Alago Proverbs as Vehicle of Values and Virtues

Abstract

Scholars working on proverbs from major ethnic stocks in Nigeria have observed that this unique verbal art functions in many ways as a validator of a people’s culture, a tool for rhetoric, education and socialisation, and as a measure of a person’s cognitive ability. In all these, little or nothing has been done on the value of proverbs from minority cultures with a view to determining the bearing of echoes for possible reorientation for the individual and building of a positive collective consciousness in a postcolonial polity as Nigeria’s. This paper therefore focuses on one of Nigeria’s minority peoples and cultures: the Alago and their proverb lore. It examines the relevance of proverbs from the functionalist perspective as the embodiment of a people's beliefs, values, taboos and expectations, even as these bear echoes necessary for social stability. Drawing from the Alago society, this paper observes that proverbs, entrenched in traditional thoughts, have the potentials for serving as significant mines for enlarging on positive individual virtues and the polity’s values.