INTERVIEW: Retired American Varsity Don Charges South-West States To Promote Yoruba Language, Culture

By Ismaeel Uthman

A retired Professor of Linguistics at the
​Southern Illinois University, United States,
​Prof Oladejo Afolayan has asked political leaders in the South-West to form a common front for the promotion of the Yoruba language and culture.

Afolayan urged all the stakeholders, particularly politicians to guide against the dominance of foreign languages in the Yoruba speaking states, in order to preserve the mother tongue.

Speaking with OSUNDEFENDER in an interview on Tuesday, Afolayan maintained that to achieve a breakthrough in education, technology, human capital and achieve all round development, all hands must be on deck to reposition the indigenous language to its rightful place.

The academic is of the opinion that remaining faithful to the mother tongue by speakers of Yoruba language will liberate the society intellectually, emotionally and economically.

Afolayan noted that the promotion of foreign languages above the mother tongues in Nigeria is militating against the development of the country.

According to Afolayan, total usage and endorsement of the mother tongue is the way to go if the nation’s quest for scientific and technological advancement is to be achieved.

He called for the enforcement of the nation’s laws promoting the usage of mother tongue as the language of instruction for pupils from Primary 1-6, as provided in the National Policy on Education, adding that colleges of education should be empowered to train teachers that can optimally teach the younger generation.

The don also advised parents to cultivate the habit of speaking the indigenous language to their children in order to safeguard it from going into extinction.

Prof Afolayan who called upon his experience as an academic beyond the shores of Nigeria described as pathetic, the neglect of the Yoruba language and culture by the people; noting that what they do not value  is endearing to the whites who now optimize it for societal advancement and economic reasons.

He said: “The language that we speak is the only thing that will liberate us; intellectually, emotionally, economically. Tell me any country that is developed in the world that doesn’t use their mother tongue. There is none! In order for our people to have a breakthrough scientifically, technologically and develop economically, they must use their mother tongue.

“The lack of political will is the major challenge. For our politicians to embrace and ready to promote the language, that is the major challenge. For them to say: we have something very important and do their best about it, and say let us do whatever it will take to develop it and let our children learn it. We are not just talking about leadership alone but followership.”

“I think the six Yoruba states need to come together and share a common vision. They cannot afford to politicize the Yoruba language. They have to see themselves as a unit of one. Just like the United States motto for the army, they call it “An Army of One.

“The Yoruba states have to see each other as one, but the moment they are thinking about a divided ethnicity, calling one Egba, Oyo, Ijebu, Ondo, Ekiti and so on, they will fail. When those kinds of conflict start, they cannot get along and that is what is going on as we speak.”

The professor of linguistics and education with over four decades of experience sought the need for the Yoruba race to forge in unison for the overall development of its people and the country as a whole.