A Professor of Ekiti State at Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti, Timothy Akanbi, has expressed deep concern over the declining preservation of the Yorùbá language, calling on parents, schools, and government authorities to take urgent steps to prevent the language from going into extinction.
The university lecturer, who is also a senior pastor at Deeper Life Bible Church, made the call on Wednesday on campus while delivering the 101st inaugural lecture of the university.
The lecture was titled “Language: A Structural and Aesthetic Exposition of Human Language – The Yorùbá Example.”
Speaking to the audience, Akanbi described the neglect of Yorùbá as “dangerous” and blamed parents, schools, and government policies for weakening the language among younger generations. He said Yorùbá is under threat on two major fronts: at home and in public policy.
He noted that many parents now discourage their children from speaking Yorùbá at home, insisting on English even when they themselves lack fluency. He warned that “children raised this way end up speaking neither good English nor proper Yorùbá.”
The professor also criticized the education system, highlighting that pupils in several primary schools are punished or ridiculed for speaking their mother tongue. He said labeling Yorùbá as a vernacular in schools has discouraged children from using the language actively.
On government policies, Akanbi condemned the reversal of Nigeria’s National Language Policy, which removed mother-tongue instruction from early education. He cited research showing that children taught in their native language perform better academically than those taught strictly in English.
Referencing studies by the late Babatunde Fafunwa, Akanbi lamented that the government failed to implement recommendations to strengthen Yorùbá education. “If a language is not spoken, it will die,” he warned, stressing that Yorùbá could disappear without immediate action.
To preserve Yorùbá, Akanbi recommended making the language compulsory in primary and secondary schools across the South-West, reintroducing mother-tongue instruction, publishing more Yorùbá textbooks, encouraging parents to speak Yorùbá at home, and making a credit pass in Yorùbá mandatory for university admission through the West African Examinations Council and the National Examinations Council.
The Vice-Chancellor of the university, Joseph Babatola Ayodele, praised the lecture as intellectually rich and engaging, noting Akanbi’s effective use of Yorùbá proverbs, idioms, and rhymes.
He also revealed that the university has launched an online programme to help Yorùbá indigenes in the diaspora reconnect with their language.
The event attracted top officials, faculty deans, church leaders, and family members of the lecturer.
