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5 Remarkable Facts About Yoruba People by EMMASON125: 12:00pm On Aug 27, 2014 |
The Yoruba people of Western Nigeria are a nationality of approximately 35 million people occupying the south-western parts of Nigeria. While their primary concentration is in Nigeria, they are also found in other West African countries and throughout the entire world as well. They constitute what could be described as the largest concentration of Africans who live and work in the Diaspora and their descendants are spread all over the world. But what are some of the notable facts about the Yoruba People? Well, here is a look at the top five facts about them. They are one of the largest ethnic groups in Africa. Numbering about 35 million in total, the Yoruba is one of the largest ethnic groups south of the Sahara Desert. They constitute about 21% of Nigeria’s total population, making them one of the largest ethnic groups in Nigeria. Contrary to what many people believe, the Yoruba are, in fact, not a single ethnic group. In a sharp contrast, they are a collection of diverse people that are bound together by a common language, culture and history. According to the Yoruba Mythology, it is believed that they descended from an area called Odua. Uncounted numbers of Yorubas were carried to the Caribbean and the Americas during slave trade period. In 1893, the Yoruba Kingdom became part of the British Protectorate. They still cling to their culture. Irrespective of modernisation, the Yoruba people still hold their culture and traditions so dearly. For instance, the art of passage of rite is still rife among the Yorubas and is still a common practice even to date. When a new baby is born, it is sprinkled with water until he or she cries failure to which no word is spoken until he or she does so. At a birth ceremony, no one younger than the baby’s mother is permitted. After a specified number of days have elapsed, a naming ceremony is held where close relatives are invited. Both male and female babies are circumcised within the first month. Another notable culture among the Yorubas is the burial as a rite of passage. Adult men who are not closely related to the deceased, but who belong to the deceased’s clan are allowed to attend the burial. The grave is dug inside the deceased’s house. Later, several rituals are performed to ensure that the deceased is reborn again. Majority of Yorubas still practice traditional religion. Even though a good number of Yoruba people practice Christianity, up to 20% of the Yoruba population still practice traditional forms of religion. However, this practice varies from one community to another. For instance, they claim that they have more than 400 deities. This complexity has led westerners to compare their religion to that of ancient Greek. Their tradition holds that there is only one supreme being or god called Olorun. In addition, there are three gods available to all. Oluron is the creator and the high god. The Yoruba call on this god by prayers or by pouring water on the ground using kola nuts. Eshu is the divine god who delivers special sacrifices to the high god, Olorun. Isha, on the other hand, is the god of divination. He interprets Olorun’s wishes to mankind. The Yoruba have a strong political system. The Yoruba are one of the few African people who have strong, united political and social systems. However, their political and social system varies significantly, depending largely on regions. In addition, allegiance to these systems is paid uniformly to a large urban area, as opposed to a centralised authority. Each town has a leader called Oba, who achieves this position by being selected by an Oba who is in power, by inheritance or by participating title associations. There is also a council of elders which assists the Oba with decision-making. Title associations play an important role when it comes to balancing and assigning power within different cities. The Yoruba are gifted sculptors. The art of sculpture is not a new concept among the Yoruba people . They started creating sculpture as early as the 12th century and continue to do so even now. In order to honour their several deities, gods and ancestors, the Yoruba’s make magnificent sculptures. Beautiful sculptures of wood, brass and terracotta are common things among the Yoruba. In addition to that, they are also good porters, weavers and metal smiths. http://buzznigeria.com/yoruba-people/ |
Re: 5 Remarkable Facts About Yoruba People by gratiaeo(m): 12:11pm On Aug 27, 2014 |
We de observe |
Re: 5 Remarkable Facts About Yoruba People by Infomizer(m): 12:20pm On Aug 27, 2014 |
20% ain't majority! The article is quite revealing but reeks of fallacies of hasty generalization. 1 Like |
Re: 5 Remarkable Facts About Yoruba People by ketoprofen(m): 2:45pm On Aug 27, 2014 |
Yorubas r not the largest grp in diaspora. I can't say for UK but elsewhere, we know who |
Re: 5 Remarkable Facts About Yoruba People by tonychristopher: 4:56pm On Aug 27, 2014 |
As a matter of serious conversation, shouldn't your first instinct be to answer to the substantive question about projects that Yorubas have embarked on and succeeded in Nigeria and out of the confidence that you derived from having responded properly to the inquiry at hand you can then proceed to asking any questions that you dim necessary. Your failure toaddress the question at hand before asking your question indicates that you are not a serious interlocutor like Ayo and I say that for the records.Notwithstanding your inability to rescue Ayo from his self-inflicted wound, again typical of a Yoruba man, I will not hesitate to take you to school if you chose to be babysitted for the record, although I will be repeating myself. Now in respect to your specificquestion, what Igbo built that Yoruba destroyed, in a nutshell almost every institution that the white man handed over to Nigeria after our independence Igbos built but because of your sophomoric question I will endeavor to break down what I mean for you. Nigerian railway was built and managed under Igbo minister Dr. Onyiuke and Igbos ran most of the day to day operations and the railway worked, when Yorubas took over the railway after the war they destroyed it. Igbos ran the military and brought prestige to the Nigerian military because of the caliber of Igbos that joined the military and the military worked then, look at what the military has become. You can mention any ministry before the war that worked and you will see the hands of Igbo in it.During the British/Biafran war Igbos invented one of the most deadly explosives (IEDs-Ogbunigwe)the world have ever known in the 1960s, the Igbos built armored cars, air missiles, assault rifles, gun boats, rocket launcher, rocket propelled grenades and ambulance vehicles. Igbos not only built underground refineries they also built mobile refineries as they lost territories to the federal troops. After the war Awo and his tribal cabal representing the Yoruba conspired and went on a search and destroy mission and methodically combed all the south east and blew up and destroyed all thefactories that Igbo built instead of moving the factories and the Igbo scientists to a federally controlled areaand using their ingenuity to the benefitof the whole nation. For your information ask America and Russia what they did with German engineers after world war 11. Today Nigeria is importing all these military equipments. That is destruction of what Igbos built. In 1972, Professor A. N. Njoku-Obi produced an anti-cholera vaccine recognized by the world health community, Yoruba elites who were running the Nigeria bureaucracy after the war did not want to hear of it, they undermined that project and today Nigeria is importing those drugs instead of being the manufacturer and exporter. That is destruction my friends. In 1974 two years after an Igbo invented the cholera vaccine, Professor F. A. Udekwu and his colleagues performedthe first ever open-heart surgery in Nigeria and Black Africa, did you think that Yoruba elites wanted to hear that, of course not, if I did not tell you now, would you know? Hell no! Today, forty years later Nigerians are going oversees for their heart surgery payinghard currency. That is destruction of Nigerian economy. In 1999 after Obasanjo took office, he destroyed every Igbo business that was importing Rice and Cement into Nigeria before he came into office by granting an unprecedented and probably the biggest sole monopoly ofthe importation of rice and cement to one man called Dangote who became a billionaire overnight. When Igbos where involved in the importation of these items like cement, the price of cement was around N300, now the price of cement is hovering around N1,500 a bag. Go figure that, that is destruction of not only Igbos businesses but Nigeria in general. After Dangote was grant the sole monopoly of importing cement, he complained to Obasanjo that Ibeto cement industry owned by an Igbo which was mostly a repackaging factory was creating an undue competition for his monopoly and overnight Obasanjo used an executive order to shutdown Ibeto cement factory with its 400 employees. My friend that is destruction by any standard. Savannah Bank was established by Jim Nwobodo an Igbo man, Obasanjo closed down that bank and rendered all the employees jobless because he had some disagreements with Nwobodo not because the bank went bankrupt, not because the bank was running a fraudulent scheme, not because the bank was being mismanaged but because Obasanjo like most Yorubas have this visceral hate, wickedness, jealousy and the type of indifference that says why did God create an Igbo in the first place. Again Kunle that is destruction of a unique type. Engineer Ezekiel Izuogo created the V600 car and Yoruba press, politicians, lawyers even Yoruba engineers attacked him mercilessly and frustrated his effort to build the factory in Igbo land, that is one, second when he decided to build the factory in South Africa during Obasanjo’s regime, Obasanjo and his co-haters went and stole everything, the design manual, the engine block, everything necessary for him to carry on his work thereby destroying Izuogo motors for good. Kunle do you still need more examples? Wait I told Ayo that I have more than most of you could imagine. Do you remember Niger Dock Apapa, Dr. Nnamdi Ozobia, an Igbo built it, he built yachts for individuals and ferry boats for Lagos State that plied between Apapa to Mile2. He also did repairs for foreign ships that paid Nigeria hard currency, well here we go again, when Obasanjo came into office he removed Dr. Ozobia in the most ignominious way a pattern for Obasanjo and handed over Niger Dock Apapa to Yorubas. Today Niger Dock Apapa is in ruins, a shadow of its old self. That is destruction of what Igbos built. You have Nigerian Ports Authority, NigerianAirways, you have NITEL that Yorubas burnt down after they ruined it throughembezzlement. Lest I forget what about the mother of all destruction, theindigenization decree of 1972. What the decree did was to hand over Nigerian economy to the Yorubas and they destroyed the economy. The list below is a partial list of mostly British and other foreign owned companies that Igbos were efficiently managing before the war, few of these companies were owned or partial owned by Yoruba. Some Yorubas in the past have quibbled about preciselywho owned what but not on the point of whether Yorubas ruined all the companies that they acquired by the force of the indigenization decree. My response is that the issue has never been about who owned what, the substantive issue was and is that Yorubas ruined, defrauded, liquidated and destroyed all the companies they took over after the war regardless of who owned them before the war even including their own companies that they started but could not manage. For your information that single act of indigenization decree is largely responsible for our economic state of affair. “Pharmaceutical Nigeria Plc , May and Baker Nigeria Plc, Vitafoam Nigeria Plc, Wahum Nigeria Limited , CAP Nigeria Plc , International Paints of West Africa [IPWA], Berger Paints Nigeria Plc, Berec Nigeria Limited, Kabelmetal, Nigeria Bottling Company Plc, Leventis Nigeria Plc , West African Portland Cement Company,[Lafarge], Wema Bank Nigeria Plc, Scoa Nigeria Plc , CFAO Nigeria Plc, Cadbury Nigeria Plc, Wemaboard Estates, Odua Group, Livestock Feeds Nigeria Plc , Nigerian Breweries Plc, new nigerian Bank, Batta, Kingsway Stores, Crittal Hope (Nigeria) Limited, Mushin, Lagos State.Dunlop (Nig.) Industries Plc, Ikeja, Lagos State. • Galvanising Industries Limited, Ikeja, Lagos State. • Nigeria Construction & Water Resources Development Company Limited, Ibadan, Oyo State • Nigerian Wire & Cable Plc, Ibadan, Oyo State • Nigerite PLC, Ikeja, Lagos State • Nipol Limited, Ibadan, Oyo State • Odu'a Textile Industries Limited, Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State • Soleh Boneh Overseas (Nigeria) Limited, Ibadan, Oyo State • Vono Products Plc, Mushin, Lagos State • Wema Bank Plc, lately the killed NITEL,NICOMSAT etc. 1 Like |
Re: 5 Remarkable Facts About Yoruba People by Omexonomy: 8:16pm On Aug 27, 2014 |
Four of the so called facts are nothing but lies. 6. What about Yoruba people loves eating watery food and soup e.g amala ati moimoi to fele with omi obe to sann |
Re: 5 Remarkable Facts About Yoruba People by TheWayToZion: 12:33pm On May 14, 2016 |
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