LAGOS SPEAKER LAMENTS ABSENCE OF TEACHERS AT THE PUBLIC HEARING ON YORUBA LANGUAGE TODAY.{{PHOTOS}.

                                 The Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly,Rt.Hon. Mudashiru Obasa today wednesday berated the low turn out of teachers in public schools during the Public Hearing of a proposed laww t make the teaching and speaking of  Yoruba Language compulsory in all the schools in the State.The Bill entitled,''The Promotion and Preservation of the Use of Yoruba Language in Lagos State and the Connected Purpose''.The Bill was in continuation of the Yoruba Summit Day organised by the House in 2016 as part of measures to promote and preserve the language and its accompanied customs and traditions.Obasa who made this remark while delivering his keynote address at the Lateef Jakande Auditorium in the Assembly premises,stated that it was disheartening that many public schools in the State were lackadaissical to a programme geared towards protecting the native language from going into extinction.''We have a lot of public sschools in Lagos State,but many of them are not here today.We need to look at that because it is through them {public schools},we can reach out to the children.I have observed that we don't have many of them in this gathering,'' said the Speaker.He however explained that this could prompt the House to direct all the lawmakers to go to their respective constituencies to educate residents on the import of the law.The Speaker further stated that it was saddening to see young children and the elderly at times having difficulty in speaking Yoruba language.According to him,''I have the privilege to travel far and wide,but do you know what? Other people cherish their native languages so they are developed and more sophisticated than us.So the question is,why is it so difficult for us to speak our language?''.Obasa,however,explained that the proposed law was not to intimidate anybody but ''it is to encourage our children to start speaking in our mother tongue''.More photos below.