National Librarian/Chief Executive Officer of the National Library of Nigeria (NLN) Prof. Chinwe Veronica Anunobi has urged Nigerians living at home and abroad to ensure that their native languages do not go into extinction.
Anunobi said Nigerians needed to wake up to defend their native languages before they disappear.
She spoke at a one-day event organised by the NLN to commemorate the day set aside by the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) General Assembly in 1999 with the theme: Using technology for multi lingual learning.
She noted that there was need to preserve and document local languages for future generations.
Prof. Anunobi said the NLN is committed to go down the grassroots of Nigeria’s communities to seek for materials and information concerning prominent personalities in those communities and their profiles.
Thereafter, she said the materials on those personalities will be used to write history about them in three major Nigerian languages of Igbo, Hausa Yoruba and English language to enable the next generation know their original identity and languages, which would be published, preserved and documented.
She added that the materials would be processed and digitised, uploaded into the website for people to get access to them easily.
High Commissioner of Bangladesh to Nigeria, Amb. Masudur Rahman stated that the idea to celebrate International Mother Language Day was the initiative of Bangladesh and was approved by the UNESCO General Assembly in 1999.
Ambassador Rahman said this had created lots of awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism.
He called for the preservation of indigenous languages.
The envoy said 40 per cent of 7,000 languages used worldwide are at some level of endangerment.
Minister of Education Adamu Adamu said students will learn faster using their mother tongue to study.