Am disappointed Nigerians can't read and write in their mother tongue - Culture minister says

Minister of Information and Culture Alhaji Lai Mohammed has decried dwindling ability of most Nigerian children to write and read in their mother tongues.

He spoke yesterday in Kaduna at the 2017 edition of the Annual Round Table on Cultural Orientation (ARTCO), organised by National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO), in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture.

Mohammed said there was urgent need to curtail the trend of indigenous language extinction.

The minister said the language should go digital on various Internet platforms, where youths and children are familiar with, so that they could begin to pick up their mother tongue from such electronic devices.

He, however, hailed NICO for its work in promoting Nigerian languages over the years and particularly for working tirelessly to ensure that the programme became a reality.

He reiterated the commitment of the President Muhammadu Buhari Administration to accord Nigerian culture its pride of place in developmental agenda.

The minister said: “We will leave no stone unturned to ensure that our cherished cultural legacies and values are transmitted from one generation to another.”

“The importance of indigenous language to national development cannot be over-emphasised. Language is the soul of culture; it is an indispensable tool for the promotion and preservation of culture. We cannot be genuinely committed to the promotion of our culture without addressing the serious issue of language endangerment and extinction.

“There is no gainsaying the fact that our indigenous languages are endangered and if urgent steps are not taken, they will go into extinction in no distant future…

“It has been my desire since I assumed duties as honourable minister to convene a strategic stakeholders’ meeting to underscore the relevance of the indigenous language newspapers and to engineer a road map for their sustenance in the face of formidable challenges. This explains why one of my first assignments in office was to visit identifiable indigenous newspapers like Alaroye, Iroyin Owuro, Rariya, Aminiya and Leadership Hausa.

“The visits convinced me, more than ever, that indigenous language newspapers have a vital role to play in reviving the fortunes of our endangered languages, if their potentials are maximised.”

He said the way forward is to fashion out strategies to address the problem.