By Yinka Akanbi
The National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO) has secured approval from the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) to commence teaching of Nigerian indigenous languages in NYSC camps situated across 36 states of the federation and the FCT.
A press release signed by Media Assistant to the Executive Secretary, Caleb Nor, and shared on the Institute’s website, expressed optimism that the NYSC edition of the language programme would serve as a crucial platform for nurturing unity, cultural exchange, and national harmony among Nigerian youths.
“This is part of the new national cultural orientation drive towards national re-enactment of Nigeria’s cultural values. Language is a veritable component of culture and to this extent, the nationwide indigenous language training for corps members by the Institute will kick-start with a pilot scheme for Abuja at the NYSC Permanent Orientation Camp in Kubwa on Thursday, February 29th, 2024 with instructional sessions in the three major languages; Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba as well as the language of the host community which is Gbagyi.
“While the on-camp language training is designed to come with effective modalities for Corps members to learn languages other than their mother tongue, especially the language of their host community for ease of communication and interaction, it is expected that the training will metamorphose into Community Development Service (CDS) groups to further broaden their knowledge of the languages learnt.
“By acquiring proficiency in these languages, Corps members can interact more efficiently with community residents and improve on their communication skills during community development initiatives and various interactions, thus fostering harmonious coexistence as the programme is designed to create a sense of pride in our indigenous languages; foster national pride; unity and identity as well as encourage the need to preserve our indigenous languages.
“Over the years, the Institute has successfully organized three editions of the indigenous language programme across fifteen locations in the country which are the August edition that holds annually during the long vacation; the weekend edition which is held periodically during weekends to enable language learners who are too busy during the weekdays to attend classes as well as the Barracks edition, created for officers and men of military and paramilitary organizations.
“Past beneficiaries and participants of the NICO language training have adjudged the programme to be worthwhile and looking at the enthusiasm with which the programme is accepted, it shows that NICO has indeed taken a right step in the right direction,” the release read in part.
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