Why folklore is important to today’s children

Scholars, academics and folklorists have called for the inculcation of traditional values and systems in Nigerian folklore in the younger generation for societal and national development.  They said this at the Nigerian Folklore Society’s three-day conference, which took place at Musa Abdullahi Auditorium, Bayero University, last week in Kano. Most scholars that delivered papers at […]

Scholars, academics and folklorists have called for the inculcation of traditional values and systems in Nigerian folklore in the younger generation for societal and national development. 

They said this at the Nigerian Folklore Society’s three-day conference, which took place at Musa Abdullahi Auditorium, Bayero University, last week in Kano.

Most scholars that delivered papers at the event with the theme ‘Folklore and Folklife in Nigeria: Prospects and Challenges in the 21st Century’ argued that in order to instil discipline and morality into children and develop the nation, traditions and moral values contained in folklore must be upheld.

Professor Muhammad Yahuza Bello, Vice Chancellor, Bayero University, Kano asserted that in their effort to correct this anomaly, Bayero University is collaborating with Kano Emirate Council and Kano State government on Hausa folklore research so pupils in primary and junior secondary schools could be taught science, technology and other subjects in Hausa.

“Research has shown that children think in their language. Therefore, while teaching them in a foreign language, they have to translate the content into their mother tongue before they grasp and act on it,” he said.

In the same vein, the former national chairman of Association of Nigerian Authors, Dr. Wale Okediran, who chaired the opening ceremony of the conference, called for collaboration between ANA and NFS in order to explore and harness the rich traditional and cultural values of Nigerian folklore for national development.

The conference observed how internet and other social media trends in the society attract the younger generation. In that direction, the Chairman of Nigerian Folklore Society, Dr. Bukar Usman, tasked the society’s members to see the need for deploying folklorist content through digital media to their advantage.

“In my own capacity, I have a foundation I set up to collate folktales in Nigeria, and at the moment we have collected more than 3000. By the end of this year or early next year, we will publish four books on all aspects of folklore in Nigeria.

Dr. Bukar further said “We should take advantage of the social media and produce cartoons so that our children would be captured to appreciate our culture and tradition.”

Observations were made that oral literature is plagued by many myths and superstitions and thus there is need to review folklore to help equip children absolve the shocks of globalization and incursions of digital media.

The conference was well-attended with paper presentations by Professors Abdu Yahya Bichi, Angela Miri, Aliyu Muhammad Bunza, Sa’idu Babura Ahmad and Nkem Okoh. 

Some of the dignitaries that graced the opening ceremony included the Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi II represented by the Jarma of Kano, Professor Isa Hashim among others.