We
scan that some individuals mistakenly see the Yorubas as cowards, and the way Chief Olanipekun debunked that impression, citing varied acts of bravery by variety of Yorubas. He conjointly mentioned the traits that create
the Yorubas distinct. i used to be
a beneficiary of sound and qualitative education given and derived from the
core Western Region qua State from my elementary
school, through to middle school,
and up to higher faculty (HSC).
I stand here to pay tributes to the then Premiers and Military Governors of the
then Western Region/State in those days. As at these days, it seems
no State, significantly from the
South West, is up to the mark of
the education program of primary
and middle school pupils and
students severally. I venture to
raise, maybe for my education, whether
or not primary and middle school
students within the entire
Yoruba land still mandatorily scan D.O. Fagunwa’s fascinating and instructive books like ‘Ogboju lyric nini Igbo Irunmale’, ‘Igbo Olodumare’, ‘Ireke Inubudo’, ‘Irinkerindo
ninu Igbo Elegbeje’, and ‘Adiitu
Olodumare’?
What
of l.l Odunjo’s equally tantalizing Yoruba books and poems, together with the evergreen literary composition ‘Ise L’ogun lse’
and his ever-relevant ‘Alawiye, apa kini ati apa keji’. Is history still even
being instructed in our classes?
Do our youngsters understand the story of our forebears?
If this trend is allowed to continue, I concern
that we'd become sort of a stream that forgets its supply and thus dries up. i'm
below apprehension that the millennials can go the route of miserable
and futile liberalism and go for ideals that may ruin not simply
them, however the state itself. I afflict the notion of mercantilism wholesale foreign concepts into our faculties and school rooms. I disagree
with the thought of education while not morals, learning while not discipline. Has. it not been
aforesaid that “Education while not values, as helpful because it is, appears
rather to create man an explicit devil”?”
I
object vehemently to the thought
of the centralized, through the
Federal Ministry of Education, imposing curricula on primary and middle school pupils and students all
overthe country, resulting in the
spare dissipation of energy and
resources of whether or not
Christian spiritual information and Moslem spiritual Studies ought to
be instructed in our
primary/secondary faculties.
Despite the actual fact that
education ought to unremarkably air the cooccurring
Legislative List, item 60(e) on the list mandates the centralized to “prescribe minimum standards of education in the slightest degree levels?” Why
this t¥f”anny of imposition of what pupils and students ought to be instructed
from their infancy? Has it not conjointly
been aforesaid that Intelligence
and Character is that the goal of true education?”
If the Yoruba nation needs the
Omoluabi/Bibiire orientation to fall
gift|to the current} present
generation and also the next, faculties within the South West, from the nursery all the thanks to the tertiary stage, should style obligatory
curricula on history of the Yoruba individuals
and additional significantly, the values of the
Yoruba individuals. Refusal to try and do this, would possibly result in the Yorubas’ extinction as nation, maybe not
physically, however definitely in respect of their singularity and distinctness.
Diligence
five.9 By our lore and adages, one among the foremost uncomplimentary
vices in Yoruba land is laziness; and on the converse, the diligence is one among the foremost
lauded virtues. So, maybe quite anyplace during this
country, the biblical injunction that “he World Health Organization doesn't
work mustn't eat”” involves life within the Yoruba nation. Hence, proverbs like “Oo sagi logbe, tantalum oguro lofa, zero Diamond State idi ope zero
ngbenu s oke, se ofe ten maa NRO ni?,,32, “lie mo, ole pose”:”,
“ole su zero kaa kun lse?”, area unit injunction-like statements within the Yoruba jurisdiction. that's why I significantly just like
the Ogun anthem, “Ise Ya”, and
that i suppose it ought to be sung altogether South Western States, as a
reminder of World Health Organization
we actually area unit. J.F. Odunjo captures these
thoughts terribly capably in his literary composition “ise I’ogun ise” Ise I’ogu’nise – Work is that the counterpoison for financial
condition Mura Captain Hicks
ore e mi – putting your all into
my friend Ise la fi’ndenigiga – Work brings success atomic number 83 a kobare’nifehinti – once there's nobody to believe atomic number 83
ole laari- we glance lazy atomic number 83 a kobare’nigbekele – once there's nobody to
trust A teramoseeni – we have a
tendency to focus additional
on our own work cake re lee
lowot.owo – your mother may well be
made Iya re lupus erythematosuse lesinleekan –
your father would possibly own m and one horses atomic number 83 zero bagboju le won – if you rely on them o te tan nimo thus fun zero – you've got simply set yourself up forshame.
Ma
f’owuro withered oree mi – don't trifle together with your morning Mura siseojon’lo – Be diligent, the day
is brief. History is replete
with the strides Yorubas created
by sheer diligence. Before the primary truster ships berthed at our shores, testimonies proliferate the
history books to the result that
at 1000AD, the streets if lle-Ife were paved; or that by 1300AD, the cities of
Owu, Oyo, ljesa, Ketu, Popo, Egba, Sabe, Dassa, Egbado, Iqbornina. Owo, Akure,
On do and also the sixteen Ekiti
Principalities were walled
cities in their own right; or that Yoruba metal arts, circa 1200 AD, may already exchange comparison, in terms of quality, to something that Ancient Egypt,
classical Greece and Rome, of
Renaissance Europe had to supply.
3S the standard recent Yoruba cities, were urban
centres with farms that extended by dozens of miles or additional. we have a
tendency to were noted
for our glorious craft, and regarded to be the
foremost sure-handed and
productive altogether of continent. we have a tendency to worked at such trades as blacksmithing,
leatherworking, weaving, glassmaking, and ivory and wood carving.
The various
densely inhabited urban areas of
Yorubaland allow a
centralization of wealth and also the
development of a posh economic system which inspires intensive patronage of the
humanities.i’And. we were, and still area unit, creative, entrepreneurial and capable. we have a
tendency to used a bush to form indigo-colored batik-dyed artifact. In Ife, Osogbo, Abeokuta and
city, our girls coloured, in Oyo state, they loomed Aso Oke. Crossing eras, Bishop
Ajayi Crowther, associate degree
‘omo yooba’ from Osoogun, close to
Iseyin, Oyo State, who, amongst a hosts of alternative firsts; was the
primary ordained black Bishop within
the world and also the person to translate the Bible from
English to Yoruba, Igbo and
Nupe”: more, in 1859, Iwe Irohin
Fun Awon Ara Egba, a Yoruba and West
Germanic language Newspaper, became the primary autochthonous
newspaper in Nigeria; Dr. Oguntola Sapara, a Yoruba man, became the primary medical doctor in Federal Republic of Nigeria in 1895.
Notably, Oguntola, so as to nip the tiny pox epidemic within the bud, thus to talk, joined the cult of Sopona (small pox) to know its unfold and thenceforth,
vulnerable alternative members of the cult with
exposure if they failed to stop
their activities”: and his younger brother, Sapara Williams became the primary professional person. 5.11 Today, we have a tendency to see a decline during this terribly
vital facet of the Yoruba nation.
A regression in our trade, creativity, rashness
dare I say, a susceptibleness to
the vices preached against by our forefathers. In fact, with the invention of fossil fuel in industrial quantities, there was a dramatic shift of focus to fossil fuel exploration to the impairment of agriculture and humanities and crafts, that were relegated to the background.
In fact, agriculture’s contribution to the nation’s gross domestic product born
from sixty three at
independence, to associate degree
baleful thirty fourth within the
1970’s. Resultantly, since 1975, the
state has become a web bourgeois of food things The erstwhile Minister of
Agriculture and gift President
of the African Development Bank, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, failed to mince words once
he expressed “Then, the standard of life was sensible; kids visited good faculties, the state was food adequate
however these days, that has become history”,” this can be even additional
astonishing once one considers
that the good Nigerian
universities we have a tendency to
glorify these days were designed
with revenue from agriculture. Federal
Republic of Nigeria is currently
one among the most important food importers within the world. the complete Western Region designed its economy on cocoa within the Nineteen Sixties. The University of Ife, currently named once
the icon Chief Obafemi Awolowo, was designed
from the yield of cocoa alone”
Then, Federal Republic of Nigeria
may afford and had those that understood the essence important and excellence in somebody like Arieh Sharon, associate degree Israeli creator World Health Organization won the Israeli Prize for design. He designed the University of
Ife example, the ensuing buildings are aforesaid to be the best
piece of design in any
university in geographic region.”
5.12 it's apt to means that whereas
farming of cocoa began within the
South-South, farming cocoa on an
outsized scale and with tillable
soil began within the Yoruba
hlnterlands”, farmers in city
and Egba land began experimenting with planting cocoa in uncultivated forests
in 1890 and people in Ilesha
started around 1896. The planting of cocoa later unfold to Oke-igbo and Ondo city, each in Ondo
State. Ife and Gbongan in Osun State and conjointly in Ekiti land. this
can be a part of World Health Organization we have a tendency to area unit, the best farmers the country has ever seen.
However
then did we have a tendency to enable shelter d’ivoire, Ghana
and land overtake United States of America as producers
of cocoa within the world? within the face of the readiness of states within the world to wean themselves off fossil fuel and to the
road of renewable energy, it's
evident that it's unsustainable
for Federal Republic of Nigeria
to still believe oil based mostly
revenues. we have a tendency to should stir ourselves up from our
slumber and return to our farms
– to the cultivation of cocoa, cassava, yam, and alternative tillable
manufacture that grow thus fiercely once properly tended on our soil.
OLUSEGUN OSOBA World Health
Organization says we have a
tendency to can't be the
food basket of the country and so,
having been endued with direct
access to the ocean, become a web
businessperson of food manufacture to countries of the world?
it's our identity, and so our pride, to be farmers. we have a tendency to should take enjoyment of the ostensible
contradictions between our standing
because the most educated within the land, nonetheless having the capability to until the soil to feed the country and sustain our region from the
exchange food exportation will bring. I submit with respect that
this should be a joint drive by
all western States. Peace 5.13 it's
incontestable that Yorubas area unit
the foremost peaceful and
hospitable individuals in Federal Republic of Nigeria. we have a tendency to area unit naturally peaceful and hospitable. we have a tendency to area
unit motivated by our
culture to be hospitable to strangers and friendly to aliens. it's so not astonishing that it's
changing into common placed for
persons from alternative regions
and tribes in Federal Republic of
Nigeria to be appointed or nonappointive
into offices in western states. this
can be the sole a part of the country that this
happens.
It
will ne'er be over-emphasised that the Yoruba individuals don't seem to
be simply peaceable, however conjointly
peace seeking; as a results of that, they need perpetually
been the unifying issue and
tribe among the varied ethnic
nationalities in Federal Republic of
Nigeria. Section two of
the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of {nigeria|Nigeria|Federal
Republic of Federal Republic of Nigeria|African
country|African nation} (as Amended) decrees Nigeria to be a Federa Republic associate degreed conjointly proclaims it to be inseparable an indissoluble. By this
singular say-so, ‘constitutional
imprimatur’ was given to the error of 1914 so perpetuating the continued
wedding of the Yoruba ethnic position
alternative ethnic nationalities
and sub nationalities below the terminology ‘Nigeria’. would possibly I add that the on top of constitutional say-so wasn't a original insertion of the drafters of the 1999
Constitution; however was rather
a carry-over of the hassle by
Nigeria’s past leaders each
colonial and autochthonous, to
compel, by all suggests that,
unit among all the tribes and ethnic entities creating up Federal
Republic of Nigeria. The 1946 Arthur Richards’ Constitution ordered the inspiration of Federal
Republic of Nigeria’s federal system with the regionalisation of
Nigeria, for the most part on ethnic, cultural and spiritual lines. it absolutely was on this foundation that each one subsequent constitutions designed,
resulting in the promulgation of
the 1999 Constitution below that Federal Republic of Nigeria maintains thirty six federating states and a government at the centre. below this method, the journey to true nationhood has been troubled with a cocktail of
challenges. we've struggled to seek out common basis for our unity
and collective existence as a nation. Rather, than formation a typical
identity as a nation, it appears
that the nationalities creating
up the world referred to as Federal Republic of Nigeria are more driven
apart and also the abundant desired unity and commonality
of purpose necessary for our development has remained elusive. Indeed, quite seventy years past,
Obafemi Awolowo within the book,
‘Path to Nigerian Freedom’, delineated Federal
Republic of Nigeria within the
following terms; “Nigeria isn't
a nation. it's a mere
geographical expression.
There
aren't any ‘Nigerians’ within the same sense as there area unit ‘English,’ ‘Welsh,’ or
‘French,’ The word ‘Nigeria’ may be a
mere distinctive appellative to differentiate {those World Health Organization|those
that|people who} live inside the
boundaries of Federal Republic of
Nigeria and people who do
not” Sadly, these words still hold true, for the foremost half,
in fashionable Federal Republic of Nigeria of these days. 6.2 For we have a tendency to the Yorubas, a
federal system that includes cheap devolution of powers has perpetually been a revenant theme in our socio-cultural
engagements. Governance among the Yorubas within the pre-colonial era was characterized by associate
degree orderly separation of body
functions between totally different
social establishments in Yoruba land. The composition and arrangement of
governance within the recent Oyo Empire diagrammatically captures the
federalist tendencies of pre-colonial Yoruba societies. within the days of past,
the empire was organized round the Alaafin of Oyo as its
political head, a robust cluster of seven king manufacturers called the Oyo-Mesi, headed by a Bashorun additionally because the
alarming Ogboni cult, amongst
others. The Alaafin conjointly
had below his domain lesser
kings, Baales and village chiefs World
Health Organization administered and
controlled social affairs
within the major cities, tributaries, villages and
farmsteads creating up the recent Oyo empire. woven into this elaborate system of
governance were series of check and balances additionally as clear delineation of functions. although the Alaafin was presented with monumental powers, the social
group was embedded with a spread
of checks associate degreed balances
that created it not possible
for the Alaafin to transmute into an despot.
Notably, the Oyo-Mesi and also the
Ogboni cult conspicuously served
as a tool to stay the Alaafin in line.
He
may sick afford to offend the members of the Oyo Mesi or the Ogboni. though he couldn't be expel,
the Alaafin might be compelled
to kill. If each the Oyo Mesi and also the Ogboni rejected of his personal conduct or
policies, or if the Oyo peoples suffered serious misfortunes, they might commission the Bashorun to gift the Alaafin with associate degree empty calabash or a
dish of parrot eggs. On turning in
these purposeful symbols, the
Bashorun pronounced a fearful formula: ‘The gods reject you, the individuals reject you, the planet rejects you.’ The Alaafin
was so well-read that his political position had been fully undermined and his removal determined. Custom demanded he took
poison”. consistent with
Avvitev”, the Alaafin was chargeable
for external and foreign relations on behalf of the empire and was conjointly charged with the duty to safeguard and defend its
tributaries from external aggression by offensive
Fulani African nation fighters. associate degree the opposite hand, the tributary cities and villages were chargeable for grouping [and remitting] tribute owing to Oyo and tributary
contingents of troops below native generalship to the imperial
army in times of major war.
All
sub-rulers had to pay respect to
the Alaafin. The acknowledgment of the duty of allegiance was revived yearly by obligatory group action at vital
spiritual ceremonies.” Be it
noted that the empire of the recent
Oyo Kingdom traverse many distant places, with varied cultures and ancient practices, so creating it not possible
for a centralised model of governance. the
most effective approach was for a localized system of governance that took into
consideration the variations
between the varied individuals below the reign of the Ovo empire. it's wonderful to notice that the Ovo union
functioned like clock-work, while not
associate degree dictatorial influence of Oyo on the
tributaries, they were allowed to
manage their own internal socio-political and economic issues. Stride and Ifeka comment more on this state of affairs thus:
“imperial policy toward these non-Yoruba states was to permit them virtually
total native independence on condition that they failed to request to flee
from their tributary status”. Thus, it's
evident that the thought of a reciprocally benefitting alliance and
shared governmental powers, hinged on a realisation of the inherent strength in
our diversity, inside the bounds
of a federal system of state isn't altogether a plan original to the west or
bequeathed to United States of America
by British colonialists.
Rather,
it had been woven into the terribly cloth of our history and identity as nation. At the danger
of being too assertive, I say
that the essential thought of ideology in Federal
Republic of Nigeria these days
has its historical roots, not essentially
within the colonial
constitutions and constitutional conferences control within the
build up to our independence as a nation, however within the fashion and culture organisation of
the Yoruba individuals within the pre-colonial era. 6.3With
the on top of background, it's so not stunning
that throughout the evolution of Nigerian politics and nationalism, and so ideology and its follow
in Federal Republic of Nigeria,
as has been earlier noted, the Yoruba race has perpetually been at the forefront of Nigeria’s socio-political
evolution. Olayinka Herbert H.B First Baron Macaulay (grandson of associate degree equally illustrious
Yoruba figure, Bishop prophet
Ajayi Crowther) is wide thought to be one among the fathers of Nigerian nationalism. He pioneered the
nationalist wakening in Federal Republic of Nigeria, opposing
colonial policies on several
fronts and, notably, in 1923 supported
the primary organisation in Federal Republic of Nigeria, the
Nigerian National party. The
history of Nigeria’s political evolution and also the Yoruba agitation for true ideology wouldn't
be complete while not examining
in some detail, the contribution of
somebody World Health
Organization has been delineated
as ‘a leader of the trendy
forged World Health Organization left Federal Republic of Nigeria with standards that area unit ineradicable, standards beside that future aspirations to public
leadership are often evermore measured’, and one among the foremost cherished philosophers and political thinkers that continent has ever produced’,” Chief
Obafemi Awolowo (popularly delineated as
Awo). he's attributable as not solely being one among the creation
fathers of recent day Federal Republic of Nigeria, however conjointly one among
the few wide accepted and
undisputed Yoruba politico, additionally because the most eminent
and impacting Yoruba political thought leader; and creator of a major
body of recent Yoruba political
ideology.
Validatory
this read, Awo has been delineated as “one of Africa’s most powerful nationalists, political author associate degreed a pre-eminent Nigerian politician whose vision and tireless work outlined a modernist Yoruba political project in an emerging Nigerian post-colonial nation
state once the group action method in the Nineteen
Forties.”slAwo is vital as a result of all serial Yoruba contributions to the controversy on the fate and state
of our nation nearly always take
their bearing from him and his ideals. He advocated, once reviewing the variations
among the various ethnic teams and nations among
{nigeria|Nigeria|Federal Republic of Federal
Republic of Nigeria|African country|African nation} that “a federal
constitution is that the solely issue appropriate
for Nigeria.” This, consistent with
him, would make sure that every cluster inside Federal Republic of Nigeria created additional fast
progress than nowadays and as a
result, the pace of the country as an
entire would be significantly
quickened towards federal unity. This tilt towards a federal state influenced
Awo’s subsequent thoughts on however Federal Republic of Nigeria got to be ruled. In
his book, Thoughts on the Nigerian Constitution, Awo careful a number of
the basics of his planned federal system; bicameral
federal govt, unicameral govt within the
federating units; loss of parliamentary seats by legislators within the event of expulsion or
defection from his organisation,
clear cut spheres of operation between the central and regional governments,
etc.
Chief
Awolowo afterward developed what
I decision Awo’s four laws of
federalism”, to wit: If a rustic
is unilingual and unl-natlonal, the constitution should be unitary. If a
rustic is unilingual or bilingual or multilingual , and conjointly
consists of communities that,
over a amount of years, have
developed divergent nationalities, the constitution should be federal, and
also the constituent states should
be organized on the twin basis of language and position. iii. If a rustic is bilingual or multilingual , the constitution should be federal, and also the constituent states should be organized on linguistic basis. Any experiment with a unitary
constitution in an exceedingly
bilingual or multilingual or transnational countrv should fail, within the long-standing
time. unneeded to feature, most of the concepts espoused by Awo have, to some
extent, been entrenched into the serial
Constitutions adopted by Federal
Republic of Nigeria. Hence, in specific regard to the follow
of ideology in Federal Republic of Nigeria, the
Yoruba nation has not solely
contributed additional to the event of the thought of a federal state than the other ethnic position
inside the boundaries of Federal Republic of Nigeria, however has remained within the forefront of the decision for a really federal republic in each sense of the thought. during this regard, allow
American state to echo the views
expressed at the Ibrahim
Adesanya Memorial Lecture on 2d July, 2012, to wit; “Yoruba have without doubt created their marks, and area
unit still creating incomparable contributions to the event of Federal Republic of Nigeria not solely in politics, however
in various areas like within the business and
also the non-public sector,
public service, the military and security services, the mass media, education,
the domain, the show business, the professions (law,
accounting, medicine, engineering, etc), transportation leadership, believability,
integrity, discipline, structure
savvy, and exemplary commitment to principles. “ however the question remains, however federal is that
this federalism? what quantity
will the current constitution capture the precepts of federalism? I actually have declared in various fora, and that i
maintain that what we've these days isn't ideology however disguised unitarism.
A
careless look at the Constitution exposes the asymmetry of our futile
experiment. accompany American state to the half one of the 2d
schedule to the 1999 Constitution, vesting within the centralized
jurisdiction, management and
oversight on a whooping sixty eight
things together with things
like employment and union problems, stamp duties, posts, public
holidays, industrial and
industrial monopolies, the police, to
say however a number of. Compare this to the blank thirty things on
the cooccurring legislative
list,” that the central
government once more shares with
the constituent states, and in respect of that by virtue of section four
of constant Constitution, within the event of conflict between
the act at the centre associate degreed an enactment by a
state, the previous prevails. this example has foisted on United States of America all, nice hardship – no state has management over its resources; states area unit smothered from effectively policing associate degreed securing themselves; constituents area unit too keen about the
centre going cap in hands to the centre for handouts; state high courts nearly don't have any job to try
and do as federal courts (including the Federal supreme court and National Industrial Court) have an overarching, dictatorial and, I dare say, vaulting territorial coverage; states cannot even verify a way to
treat, what quantity to payor a way to resolve disputes with their
own staff.
If care isn't taken, or do I say pretty shortly, the overarching centralized
would or would possibly shortly state to the sprawling and
sumptuous Olumo Rock, stringent
that tourists World Health Organization
come back visiting ought to pay royalties to the federal until, since touristry is currently
on the exclusive legislative ltst!” within
the light-weight of those anomalies, and ton additional misnomers, will
we then have the correct,
temerity, audacity or justification to complete
ourselves as a federation? …to be continued
. Being the text of a lecture delivered by CHIEF WOLE OLANIPEKUN on 14 July 2017 at Ibara, Abeokuta, Ogun
State, to mark the 78th birthday of his important
person, AREMO OLUSEGUN OSOBA
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