By Ahmed Ahmed
The Chief Executive Officer of National Library of Nigeria (NLN) Prof. Chinwe Veronica Anunobi urged Students to preserve mothers tongue and as well promote culture.
She made the call during the commemoration of the 2024 international world mothers tongue day on wednesday in Bauchi.
Anunobi stressed the need to take practical steps towards the global quest for the revitalization, preservation and promotion of the world’s indigenous languages needed to avert their speedy disappearance, particularly the indigenous one.
“The theme for this year is therefore a call for all stakeholders, and practically everyone, to appreciate that multilingual education enhances learning when the language of instruction is the learner’s first language.
“The use of learners’ own languages for literacy and learning provides a solid pillar for education, and for transfer of skills and knowledge to additional languages.
“Learning in one’s first language facilitates understanding and interaction, and further develops critical thinking. adding that It strengthens self-confidence and self-esteem and stimulates active participation,” Prof Anunobi said.
According to her, boosting learning, multilingual education contributes to opening the doors to intergenerational learning, the preservation of culture and intangible heritage, and the revitalization of languages.
Prof. Anunobi,represented by Head of Branch National Library of Nigeria, Bauchi State said that National Library is unrelenting in ensuring the realization of the decade’s focus.
“Therefore, today’s celebration provides another window to demonstrate our commitment. Hence we have engaged communities in all the states of the Federation to collate and create what we refer to as, the Nigerian Language Map.
“This is not just the map of Nigeria, but much more as it contains the languages spoken in each state.
“This Map will be printed and placed in our reading halls, as a reference material in all our state branches.
“We are working as we speak, on a compendium of the alphabets and numerals of our indigenous languages.We consider this as the very first and critical step towards the preservation of our languages,” Anunobi said.