In his address at the 2017 Annual Round Table on Cultural Orientation, jointly organized by the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture and the National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO) in Kaduna on Monday, the Minister said situation reports shows “there is a remarkable decline in the usage of our indigenous languages by our children and youths; many of them cannot read or write in their mother tongue.”

He said indigenous language newspapers have a vital role to play in reviving the fortunes of the nation’s endangered languages, if their potentials are maximized.

“It has been my desire since I assumed duties as Honourable Minister to convene a strategic stakeholders’ meeting to underscore the relevance of the indigenous language newspapers and to engineer a road map for their sustenance in the face of formidable challenges.

“This explains why one of my first assignments in office was to visit identifiable indigenous newspapers like Alaroye, Iroyin Owuro, Rariya, Aminiya and Leadership Hausa,” Alhaji Mohammed said.

He said concrete measures must be taken to preserve indigenous languages, including the need for parents to ensure that their children are taught their indigenous languages; implementing the teaching and learning of Nigerian indigenous languages as contained in the National Policy on Education as well as supporting and sustaining various platforms, such as the indigenous language newspapers, which promote the use of indigenous languages.

Other measures listed by the Minister are the translation of the country’s treasure trove of literature, such as The Lion and the Jewel, The Passport of Mallam Illia and Things fall apart, into indigenous languages; adapting those classics into comics, graphic novels, TV shows as well as animated and live action feature films, leveraging on the role of the electronic media in disseminating, aggregating and curating indigenous languages and deploying digital tools in ensuring the survival of Nigeria’s indigenous languages.

“Today, Social Media, YouTube, SMS and specially-developed applications for use on mobile devices are being used to attract young people to learn ‘endangered languages’. There are also websites and online forums where people can interact and optimize their knowledge of those languages. Those solutions are worth exploring seriously,” he said.

Alhaji Mohammed charged participants at the two-day Round Table, which has the theme ‘Indigenous Language Newspapers and National Development’, “to painstakingly deliberate on these issues and come up with far-reaching recommendations that will guide government’s policy and action plan.”

In his presentation, the Chairman of the Leadership Group, Sam Nda-Isaiah, said indigenous language newspapers are key to any strategy at national development hence they should not be under-estimated.

Nda-Isaiah, who gave the keynote address, however, said that for the indigenous language newspapers to be relevant, the high rate of collapse of such papers must be checked by running them as a business, like any other newspaper.

In his address of welcome, NICO Executive Secretary Barclays Ayakoroma said the Annual Round Table is aimed at enhancing the potentials of indigenous language newspapers to serve as catalyst for cultural renaissance and grassroots mobilisation.

The post Indigenous languages endangered, may go into extinction – FG appeared first on New Mail Nigeria.

Kari replaces Fola Daniel.

According to a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, the appointment, which is for a term of four years in the first instance, takes effect from Friday, July 31 2015.

The new Commissioner for Insurance started his career with Royal Exchange Assurance in 1979 and later worked with Yankari Insurance Company until 1989, when he was appointed Executive Director in Niger Insurance Plc.

In January 1992, he was appointed Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Nigeria Reinsurance Corporation, a position he held until March 1993 when he was appointed Managing Director of NICON Insurance Corporation.

He served in that capacity until January 2000 when he resigned but returned to insurance management in 2007 as the Managing Director/Chief Executive of Unity Kapital Assurance Plc, where he served for four years.

A Chartered Insurer and Professional IT Consultant, Mohammed Kari was, until his new appointment, the Deputy Commissioner (Technical) in the National Insurance Commission.

Follow Us

The post Kari, former NICON Insurance MD replaces Daniel as NAICOM boss appeared first on New Mail Nigeria.

Under the scheme, which is being underwritten by NICON Insurance Plc, the money is to mitigate the effects of the Boko Haram insurgency and other forms of attacks on educational institutions.

Though parents applauded the initiative, they however rejected the provision that stipulated that each of the pupils should pay N5,000 per annum to enjoy the scheme.

For instance, the Chairman, Parent-Teacher-Association, Federal Government College, Jos, Plateau State, Mutla Habila, said parents were opposed to the scheme.

He told newsmen that parents were opposed to the scheme because they could not see its value. “As the PTA FGC Jos chairman, I was the first person to question the propriety of the scheme and I stand by my opposition to it. I am asking all parents not to pay and those who have paid should ask for a refund.”

But the Principal of FGC Jos, Manko Mohammed, said the insurance scheme was a policy of the Federal Government, which all parents were to comply with.

He said that he had not asked parents not to pay, but the text message asking parents to ignore the directive was from the PTA of the school which the authorities knew nothing about.

“As a civil servant, I am supposed to follow directives and this one is from the Federal Ministry of Education and I communicate to all parents through the newsletter. I did not send any text message to parents. It was from a certain PTA of which we have no knowledge of.”

He said all parents were duly briefed about the benefits of the scheme to the welfare of their children.

The scheme, when implemented will fetch NICON N625m from the 104 unity schools with 125,000 pupils.

Also, some parents of pupils at the Federal Government College, Ijanikin, Lagos have queried the scheme, arguing that the Federal Government was supposed to pay for the policy because it was the government that should be responsible for the security of the pupils.

“I work in a company too and the management of the firm has insured me. I was not asked to pay for the policy, so why should the government ask pupils to pay N5,000 yearly for the policy?” One of the parents, Mr. Kunle Ayeni, said.

Also, the King’s College, Lagos Parent-Teacher-Association on Tuesday faulted the new insurance regime, saying the move was hasty.

The association who spoke through its Chairman, Emman Oriakhi, said though the initiative looked laudable, it was wrong for the Federal Government to have embarked on it without consulting major stakeholders.

“It is a good move that was hastily carried out. The Federal Ministry of Education did not consult any interested group in the sector.

“The KCPTA is aligning with its parent association, National Association of Parent-Teacher of the Federal Government Colleges, in rejecting this policy.

“If major stakeholders had discussed the derivable gains, we would have been in a position to say whether it is worth committing our money to.

“Do you know what it means to garner N625m every year via this policy? So, I canvass that the authorities should invite and discuss with stakeholders on the way forward.”

Meanwhile, the management of NICON Insurance Plc, on Tuesday said its appointment as the underwriter of the Students’ Welfare Insurance Scheme followed due process.

The Senior Manager, Corporate Affairs of NICON, Ade Adesokan, made this known in a statement.

The statement said the scheme was presented to the Federal Ministry of Education and due process was followed before the firm’s appointment as the underwriter.

It said that the new scheme would help to address the challenges of pupils’ welfare and continuity of their studies.

According to the statement, its objective is to bring succour to pupils that may lose their parents through accident or by natural means.

“The Students Welfare Insurance Scheme is a combination of Group Personal Accident and Group Life Assurance Schemes. It is packaged for pupils of 104 unity schools throughout the country,” the statement said.

It said that in the case of accidental death of a pupil, the sponsor named in the policy would be entitled to N500, 000.

The statement said that in the event of the sponsor or guardian’s death, the pupil would be entitled to the payment of school fees up to the year of graduation.

It said such a pupil would be entitled to a maximum of N500, 000 per annum.

“In case a pupil accidentally sustains permanent disability, he or she will be entitled to N500, 000 as compensation.

“For accidental medical expenses, a pupil will be entitled to N50, 000 for medical treatment.

“If a student is involved in accidental death, the company will pay N50, 000 for burial expenses,” Adesokan explained.

It said that some conditions were also to be fulfilled before a pupil could enjoy the benefits.

Follow Us

The post Parents reject FG’s N625m insurance for pupils appeared first on New Mail Nigeria.