The Untold Disrespect Meted Out on the Igbo Language In Igbo Land
The Untold Disrespect Meted Out on the Igbo Language In Igbo Land
I am a man who has lived in Igbo land, and I have also lived a substantial part of my life abroad, so I know what we are passing through in a foreign land. I can tell you authoritatively that most of us living abroad who gave birth abroad will not see our children come back to Igbo land. Many things stand against them. Most of these children of Igbo parents, who ran abroad because of the chronic marginalisation of Igbo people in Nigeria, might have escaped illegal arrest, untold hardship and being thrown into Wawa Prison in Kainji, Niger State. But their parents have raised children who have no affiliation to Ịgbo land. Children who can’t speak or understand Ịgbo. On top of that, the news of terrorism in Nigeria, the constant kidnapping and kị́lling of Christians, has made it impossible for them to come home.
Ask most of your relatives abroad. Have this conversation with them. Ask them if their children are ever coming back and hear what they say. Some of them, their bodies are not even coming back. This is what we have faced because we are Nigerians.
But this is not the worst part. What is going on in Igboland against the Igbo Language is terrible. I thought it was a joke until I called a school teacher and asked her if they are still teaching the Ịgbo language in schools. What I heard from her was shocking. Could you believe that most primary and nursery schools in Ịgbo land no longer teach Igbo, and even punish children for speaking it? Most children in Igbo land now learn Igbo as a second language. School owners use English to lure parents into their schools, and indirectly they are kị́lling our language, our culture and our tradition.
Then, in senior secondary school, students now choose whether they want to study Ịgbo or not. I remember my little stay in Lagos. Yorùbá language is taken seriously in Yorùbá land. Everybody must learn Yorùbá, and it doesn’t matter if you are Yorùbá or not. But come to Igbo land and see Igbo children skipping the Ịgbo language. And you ask yourself, what is the job of the governors in Igbo land? What is the job of the commissioners of education? Why can’t Ịgbo language become compulsory?
The Ịgbo language is not only about learning how to speak and write. It tells us who the Ịgbo people are. Their culture, their traditions, their foods and many other things the Ịgbo people are known for. When Ịgbo language is taught, students are exposed to parts of Ịgbo history, and you create the pride of being Igbo in them. When you deny them these things, tell me exactly how they will ever know and think Igbo?
We are failed by the governors.
The religious bodies are failing us.
The Ohanaeze does absolutely nothing.
What of ndị Eze? Everyone acts as if it does not concern them.
Sit for a moment and imagine that if there is no IPOB. What would we have done as a people?
I am therefore calling on governors across Igboland, both in the South East and South South, to reintroduce the Ịgbo language in schools, both primary and secondary. They should stop punishing students for speaking Ịgbo. And most importantly, the Ịgbo language should be made compulsory for every student in Igboland.
