Pan-Igbo women group, Igbo Women Assembly, IWA, has urged South East governors to establish special schools for the teaching and promotion of the Igbo language in their  respective states.

The Abia State Coordinator of IWA, Mrs Ugochi Chibueze, who addressed newsmen in Umuahia on behalf of  the IWA National President, Lolo Nneka Chimezie, said the measure had become necessary as a step towards saving the language from going into extinction as predicted.

She regretted that the Igbo language is already on stage eight out of 12 predicted for any language to completely go extinct.

The IWA Coordinator, who said that IWA had already announced a scholarship for anyone wishing to study Igbo in the Lagos State University, UNILAG, urged the South East governors to support the group’s spirited efforts to revive Igbo language and culture.

She regretted that most of the young Igbo mothers prefer communicating with their children in English language instead of their mother tongue.

“You lose nothing by communicating with your children in Igbo. Any day your language dies, you lose your identity,” she said.

She also urged Ndigbo in the diaspora to communicate more in the Igbo language so that their children would not be lost to their host countries.

IWA further appealed to First Ladies in the South East, to take up the promotion of the Igbo language as their pet project, saying: “History will not be kind to us if we fail to preserve our language as our cultural identity.“

She also urged monarchs and presidents-general of various communities to join the campaign to revive and promote the Igbo language and culture.

IWA commended the President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo,  Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu and other stakeholders that identified with it during the United Nations Mother Tongue Day held recently in Owerri, Imo State.

The pan-Igbo women group founded by  Maria Okwor, solicited support in its campaign for the revival of the Igbo language.