Our Culture Can Strengthen The Bonds Of Unity, Build A More Inclusive And Fairer Society
Channel: Prof. Yemi Osinbajo
Date: 2021-11-24

Presentation and Launch Of Yoruba World Centre

The work of centres such as the International Centre For Yoruba Arts and Culture could become a base for how culture can help in building a more inclusive, fairer, and more just society, according to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN.

 

Prof. Osinbajo, who was speaking this afternoon at the launch of the Centre in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, added that the Centre could strengthen the bonds of unity within an ethnically diverse nation such as Nigeria.

 

“The work of this Centre should also offer a base and sanctuary which reflects how Yoruba culture can contribute to the tools of nation-building,” the VP stated.

 

Reflecting on President Muhammadu Buhari’s observation in 2018 that the rest of Nigeria could learn from the accommodating nature of Yorubas in South West regardless of religion, ethnicity, and politics, Prof. Osinbajo asked, “how can the rest of the nation learn as President Buhari observed, from the way Yorubas manage within their families to accommodate diverse faiths and beliefs?

 

“At a more reflective level, we will through this repository and the traditions embedded in the artworks and cultural artefacts, imbibe the triumphs, challenges, inventions, and spiritual heritage of the Yoruba people.

 

“And how here at home, Yoruba culture also had to adapt to the onslaught of colonialism in Nigeria by the British and in Benin and Togo by the French. In ‘Death and the King’s Horseman’, a classic play by Professor Wole Soyinka, we see forces at work that tried to adapt cultural practices with tragic consequences.”

 

Highlighting the Omoluabi philosophy of the Yoruba people, which is used to describe a person of integrity, trust and honour, the VP observed that, “in a nation dogged by the abdication of high values especially in leadership, perhaps the Centre might take on the task of formalizing the pedagogy on the concept of Omoluabi for teaching in our schools. Omoluabi, the true moral quintessence of the Yoruba race – the virtuous man, or the man or woman of character.

 

“Perhaps scholars here will distill the heart of the Omoluwabi ethos, and reveal the attributes of trustworthiness, reliability, honesty, and forthrightness for coming generations of Nigerians. Perhaps the world needs to know that the Omoluabi is one whose word to brother and stranger alike is reliable, who believes in the equality of all men regardless of race or belief, and that all deserve to be treated with dignity and fairness. One who believes that the commonwealth is not to be stolen or personalized, but it is for the good of all.”

 

In the same vein, the Vice President noted that “culture is not just about the past, and it is neither static nor immutable, it is constantly creating and recreating;” and “progress is not merely determined by fidelity to tradition, but by our capacity for invention and reinvention.”

 

Prof. Osinbajo further said Nigeria could further leverage its diversity to harness strength and raise development capital.

 

As the VP observed, a continuously changing global landscape and the Fourth Industrial Revolution have made it more vital to adapt to technological innovation changing at lightning speed.


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Oluyemi Oluleke “Yemi” Osinbajo is a Nigerian lawyer and politician who is the current Vice President of Nigeria, in office since 29 May 2015.

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