Professor Banji Akintoye, the leader of the Yoruba self-determination movement, Ilana Omo Oodua, lamented the stark contrast between the Yoruba people’s past and present circumstances. He noted that once, the Yoruba took pride in the fact that none of their kin would beg on the streets. However, today, hundreds of thousands of Yoruba individuals are forced to do so in the cities. This shift, he argued, is a telling sign of disintegration....CONTINUE READING THE ARTICLE FROM THE SOURCE
Furthermore, Akintoye highlighted that while Yoruba land was once renowned for having the highest school attendance on the African continent, poverty has now rendered many families unable to send their children to school, resulting in an alarming exponential increase in out-of-school children in the region.
According to what Banji Akintoye said in an interview with Punch News, “We, the Yoruba, used to brag that no Yoruba man would beg on the streets. Now, hundreds of thousands of Yoruba beg on the streets of our cities.
All these point to disintegration. Now, it used to be said that on the African continent, school attendance is highest in Yoruba land, but now, because of poverty, many families are no longer able to send their children to school. So, out-of-school children are increasing exponentially in Yoruba land. Meanwhile, almost all our university graduates, a dynamic factor in any economy in the world, are leaving Nigeria.