Bayelsa State government has said it will henceforth hold Izon Language Awareness Summit annually in a bid to strengthen the Ijaw language and preserve it for unborn generations.
Key Highlights
- Annual Izon Language Summit: Bayelsa State Government will make the Izon Language Awareness Summit an annual event to promote preservation of the Ijaw language.
- Izon language app unveiled: Governor Douye Diri pledged government support for the newly developed Dayama Demo Izon Language App.
- Concern over language extinction: Speakers warned that declining use of Izon, particularly among younger people, threatens its survival.
- Schools to promote Izon: The governor directed the Education Ministry to organise Izon-language quizzes and debates in primary and secondary schools.
- Parents urged to use mother tongue: Ijaw families were encouraged to communicate more frequently with children in Izon.
At the maiden summit held in Yenagoa on Monday, as part of activities marking 30 years of the creation of the state, Governor Douye Diri pledged his administration’s support for the newly developed Izon Language App codenamed Dayama Demo.
Governor Diri, who expressed concern that the language is gradually becoming extinct, urged his kinsmen and all Bayelsans to make conscious effort to revive it in order to preserve their identity as a people for the younger generation.
He commended popular Ijaw music act, Asu Ekiye, for convening the summit and for being a true ambassador of the Ijaw nation.
He said the summit would henceforth be an annual event in the state.
He also lauded a former Commissioner for Ijaw National Affairs in the state, Felix Tuodolo, Izon Language presenter, Erema Yanga, among others for ensuring that the Ijaws do not lose their heritage.
He called on private organisations and individuals to join government in supporting the creative talents that have been at the forefront of promoting the language.
The governor urged the Ijaw National Congress (INC) to work with government on the Ijaw revival project as well as reactivate the Prof. Kay Williamson Centre at Kaiama in Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Government Area.
He directed the commissioner for education to ensure that quizzes and debates in Izon Language are organised in primary and secondary schools in the state.
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The governor explained that the move to resuscitate Izon Language was started by his predecessor, Senator Seriake Dickson, in 2018 when the Kolokuma dialect was adopted as the official language in the state.
“The responsibility of teaching our children our language lies squarely with parents. So, every family should strive to communicate always in their mother tongue.
“This celebration will not end today. It is going to be an annual Izon Language Awareness Day and it will be anchored in the Ministry of Culture and Ijaw National Affairs.
“Next year, we will have this Ijaw Awareness Day in an open field at the sports complex where all our families, all our mothers and fathers will converge.
“What we are doing today is about the preservation of our language, mode of dressing as well as the cuisine that make up the sum total of our culture and tradition as Ijaws,” he said.
In his keynote address, Tuodolo identified challenges affecting the survival of the Ijaw Language, noting that parents no longer communicate with their children in their mother tongue.
He also identified the preference for other indigenous languages at the detriment of their mother tongue and the removal of Izon Language by the federal government as one of the official languages in the country.
Tuodolo enjoined Ijaw people to begin to express themselves more in their language at home, ceremonies and other engagements towards preserving their identity.
Also, the convener of the summit, Asu Ekiye, said the survival of the language rests on the choices and actions of the people.
He stated that Ijaw language stands at a critical threshold where its every day usage was declining at an alarming rate, particularly among the younger generation and that the time to act was now.
Ekiye appealed to the state government to make immediate actionable interventions for the formal recognition of the Ijaw Language Resuscitation Initiative and appointment of a state focal unit.
He also recommended the systematic audio-visual documentation of oral histories, songs, proverbs and stories, launch language champions network and school language clubs in pilot communities among others towards resuscitating the language.
Ekiye and his compatriot, Smooth, received awards for promoting the Ijaw language and tradition through music while veteran journalist, Asu Beks, was also honoured in recognition of his contribution to Ijaw values and traditions through the journalism profession.
