A Cry For Help: Stakeholder Task Federal and State Governments To Make Indigenous Language Development National Issue In Nigeria

Josiah Chijindu Egbilika

A Linguist and indigenous language advocate, Mr. Josiah Egbilika has called on the Federal and State Governments to prioritize indigenous language development as a national problem in Nigeria.

Mr. Egbilika lamented on the continuous neglect towards language development from both national and States' budgets. According to him, there is no way the about 527 languages in Nigeria can be truly developed and properly documented without money.

The Indigenous Language Advocate pointed out regrettably that the Twenty-Eight point Seven Trillion Naira (N28.7 trillion) budget passed by the Tinubu led administration did not cover the development of indigenous languages in Nigeria and the main reason for this continuous neglect is because government after government has not seen the need to make language development a national issue.

Unfortunately, the rate at which Nigerian languages are going into extinction is alarming. According to the Linguist, no language in Nigeria is spared from being extinct if serious and drastic measures are not taken.

He pointed out that if our languages go into extinction, the nation will loose all its cultural heritages and the identity that makes Nigeria unique.

He called on the Federal and State Governments to take it as a necessity to prioritize indigenous language development as a form of preserving culture and the people they have sworn to lead.

Comments

ENDOGLOSSOPHOBIA

By Josiah Chijindu Egbilika The word phobia is a Greek word that means “to be afraid of” or “fear of”. In one word, it refers to fear. It could be the fear of a thing, people ,object or language. Lots of persons globally have one fear or the other. They find it difficult to relate to a particular thing. In some cases, it could cause harm if exposed to that situation. Same way, there are those who have fear for language, “Linguaphobia”. There are also those who have fear for speaking foreign languages “Xenoglossophobia”. There are people who are afraid of speaking in the public too “Glossophobia”. There are also those who are afraid of speaking their own Indigenous or Native languages. This situation is referred to as “Endoglossophobia”. The word Endoglossophobia was first dropped on Radio during the #LanguageHealth Show with Sam Oracle Chinedu and Josiah Chijindu Egbilika Endoglossophobia is a common situation but has been subsumed into linguaphobia. This is not ...

A Global Call To Protect The Child's Right To Indigenous Language

by: Josiah Egbilika It is a well and known fact in Nigeria that May 27 of every year is used to celebrate the importance and existence of children. The day was set aside as a universal children's day every November 20 in 1954 but was first established for May 27 in Nigeria after the degree of 1964. The essence of the day is to create and enhance awareness of the rights of children in the society so everyone will adore and respect these rights and ensure children have a better growing life. Unfortunately, recent accounts have revealed a massive downplay to the protection of the rights of children in the country. A United Nations report shows that six out of every ten children experience some form of violence, one in four girls and ten per cent of boys have been victims of sexual violence with 23 million girls forced to child marriage. Beyond these abuses, one of such rights of the child that have received low attention over the years is the right to indigenous language. The right to...

20 More Nigerian Words Included In Oxford Dictionary

by: Josiah Egbilika Just like in 2020 when 29 Nigerian words, such as danfo, okada, next tomorrow, and mama put were included in the Oxford Dictionary, another milestone has been achieved in 2025 as The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) has added a more collection of Nigerian words to its latest update. In this latest update, 20 new words were included into the dictionary with majority of them from being lexicons from Nigerian Pidgin. The words added to the dictionary include: 1. 419 2. abi 3. adire 4. agbero 5. area boy 6. cross-carpet 7. cross-carpeting 8. eba 9. Edo 10. gele 11. jand (noun, verb) 12. janded (adjective) 13. Japa (noun, verb) 14. Kanuri 15. Kobo 16. Naija 17. suya 18. Yahoo 19. Yahoo boy, and 20. Yarn Dust These additions showcase Nigeria’s cultural diversity, daily life, and street culture while highlighting the rising influence of Nigerian Pidgin across Africa and beyond. The 20 included words are in addition to at least 57 Nigerian words already in the dic...

Language Health

Search This Blog