Lagos State University Acting Head of the Department of Linguistics, African Languages and Communication Arts, Dr. Titilayo Onadipe-Shalom, has urged the Federal Government to speedily implement the new National Language Policy which makes mother tongue a compulsory medium of instruction for the first six years of education in the country.
In a statement to commemorate this year’s International Mother Language Day, the don tasked the government to surmount challenges that threaten the effective implementation of the policy.
She said: “While we acknowledge ongoing efforts by the government to promote indigenous languages by the approval of a new National Language Policy in November 2022 which makes the mother tongue a compulsory medium of instruction for the first six years of education in Nigeria, we seek the speedy implementation of the policy with genuine and committed efforts on the part of the government.
“Lack of instructional materials and qualified teachers, in addition to the multitude of indigenous languages without orthographies pose a serious threat to the implementation of the policy. The government must therefore exude a high level of commitment and optimism to surmount these challenges and ensure the effective implementation of the language policy.”
Onadipe-Shalom urged citizens to live up to their cultural responsibility of promoting indigenous languages by preventing them from going into extinction through usage and patronage.
“It is noteworthy to state that our indigenous languages have the capacities and capabilities to meet the need of all language users.
“Beyond communication and usage, indigenous languages are a consortium of knowledge and ideologies relevant to social and national development.
Therefore, we call on government at all levels to support multilingual education which is necessary to transforming education,” she added.
The don thanked the Lagos State Government for the promulgation of the Yorùbá Language Preservation and Promotion Law which, according to her has repositioned the indigenous language among other native languages.
She also hailed the leadership of LASU for the implementation of the law. This, she said, has culminated in the establishment of the Centre for Yoruba Studies in the institution and the Senate approval of Yoruba as a compulsory course for LASU students under the General Nigerian Studies (GNS).
“We beseech other state governments to follow the lead of the Lagos State by enacting Indigenous Languages Protection and Promotion Law to cater for the survival and sustainability of native languages in their respective states.
“Furthermore, we recommend that government at all levels set up a trust fund to finance research geared at documenting native languages across the length and breadth of Nigeria regardless of the meagre number of speakers of the languages to preserve and ensure the development of these languages,” she said.
