₦airaland Forum

There’s something deeply painful about driving into a Yoruba town these days.

You’re greeted by rusting signposts, potholed roads, and shuttered stores. The once vibrant village squares are silent, the town halls now hosting more funerals than community initiatives. Yet these same towns—places like Ila-Orangun, Ikere-Ekiti, Oyo, and Ijebu-Igbo—were once centres of education, commerce, and strong communal pride. What happened to us?

More importantly, how did our neighbours—states in the South-East and Niger Delta—begin to pull ahead?

In Ebonyi, a state that once struggled for recognition, there are now functional streetlights, urban planning projects, solid roads linking villages, and modern schools rising from the ground. Go to Nnewi in Anambra, and you’ll see something even more telling: industries owned not by foreigners, but by sons of the soil—motorcycle assembly plants, manufacturing hubs, and smart investments powering the local economy.

Meanwhile, we—descendants of Oduduwa—still pack our bags and head to Lagos like it’s the only place where dreams are allowed to thrive.

Too Much Dependence on Lagos, Too Little Love for Home

The over-dependence on Lagos is choking the Yoruba spirit.

Lagos is a great city, no doubt. It has given so much to Nigeria and the world. But Lagos is already overwhelmed, congested, and burdened. It was never meant to carry the entire weight of the Yoruba nation. Yet today, even people from Ilesha or Ogbomosho prefer to say, “I’m from Lagos,” while their true hometowns waste away.

It’s not the same in the East.

An Igbo man in London is building his second duplex in Abakaliki. An Itsekiri woman in Canada is donating boreholes to her village in Delta State. They don’t hide their hometowns. They transform them.

They have learned that development is not a government thing. It’s a community thing. A personal thing. A generational responsibility.

Yoruba people need to learn this too.

We Can’t Wait for Government Any Longer

Many Yoruba towns are stuck in a cycle of political apathy and dependency. Everything is about “government will do it.” But government hasn’t done it—and won’t. The reality is, federal allocations won’t build your street. Politicians come and go. But communities last forever.

Let’s go back to the spirit of Aro, Egbe, Asa, and Omo Ilu. Our forefathers didn’t wait for white men or federal ministers. They pooled resources, built schools, dug wells, erected town halls, and funded scholarships. Today, we spend more on owambe than on town development.

We need a mindset shift. We need to copy what is working.

What the East and Niger Delta Are Doing Right

Community-driven development: In the East, town unions are powerful. They raise funds from their sons and daughters abroad. They set development goals. They inspect projects. They name and shame.

Diaspora reinvestment: Igbos abroad are building homes, factories, hospitals—not just in Abuja or Lekki, but in Orlu, Nsukka, and Umuahia. There’s pride in building back home.

Private-led innovation: In Delta and Rivers, you see individuals setting up ICT hubs, film studios, and agro-processing plants. They're not waiting for Abuja.


Meanwhile in Yoruba land, we’re busy fighting over kingship stools, land boundaries, and who gets the next chieftaincy title.

It’s Time to Wake Up

We must stop romanticising Lagos and start romanticising Ijero, Ikirun, Ikole, Oyo, Akure, and Iwo. These towns hold our heritage, our identity—and if we invest in them, our future.

Let’s challenge ourselves:

Start a business in your hometown.

Donate to a local school.

Set up a scholarship fund.

Partner with others to fix one road.

Stop saying, “There’s nothing there.” Say, “Let me build something there.”


Because the truth is, if we don't return with our strength, our towns will die with our parents. And when the time comes for us to retire or reconnect, there may be nothing left to go back to.

We must reduce our unhealthy dependence on Lagos and stop waiting for government handouts.

Let’s look inward.

The East is doing it. The Niger Delta is doing it. What are we waiting for?


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Its a complete analysis.

The writer just woke up from a long slumber. This has been discussed on this forum for over 3 years now

I am proud of my Yoruba heritage.

I believe in the potential of our towns and cities and I am committed to seeing them thrive.

We will build back better.

How many towns in Yoruba land have you visited to come to this conclusion? Every town or village in Nigeria has the brown roof. Signifying the ancient people that reside there, and the children, instead of pulling it down and build something magnificent, prefer to buy a land and build their own house because the brown roof house belong to the family and you can't make a sole decision of dismantling it for a new house.

If we're to check, the OP is likely an Igbo man. When a Yoruba man retaliate by creating this kind of thread, Igbos will claim Yorubas hate them.

The writer should also write about how other regions are also leaving their towns behind

This is a balanced write up.
As if they would learn,never. Let them keep abusing and shaming us which is the only ambition and plans of most yorubas on nairaland,twitter now X and even Facebook and most offices.

They wake up to question what igbos are doing in Lagos,as if the constitution does not provide for people to move the round the country freely.

In my village in umuahia,there are street lights everywhere courtesy of diaspora contribution of developing their father land and more.

I have witnessed one disturbing trends among yorubas,my wife's boss a yoruba just buried his mother in Ekiti without calling on anyone to follow them to the funeral and few days time,they sold "asoebi" and invited everyone to Lagos for what they called final burial.

Same thing happened to my boss in the office,they buried his mother and after few weeks,they invited people to Lagos for what they called final burial.

Why are they afraid to invite people to their land for proper funeral?

I am not mocking them,I just want to let them know that gradually,they are turning their villages to a ghost town. It is a dangerous trend and shouldn't be encouraged.

No one should be afraid of his hone town...I was born in Lagos an igbo man at that I live in Abuja and I treasure my village,even owing land in my village is a competition among youths. Building houses is also a bigger competition and that trend should be copied and extend for the sake of ur unborn children.

Don't do like Tinubu who has abandoned his village for the sake of politics.

All this hopeless ipob senseless clown writting about Yoruba. An average Igbo man have his head ringing Yoruba out of endemic hate n bigotry from dusk to dawn. Imagine how many productive hour an foolish soul will have to waste writting n correcring error in an essasy such as this. That is the level of hate n bigotry ones life will be riddled with to sit to write this ? That is the case of this writter

Me that I have plans to buy electric car from China this is what I will waste my life one when am not jobless n foolish like the everyday Ipob obidient.

But Yorubaland is the most developed region in Nigeria now.
Even USA has slums.

Most Easterners confessed that Ibadan is more developed than the entire SE.

It's something I can't understand

The shocking one is my yorubas relatives abroad would visit Nigeria fly from Lagos to Port Harcourt then fly back abroad... Like? What?

Lmaooo it can't be me ooh my village is my final bus stop

Oloki:
How many towns in Yoruba land have you visited to come to this conclusion? Every town or village in Nigeria has the brown roof. Signifying the ancient people that reside there, and the children, instead of pulling it down and build something magnificent, prefer to buy a land and build their own house because the brown roof house belong to the family and you can't make a sole decision of dismantling it for a new house.

This is not an excuse. My grandfather and his elder brother built a house for their mother.
Both are gone now.
My dad and his cousins upgraded the family house despite having their own houses.
We're not even directly benefiting from it.

mrvitalis:
It's something I can't understand

The shocking one is my yorubas relatives abroad would visit Nigeria fly from Lagos to Port Harcourt then fly back abroad... Like? What?

Lmaooo it can't be me ooh my village is my final bus stop

It's prevalent in mostly Christian Yoruba families.
The Muslims still use to go back home. Our pastors are not helping with the story of Ogun idile.
People now feel they need to avoid their village People.
I don't actually think Ogun State should be in this category, but I saw ijebu-igbo mentioned.
Intercity rail is what we need.
You don't have to live in Lagos to work in Lagos

I know this olanike Olaniyi guy is an Igbo guy. I know him on X . However what he said is true. I went to my late dad’s town recently and there’s no economic activities there.

I have decided to transform that town and bring back the lost glory of the town. I will be meeting with the baales and the chiefs to make this happen. Empower the youths and market women. Build ICT and invest in agro products

ibechris:
This is a balanced write up.
Don't do like Tinubu who has abandoned his village for the sake of politics.

I just want to correct one thing. Tinubu family are lagosians.
She married a Lagos king. She's originally from Abeokuta Ogun State.
Lagos and Ogun State are brother state and do intermarry

Hmmm... They should beg the developers to help them to push for development, or rather they should teach them how they're doing it without breaking the bank.

They should give the developers free hands to help them do that.

Adexgentle005:
I know this olanike Olaniyi guy is an Igbo guy. I know him on X . However what he said is true. I went to my late dad’s town recently and there’s no economic activities there.

Jumping over your psychic ability to know people's true tribes over the internet I wonder why you would use such a statement to objectify the hometown of your father 🤔 I mean, this is YOUR OWN FATHER you're talking about here right? So you recently went to HIS OWN TOWN and realized it was crumbling? sad to know sorry

BUT if that crumbling town belonged to 'YOUR FATHER' . . . Then permit me to ask, where is YOUR OWN town at? 🤔

Oh silly me lol 🤣 I forgot the title of this thread 😂 you can carry on, no need to reply 😀 I understand completely

SeeWahala:
Jumping over your psychic ability to know people's true tribes over the internet I wonder why you would use such a statement to objectify the hometown of your father 🤔 I mean, this is YOUR OWN FATHER you're talking about here right? So you recently went to HIS OWN TOWN and realized it was crumbling? sad to know sorry

BUT if that crumbling town belonged to 'YOUR FATHER' . . . Then permit me to ask, where is YOUR OWN town at? 🤔

Oh silly me lol 🤣 I forgot the title of this thread 😂 you can carry on, no need to reply 😀 I understand completely

I say things how it is. Dude I was born and brought up in Lagos. I have my own house in Lagos already. We are talking about abandoned ancestry yoruba towns here

Adexgentle005:
I know this olanike Olaniyi guy is an Igbo guy. I know him on X . However what he said is true. I went to my late dad’s town recently and there’s no economic activities there.

I have decided to transform that town and bring back the lost glory of the town. I will be meeting with the baales and the chiefs to make this happen. Empower the youths and market women. Build ICT and invest in agro products

how can you prove he is Igbo or let's even agree he Igbo... Did what he say a lie ?