 ʻe to ʻi philole ʻi būdō ʻak bāye fūn ʻi tō ʻa shā ʻa ti ʻi shē yōba ʻti angeloni ʻki ʻi shē fūn yōba ʻni kōm ʻbōbū e rō wa ʻa tani yō wa ʻni pe ʻki ʻa ma re rō ni bi ʻlāti ʻbōbū ʻak bāye ʻki wā ma wā ke kōm bi ʻni kōbū ʻʻi shen bāye ʻbāye ʻij to ʻi ʻi nō ʻge ʻsi le me ma a fi ʻi sō rōmi lon yō ʻi kōbū wā montin wā ma bā wa kōm ʻa ʻi ʻa ʻa kōm bi wā kōm bi wā ʻi philole ʻi ʻi ʻi ʻa ʱi phelpe ʻi wun li kme ʱa ʻa kruiak baye ʻi kōbū wā wun yō bi wā kōm bi mō ʻi ʻi ʻi ʰan ʰan ʱi ʻi tā wai ʻi shen bi jō  Ree xe                                                                                                                                                                                                                            the place that will give context and depth to our understanding of our past, our place and role in the present and hopefully our preparation for the future. A place that will help tell a fuller, deeper and richer story of a proud, creative and colorful people but also of the rich tapestry of cultures, races, ethnicities and faiths of which they are a part. At a more reflective level we will through this repository and the traditions embedded in the artworks and cultural artefacts imbibe the trials, the challenges, the inventions and the spiritual heritage of the Yoruba people. We know that well before contact with the western world and a laughing has made that very clear to us that Yoruba has had a fine artistic and a fine political tradition rendered through sculpture and architecture using bronze, wood, stone, terracotta and brass. Such was the quality of the work that when Leo Frobenius the German ethnographer came across the Ife bronze and terracotta sculpture he was convinced that he had discovered the treasures of the mythical lost city of Atlantis. Later research proved him wrong. These were actually the works of 12 to 15th century AD Yoruba craftsmen but beyond and yet inherent in the splendor and beauty of the artworks and the genius of artists are the histories and stories of our people. The first relocation of Yoruba people by slave dealers to the Americas and the Caribbean and other unspeakable degradations and atrocities of slavery and the ways in which Yoruba culture adapted and survived in the dehumanizing humiliations and sufferings in those distant and hostile environments and how here at home Yoruba culture also had to adapt to the onslaught of colonialism in Nigeria by the British and by the British and in Benin and Togo by the French. In death and the King's Horseman a classic play by Professor Wale Shouenka we see forces at work that try to adapt cultural practices with tragic consequences. The effort of the district officer in that play to prevent Yoruba from doing his duty to accompany his obaim to the great beyond ended with the son of the Elisha himself taking his own life. The story of how the clash of cultures with colonial overlords shaped who we are today and to some extent the incongruity of our institutions so culture is not just about the past is neither static nor immutable it is constantly creating and recreating consequently progress is not merely determined by fidelity to tradition but by our capacity for invention and reinvention and this point is more relevant now than ever before as the world itself and our nation stand at crossroads the future of mankind is an is at an inflection point with COVID-19 and climate change already disrupting life as we know it while the fourth industrial revolution requires us to adapt to technological innovation changing at lightning speed to cope well we must draw strength from our cultural capital the wealth of tangible and intangible knowledge that emanates from a society's core and enables it to cope with change one of the tasks of scholars of enthusiasts and citizens interested in understanding the Yoruba heritage is to use culture as a tool for helping us discern our place in the world and to rekindle our visionary capabilities this intent is inherent in the design and work of this center it bears repeating that culture is not just about antiquity it's about the contemporary age and even the age to come this world center will therefore serve not just as a piece or a place of memory but a place that inspires us and fires our collective imagination even within the dynamic context of advances in technology ideas and thought but perhaps more importantly today the work of this center should offer a base from which and a sanctuary in which we can reflect on how Yoruba culture can contribute to the tools of nation building the building of a more inclusive a fairer and more just society the bringing together as one people an ethnically and religiously diverse nation how can the rest of the nation learn as president buhari observed from the way that we Yorubas manage within our families to accommodate diverse faiths and beliefs and in a nation dug by abdication of high values especially in leadership perhaps the center might take on the task of formalizing knowledge on the concept of omoluabi for teaching in our schools omoluabi the true moral quintessence of the Yorubaris the virtuous man or woman the man or woman of character perhaps the scholars here will distill the heart of the omoluabi ethos and reveal the attributes of trustworthiness reliability honesty and forthrightness for coming generations of nigerians perhaps the world needs to know that the omoluabi is one whose word to brother and stranger alike is reliable one who believes in the equality of all men regardless of race or belief and that all deserve to be treated with dignity and fairness one who believes that the common wealth is not to be stolen or personalized but it is for the good of all given the range of its ambitions and the strength of the resources that will come here i know that this center will locate itself in the emergent creative economy unlike the fires of imagination especially of our young people so it might also be of use to formalize knowledge on how for example a fella nikolako puti used an ad mixture of the rhythms of the heartland and high life to create a new genre of music afro beat that has since become a global phenomenon today young nigerian artists are using local sounds to create a globally popular culture is there something to be learned here additionally the center should offer a destination for missions of discovery by the very many africans in diaspora who trace their origins of the european people and promote closer links between the european people in the homeland and their kith and kin in the diaspora but more importantly provide a crucial pillar in the global attempt to build social and economic bridges between peoples of african descent everywhere in the world and while we are at it you must join in the global movement to champion the return of artifacts that were plundered looted or illegally taken away from these shores indeed the center should serve as a home for such returned items where the immediate provenance or circumstances in which the items were taken is unclear or not known so let me again commend the architects of this initiative led by alagwa alaw adedayo for the boldness and ambition of their enterprise and for the enormous self-sacrifice and patriotism that this must have entailed we must all seize we must all seize this moment we must seize this moment and join in this glorious civic endeavor and the time to do so is now thank you