By Abdulwarees Solanke
Global attention will on Friday February
21 shift towards saving many indigenous languages from extinction as the world
marks International Mother Language Day.
Voice of Nigeria, the nation’s
external service radio broadcaster, is collaborating with a number of stakeholders to commemorate the day in Lagos..
These include the Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilization and the Nigerian Film Corporation, both agencies under the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, like VON.
It was proclaimed by United Nations
Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in November 1999 and has been observed since year 2000.
The theme of the commemoration this year is Safeguarding Linguistic Diversity.
Mr. Ronald Kayanja, the Director, United Nations Information Centre Lagos
will speak on the theme of the day during which stakeholders in the language
and culture sector will deliberate on strategies for protecting indigenous languages from extinction.
The chief executives of the three collaborating organizations are in agreement on commemoration of the of the International Mother Language Day because of their shared mandates of propagating the Nigerian cultural values in which language is central.
The Director-General Voice of Nigeria, Osita Okechuchukwu had acknowledged that ‘CBAAC in partnership with
Voice of Nigeria (VON) successfully hosted the 2019 edition of the event, and
also prepared to participate in this year’s edition.
Accordingly, he said the 2020 edition of the event would be jointly hosted by VON, the Nigeria Film Corporation and CBAAC.
We are optimistic that your coming on board will make this year celebration to be richer, he told his colleagues.
Media houses like the Nigerian Television
Authority, the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria and Wale Adenuga Productions TV as well as Nike Art gallery are expected to join the commemoration which holds at the Cinema Complex of the Nigeria Film
Corporation, Old Federal Secretariat Road Ikoyi, Lagos.
The day will be marked with an array of
activities including poetry, panel discussion and exhibition on African
language, and cultural heritage.
Nigeria alone is home to over 250 ethnic groups with even more diverse languages in different states of the Federation.
Voice of Nigeria broadcasts to all regions of the world. Apart from English, French and Arabic which are international, the other languages are Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba, Fulfude and Kiswahili Although English, the colonial language is the nation’s official language, the three dominant language groups in the country are Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba, peculiar to Northern, Easter and Western geo-political zones of the country.
In the past, there has been advocacyt that
children should be taught in mother tongue during early childhood education.
International Mother Language Day is a United Nations annual event observed on every 21st of February to raise awareness on linguistic and cultural diversity.
It was proclaimed by United Nations
Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in November 1999 and has been observed since year 2000. The theme of the commemoration this year is Safeguarding Linguistic Diversity.
*Abdulwarees Solanke is of Voice of Nigeria