A traditional ruler in Ado-Odo Ota Local Government Area of Ogun State, Onibudo of Ayetoro Budo-Ota, Oba Adewunmi Odutala, has advocated for local languages in schools.
The monarch made the call at a special press briefing organised to advise the Nigerian government for the year 2024.
He also noted that if Nigeria must thrive goods that Nigerians produce must stop coming from foreign countries into Nigeria local markets.
He said “Government should pay attention to little things that affect the lives of the common masses. We should encourage locally-made goods in 2024. Invest in local manufacturers. The FG should stop the importation of Ankara fabrics and empower Ankara factories in Nigeria.
“If they want Nigerians to patronise the local market, the government should settle down and invest in local markets and we will all thrive together.”
The traditional ruler urged the federal government to nip in the bud, the gradual death of Nigeria’s local languages.
Just like English and mathematics, Oba Odutala advocated that the government should ensure that candidates excel in their local languages to get admitted into tertiary institutions in the country.
“Encourage the speaking of local languages in government offices and schools, make local languages a compulsory subject to gain admission into our higher institutions. It is only in Nigeria we train our children with foreign languages and we want them to do well academically, it doesn’t work that way, you can’t use another man’s language to train your children and expect them to excel. The level of intelligence is not determined by how much vocabulary they can speak.
“Nations that teach their children local languages are better than us. What have we invented or gained from speaking big English? 2024 must change.”
Thhe monarch called on President Bola Tinubu to work on repairing the battered government imageto achieve citizens’ trust.
He stressed thatTinubu should ensure political officeholders fulfil their campaign promises to the people, insisting that, “Any business transacted with the absence of trust will not end well.
“Government must fulfil all the promises they made. State and local governments should be ready to be accountable to the people in 2024 because we know the amount of allocation they get from the federal government.
“The state and local governments should think about the masses and stop blaming the federal government for their failures. They should implement social welfare for their people and stop pushing all the blame on Tinubu.”
