Prof. Ismail Junaidu, the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council, says the council has so far developed orthographies of more than 70 indigenous languages.
Junaidu, who made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja on Wednesday, said this is to save the languages from going extinct.
The UNESCO had predicted that some indigenous languages were endangered and facing the threat of extinction if not resuscitated.
Junaidu said: “UNESCO is right. It is not only Nigerian languages but languages all over. We are not unmindful of that in the council, so we are trying to develop the orthography.
“What we call orthography is the writing system because that is the first stage.
“We have so far developed more than 70 languages in Nigeria. First we had to go on language survey, we had language survey for the entire country and we found some that have very few speakers.
“The National Policy on Education has said that a child should be taught the first three years in his or her mother tongue. No matter what language I speak it is my right to be taught as far as the policy is concerned.
“Therefore, it is our responsibility now to develop that language so as to meet that requirement of the National Policy on Education.
“Now what we are doing if a group says I want my language to be developed, they come to us we give the technical aid.
“Of recent we did one language in Kebbi state called Chilaila.
“We even now developed curriculum for teaching of the language. So last National Council For Education we tabled the curriculum and it was approved for them.
“So, it is left for them to go back to the state to say, I have a curriculum for this language to be taught, Ministry of Education use it.”
Junaidu also said that the council was collaborating with the National Institute for Nigerian Languages in Aba, Abia State to identify some of the languages gradually going into extinction in order to document them.
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