By Japhet Alakam

The clamour for the promotion of Nigerian indigenous languages received a boost last week with the presentation of   “anilingo series” by Iyin Creative. Anilingo Series” are animated multimedia products creatively designed to make the teaching and learning of Nigeria languages appealing to the younger generation., which come in a DVD that contains the three major languages (Igbo, Yoruba and Hausa).

The event which was held at the nation’s culture house, Terra Kulture Lagos was attended by notable Nigerians including the Minister of Education, Alhaji Ibrahim Shekura who was represented by Mr D.C Uwaezuoke, Director Basic and Secondary Education, Mrs Olayinka Bello, who represented the Lagos state education ministry, Femi Ogunrombi, and others

In his remarks, the minister of Education, who harped on the importance of local languages stated that everything necessary should be done to draw the attention of our youths to the fact that their mother tongue is their identity.

“Learning and speaking of these indigenous languages will expose them to our core values and culture and this will consequently mitigate the current insecurity being witnessed in our country today. In addition, if our youths are well grounded in these languages, it will rub off on their proficiency in other foreign languages.”He added.

He commended the organisers for the initiative, adding that it will serve as a stimulus for other Nigerians who would like to emulate and come up with similar project in other endangered indigenous languages.

On her part, Mrs Bello, who represented Lagos Education ministry said, “we in the ministry of Education welcome partnership. I happens to be in charge of languages in the education ministry and this work is quite dynamic.”

Femi Ogunrombi who introduced and sang the Anilingo song, God bless Nigeria said that he was happy when he learned that the song which was written over 30 years will be used as the background music.

In her comments, the creative director and CEO of Iyin Creative, an animated and business solutions company, that create solutions for learning and make your business easy, Mrs Kofo said that “Anilingo, means animated language learning and the language we are talking about is our native Nigerian languages, but this particular one is in Igbo, Yoruba and Hausa. It is a DVD that contains the three languages for encouraging children to learn their languages.

You know kids love cartoons and that is why we made it in cartoons forms and we made it in a format that can be used at home and schools. That means that kids can learn it at home and the schools can also adopt it and use it in the class room.

We did not make it in TV series but something like that is on the way. Kofo who was inspired by the way her daughter learnt how to speak Spanish through watching cartoons said that with this Nigerian children would be able to learn the three major languages which is the goal they are trying to achieve- one Nigeria.

The event featured a documentary of the CD and some clips of the work. Apart from that , there were also cultural performances by a cultural troupe dressed in the three major tribes of Nigeria that preached peace in the country.