Language bill necessary to preserve our heritage – Ashafa
Senator Gbenga Ashafa
| credits: File copy
| credits: File copy
Senator
representing Lagos East Senatorial District, Gbenga Ashafa, has
lamented that Nigerian indigenous languages are becoming unpopular among
the youth.
Ashafa said this during a lecture at the
palace of Onitedo of Itedo, Oba Tajudeen Elemoro, Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos,
according to a statement on Monday.
The senator explained that it would be of advantage if the Senate approved the Language Bill before it.
He said, “In my own effort, I have
sponsored the language bill to prevent us from losing our heritage. We
must preserve our language. It will prevent the indigenous languages
from going into extinction.
“The bill will go through wide
consultations with other stakeholders, if passed into law, it will
provide the platform to establish an agency for the promotion and
preservation of indigenous languages throughout the 774 local
governments in the federation.
“This will then be harmonised in the implementation of our overall educational and cultural policies in the country.”
The Senator, who described the inability
of Nigerian citizens to speak indigenous languages as “a bad
development”, said parents must cultivate the habit of communicating
with their children in local languages.
He said, “It is worrisome today that
many of our children cannot speak our indigenous languages fluently.
Parents should inculcate the habit of communicating with their children
and wards in their mother tongue. If we don’t do that, our local
languages will obviously go into extinction.”
July 23, 2013 by Sodiq Oyeleke
Written by NEWSTRAWL ONLINE UPDATE
Sodiq Oyeleke is a Media, Human Resources, Project Management and Public Relations Practitioner
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