Ohaneze Ndigbo, the apex Igbo social-cultural organization and the Alaigbo Development Forum(ADF), have advocated for a scholarship scheme for students who are ready to study Igbo language in tertiary institutions.
President Ohaneze Ndigbo, Lagos Branch, Chief Solomon Ogbonna Aguene stated this while speaking with journalists in his office at the commemoration of 2021 Mother Tongue Day celebration, organised by Indigenous Language and Culture Initiative (ILCI).
Chief Aguene said there was need to train new generation of fluent Igbo language speakers and frowned at the situation where Igbo people in particular hold their meetings and other important discussions in English.
Aguene said he would consult with the national President of Ohaneze Ndigbo, Professor George Obiozor as he visits Lagos on the need to liaise with government to make mandatory, the use of mother tongue at every Igbo gathering and also as a criteria to contest elective posts in Nigeria.
In his welcome address, the Coordinator of the programme and Founder of ILCI, Mazi John Chukwu, said the politics of the remembrance of language started in Bangladesh when they reminded the world the importance of not allowing languages to go into extinction.
Chukwu said the ILCI had birthed a new Igbo newspaper called, “Ekwe kuo Ama Agba” in furtherance of the need to deepen the speaking of Igbo language.
He said it was cheering news that the whole world set out a day for the remembrance of the over 7000 global mother tongues of which about 43 per cent is drifting into extinction.
In her address, Mrs Nneka Chimezie, said time has come for the Igbos especially the leaders to speak in one voice and condemn the proliferation of Non -Governmental Organizations(NGOs) who are masquerading as promoters of Igbo language but are only motivated by selfish desires. She called on parents to give their children good foundation that will help them to learn and speak their mother tongue.
Chimezie who is the chairman of Ekwe Kuo Ama Agba and the National Coordinator, Igbo Women Forum(IWF), stated that “Igbo language is a dying language of a living people”, insisted that failure to preserve it spells doom for the Igbo nation as no other group would preserve it for them.
The Secretary of ADF Lagos branch. Emmanuel Ifeanyichukwu Mok, stated that Igbos must eschew the domination of the white-man’s language that brought war and disunity and go back to our mother languages and culture.
The theme of the 2021 anniversary: “Fostering multilingualism for inclusion in education and society”, made case for the support of multilingualism and the use of mother tongues, both at schools and in everyday life as an asset.
