Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
Igbo Women Assembly, IWA, has raised the alarm that only about 200 out of 1000 children and youths in the South-East geo-political zone of Nigeria, could understand the Igbo language.
South-East comprising Abia, Anambra, Enugu, Ebonyi and Imo states, are essentially Igbo.
National President of IWA Lolo Nneka Chimezie, who raised the alarm while featuring as a Guest Speaker on the February edition of Ikengaonline virtual Townhall meeting, decried the rate at which the younger generation of Igbo shun communication in their mother tongue.
Citing a recent survey in Imo and Enugu States, Lolo Chimezie, said that about 800 out of every 1000 young Igbo population, preferred English to Igbo as a means of communication.
She further lamented the even out of the 200 of the survey sample that understand the language, only about 30 per cent of them could effectively communicate with it.
The IWA President further revealed that the disdain for Igbo language was more pronounced among Ndigbo living at home than those outside Igbo land.
She attributed the sad development to inferiority complex, erroneous mentality of using fluency in English language as class symbol, and unnecessary competition with others.
Lolo Chimezie regretted that a reasonable chunk of Igbo population had been lost in different places of their abode due to their refusal to sustain their language.
According to her, many first generation of Igbo in America and Europe have been lost to their host countries for failing to maintain their language which is their mark of identity.
She noted that some Yoruba who were taken to Brazil during slave trade could be traced centuries later because they preserved their language.
Similarly, she said that the Fulani and Hausa tribes have continued to maintain their language identity in different countries where they are found, thus giving the impression that they are numerous.
She argued that Ndigbo are the most travelled and very populous but easily lose their population to their host countries due to disdain for the Igbo language.
According to her, some Igbo people living abroad and in Yoruba states have been lost to their host as they no longer speak Igbo, but the language of their hosts.
The IWA President, therefore, called for attitudinal change among Ndigbo towards their language to avoid the prediction that Igbo language would be among the major global languages that might go into extinction by 2025.
Insisting that language is the identity of any people, Lolo Chimezie said that “anyone who has lost his language, has lost his identity.”
She said that IWA had been engaging President Generals of communities and necessary stakeholders in Igboland with a view to putting in place measures to revive Igbo language.
Lolo Nneka who had earlier announced scholarship for anyone intending to read Igbo in the University of Lagos, urged young Igbo parents especially mother to consciously communicate with their children in Igbo.
She also encouraged parents to engage Igbo teachers for their children as part of necessary sacrifices to save the language from going into extinction.
