Governor Biodun Oyebamiji of Ekiti State, the Orangun of Oke-Ila, Osun State, Oba Adedokun Abolarin; Archbishop Ayo Ladigbolu {rtd}, founder of Yoruba World Centre {YWC}, Mr. Alao Adedayo; Prof. Oluwole Oyetade of University of Ibadan and others, have urged the Yoruba to embrace their language and culture in teaching and learning like China in order to attain development.
They made the call recently during the first joint celebration of International Mother Language Day in the Southwest region and the inauguration of the Yoruba Orthography Committee which took place at Yoruba Centre, John Paul 11 Building, UI, Ibadan.
The programme was convened by YWC in partnership with the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria {DAWN} Commission and Wikipedia. It attracted many scholars and other stakeholders in Yoruba Language, including the Afenifere spokesperson, Jare Ajayi and others.
The day is marked by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization {UNESCO} annually.
Governor Oyebanji, who was represented by his Commissioner for Arts, Culture and Creative Economy, Prof. Ojo Bakare, called on policy makers and other stakeholders to ensure that teaching and learning are done in Yoruba Language for the attainment of technological and economic development. The governor maintained that China is doing well because the Chinese embraced their mother tongue.
The governor said: ‘’ If you want to enslave the people, take away their language. We must not allow that. We must always be speaking Yoruba and be teaching the children in schools. We can only expand the frontier of our civilization with our mother tongue which is Yoruba’’.
On his part, Oba Abolarin said the people’s language was key to development, adding that the Yoruba must admire and embrace those things indigenous to them like language for them to be competing with the brightest and the best in the world.
Ladigbolu, who was the keynote speaker, said the programme was for, ‘’the propagation for the use Yoruba language in schools’’, stressing that if a people’s language perished the people would disintegrate.
The retired Archbishop said: ‘’Let the Yoruba embrace their language to become an instrument of empowerment. If we neglect our language, our culture will die.The Chinese did not allow the English to enslave them but embraced their language and they are doing well. If the Chinese could do that, why can we use our language to build our economy?”
In his remark, Prof. Oyetade said the mother tongue is the best means of teaching and understanding, saying countries which developed scientifically and technologically embraced their mother tongue.
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