France invests €600,000 to boost French language in Nigeria

France says it has earmarked €600,000 to invest in Nigeria with the bid to make French a language of communication in the country.

The Embassy of France in Nigeria has officially set in motion projects that would place French as the language of communication in secondary schools and the Nigerian public space.

This was disclosed by French Ambassador to Nigeria, Emmanuella Blatmann, at the launch of the Solidarity Funds for Innovative Projects (FSPI in French), in Abuja.

At the FSPI, Blatmann said the project was meant to strengthen French teachers in the country through a special fund known as the uja.

She said the FSPI project would make it easy to deploy the programme in 50 schools in five states in which local partners have expressed the desire to intensify educational cooperation actions in Enugu, Plateau, Oyo, Lagos and Abuja.

The ambassador said, “The Embassy of France in Nigeria officially sets in motion a new project entitled ‘French in Nigeria, the language of communication and capacity building,’ financed by a special fund called ‘Solidarity Funds for Innovative Projects (FSPI’ in French) to the sum of €600,000.

“This project, with the slogan “À toi le micro, Naija” (the mic is yours, Naija), aims at positioning French as a real language of communication in secondary schools and in the Nigerian public space, by supporting the training of secondary school teachers in Nigeria and creating a network of media platforms using the French language.

“In line with the foregoing, this FSPI project will make it possible to deploy a program for 50 schools in five States in which local partners have clearly expressed the desire to intensify educational cooperation actions: Enugu, Plateau, Oyo, FCT, and Lagos.

“These schools will benefit directly from a pilot initiative involving teacher training in France and in Nigeria, and the purchase of books and computer equipment.”