By Samuel Okocha
Tanzania’s High Commissioner to Nigeria, Dr. Benson Bana, is advocating Kiswahili as a lingua franca for Africa.
He said the push for Kiswahili as a common language across the continent comes from the need to harness the power of language as a cultural diplomacy tool for peace building, stability and prosperity.
Dr. Bana said Kiswahili had served as the foundation for Tanzania’s sense of national cohesion.
The country, with over 130 ethnic groups, has been able to avoid ethnic conflicts and maintain political stability over the years largely due to the unifying power of Kiswahili language.
Shared Identity
Beyond Tanzania, the language has also given citizens across eastern and southern Africa a sense of shared identity. About 600 million people speak Kiswahili language.
The Tanzanian High Commissioner to Nigeria now hopes to see the language spoken beyond eastern and southern Africa.
“If Nigeria, embraces, Kiswahili, I believe a lot of west African countries would follow suit. And that is why we are starting with Nigeria seriously,” Dr. Bana told Voice of Nigeria during his visit to the external broadcast service in Lagos.
The Tanzanian High Commissioner said Nigeria saw Kiswahili as a vehicle for the unification and liberation of Africa for a long time.
In his words that’s “the reason why, although a short slot, Kiswahili is still a programme within the Voice of Nigeria.”
Dr. Bana said he hoped to strengthen the partnership with Voice of Nigeria where Kiswahili is one of the languages of broadcast.
Embracing A Common Language
He also used his visit to make case for the need for Africa to embrace a common language.
According to him, Africa has state nations, but with a common language, the continent can create nation states where citizens see themselves from the lens of a shared heritage while harnessing and projecting their cultural assets to the world.
The Tanzanian High Commissioner said his country hoped to promote Kiswahili to the level of becoming acceptable in African Union communication much as they have done to make Kiswahili the language of the SADC countries.
As part of strategies to promote the language, Dr Bana said they would work to persuade higher learning institutions to introduce Kiswahili as one of their academic programmes.
He added that they would also convince different institutions to consider establishing Kiswahili language clubs and encourage free movement of people to learn and teach the language.
Confidence Okwuchi
