OLE A FAJO": A YORUBA SYNDROME IN LAZINESS.
Omo onile, oraisas,and hemp-smoking and cutlass-wielding touts are now menacing syndromes in all corners of Yorubaland today.
By Taiye Olaniyi
I don't know and can't speak for any other tribe(s) than my Yoruba extraction, but can without any equivocation conclude, an affirmation that the Yoruba cultural heritage decries and detests with passion any iota and act of indolence or laziness on the part of any offspring of Omo Oduduwa.
From cradle to the final place of abode it is expected that one struggles in gainful employment of soul, mind, and body having at the back of the mind that " Ojo iku ni ojo isimi".
That not until death comes that one ceases to work and/ or struggle.
A lazy being living and rusting away in life is an aberration to life, himself or herself, and his family.
In those good old days in Offa and before the wreckage of everything ever once good amongst the Yoruba folk in Kwara State, J. F Odunjo's " Ise ni Ogun ise" was a living reminder to us of the dignity of labor.
With pride, we used to recite the admonition that hard work remains a panacea and antidote to poverty.
That any reliance on parental affluence is a peril for one as anything derivable without one's sweat will never last so long.
On lazy ones around, Radio Kwara used to play "Pakenke " music, "Ole ko le gbe Ilu wa, ago meje lole nji".
Lazy one that sleeps and wakes so late can't be entertained in our community.
Ebenezer Obey, that wonderful music maestro of Yoruba extraction in one of his evergreen music similarly alerted the lazy ones and decried them so vehemently in, " Eyin alapa ma sise, Eyin a je gboro dagba, igba to jumo ba ti mo e o fewe koko bora. Iya, Iya le o je, osi, osi le o ta, Iya nla, Iya nla iya le o je."
Those lazing around and sleeping lazily have the downfall of life awaiting them.
A lazy one deserves no recognition nor respect amongst the Yorubas of old. In particular and for such a person, a pitiable warning is given, "Igbeyin ni o dun eni eku ada".
It's at long last of life the regret befalls one that lazily wastes his time pretending to be farming with an unsharpened cutlass.
Begging which is a common feature of the lazy ones is equally discouraged amongst the Yoruba.
The " Iya Ibejis", or "Twins' mother" that the Yoruba metaphysics may prescribe begging for some time, still are looked down upon. Usually, no milk of kindness is bestowed on the "Eba ngbe Edun jo "songs they sing when begging.
Invariably, their appeal for help, applauding and dancing with twins, that, which also I belong to as a bonafide "Oosa Ibeji" a "Twin Deity", is sometimes greatly disparaged as the dance of the lazy one.
In today's world, the ancient Yoruba aberration for laziness is being daily bastardized amongst the Yoruba elites as well as the abject poor in Yorubaland and other places they reside.
To one's dismay, the Yoruba elites of today would rather hire and fire house helps at will at the expense of the laziness of their children who will never do common house chores.
The previous early exposure of children to the appreciation enshrined in the dignity of labor is now stupidly tagged "Child labor" by many of the long throating Non-Government Organisations combing foreign countries for grants to combat their inordinate ambition for cool dollars and pound sterling thus desecrating even the fine Yoruba cultural and traditional values.
Schools and academic requirements, admission to schools, and promotion are now subject to bribery and corruption of all sorts. Spoilt children in myriad ways abound in homes of the rich sleeping and waking only in alluring and allusion to a better life in parents' ill-gotten wealth and corrupt heritage.
In religion and politics, the affluent Nigerians and Yorubas inclusive have successfully blown the future of the Nigerian youths whose sole concern now is how to swim in affluence and attendant comfort with the least flare for hard work, creativity, entrepreneurial acumen, and patriotism.
Poor governance and politics of personal enrichment have cumulated in joblessness, helplessness, and hopelessness for many of the children of the poor ones to such an extent many are though, unwilling horses but are now lured into crimes of all sorts."Omo onile, oraisas,and hemp smoking and cutlass-wielding touts are now menacing syndromes in all corners of Yorubaland today.
Political thuggery, religious fanaticism, cultism, gangsterism, yahoo-yahoo, ritual killings, and unsolicited begging, amongst the " Oraisas" and "Omo Onile" are now syndromes of laziness and patent sadness with patented rights and vicious armed robberies in Yorubaland of today.
"Aiye ti di jongboruku" in Yorubaland of today and as Fela Anikulapo once got astonished, he sang,
"No wonder rere dey run", "No wonder the world, our world today scatters and in shambles."
We are today trumpeting the need to go back to land.
To engage in agricultural practices for food security because " Ti ounje ba ti tan ninu ise, ise buse".
Once there is food in abundance for all, societal problems become greatly reduced.
To further abate laziness and completely banish blessings without work, I remembered as if it were yesterday, the primary schools ' rhyme that goes thus:
" Ise agbe, is Ile wa Eni ko size, a ma jale.
Iwe kiko, lai si oko, ati ada, koi pe o, koi pe o.".
Educational pursuit as grandiose as could be, without adequate provision of the farm, implements and aggressive commitment to agriculture is an exercise in futility.
Eyin Omo Yoruba o, E se ire o.
God Bless Nigeria and help reduce laziness in our midst. Ase Edumare.
Taiye Olaniyi, a retired Postman of the Nigeria Postal Service, is based in Lagos