Loss of indigenous language, bane of Nigeria’s development –Prof Omole

The Former Vice Chancellor of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Professor Wale Omole, has ascribed NigeriaÕs underdevelopment to the loss of her indigenous languages and dialects.

 He said because we lost our indigenous language, we lost understanding which is the very essence of learning. Professor Omole said this at a one day workshop for master trainers in South- West Nigeria on vocational training organised by Yoruba Education Trust Fund (YETFUND) in partnership with Lagos State Technical and Vocational Education Board (LASTVEB).

The university don noted that Yoruba Language may go into extinction if Yoruba parents do not make it mandatory for their children to speak in their mother tongue even as he asserted that, until they begin to value their mother tongue, they will continue to be vulnerable. ÒBecause our language was taken from us, we could not learn properly at school.

When we were colonised, the colonial masters took our culture and changed it, took our religion and change it, changed our dressing and disconnected us from our parents. ÒThey called our language vernacular such that you were not allowed to speak it in school. The knowledge and understanding you should have drawn from your language was then lost as they taught us to cram. ÒThey told us things that we do not understand and encouraged us to cram them. That was how they underdeveloped us till today. Now our children and grand children are not speaking our language .We should reverse this trend.Ó he said.

Speaking on the Yoruba concept of ÒOmoluwabiÓ, the Jagun Oodua Adimula of Yorubaland, Akogun Adetola Adeniyi , said Yorubas see an Omoluwabi, as one of impeccable character, adding that at the core of varied maladies bedevilling Nigeria today is the loss of character by virtually everyone who has been put in positions of leadership. Chief Akogun said: ÒAn Omoluwabi will not lie, will not steal and not shirk from responsibilities and even has an overdose of integrity and is bound by his or her word. If an Omoluwabi makes a promise, he or she does everything to keep it.

Only about 10 per cent of the total leadership in the country can be said to possess some good manners and breeding. This lack of character from the top has trickled to the bottom that we now have the ÔOrifokasibeÕ generation. ÒI listen to todayÕs music, especially the jargon called lyrics and I am almost moved to tears.

Listen to ObeyÕs lyrics which he composed while he was under 30 years old and compare them with the noisy decibels that assault our ears daily.Ó While delivering her welcome address, the Lagos State Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Olayinka Oladunjoye, represented by Mrs. Adeyinka Oyemade, had emphasised the importance of language to the development of a people, adding that the Yoruba have always been people to reckon with all over the world. She said: ÒWe have to make sure that our cultural heritage is passed to our children.

Our language is very important because that is where our real self reside, if we lose our language, we have lost everything and that is why I commend the initiative behind YETFUND. While educating the participants who came from various parts of the South- West region to attend the workshop on motives of organisers, the Executive Secretary of YETFUND, Mrs. Dupe Ajayi Gbadebo, said YETFUND is a non-governmental organization designed to meet the educational needs of this time. She said: ÒYETFUND aims to build a pool of sustainable funds that can serve the youth today and in the future.

It has come to stem the frightening tide of educational inequity and degradation bedevilling the collective fate of the South-West. ÒIt wants to act as a catalyst for restoring Yoruba glory. This, it will achieve through equipping our sons and daughters with qualitative, didactic and vocational education that will prepare them for responsible adult citizenship.