The Lagos state government has charged parents with preserving the Yoruba heritage through communication with their children.

Olanrewaju Odesanya, the special adviser to Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu on the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) Commission and Regional integration, gave the charge at the maiden edition of Yoruba Week on Wednesday in Ikeja.

In April, the state government announced plans to dedicate the last week of September every year to” Yoruba Week” to celebrate the Yoruba culture.

The event is expected to showcase the cultural heritage of the Yoruba people through traditional music, dance, art exhibitions, and delectable culinary delights.

Mr Odesanya said that parents should make it a point of duty to speak in the Yoruba language while communicating with them.

He also enjoined parents to ensure that their children and wards communicate the same with them.

He said that there was a need to preserve the Yoruba language, as it was going into extinction.

According to him, Yoruba Week is geared to showcase, promote, and champion the rich socio-cultural heritage as a race, as a people, and above all, as a nation.

“Our heritage and history must not go in vain, hence, the need to conscientise our people, home and abroad,” he said.

Mr Odesanya said that in order to preserve the Yoruba heritage, members of the Lagos State House of Assembly now communicate with the Yoruba language during plenary on Thursdays.

Jamiu Alli-Balogun, the commissioner for basic and secondary education, said the Yoruba Week was centred on culture, heritage and language.

“How do we preserve our language? It has been predicted that it will go extinct come 2050. So, we are here today just to let the world know that there is a language that is universal.

“It is universal because it is not only spoken in Nigeria; we have Yoruba people in Benin Republic, Togo, some parts of Ghana, Jamaica, Finland, Cuba and Brazil.

“In all these countries mentioned, we have that promotion of Yoruba culture, heritage, and language that is more or less being practised than we are in our own space speaking that language.

“It is a common thing in our household, where we don’t allow our children to speak that lovely language, the language that is embedded with so much wisdom and knowledge, and we just want to make a u-turn to correct that impression.

“We need to let our children know the value of our language, the value of our culture and the value of our heritage,” Mr Alli-Balogun said.

He said that the Lagos state government had a law that mandated the speaking of Yoruba in schools.

According to him, principals and the tutor-general have been called to implement the speaking of Yoruba in schools, majorly to boost students’ understanding of what was taught.

He said that according to UNICEF, the best way for a student or people to learn better is to be taught in his or her indigenous language, and that starts at one to nine years old.

“They can actually learn better and faster when they are taught in indigenous language,” the commissioner said.

On her part, Adefunmilayo Tejuosho, a former deputy speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly, said that setting the last week of September of every year as Yoruba Week was a good development.

Mrs Tejuosho said that during the Seventh Assembly, she moved the motion that plenary should be conducted in the Yoruba language on Thursdays.

She said that it encouraged the assembly members to improve their Yoruba language speaking and encouraged their children to speak Yoruba.

“The younger generation must be proud of their culture. We are Yorubas, and we must be proud to speak Yoruba and to practice the tradition and the culture of the Yoruba people.

“I feel that charity begins at home. Once we start training our young ones, if we speak Yoruba to our children and guide them in the ways to do, to work, to conduct themselves, they will be better off,” Mrs Tejuosho said.

(NAN)