The Honourable Minister of Culture, Tourism and National Orientation, High Chief Edem Duke, has said that Nigeria needs to have a progressive indigenous language society through programmes that facilitate the learning and speaking of our mother tongues.
Duke, who spoke in Abuja at the closing ceremony of the four-week intensive Nigerian Indigenous Language Programme (NILP) of National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO), stressed the importance of mother tongues in any society, saying they binds people together and also play enormous roles both in peace negotiations and conflict resolutions.
Represented by the Director, Planning, Research and Documentation in the Ministry of Culture, Mr. Chudi Uwandu, the Honourable Minister noted that in this era of westernization and technological advancement, platforms like the NICO language programme are needed to effectively communicate the current emphasis on cultural re-orientation and resuscitation in the country, to enhance the upholding of moral and ethical values.
Expressing delight, particularly with the impressive turn-out of participants in this year’s edition, Duke pledged the Ministry’s support to sustain the programme: “In view of the successes recorded and the importance of this laudable programme, I assure you of the Ministry’s support towards the sustainability of this programme”.
He commended the Ayakoroma-led management of NICO for introducing more languages in this year’s training programme and urged them to increase the number of languages annually just as he encouraged participants to always associate themselves with such noble projects, charging them to see the training opportunity as added benefit to their knowledge.
Caleb Nor
Corporate Affairs