The Traditional Religious Worshippers Association in Osun State yesterday in Osogbo called for the preservation of indigenous languages, especially Yoruba language from going into extinction.
Spokesperson for the association, Chief Fadare Ogunjimi, made the call during an engagement programme organised by the state’s Civic Engagement Centre at Bode-Osi, Olaoluwa Local Government Area of the state.
Ogunjimi said there was an urgent need for collective efforts by stakeholders and government to restore the glory and beauty of indigenous languages and cultures in the younger generation.
He noted that the indigenous language of any society had an inextricable link with its identity and moral value system, hence the need for its preservation.
He also underscored the inestimable values embedded in Yoruba language as one laden with virtues, ethos, and norms.
Ogunjimi urged all well-meaning stakeholders in Yoruba land to strive toward reviving the language to assume its original enviable status in the society.
He also appealed to government to formulate policies and initiate programmes that would assist in preventing indigenous languages from going into extinction.
According him, the diminishing status of Yoruba and other indigenous languages and values are responsible for the high prevalence of social vices in the society.
He noted that such vices were not in tandem with Yoruba language, culture, values and tradition.
Ogunjimi said that the value and importance of Yoruba language could only be redeemed when people desisted from making it inferior to other foreign languages.
In his remarks, Special Adviser to Osun State’s Gov. Gboyega Oyetola on Civic Engagement, Mr Olatunbosun Oyintiloye, noted that Yoruba language like every other indigenous language deserves its rightful place and recognition regardless of the adoption of foreign languages.