FRCN, Igbo Promoters Honour National Light

Anambra Newspapers and Printing Corporation (ANPC) has received honour for her publication Ka Ọ Dị Taa, The Igbo language newspaper which emerged on newsstand in 2017. The publisher of National Light newspaper, Ka Ọ Dị Taa, has been commended for her zeal in promoting the Igbo language and culture through Ka Ọ Dị Taa.

The commendation came from the nation broadcaster, the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, FRCN (Radio Nigeria), South East zonal headquarter, Enugu. The letter and certificate of honour was presented to ANPC during the first Inter-Secondary School Igbo Quiz Competition organised for secondary schools in Enugu State held last weekend at the Radio Nigeria, Coal City FM Enugu.

Presenting the letter of commendation, the Zonal Director, FRCN Enugu National Station, Ike Okere, said the commendation was apt and well-deserved, given the laudable strides of the newspaper house in recent times. He cited the unrelenting efforts and inputs made so far by the corporation in promotion of the ailing Igbo language and culture, particularly through her publication of Ka Ọ Dị Taa, which is now a best and sole selling Igbo language newspaper in the country.

While decrying the current rueful state of usage of the Igbo language, which he said was now lamentable as many Igbo persons and groups now neither speak, write nor teach the language. He condemned the attitudes of some Igbo parents, teachers, youths and children who regard the language as that of illiterates. Describing media as a main and most effective platform for promoting or saving an ailing language like Igbo, Mr. Okere showered praises on ANPC for initiating and publishing Ka Ọ Dị Taa, which he said was a wise, urgent and apt response towards saving and promoting the language from going extinct as predicted by the United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organization' (UNESCO) in 2012. He therefore charged them to uphold the newpaper’s mission tenaciously, due to its gargantuan potentialities.

He further called on every Igbo person to wake up from sleep and make his or her own contributions in whatever little or big ways to save the ailing mother tongue, especially by speaking it regularly, writing and passing it unto others.

Earlier in his own speech, while addressing the participants at the event, one of the judges in the competition, who is also a notable writer and Igbo language activist, Chinedum Ofomata attested that Igbo language is indeed seriously threatened by extinction, and commended the organisers of the event which he said would go a long way in making people build interest in the language, hence stop seeing it as a language of illiterates.

In his address of welcome, convener of the program, Mr. Ibiam Ufiem said that his aim was to test the students' intellect in use of Igbo language and make them appreciate the importance of speaking and writing the language. The project, he said, aims to recruit more youthful minds in promoting the language. He also promised to extend, in subsequent editions of the competition to primary schools and universities.

Winning schools in the competition were: Urban Girls Secondary School, Enugu (first position); New Layout Secondary School, Enugu (second); Day Secondary School Enugu (third); and Lady Ibiam Girls Secondary School (fourth).