History & Culture

Oyo Govt to Partner Culture Stakeholders on Yoruba Propagation – Hon. Ige

The Seyi Makinde-led Oyo State administration has disclosed its readiness to collaborate with relevant stakeholders to maximize the potential embedded in Yoruba culture and ensure that the culture survives and thrives.


The Special Adviser to Oyo State Governor on Culture and Tourism, Hon. Akeem Ademola Ige said this while hosting the initiators of the ‘Egbeje Ede’ project, a Yoruba oriented group focused on propagating the Yoruba culture, in his office recently.



Hon. Akeem Ademola Ige expressed his happiness at the cultural initiative, describing it as a welcome development, and said that it was commendable to see individuals use their natural talents to develop culture and tourism heritage in Oyo State and by extension, South-Western Nigeria.



‘Egbeje Ede’ innovation is a new educational tool used to complement the educational curriculum for the Yoruba Language in South West states and by extension, others states where Yoruba is taught as a subject so that our language would be protected and promoted right from primary school level.


According to him, “this is part of what the Oyo state government has been craving for. It’s been long that our cultural value is being eroded and we have been thinking of how we can revive our culture.”


“I’m happy that the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi, Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, the Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Saliu Akanmu Adetunji, the Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, Iba Gani Adams and other notable traditional rulers in South West have already shown interest in this project. These are the people that have placed a high premium on our cultural heritage and are doing everything to ensure that our cultures do not go into extinction.”



“It is a pity that religion has been taking away our culture from us and we know that there is a clear difference between culture and religion. Lack of promotion of our culture is also causing insecurity in the southwest. There are some things that have to do with our culture that are now seen as taboo because of religion.”



“We will work together to see how we can use this initiative to promote our culture. We have to start from the grassroots. The government has a role to play to inculcate this into the school curriculum right from primary school level; while other concern stakeholders also have roles to play to create awareness to the people in the community.”



“I salute your brain for coming up with this brilliant initiative. Some people discovered Ludo, draughts and chess games which are being played all over the world.”


“The same talent they used is the one you used to come up with this Egbeje Ede game. When we are talking about Twitter, Facebook, Instagram etc. it is the same brain they used to create them.”



“I believe that the task to promote Yoruba language is the responsibility of all descendants of Oodua both in Nigeria and abroad. We should therefore join hands to make Yoruba language the cynosure of all languages around the world.” Hon Ige concluded.



Speaking earlier on behalf of the group, Mr Taiwo Temidayo said IT took them five years of research to discover the reason why children are no longer interested in speaking the Yoruba language.



“We found out that students learn fast through sporting activities. We specifically designed the board as a promotion of culture and a source of empowering people. Our goal is to see the prosperous western region and project our culture across the South West.”


“We want to use it as cultural sports to inculcate the speaking of Yoruba and moral values in our youth in Yorubaland. This will be a plus for governments across the southwestern states as no administration has ever done this before. The beauty of this project is that we are the first group that would invent this project in the whole of Nigeria.”


“The Yoruba issue is something that concerns all of us Yoruba descendants as we need to promote what is ours. Our aim is to see how this initiative will become a household item, how it will get into the curriculum of the governments in the southwestern states to promote the Yoruba language and also to serve as a catalyst to create jobs for people of Oyo State.”


“It is also an empowerment initiative to empower the youths through manufacturing, sports and entertainment across the south-west.” Mr Taiwo submitted

See also  Ibadan Museum to invest more in Cultural Research
IFRAME SYNC

About the author

OyoAffairs

Oyo Affairs is an independent news media with the main focus on Oyo state news, politics, current events, trending happenings within and around Oyo state, Nigeria

Add Comment

Click here to post a comment