Centre for Social and Inter-Ethnic Cohesion, CENSIC has condemned the use of vernacular language during the Press briefing by the presidential task force on COVID-19.
The group in a press statement signed by its Director of Public Relations, Wellington Olaiya, noted that though the communication was done in the three major languages in the country, it is not appropriate to address issues affecting all Nigerians.
The statement read in part that, “we abhor the indifference to the multi-ethnic composition of Nigeria during the press briefing of the presidential task force on COVID-19. We condemn questions asked by various reporters in Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo in a national setting that address issues affecting all Nigerians.
“The Minister of Interior, Minister of Environment, the Secretary-General of the Federation and the DG NCDC who should know better did not address this flagrant disregard of the official language of Nigeria.
“We wish to remind these members of the execute arm of government and the reporters involved that there are over five hundred indigenous languages in Nigeria, and the elevation of any native language above others is a threat to inter-ethnic cohesion.”
The group thereafter appealed to all government agencies and officials to denounce any action that could directly or indirectly seem to elevate any language or ethnic group above others.
“There are many print and electronic media to cater to the needs of Nigerians who do not understand the official language of Nigeria, and the use of a national press briefing to communicate in select languages is unfortunate, especially when the matter at hand is of utmost importance.
“We shall not fail to undertake court action against any government official or agency that continues to disregard the official language and multi-ethnic composition of Nigeria in the course of their official duties”, it added.
CENSIC is an advocacy tank established in 2017 to propagate the benefits of a cohesive multi-ethnic and multi-religious society.
Nigeria is indeed multi-ethnic. It is quite unfortunate that our leaders deem it appropriate to give the so called major ethnic groups a false sense of importance. This error of judgment has been instituted in the psyche of the average nigerian. Such funny concepts as WAZOBIA is a case in point. Children are taught from primary school to believe there are three languages in Nigeria. Our political parties are constituted such that it’s virtually impossible to have someone other than from the so-called major languages stand for president. It’s quite funny considering how we whine quite a lot if we were treated in any way suggestive of a sense of inferiority. It’s time our academics started re-conscientising the nigerian public, made them understand that this things are inherently derogatory and constitute disaffections in the long run
I thought I was the only one to see this for what it is, outright disregard for public office. I was just watching the PTF briefing today 24 April, 2020 was quite disconcerted to hear the minister of state walk to the podium and commence speaking off in the yoruba language. Some days back the minister for foreign affairs did the same in the igbo language. It’s quite disheartening, I personally feel I’m not a nigerian given im neither hausa, yoruba, nor igbo, that public figures addressing a fragile multi-ethnic country like nigeria would resort to their local languages to address the nation in an emergency. This outright bias must be corrected immediately, I’ll assume it’s an honest error in need of Urgent correction.