On the 15th of October 2022, the International Centre for Yoruba Arts and Culture and Yoruba Wikimedians User Group launched a collaboration to promote free access to knowledge in the Yoruba language via Wikipedia and its sisters’ projects such as Wikimedia Commons and Wikidata.
The collaboration was launched on Saturday, 15th of October 2022 at the International Centre for Yoruba Arts and Culture’s headquarters at the University of Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria.
The International Centre for Yoruba Arts and Culture, also known as the “Yoruba World Centre” is a nonprofit organization with the aim to promote, preserve and transmit the Yoruba language to its users, and serve as a go-to place for rich content and materials relating to Yoruba language, people, history, culture, and heritage.
The International Center for Yoruba Arts and Culture was inaugurated by Professor Yemi Osinbajo and the late Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi III, on Tuesday, 23rd November 2021 at the University of Ibadan.
The core objective of the collaboration includes but is not limited to the following.
- Promote digital content inclusion on Yoruba Wikipedia with verifiable and reliable sources and make the contents available in a manner that will be acceptable to the entire, Yoruba language users, readers, writers, and enthusiasts within Nigeria and in the diaspora.
- Use the resources of the International Center for Art and Culture to improve the quality and credibility of content on Yoruba Wikipedia.
- To promote the International Centre for Yoruba Art and Culture in the global community
- To promote a strong relationship between the International Centre for Yoruba Art and Culture and the Wikimedia community
- To promote the International Centre for Yoruba Arts and Culture among academics, researchers, and students
- To promote Yoruba Wikipedia among partners and affiliates of the International Centre for Yoruba Arts and Culture
- Train members of staff of the center, their partners, and affiliates on how to use and contribute to the Yoruba Wikipedia
The event was attended by prominent Yoruba stakeholders including but not limited to Tunde Kelani, Alao Adedayo, the publisher of Alaroye, a prominent Yoruba newspaper, Professor Akin Alao, a Professor of History at Obafemi Awolowo University, and a member of of the Nigerian Academy of Letters.
Others include Baale Yemi Ogunyemi, the Baale of Oluyole, and a member of the Ibadan South West Local Government Traditional Council.
The welcome address was delivered by Baba Adedayo Alao and the keynote address was delivered by Professor Akin Alao who is also a member of the organization’s Board of Trustees.
The event was attended by a total of 35 people and at least two news media covered the event. Tunde Kelani described the collaboration as timely and important for the growth and development of the center and the Yoruba Wikipedia.
There were talks about the collaboration by Adedayo Alao, Tunde Kelani, Professor Akin Alao, Isaac Olatunde, and Mikaeel Sodiq and there were comments from the participants as well.
Akara was offered by the International Centre for Yoruba Arts and Culture as refreshments, and Iyan was offered as lunch by the Yoruba Wikimedians User Group.
