NINLAN board members at a meeting
The National Institute for Nigeria Languages (NINLAN) in Abia state says it has signed an agreement with a Chinese company to develop keyboards with the orthograph of Nigerian languages.
Ogbonna Onuoha, NINLAN executive director, spoke at the first matriculation ceremony to welcome degree students into the institution at its Obikabia-Ovom campus on Friday.
He said the partnership will bring ease to language development efforts in Nigeria.
“We are partnering a Chinese Technology Firm to develop specialised computer keyboards with indigenous language characters, to support reading, writing, and digital content creation in some Nigerian languages,” he said.
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“The institute is also pioneering text-to-speech and speech-to-text applications powered by natural language processing algorithms to facilitate modern teaching, learning and research in Nigerian languages.
“We have equally designed the NINLAN Nigerian Languages Online Programme, which, when launched, will deliver certificate and diploma programmes virtually to all interested persons.”
Onuoha said NINLAN’s degree programmes would serve people at home and abroad.
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He said they would include foreigners seeking to acquire proficiency in Nigerian languages for business, career, diplomacy, and cultural purposes.
He said the event, which was the 7th matriculation ceremony of NINLAN which admitted about 433 students, was historic.
The executive director said the ceremony incorporated the pioneer degree students of the language institution.
Onuoha said the institution is currently affiliated with Nnamdi Azikiwe University in Awka, preparing to transition into a degree-awarding institution.
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