Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yoruba land, Iba Gani Adams, has reiterated the need for Yorubas to go back to their root, saying there was a need for them to face the reality by identifying with their culture, tradition and heritage in order for the race to attain rapid development like the developed nations of the world.
Iba Adams made the call while speaking on the occasion of Elegbara Festival 2021, which took place at Shasha, in the Egbeda area of Lagos State.
Speaking at the event attended by Oba of Shasha Kingdom, Oba Babatunde. A. Nasiru Lawal, the Ariwajoye /Akinlowo; other royal fathers, Iyaloye Shasha, Chief (Mrs.) Foluso Adeogun; among other dignitaries, Adams quickly recalled that infrastructure in Poland was even worse than that of Nigeria in 1981, but affirmed that the story of their infrastructural deficit now changed tremendously due to their determination to respect and embrace their culture and tradition.
“Yesterday, I came back to Nigeria after a two-week official trip to Europe.
“Like every other trip, my recent trip to Germany, Italy and Poland, among others was an eye-opener.
“For instance, in Poland, the Polish infrastructure was even worse than that of Nigeria in 1981. That was about 40 years ago.
“But the story of their infrastructural deficit now changed tremendously because of their determination to
respect and embrace their culture and tradition.
“Today, Poland can easily be compared with other developed countries in Europe and the entire world because of their tremendous transformation.
“The polish identified the missing links in their culture, tradition and heritage. They went back to their root and embrace what is truly important to them as a people,” the Yoruba generalissimo said.
“We, therefore, need to go back to our root. We need to face the reality by identifying with our culture, tradition and heritage,” he declared.
Iba Adams posited that there were some things that had gone wrong and needed to be corrected as a race in the way “our culture, tradition and heritage” was being handled.
“There are some missing links in the way we play our politics. There are some missing links in the way we handle our educational institutions and security in the South-West,” he said.
He tasked the race to find the missing links by facing the challenges that had been threatening her capacity for growth and advancement across Yoruba land, pointing out that a better part of Yoruba culture, is the language, which he lamented was presently going into extinction.
According to him, “Our most cherished value of Omoluabi is gone and we need to restore those sacred values back.
“Values of honesty, truth, hardwork, punctuality, respect to elders, and other institutions, dedication to duty, politeness, humility, and the fear of almighty God, among others are the core values of the Yoruba.
“Finally, we will not relent in our effort. We will make sure that the Yoruba race regains its lost glory.”
On Elegbara Festival, Iba Adams noted that one of the reasons for celebrating it was to promote Yoruba culture, tradition and heritage and also to regain the lost glory of the race, among others, just as he described Elegbara, otherwise known as Legba in Togo, Cameroun and other African countries, as a deity of great quality.
Besides, he said the deity, “from time immemorial, is specially created by the most high God as a very important deity in both the spiritual and physical realms,” and further described it as a divine messenger who often played different roles.
He particularly noted that the Shasha and its environs had benefitted from Elegbara Festival both physically and spiritually, since Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) n collaboration with Olokun Festival Foundation (OFF) started celebrating the festival, saying the testimonies were there for everyone to see.
Iba Adams said the Foundation had explored the tourism potentials of the area by providing the business opportunities for the people of the community, with windows of business opportunities opened to both the small and large scale business owners, adding: “It can only become even better if the state and the local governments really appreciate the need to use cultural festivals like this as tools to promote the economy of all the communities in the state.”
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