Oniwa Omoluabi

By Babajide Ojediran

In the world, mindless of what tradition, culture, custom, race you may belong to, one thing distinguishes you from any other person no matter the close resemblance and that is IWA (character). Iwà is who you are, what comes out of you, what makes you, the easiest way to know and recognize you. Iwà in the English language means behaviour or character. It speaks you out; it tells people all about you; whether you are friendly or not; good or bad. Everyone in the world possesses it. What you look like is your behaviour, not physical appearances. Iwà portrays you; it beautifies you or stains you. Your beauty is physical but Iwà is your inner shape. It either paints you beautifully or hideously.

Yorubá people believe so much in iwà, they believe that iwà makes you become who you want to be in life. They believe that everyone is destined to be great in life but your iwà may not let you fulfil the great destiny. In one of the Ifá verses of Eji Ogbe, Oyeku, it says:

Yoruba people believe that ìwà is of two types; Iwà omoluabi rere (good behaviour) and Iwà buruku (bad behaviour). They believe that your behaviour reflects who you are and eventually, you’ll be rewarded with the same kind of behaviour you’ve shown. That is why they say:

‘Ohun to bá se loo gbà’

‘Whatever thing you do to others, you shall receive back’

They will also say:

‘Eni bá gbin èèbu ika, ori ara re lo n gbin in le’

‘He who plants an evil yam plants it on his own head’

They will also say:

‘E se rere ko baa le ye yin

‘Do well so that it will be well with you’

Furthermore, Yorubas’ believe that Iwà makes perfect one’s religion and any religion that makes lwà an exception is meaningless and that is why they say:

‘lwà l’esin’

‘Character is religion’

All that religion preaches is nothing but good behaviour. So, let us have it at the back of our minds that iwà is the backbone of this write-up.

Since we have known what iwà is and the topic for the discourse is ‘oniwa omoluabi’, let me now introduce to you that iwà is an abstract noun. ONIWA is a two-morpheme word which is formed from:

ONI (the owner/someone who has) + IWA(behaviour)= ONIWA(the owner of behaviour or someone who has behaviour).

OMOLUABI is formulated from three free morphemes;

OMO (child)+OLUWA(Lord)+Bi(gives birth)= OMO – OLUWA – BI=OMO Ti OLUWA Bi (the child given birth to by the Lord).

OLUWA is a combination of two free morphemes;

OLU(head)+IWA(behaviour)=OLU-IWA=OLUWA.

In short, we say OMOLUABI is the child given birth to by the head of behaviour-such child must possess a good behaviour and character. So, when any child behaves well and has good behaviour, they will say, ‘omoluabi’ l’omo yii means ‘this child is a child of good behaviour’.

Furthermore,

ONIWA OMOLUABI is someone who has good behaviour. The Yorubas believe that children are to be taught Iwa omoluabi so that they will be useful to the world. That is why Ogunsina (1980:40) said:

‘Iwa is the most valuable thing among all Yoruba value System. Without people who have it; the world would be a very difficult place to live in.’

Many Yoruba proverbs also agree with this fact. Yorubas will say:

‘omo ti a ba bi ta o ko ni a gbé ilé ti a ko ta’ (Whatever you have amassed would be put on solid by a child who lacks home training); ‘lati kekere lati n peka iroko, to ba dagba tan, ebo ni yoo maa yan’ (we cut the branches of iroko tree when it is young because when it grows bigger, it turns to a god); ‘Ile lati n ke eso rode’ (charity begins starts from home).

Every Yoruba family likes their children to be omoluabi so that they will be useful to the world. Since there is no shortcut to the top of a palm tree, where you choose to climb it is where you will alight even if Iwà omoluabi is innate, parents still need to teach their children how to possess it.

There are different ways to kill a rat without shedding its blood; there are different ways of teaching one’s child iwà omoluabi. Before the coming of the white people, one of the ways Yorubas teach iwà omoluabi is through alo (folk tales). Children gather every night at a place to listen to an elderly person tell them alo. Different iwà omoluabi are taught in each alo and that is why the elderly person who tells the alo will ask ‘ki lo ko wa o?’ (What does it teach us?) And the children reply: ‘o ko wa wi pe ka ma ma jale, kama ma puro, ka ma ni itelorun abbl’ (it teaches us not to be steal, not to be lie, to be contented, etc). Gradually, the children would know the dos and don’ts of the society. But since the coming of the white men, schools have now replaced the night classes of alo.

Apart from alo, there are other ways of teaching iwà omoluabi. Parents would sit their children down after doing what is wrong, telling them the right thing to do next time. They will say ‘bayi lomoluabi n se…’ (This is what omoluabi will do…) and they will start saying it and giving them examples. Sometimes, they might cite an example of someone who fell into such a situation and what he did to save himself. All these would be stored in their brains and they would turn out to be good children.

Also, iwà omoluabi can be taught in schools, churches, mosques, and every other place where they teach. If everyone can possess iwà omoluabi, Nigeria will be far better than every other country in the whole world. So, my readers, let us teach ourselves iwà omoluabi and teach our children too this iwà omoluabi to make Nigeria a better place to live in. How much dirt can we count in a rotten tooth? Many are the different ways oniwà omoluabi can appear or behave.

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