December 16, (THEWILL) – The Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, is among the distinguished personalities to receive an award of honour from Ibibio Alive Enterprise Talent Hunt in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capital.
Ibibio Alive Enterprise is an academic institution affiliated with National Institute for Nigerian Languages (NINLAN) and has taken it upon itself to develop talents, study material, manpower etc. to ensure that the Ibibio Language does not go into extinction, but lives.
The coordinator of the institution, Ekwere Edet (PhD), disclosed this in an interaction with the Nigerian Tribune, on Thursday, at the National Museum, Information Drive, Uyo.
According to him, the award of the Dew of Ibibio Language (Mbara Usem Ibibio), to be conferred on the Honourable Minister, is in recognition of his role in bringing back the language to life among other Nigerian languages.
He noted that the new National Language Policy, recently announced by the Minister, which will mandate the use of local languages as the language of instruction for primary school pupils, is a welcome development and has given life to the Ibibio Language, which was on the verge of extinction.
THEWILL recalls that the new policy on language of instructions in primary and junior secondary schools was announced by Nigeria’s Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, on Wednesday, December 1, after it was approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) in a meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.
In a Goodwill Message to the Ibibio Talent Hunt program, the Minister noted that the policy that he announced had actually been six years in the making.
“When I became minister it was the second of my ten-point ministerial strategic plan. This was why your letter got my immediate attention.
“The announcement of the policy is the easy part. Now, I hope Ibibio Alive project will concentrate on developing material for the teaching of Ibibio–Ibibio Orthography, Ibibio Grammar, Ibibio Syntax, Ibibio Morphology, Ibibio Dictionary, Ibibio Readers and a host of other books.
“We have to produce the teachers. And the more difficult work before us now is developing and writing other subjects like chemistry, physics, mathematics and other technical subjects in Ibibio and other languages.” The message which was read by the coordinator on behalf of the Minister read in parts.
According to it, the objective of the new policy is to promote and enhance the cultivation and use of all Nigerian languages, adding that the language of the host community is what will be used in respective schools.
Adamu stressed that after the exclusive use of local languages for the first six years of school, the mother tongue would then be combined with English at the junior secondary level.
He, however, applauded the fact that Ibibio Alive Enterprise has put Ibibio Language ahead of almost all 625 other language groups in the country, as far as the new policy is concerned.
Awards to be won at the event include Best Performing centre in:
a) Traditional shade design at the museum
b) participation of members in various activities
c) presentation and general best performance,
There will also be Talent Hunt among children, male and female youths, men, women, cooking skills, traditional dressing skills, Ibibio songs, Bible recitation in the Ibibio Language, amongst others.
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