African Development Depends on Strengthening Indigenous Language Media

-O.J Ogundeyi

Sustainable and inclusive development in Africa will remain difficult to achieve without substantial investment in indigenous language media, according to Professor Abiodun Salawu, a journalism and communication scholar and Director of the Indigenous Language Media in Africa (ILMA) Research Entity at North-West University, South Africa

Speaking on Episode 70 of the Solomon Atah Podcast, a platform dedicated to creating and preserving scholarly conversations, Prof. Salawu said development initiatives can only succeed when they are communicated in languages that people understand and use in their daily lives. “Development is all about communication. If you don’t communicate development to people, they will not buy into it,” he said.

He also argued that much of the information relating to public health, governance, education and civic participation is still communicated through colonial languages such as English, French and Portuguese. According to him, this often limits public understanding and participation, particularly among communities that primarily speak indigenous African languages.

Prof. Salawu warned that translating development messages from colonial languages into local languages can also result in the loss of important meaning and context. “A distant message, if it does not add to the original, it will remove from it,” he said, stressing the importance of producing information directly in indigenous languages.

Beyond local communication, the university don highlighted the need for Africans to reclaim control of the continent’s global narrative. He said Africa’s image continues to be shaped largely by Western media, which often focuses on conflict, poverty and humanitarian crises while overlooking the continent’s progress, innovation and diversity.

According to the professor, Africans must take greater responsibility for telling their own stories and presenting balanced perspectives that reflect the continent’s realities.

Prof. Salawu also expressed concern about the future of African languages in the digital era. He noted that many indigenous African languages remain “low-resource” languages, meaning they lack the digital content and datasets needed to support modern artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.

As generative AI systems rely on large volumes of digital text for training, he warned that languages with limited online representation risk being excluded from future technological developments. “What we need to do as Africa is to be able to put our languages in that domain,” he said.

Prof. Salawu cited initiatives such as the South African Digital Language Resources (SADiLaR) programme as important efforts to digitise indigenous languages and preserve African knowledge systems for future generations.

He also noted the growing use of indigenous languages on digital platforms, particularly podcasts and blogs. According to him, an increasing number of podcast creators are producing content in indigenous languages, providing speakers with spaces to express themselves more naturally and authentically. He added that bloggers are also gradually embracing indigenous languages, further expanding their presence in the digital space

Addressing young Africans, Prof. Salawu called for stronger media and information literacy to help citizens navigate an increasingly complex information environment. He urged young people to critically evaluate the sources of information they consume, understand the interests behind different narratives and question the credibility of content shared across media platforms. “We need to tell our stories in advance. Let us put our narratives in the public domain before people who feel they know about us begin to spread information that may not be accurate,” he said.

Prof. Salawu said promoting indigenous language media, strengthening Africa’s digital language resources and empowering citizens with media literacy are essential steps toward ensuring that Africans shape both their own development and the narratives that define the continent.

Indigenous Language Media and Power | Solomon Atah Podcast ft. Prof. Abiodun Salawu.