Governors and leaders of Igbo speaking States have been urged to regularly conduct language revitalisation programmes on Igbo language, to save it from extinction.
The call was made by the Dean, Faculty of Humanities in Abia State University, Uturu, Prof. Roseline Ndimele when she delivered a public lecture in the institution.
Ndimele, whose lecture was themed “Rescuing the Igbo from extinction, the family and language maintenance”, called on Igbos to effectively apply their language to save it from going extinct.
She raised the alarm that young persons in Igbo speaking areas now, find it hard to fluently communicate in Igbo, even when they are with their parents.
The Dean called on the concerned State governments to provide technical aids like dictionaries written in mother tongue, pedagogical materials, as well as training more teachers of Igbo language.
She futher recommended creation and increase in airtime of television and radio Igbo programes in the affected States, to further deepen people’s interest in Igbo language.
Failure to save the language, according to Ndimele, warned, could result to further marginalisation of the Igbo nation.
