Stakeholders collaborate to mark International Mother Language Day in Lagos
As part of efforts to save indigenous languages from extinction, Voice of Nigeria, the nation’s external service radio broadcast, is collaborating with a number of stakeholders to commemorate this year’s International Mother Language Day on Friday, February 21 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.
According to the VON Assistant Director Strategic Planning, Abdulwarees Solanke, the Director, United Nations Information Centre Lagos, Mr. Ronald Kayanja, is scheduled to 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.
On his part, the Director General, Voice of Nigeria, Osita Okechuchukwu, expressed optimism that the coming on board of the sister organisations will make this year’s edition of the celebration to be even richer than that of last year.
He 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.
“We are optimistic that your coming on board will make this year celebration to be richer,” he said.
The Daily Times gathered that 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 has 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, Eastern and Western geo-political zones of the country.
In the past, there has been advocacy 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 Organisation (UNESCO) in November 1999 and has been observed since year 2000. The theme of the commemoration this year is ‘Safeguarding Linguistic Diversity’.
