April 05, (THEWILL) – A Port Harcourt-based Linguist and Indigenous Language Advocate, Mr. Josiah Egbilika, has called on people of African descent to, as a matter of urgent necessity, acquire and speak the language of their African affiliations if they truly want to be identified with their place of origin.
Mr. Egbilika made the call from the background of the theme of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, “A Decade of Recognition, Justice and Development: Implementation of the International Decade for the People of African Descent”.
The Linguist stated that there is no way these recognitions will be complete when the people of African descent have not totally identified with the culture of their origin, especially the language.
According to Egbilika, “Indigenous language serves as one of the best ways to identify a person and embrace one’s true identity. People of African descent must make a necessity to consciously put in effort towards learning and speaking the language of their origin.
“It is not enough to have an affiliation with Africa without any element of African culture. To hold a claim of being Africans, they have to first identify their place of origin, not just the country and then learn and speak the indigenous languages of the people.”
The Indigenous Language advocate emphasised that if people of African descent learn and speak their indigenous languages proudly, it would enhance language tourism, which would in turn bolster the economy of the nation of their origin.
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