By SaheedAfolabi
As part of efforts to preserve the Yoruba cultural heritage, the National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN), Ejigbo branch has organised a cultural Day to celebrate indigenous cultures.
During the ceremony, the group honoured some dignitaries in the council area with merit awards in recognition of their contributions to the development of the youths.
Speaking, the Chairman of Ejigbo LCDA, Hon. Monsuru Bello (Obe) who was represented by the Secretary to Local Government (SLG), Hon. Paul Fregene commended the group for preserving the cultures, saying the Cultural Day celebration is necessary to keep the cultures alive.
According to him, language is most valued culture of any tribe which must be preserved for the continuous existence of such tribe.
He therefore urged the youths to know where they are from by celebrating their roots and cultures.
The chairman of Ejigbo Community Development Committee (CDC), Prince JeliliAtiku while delivering a lecture about cultural values, noted that the foreigners stole the Nigerian cultures which were replaced only by their languages.
He said: “There is energy in Nigeria native languages the Whites stole from us and the only thing they gave us is their vocabulary. Culture is the ideas and social behaviour of a particular society. All the native languages in Nigeria had advanced socially and were already civilised before the Whites came into the country.
“The African cultures respect elders and women. Our cultures should be our pride and we should always stand high with our cultures wherever we are. Our traditional cultures have deep knowledge in solving any disease, we shouldn’t throw our cultures away, we should be proud of our cultures.”
Atiku therefore discouraged the youths from placing foreign cultures over theirs.
“The youths should understand that their native cultures are gold and there is nothing that can replace gold. Our culture is an advanced civilization that cannot be compared to any other culture anywhere. The western people are keeping their culture. If you go to Paris, they speak French, that is their language and language is part of culture. So, if we are deviating from our cultures and embracing the western cultures, then we are making ourselves inferior to the cultures we are embracing.We should embrace and understand that our cultures have deep knowledge.”
The recipients of the merit awards include the council chairman, Hon. Monsuru Bello; the CDC chairman, Prince JeliliAtiku; Bobaselu of Ejigbo Land, Chief Alex Nwoye; CEO Nico Hotels, Chief Nicholas Njoku; Dr. Chukwuneye Celestine; the Supervisor for Agriculture, Ejigbo LCDA, Hon. Adejoke Adeosun; Comr. Henry Ayanmale and the Coordinator of NYCN, Ejigbo branch, Comr. Akintunde Akinyele.
