THE wife of the Ogun State Governor, Dr (Mrs) Olufunso Amosun, has charged the youths on the need to revive and promote the nation’s culture and language.
She said this at the second annual Egba-dialect debate and choral competition sponsored by the Senator representing Ogun Central in the National Assembly, Dr Lanre Tejuoso, held at the OOPL, Abeokuta, recently.
Mrs Amosun who was the special guest of honour at the event said that language and culture are key elements in instilling good virtues and morals into the upcoming generations.
She, therefore, charged the participants who debated on the topic ‘Technology, a threat to our cultural value’, advised the students to cherish our language and culture.
The guest of honour noted that technology could be used to enhance both culture and language.
Tejuoso, who is the promoter of competition, the second in the series, said he was touched by the fact that the Yoruba language was fast going into extinction and the Egba dialect was not an exception.
He said, “As a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I have had the opportunity of travelling a number of states across the country.
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“I discovered that in the North, South-South, South East, they still cherish and speak their languages and dialects. But here in the South West, we don’t speak our language much less our dialects.
“To ensure that our dialects do not die, we need to encourage our children to speak the dialects. That is why I initiated the debate and the choral competition among the public secondary schools in the state. This is the second edition.”
Speaking with the competition coordinator, Mr Samuel Olojede, twelve secondary schools went through the preliminary stages of the debate, but three finally made it to the final.
The schools that made it to the finals were African Church Grammar School, Ita Iyalode, Oba Community Comprehensive High School, Oba, and Lisabi Grammar School.
Oba Community Comprehensive High School came first while African Church Grammar School and Lisabi Grammar School came second and third positions respectively at the end of the competition.
For a choral competition, the three top schools were Adenrele High School, Ifo, Nawair’deen Grammar School, Obantoko, and Adeoye Lambo Memorial High School, Obada, all located in Abeokuta.
All the winners went away with trophies and cash rewards.
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