By Ebi Perekeme
As part of its continuing efforts to bringing informative and educative news to every community in the Niger Delta region in their respective local languages, GbaramatuVoice has announced the launch of its Izon language services.
Izon, also known as Ijo, Ijaw, Izo and Uzo is the dominant Ijaw language, spoken by a majority of the Ijaw people of Nigeria.
According to the Niger Delta leading and most trusted Newspapers, the development marks another milestone for the company along with other stakeholders in the region.
Speaking ahead of the luncheon scheduled for Monday, August 31, 2020, the Publisher/CEO of GbaramatuVoice, Jacob Abai stated that the idea was to change the narratives of the outsider and let the Niger Delta story be told by Niger Deltans.
He further explained that the establishment of the Izon version was to address the demands by the public who had been eager to have a credible medium in their local language that will educate and enlighten them on Niger Delta and world related issues.
“There are very few publications in Ijaw in Nigeria, in the area of news. So, it is hoped the GbaramatuVoice service will fill the gap and be popular among Ijaws at home and in the diaspora.
“This is the first time the Izon language will be written and broadcast for international consumption.
“We will produce weekly bulletin of GbaramatuaVoice Izon – 5mins video round-up of stories as well as news, analysis, explainers and features on the web and social media,” Abai added.
He noted that GbaramatuVoice felt that it was very important to give all the Niger Delta cultures a platform to communicate, a platform to interact.
“Currently, we will start with Ijaw which has over 20million populace, then we incorporate other Niger Delta ethnicities like Urhobo, Itsekiri, Ibibio, Efik and others,” Abai added.
