Yoruba Language : Obasa Laments Low Turn Out At Public Hearing
The Speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa on Wednesday berated stakeholders over their low turnout at the public hearing of a proposed law to make the teaching and speaking of Yoruba language compulsory in the state.
The Public Hearing was organized by the House on a Bill titled, “The Promotion and Preservation of the Use of Yoruba Language in Lagos State and for Connected Purposes.”
The Bill was in continuation of the Yoruba Summit Day organised by the House in 2016 as part of measures to promote and preserve the language and its accompanied customs and traditions.
Obasa who made this remark while delivering his keynote address at the Lateef Jakande Auditorium of the House, stated that it was disheartening that many public schools in the state were lackadaisical to a programme geared towards protecting the native language from going into extinction.
“We have a lot of public schools in Lagos State but many of them are not here today. We need to look at that because it is through them (public schools), we can reach out to the children. I have observed that we don’t have many of them in this gathering,” the Speaker said.
He explained that the trend might prompt the House to direct all the lawmakers to go to their respective constituencies to educate residents on the import of the law.
The Speaker further stated that it was saddening to see young children and the elderly at times having difficulty in speaking Yoruba language.
According to him, “I have the privilege to travel far and wide, but do you know what? Other people cherish their native languages so they are developed and more sophisticated. So the question is, why is it so difficult for us to speak our language?”
Obasa however explained that the proposed law was not to intimidate anybody but “it is to encourage our children to start speaking in our mother tongue.”