an occasion for community gatherings and public cultural performances.

The Otu administration has also linked Leboku to its broader cultural and tourism policy. Previous state government statements have described the festival as part of efforts to strengthen the cultural economy of Yakurr communities and promote Cross River’s heritage as a tourism asset.

The state’s wider tourism profile includes major cultural events such as Carnival Calabar, as well as destinations and attractions in other parts of Cross River.

Leboku’s continued prominence also reflects the role traditional festivals can play in preserving local cultural practices while adapting to a modern public-event setting. In Ugep, the celebration brings together agricultural tradition, community identity and cultural performance around the annual harvest.

The festival’s connection to farming remains central to its identity. Unlike events created primarily as entertainment programmes, Leboku developed from a community harvest tradition and continues to draw much of its cultural significance from that relationship.

This year’s official announcement presents the celebration around themes of culture, heritage, music, dance and tradition. The government’s Aug. 10 notice did not include a full programme or detailed list of performers.

Leboku remains one of the major public expressions of Yakurr agricultural and cultural traditions in Cross River State.