The National Library of Nigeria has expressed readiness to work with communities across the country to create a map of Nigerian languages.
The NLN Chief Executive Officer, Chinwe Anunobi, on Wednesday, disclosed this was part of efforts to preserve the mother tongues.
He stated this during the 2024 celebration of International Mother Tongues Day in Abuja.
According to her, as part of the National Library’s attempts to preserve mother tongues, communities throughout all states were gathered and a “Nigerian Language Map” was produced which includes the languages used in each state.
“This map will be printed and placed in our reading halls as reference material in all our state branches. In addition to that, 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,” Ms Anunobi said.
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She expressed concern over the rate at which languages were going into extinction, saying, “When your language goes into extinction, it is your culture that has gone into extinction.”
According to her, the language of each culture is the prime feature of that culture, hence the need to preserve it.
Ms Anunobi urged all stakeholders involved to move forward with the global initiative to revitalize, protect, and advance indigenous languages. She emphasized the need to stop languages, especially indigenous ones, from disappearing too quickly.
“Arising from the concern that at least one language dies every two weeks, UNESCO in 1999 designated the 21st of February every year as Mother Language Day.
“Furthermore, the United Nations leveraged and expended on that by designating the period 2022-2032 as the International Decade for Indigenous Languages to revitalise, protect, preserve and promote indigenous languages for sustainable development.”
