Recently, the singer David Adeleke was given a global stage to do whatever he wanted and deliver any message. 

Sadly, Mr. Adeleke used the opportunity to speak in an American accent. Not only that, he used that American accent to talk down on Nigeria and tell the world not to invest in Nigeria because, as he put it, Nigeria's "economy is in shambles".

Coincidentally, a month after his faux pas, Kemi Badenoch, probably inspired by Davido, used her British accent to talk down Nigeria, calling us "a very poor country" where the police rob citizens.

But the interesting thing about her own case is that the next day, the BBC featured a panel of Conservative Party big shots, and one of them, Albie Amankona, a party chieftain from Chiswick, who is also a celebrity broadcaster, said, and this is a direct quote:

"If you are a Brexiteer, and you are saying we need to be expanding our global trade beyond the European Union, we want to be looking at emerging markets for growth, don't slag off one of the fastest growing economies in Africa."

Is it not strange that it took the BBC and a British politician to promote Nigeria as one of the fastest-growing economies in Africa? In contrast, Davido and Kemi Badenoch used their global platforms to pooh-pooh our economy.

And just when we thought it was all bad news, God gave us a breath of fresh air in the youthful Ademola Lookman, who used the global podium granted to him by his winning the 2024 African Footballer of the Year award to promote and project Nigeria and the Lukumi Yoruba language to the world.

Wisdom is not by age. If not, Ademola Lookman, who is just twenty-seven, will not have displayed greater wisdom than David Adeleke, who is thirty-two, and Kemi Badenoch, at forty-four.

Mr. Lookman proved that the age of Methuselah has nothing to do with the wisdom of Solomon.

And though I often praise the Lukumi Yoruba, it is not as though other ethnicities with global icons do not also project Nigeria. They do.

For example, Dr. Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala spoke Igbo on the podium of the World Trade Organisation in Geneva, Switzerland. In terms of international prestige, she is FAR above Ademola Lookman.

I have also watched the American rapper Jidenna proudly speak Igbo. And he is not alone.

My campaign is not for the Lukumi Yoruba alone. It is for all sub-Saharan Black Africans to learn to speak their language and not use ability to speak English or another colonial language as a measure of intelligence.

Besides Lukumi Yoruba and Hausa, every other Nigerian language, including Fulfulde, is gradually dying out.

I will give you an example. General Buhari is half Fulani and half Kanuri. Yet, he cannot speak either Fulfulde or Kanuri. But he speaks Hausa and English.

Language erosion is occurring at a frightening rate in the Southeast and the Niger Delta.

Please fact-check me: In 2012, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) projected that the Igbo language would begin facing extinction by 2025. This does not mean that it will vanish. What UNESCO meant is that fewer and fewer people will stop speaking their language, and those who are well-versed in it will start dying with the knowledge of words that can no longer be translated.

However, the Lukumi Yoruba are to be commended for their affirmative actions to preserve and advance their language and culture.

Let me give you an example. All six Governors of the Southwest bear full Lukumi names: Jide Sanwa-Olu, Seyi Makinde, Dapo Abiodun, Ademola Adeleke, Abiodun Oyebanji, and Orighomisan Aiyedatiwa.

None uses a European or Arabic name as even a middle initial.

No other zone in Nigeria has all its governors bearing ethnic Nigerian names as first and second names. They either bear Arabic or European names as first names or even first and second names.

If we truly want to be the Giant of Africa, we must take affirmative steps to preserve our language and culture so we can have children who make us proud, like Ademola Lookman.

Teach your language to your children. Teach it to them before you teach them English. They will learn English at school. And it will not make them less intelligent. On the contrary, being multilingual is scientifically proven to boost intelligence.

Again, fact-check me: In the U.S., Latino children do not speak English until they start kindergarten. They learn Spanish as a first language.

English is a borrowed language. Even if you relocate to the United Kingdom, the best you can be is British. You can never be English. And if your choice of Japa is to the U.S., the highest you can be is an American citizen. You will never become a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant WASP who control the military industrial complex.

Your power lies in balancing ancient and modern, Western and African, English (or other colonial languages) and your native tongue.

That is the way to reverse language erosion and create a culture, like the Lukumi Yoruba, whereby your music, movies, and language end up being Bigger Than Africa.

©️ Omokri
Gospeller. Deep Thinker. #TableShaker. Ruffler of the Feathers of Obidents. #1 Bestselling author of Facts Versus Fiction: The True Story of the Jonathan Years. Hodophile. Hollywood Magazine Humanitarian of the Year, 2019. Business Insider Influencer of the Year 2022.