Sci-Edu
September 10, 2005
Nigeria to develop software in indigenous languages
Nigeria is to develop indigenous software in the five most widely spoken languages in the west African country with 130 million people, a government statement said Friday.
"This would create better awareness, educational understanding and an invaluable wealth to the Nigerian populace," Cleopas Angaye, head of the National Information Technology Development Agency ( NITDA) said in the statement.
The translation of the software into Nigerian languages, Angaye added, would facilitate the communication of information technology messages via mobile and computer Internet networks from the rural to the urban areas.
The most widely spoken local languages in Nigeria include Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo, Edo and Efik.
Angaye made the remarks when members of the House Committee on Science and Technology on an oversight functional working visit called on him at the agency's headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria's capital.
Festus Adegoke, chairman of the committee advised that NITDA should as matter of priority use information technology as a channel for generating employment for youths, arresting youth unrest, students strike and drastic reduction if not total elimination of urban-rural drift.
Source: Xinhua
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