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Scholars, Parents Urged To Save Nigerian Languages From Extinction

Published

4 years ago

December 5, 2021

Speaker, Taraba State House of Assembly, Joseph Albasu Kunini, expressed fear at the possibility of Nigerian languages going into extinction if scholars fail to revive them.

The Speaker who expressed his fear at a symposium on creative writing at the Faculty of Arts, Taraba State University, said if concrete actions are not taken to reverse the ugly trend, the present generation would have nothing to bequeath to posterity in terms of traditional languages and cultures.

According to him, many languages in Taraba State and Nigeria at large may end up extinct.

He also cited the ‘UNESCO Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger’ which showed that between 1950 and 2010, about 230 languages went into extinction while most linguists have estimated that about 50 per cent of the world’s 6,500 languages would be gone forever by the end of this century.

He said, “although it is generally believed that some languages are in danger of extinction because of globalization, imperialism, neocolonialism and linguicide (language killing), in our own case, the blame should be taken to the door-steps of parents who deliberately refuse to teach their children their languages or mother tongues at infancy, because of modernity.

“They prefer teaching their children dominant languages, thereby relegating their own languages to the background; in fact, some of the parents believe that teaching their children dominant languages or lingua franca is key to accessing jobs, education and opportunities.

“Therefore, the Department of Languages and Linguistics of this great institution should come to the rescue of the dying languages or endangered languages spoken by the numerous ethnic groups in the State in particular and the country generally through research and promotion of programmes such as this symposium.”

The Speaker further paid glowing tributes to the two prominent Europeans who spent several years in the country studying native languages and wrote books on them which have since become reference materials by scholars and writers.

He said “I must pay glowing tribute to a European scholar, Robert Koop, who lived among the Kuteb people in this State and spent several years studying their language and translated the New Testament Bible into Kuteb language and also wrote a book, ‘A Grammar of Kuteb: A Jukunoid Language of East-Central Nigeria’ published in 2009.

“Another European scholar, C.K. Meek, who spent many years in this part of the country to study the languages of different ethnic groups, wrote a book, ‘A Sudanese Kingdom: An Ethnographical Study of the Jukun-Speaking Peoples of Nigeria’ published in 1931,” he said.

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Gunmen On Motorbikes Kill 22 At Baptism Ceremony In Niger

Published

14 hours ago

September 17, 2025

Editor

Gunmen on motorbikes shot dead 22 villagers in western Niger, most attending a baptism ceremony, local media and other sources said Tuesday.

The shootings happened on Monday in the Tillaberi region, near Burkina Faso and Mali, where jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group (IS) are active.

A resident of the area told AFP that 15 people were killed first at a baptism ceremony in Takoubatt village.

“The attackers then went to the outskirts of Takoubatt where they killed seven other people,” said the resident, who requested anonymity for security reasons.

Local media outlet Elmaestro TV reported a “gruesome death toll of 22 innocent people cowardly killed without reason or justification”.

“Once again, the Tillaberi region has been struck by barbarism, plunging innocent families into mourning and despair,” Nigerien human rights campaigner Maikoul Zodi said on social media.

Niger’s military leaders, who came to power two years ago in a coup, have struggled to contain jihadist groups in Tillaberi, despite maintaining a large army presence there.

Around 20 soldiers were killed in the region last week.

Human Rights Watch has urged Niger authorities to “do more to protect” civilians against deadly attacks.

The rights monitoring group estimates that the Islamic State group has “summarily executed” more than 127 villagers and Muslim worshippers in Tillaberi in five attacks since March.

Meanwhile, the NGO ACLED, which tracks conflict victims worldwide, says around 1,800 people have been killed in attacks in Niger since October 2024 — three-quarters of them in Tillaberi.

Niger and its neighbours, Burkina Faso and Mali, also ruled by military coup leaders who claim to pursue a sovereignist policy, have expelled the French and American armies that were fighting alongside them against jihadism.

AFP

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Serbia Indicts Ex-minister, 12 Others Over Train Station Tragedy

Published

2 days ago

September 16, 2025

Editor

Serbian prosecutors filed an updated indictment on Tuesday against 13 people, including a former minister, over a fatal railway station roof collapse that has triggered a wave of anti-government protests.

The prosecution said all those indicted, among them former construction minister Goran Vesic, face charges of “serious crimes against public safety” over the tragedy that killed 16 people last November.

“The indictment proposes that the Higher Court in Novi Sad order custody for all the defendants,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

The roof collapse at the newly renovated station in Serbia’s second-largest city, Novi Sad, became a symbol of entrenched corruption and sparked almost daily protests.

Protesters first demanded a transparent investigation, but their calls soon escalated into demands for early elections.

The Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Novi Sad initially filed an indictment at the end of December, but judges returned it in April, requesting more information.

The accused were released or placed under house arrest following the decision.

The prosecutor’s office said it had complied with the judge’s request and had now completed the supplementary investigation.

The prosecutor specialising in organised crime and corruption in Belgrade is leading a separate, independent investigation into the tragedy.

That investigation is focused on 13 people, including Vesic and another former minister, Tomislav Momirovic, who headed the Construction Ministry before him.

In March, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) launched a third, separate investigation into the possible misuse of EU funds for the station’s reconstruction.

AFP

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Kazakhstan Bans Forced Marriage, Bride Kidnapping

Published

2 days ago

September 16, 2025

Editor

Kazakhstan has banned forced marriages and bride kidnappings through a law that came into effect Tuesday in the Central Asian country, where the practice persists despite new attention being paid to women’s rights.

Forcing someone to marry is now punishable by up to 10 years in prison, Kazakh police said in a statement.

“These changes are aimed at preventing forced marriages and protecting vulnerable categories of citizens, especially women and adolescents,” it added.

Bride kidnappings have also been outlawed.

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“Previously, a person who voluntarily released a kidnapped person could expect to be released from criminal liability. Now this possibility has been eliminated,” the police said.

There are no reliable statistics of forced marriage cases across the country, with no separate article in the criminal code prohibiting it until now.

A Kazakh lawmaker said earlier this year that the police had received 214 such complaints over the past three years.

The custom is also present in neighbouring Kyrgyzstan, where it mostly goes unpunished due to indifferent law enforcement and stigma surrounding whistleblowers.

The issue of women’s rights in Kazakhstan gained media attention in 2023 following the murder of a woman by her husband, a former minister, a case that shocked Kazakh society and prompted President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to react.

“Some people hide behind so-called traditions and try to impose the practice of wife stealing. This blatant obscurantism cannot be justified,” Tokayev said last year.

AFP