The Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in Nigeria, Dr. Fahad Al Taffaq, has called for the usage of modern resources to deepen the benefit of the language across the world.
He made this known on Sunday in Abuja at the Arabic Language Learning Workshop organised by the Embassy of the UAE in Nigeria.
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The event was in commemoration of the UN World Arabic Language Day which is celebrated annually worldwide on December 18.
According to him, the Arabic language remains a pillar of the cultural diversity of humanity, being one of the most widely spoken languages in the world.
“Arabic is used daily by more than 400 million people across 25 countries globally and in more than 10 countries in Africa including Nigeria,” he said.
He said that Arabic was adopted as the sixth official language of the UN in 1973 and has played a catalytic role in the emergence of civilisation.
He said the Embassy has shown continuous commitment to promoting cultural and interfaith tolerance in Nigeria, through various initiatives such as the Essay Competition on tolerance it organized for secondary school students in Abuja, the UAE-Nigeria Cultural and Arts Exhibition it hosted in Lagos this year and the Interfaith Tolerance Dialogue it organized for religious and cultural leaders.
Also speaking, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, called for more global funding and provision of modern learning resources for Arabic language.
According to him, the Arabic Language is in dire need of more funding and provision of modern learning resources, to continue to play its role as a partner in the advancement of human culture and civilisation.
The minister wo said that the Arabic language is one of the ancient and earliest-known languages to mankind, therefore, called on nations across the world to use the occasion of the celebration to ponder on the challenges confronting learners of the language globally.
“It is unique and renowned for its rich diglossia and employed on a daily basis as a medium of spiritual and theistic interactions between God and adherents of Islam, who number 1.8 billion people.
“Furthermore, Arabic is that language that forges global alliance and unity among disparate racial and ethnic communities and nations.
“It is one that has proved to be a veritable tool in global efforts that target the realisation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDGs numbers one to five on the eradication of poverty and hunger,” Mohammed said.
He said the language is being spoken by the Shuwa-Arabs, an ethnic stock in the northeast of the country with cultural and historical affiliation to the wider Baqqara tribe in East Africa.
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