When retired Brigadier General Jeremiah Faransa speaks about his heritage, his voice carries both pride and urgency. “Our languages are vanishing,” he says. “And with them, our stories, our proverbs, our sense of self.”
Now serving as Chairman of the Taraba State Internal Revenue Service and head of the state’s Special Task Force on Illegal Mining and Deforestation, General Faransa is taking on a different kind of battle, one to rescue the Wurkun and Jiba languages of Taraba State from extinction.
To do it, he’s partnering with Izesan Limited, a young Nigerian edtech company founded by Anthony Osekhuemen Otaigbe, which has built a reputation for using technology to preserve African indigenous languages.
Founded in 2019, Izesan Limited is on a mission to make learning African languages fun, relevant, and widely accessible. Its mobile app currently teaches over 200 indigenous languages through interactive lessons, stories, songs, and games, connecting learners across Africa and the diaspora to their linguistic roots.
Read Also: BREAKING: Tinubu announces Buhari’s death, sends Shettima to escort body to Nigeria
“Izesan isn’t just a tech startup,” says Anthony. “It’s a cultural movement. And having someone like General Faransa stand with us proves that protecting our languages is not just a youth thing, it’s a legacy thing.”
Through their collaboration, Izesan will begin developing a digital learning platform tailored specifically for Wurkun and Jiba, including curriculum-aligned modules for schools, mobile apps for learners, and tools for teachers. The goal is to ensure that younger generations in Taraba and Nigerians worldwide can learn and speak these languages with pride.
The announcement comes at a time when over 400 Nigerian languages are at risk, according to UNESCO. The partnership reflects growing national interest in preserving indigenous culture through modern means, and echoes the goals of the UN’s Decade of Indigenous Languages.
“This is about passing on the torch,” Faransa said. “We owe it to our ancestors, and to our grandchildren, to keep these languages alive.”
For Izesan, the project is one more step toward a larger vision: a continent where technology doesn’t erase culture, but strengthens it.