Igbo Language: A Veritable Tool for Achieving Sustainable Development Goals in Igbo Communities

Abstract

The world, faced with many problems, finds a way to solve or reduce them by instituting programmes that would impact positively on the living standards of people. The more developed a society, the higher its living standards, and vice versa. This explains why, in 2000, Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), that targeted only developing countries, was instituted. The programme lasted till 2015. The 8 MDGs were hardly satisfactorily realized in Igbo speaking communities of Nigeria, particularly as a result of not disseminating the relevant MDGs information in Igbo. In 2015, the world moved from MDGs to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), to last till 2030. It involves all countries irrespective of their level of development. With the way its implementation is going in Igbo communities, without the dissemination of I ts information in Igbo, one wonders if SDGs would fare better than MDGs. This forms the crux of this paper, aimed at investigating how Igbo could be deployed as a veritable tool for achieving SDGs in Igbo communities. Data on how conversant the Igbo rural dwellers are with SDGs and their views on giving them information on SDGs in Igbo were collected from 36 consultants in 12 communities spread across all the states of Nigeria where Igbo is spoken. Data were quantitatively and qualitative analysed using percentile ranking and discussions respectively. The findings show that more than 86%of the Igbo dwellers were ignorant about SDGs. The people would prefer getting information on SDGs in the Igbo language; this is the sure means of achieving SDGs.