The indigenous people of Ogori, in Ogori/Mangogo Local government area of Kogi State, has begun quest towards having a universally-acceptable alphabet for the community.
The community during organised a one-day symposium were university scholars, researchers and lovers of culture were gathered in providing unique alphabets for the community.
The symposium with the theme “Mother Tongue Literacy,” organised by the League of Professors (LOP) from the community was held at the sideline of the 2019 Annual Ovia-Osese festival where young maidens were initiated into womanhood.
Speaking at the one-day symposium, former Vice Chancellor of the National Open University of Nigeria(NOUN), Professor Olugbemiro Jegede, who doubled as the LOP Chairman, said the community is renowned for its educational renaissances, hence the need to embark on such part of self-discovery.
He said the Ogori language popularly called OKO is already spoken and thought in some Germans university, and as such becoming a global conversation.
“In Ogori, we have no other means of survival except education. It is out economic, politics, social mileage, our aspirations, our hope, almost a community religion and our future. Ogori has long chosen the path of knowledge as a cure for the copious foolishness in the world. For us at the League of Professors, therefore, the academic and intellectual dimension to the Ovia – Osese is to expose the world to the rich cultural and linguistic knowledge base that abounds in this community.
“It also showcases the fact that while others could undertake cultural tourism, medical -tourism or ecotourism to places, it is possible to undertake intellectual tourism in a bid to fortify research and understanding about our history and existence as a people. But we must also be able to write confidently in OKO language hence this meeting to devise our universally accepted alphabets to do so. It is my hope that the various academic and technical issues to be considered in today’s symposium would form a substantial pathway to developing the Orthography of OKO language.”
Advertise or Publish a Story on EkoHot Blog:
Kindly contact us at [email protected]. Breaking stories should be sent to the above email and substantiated with pictorial evidence.
Citizen journalists will receive a token as data incentive.
Call or Whatsapp: 0803 561 7233, 0703 414 5611
