Iconic Ibadan’s brown roofs

Saying our roofs are brown isn’t an insult; it is a fact, but what you fail to understand is that those brown roofs are proof of early civilization, they are history, they are heritage, they are memory.

From Ibadan to Oyo, Ijebu to Ile Ife… We stand in pride.
Ibadan’s brown roofs are iconic. Oyo’s rooftops hold the imprint of old warriors.

Ijebu’s compounds are woven with tradition.
Ife, the source still breathes ancestry through its clay and timber.
Under those roofs, generations were raised.
Kings, scholars, warriors, traders, artisans, philosophers, and leaders who shaped Yorubaland long before colonization.
Those roofs sheltered the birth of empires, the rise of kingdoms, the growth of markets, the strengthening of culture, and the evolution of Yoruba identity.
People who mock brown roofs do not understand what they’re looking at.
They see old, we see roots.
They see rust, we see story.
They see backward, we see continuity.
They see brown, we see evidence of a people who lived, built, thrived, and preserved.
We will not pull down our history for mansions, we will not erase our past to prove we are modern.
Those brown roofs are not a sign of shame;
they are living museums.
We will not destroy them simply to impress outsiders who do not understand the value of heritage.
Let them keep their concrete. We will keep our history.
Yoruba heritage is not embarrassed by age.
Yoruba heritage honors it.
From Ibadan to Oyo, to Ijebu, to Ife, we remain proud of our roots, our roofs, and our heritage.