Every Nigerian has a mother-tongue or the language of our parents. They include Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, Fulfude, Ijaw, Tiv, Ibibio, Kanuri, Igala, Jukun, Urhobo, Nupe, Ogoni, Idoma, Ebira, Igede, Berom, Gwari, Edo, Egun, Takwa, Efik, Itshekiri and Ogoja to mention but a few. As a result of travelling to other regions and countries for greener pastures, for education as well as inter-tribal marriages, most of our children cannot speak the native language. This is made worse by the parents who prefer to converse with their children in English or even pigeon (substandard) English. The people of Igbo extraction seem to be the most 'guilty' in this regard. Language is the most important element of our culture.It also gives us an identity. I think we need to change our attitude towards our indigenous languages by encouraging our children not just to understand but to speak in our local dialects so that our cultures will not be extinguished.

This is something that has been a source of great concern to me. Our languages are going into extinction , and many of us are to blame. Some parents can not even speak their native language properly, not to talk of teaching their children. Others claim they don't want to 'confuse' the child until he or she is old enough. While a few simply just want to 'belong'

I don't know about other Nigerian groups, but I am fairly certain that my own language isn't going anywhere other than forward. Currently, I am involved in a number of literature and computer science/IT projects that are focused on creating a medium for the growth and development of my language. The most exciting projects to me are probably the general sciences encyclopedias we are currently writing and the artificial intelligence software that we are developing, which speaks our language and translates from English to our language and back.

There is also one other project that I am particularly excited about, but it is still in the planning phase. We have yet to even begin development on it, but once completed it would be a big benefit to multiple communities in preserving and developing their speech forms. In particular, I imagine the eastern part of Nigeria would make good use of this still-under-development software application.

My language is struggling to survive. It will disappear in 2 generations or be absorbed into a bigger entity if we are not careful. I've started speaking the little I know to my baby and to my delight, I have found it has similarities to my husband's language. He can't speak his but I've resolved to hire a teacher for our children in when they're older. Us minority languages have to fight even harder. I've seen books and CDs in the major Nigerian languages sold for kids.

more than 200 people speak my language #HAUSA

My Language is going nowhere anytime soon.