Ekiti Assembly committed to Yoruba language development – Speaker

Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Rt Hon Kola Oluwawole, has declared that the House is committed to the promotion of Yoruba language, the mother tongue in the South-Western part of the country....


He said the House would not be party to a situation where leaders in the region would watch the language go into extinction.

Speaking in a statement by his Special Assistant (Media), Stephen Gbadamosi, in Ado-Ekiti, in commemoration of this year’s United Nation Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)’s International Mother Language Day, Oluwawole said the Ekiti Assembly had made it a point of duty to dress in native attire and conduct plenary of the House in Yoruba every time it sat on Wednesday.

The cleric turned lawmaker said members of the House always felt concerned about the deplorable nature of the Yoruba language was among the present generation of the people.

“The state of understanding and use of our mother tongue in this generation is deplorable. Hardly can our children these days express themselves in our local languages. This is a challenge for the future of our culture.

“As a House of Assembly and stakeholders in the cultural emancipation of our constituents, we take the development of our languages and culture very seriously. In the Ekiti State House of Assembly, any time a member is dressed in native attires, it has to be complete. And we ensure that each time we sit on a Wednesday, the session is held in pure Yoruba language.

“In fact, the theme of this year’s UNESCO’s International Mother Language Day, ‘Quality Education, Language(s) of Instruction and Learning Outcomes,” is in tandem with the thought of our Assembly. We are committed to making the teaching and learning of our mother tongues in our school utmost priority,” the lawmaker said.

The Speaker added that the House would be ready to liaise with relevant stakeholders in a bid to ensure that teaching and learning of Yoruba language are accorded necessary respect in government schools across the state.

He charged parents, not only in Ekiti State, but also across the South-West, to cultivate the habit of speaking the mother tongue to their children at home, advising that doing so would not inhibit their ability to learn foreign languages or do well in their studies.