Insecurity and inadequate funding are hampering Bible translation and indigenous language development in Nigeria, the Nigeria Bible Translation Trust (NBTT) has said. The organisation’s Executive Director, Patience Toma, disclosed this in Jos, Plateau State, on Monday during activities marking its 50th anniversary. She said the challenges threaten efforts to preserve minority languages and make written materials available to their speakers.
Ms Toma said insecurity had disrupted translation projects in rural communities, forced residents to flee their homes and left some displaced people taking refuge in internally displaced persons’ (IDP) camps. She said some Bible translators working in rural communities had been killed but added that the organisation did not have official statistics on the number of casualties.
The NBTT director called on the federal government to strengthen security in rural areas to protect language workers and enable them to continue their projects. Beyond insecurity, she identified inadequate funding and shortages of translators, consultants and linguists as major obstacles to expanding Bible translation and language development across the country.
Ms Toma said about 95 per cent of Bible translation resources in Nigeria came from outside the country, largely from Western nations, raising concerns about the sustainability of the work without stronger local support. She urged Nigerians, churches and local institutions to take greater responsibility for funding translation projects and preserving indigenous languages. “We need Nigerians, churches and local institutions to show greater interest in supporting Bible translation.
It is important that we take responsibility for the languages and communities that we serve,” she said. Ms Toma said Nigeria had more than 600 minority languages, many of which still required attention in Bible translation and broader language development. She said the NBTT had helped develop writing systems for some languages, enabling their speakers to read and write in their mother tongues.