Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi, has banned officials of the state and other participants from speaking English Language at cultural and traditional functions.
Fayemi instituted this on Monday at the first Ekiti State Arts and Culture Stakeholders’ Forum with the theme: “Arts and Culture for Economic Prosperity.”
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Fayemi said it was important to take this step in order to promote arts and culture in Ekiti and reignite communication through Yoruba and Ekiti dialect.
The governor was represented at the event by the Head of Service, Deji Ajayi.
“From today henceforth, the government has banned the speaking of English in any cultural programme. Whoever that will participate in any traditional programme must speak Yoruba or our dialect,” he said.
Fayemi said the state would hold its Festival of Arts and Culture in December 2019, as part of plans to boost the state’s economy.
He said: “In the primary school teachers’ recruitment exercise we advertised recently, we wanted to employ 1,100 teachers and over 19,000 had applied on our website. This shows that government must develop the skills and capacities of our youths to be able to be on their own.
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“We are going to organise Ekiti State Festival of Arts and Culture in December this year to enhance our capacities in crafts, dancing, weaving and other vocational areas of arts.
“We should not forget to teach our children those values that will make Ekiti to remember their heritage and sustain our culture as a people.”
