South-West holds UNESCO’s Int’l Mother Tongue Day
Ekiti State Governor, Biodun Oyebanji; the Orangun of Oke-Ila in Osun State, Oba Adedokun Abolarin; Archbishop Ayo Ladigbolu (rtd); founder of Yoruba World Centre (YWC), Alao Adedayo; Prof. Oluwole Oyetade of the University of Ibadan (UI) and others, yesterday, urged the Yoruba to embrace their language and culture in teaching and learning like China to attain development.
They made the call during the first joint celebration of International Mother Language Day in the South-West 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 being marked by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO yearly. Oyebanji, who was represented by his Commissioner for Arts, Culture and Creative Economy, Prof. Ojo Bakare, called on policymakers 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. 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 compete 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 of Yoruba language in schools,” stressing that if a people’s language perished, the people would disintegrate.
In his remarks, Oyetade said the mother tongue is the best means of teaching and understanding, saying that countries, which developed scientifically and technologically, embraced their mother tongue.
