Ooni of Ife and Former President Olusegun Obasanjo
The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi has charged Nigerians to strive to promote their mother tongues so as to guard against language extinction.
He said the most spoken languages all over the world today like English had its origin in Yoruba language.
The monarch advised Yoruba speakers all over the world to make use of the language as means of communication in their homes so it won’t go into extinction.
He charged the Yoruba people to remember their roots and pay special attention to the resuscitation, sustenance and growth of their mother tongue if they wished to sustain their culture and identity within the global community.
Oba Ogunwusi gave the charge during the celebration of this year’s “World Mother Tongue Day” which was held at the Oba Okunade Sijuwade Hall, Enuwa, Ile-Ife, Osun State.
The monarch also advocated the use of Yoruba language as means of instruction in schools for a proper understanding of their studies as it was done in some other climes.
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Tracing the etymological history of languages, Oba Ogunwusi said the most spoken languages all over the world today like English had their origin in Yoruba language.
He berated the situation where these languages are given and receiving attention by the Yoruba people at the detriment of their mother tongue.
He said “the chequered history of Yoruba race with slavery and slave trade wherein their brethren were taken to America and Europe and forced to work in the sugarcane farms did not obliterate their mother tongue completely”.
Nice and tidy.
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