Nigerian Languages: 30% lost to English

[Oluko Obadele]

Culled from NijaPolitics:

Nigerian Languages: 30% lost to English
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 28 2007

Prince Adetukunbo Kayode, Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, says 30 per cent of Nigerian
languages is lost to communicating in English language by the Nigerian elite.

Speaking in Abuja at a workshop to `Safeguard the Endangered Nigeria Languages,' the minister said the
situation had also led to the erosion of norms and ethos. ``The consequences are that the languages are fast fading while values, norms and ethos embedded in them are going into oblivion,'' he said.

Kayode said that the establishment of someinstitutions by the federal government had therefore
stepped up efforts at encouraging the learning of Nigeria languages.
``Such included the establishment of Institute of Nigerian Languages, Institute for Culture Orientation
and National Orientation Agency.

``Allotting of airtime and space in both electronic
and print media to Nigeria languages were all steps to revive some endangered Nigerian languages,'' he said.

He urged participants at the workshop to focus on protecting, preserving and strengthening the use of
Nigerian Languages in their interactions.

``I implore you to go deeper and unearth other areas that need to be strengthened and improved upon to
enable government put in place policies that will safeguard Nigerian cultural heritage,'' he said.

Earlier, Mr Abhimanyu Singh, UNESCO Country Representative in Nigeria urged Nigeria's policy
makers to put into action the National Policy on Education to ensure promotion of mother tongue.

Singh said that universities should be challenged to take practical steps to encourage students to take
indigenous languages as elective courses.

He also said that minority languages should be protected even as he called on publishers to publish
multilingual texts.

Singh called for support and capacity building of departments of languages in tertiary institutions
faced with the challenge of promoting indigenous languages.

According to him, this would enable them to effectively discharge their responsibilities.



© 2007 Triumph Publishing Company Limited,