Dawn Summit: Save Yorùbá Culture From Extinction, Alake Tells Leaders
By Exponent News Akure, 29th October, 2025
The Minister of Solid Minerals, Mr. Dele Alake, has charged political leaders in the South-West to save the Yorùbá culture from going into extinction. Disclosing this at the ongoing South-West Summit held at The Dome in Akure, Ondo State, Mr. Alake advocated that speaking the Yorùbá language to our children at home would enable them to understand the language better and cherish the cultural values of their forefathers.
According to him, losing one’s language means losing one’s identity. He frowned at parents who often speak foreign languages to their children at home and urged them to desist from such acts, as this attitude would not allow their children to understand their culture and language. The Minister, who was of the opinion that teachers’ responsibility is to teach children in the approved language in schools—through which children are bound to learn and excel academically—stressed that parents need to speak their mother tongue to their children always, whether at home, in the market, or in other places outside school, for them to understand the language and keep their culture and identity alive.
He shared a personal experience he had with a market woman who was speaking English to her child in the market when he wanted to buy vegetables from her. The attitude of the woman put him off, as she was communicating with her child in English while he was speaking Yorùbá to her. As a result, he declined to buy from her. However, after correcting her to stop speaking English to the child and when the woman complied, he changed his mind and bought all her vegetables.
Alake concluded that parents are not doing their children any good by communicating with them in a foreign language, as this is capable of eroding the culture and identity of their children.
