By Ayobami Ife, Abeokuta
Foundation for the Preservation of Yoruba Culture and Heritage has called for an urgent review of the processes of selecting traditional rulers in Yorubaland to safeguard the race’s age – long sacred institution from being denigrated by persons who shouldn’t come anywhere near the Obaship stool.
The Foundation which reckoned that the process of selection of Obas in Yorubaland had been infiltrated, polluted and adulterated, called for a re-think and measures to arrest the worrisome drift.
And while also calling for concerted efforts to save Yoruba language from going into extinction, it urged parents to entrench the habit of speaking the language to their children and wards at home.
These were parts of the communique issued by the foundation on Tuesday, June 3, at the end of of its 2nd Annual Global Yoruba History and Heritage Celebration with the theme ‘Yoruba Ti Goke Agba’ at the June 12 Cultural Centre Abeokuta, Ogun State.
The Daily Crucible reports that while the celebration and deliberations lasted, Mrs. Yemi Olanrewaju, former Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Ogun State, Dr. Mrs. Ronke Adeboyejo,the founder, Asani and Aduke Foundation, General Manager, Fresh FM, Mr. Goke Babalola and Alhaji Babatunde Adebayo, Secretary, Nigerians in Diaspora, Benin Republic, served as members of the panel.
The communique which was signed by Barr. Kehinde Somoye, Global President; and Oloye Lekan Alabi, Chairman, Organising and Planning Committee; identified the challenges of unity and lack of cooperation as major set backs to the preservation of Yoruba language and culture as well as the progress of the race in Nigeria.
Other items of the communique:
That the best way to prevent Yoruba language from going into extinction is to speak Yoruba to children at home. Parents were therefore enjoined to entrench the habit of speaking Yoruba to their Children at home.
– The gathering commended the organizers for representing Yoruba well in the organization of the programme, especially in the mode of dressing and language of communication at the gathering while deriding some other gathering that claimed to have organized a Yoruba Programme but ended up polluting the atmosphere with foreign language.
– The gathering called for collective efforts in the quest to ensure that Yoruba language do not go into extinction.
– The gathering observed that black people must assert themselves by avoiding inferiority complex that sometimes conditioned them to deny their languages and culture, saying no tribe or race is superior to others.
– The gathering observed that it can be justifiably said that Yoruba has come of age because the Yoruba are knowledgeable people and they are one of the most civilized race on earth, while the system of governance known with the Yoruba race, from time immemorial was superb and the ethos of Omoluwabi, and the strides of the Yoruba race in craft, literature, Art, music and theatre and all spheres of life are legendary, which attested to this fact.
– The gathering also said Yoruba are frontliners in all spheres of life including, the first lawyer, the first Medical Doctor, the first woman lawyer, the first woman to drive a car, the first monarch to get educated, the first black man to get a Nobel laureate in Literature, the first newspaper in Nigeria founded in 1859 and the first University known as University College, while in political spheres, Yoruba are also at the forefront.
– The foundation observed the challenges of unity and lack of proper cooperation as one of the major set back to the preservation of Yoruba language and Culture and the progress of the Yoruba race
– The gathering also observed than non speaking of Yoruba Language to the children and the act of not Christening children in Yoruba name is also a major challenges.
– It called for the use of Yoruba Language in teaching in order to attain greater technological heights as obtained in other nations like China, Indian and other climes.
– The gathering also observed that the process of selection of Obas in Yorubaland has been infiltrated, polluted and adulterated, calling for a re- think on this.
– The gathering called on the Ogun State government to approve the use of Yoruba language in the teaching of other subjects and to make Yoruba compulsory and also to make Yoruba more relevant in Tertiary institution, while the House of Assembly was enjoined to adopt the speaking of Yoruba Language for additional days from what is currently obtainable.
– The gathering also called for Unity among the Yoruba race in order to close the gaps of identified challenges while also enjoining Yoruba sons and daughters to value and appreciate their language and culture.
– Government should take the issue of preservation of Yoruba language and culture seriously, saying if a people do not work for the preservation of their culture and language, no one would come from the outside to do it.
– The challenges of commercialization in broadcasting has led to the infiltration and adulteration of the Yoruba language, especially when profit is prioritized over cultural sensitivity.
– The foundation noted that Commercial Influence on Content, saying with the rise of commercialization in broadcasting, content is often tailored to appeal to the largest audience or to serve the interests of advertisers, potentially compromising the authenticity and integrity of local languages and cultures.
