By Muhammad Sabiu
The Hausa-speaking community on social media, especially Facebook and Twitter, is today celebrating World Hausa Day for the seventh time.
However, Nigeria’s Twitter ban early this year has reduced much of the day’s celebration on the microblogging site.
The day was first introduced and celebrated in 2015, courtesy of concerned social media users such as Jamila Kabiru Fagge, Abdulbaki Jari, Bashir Ahmad, Salihu Tanko Yakasai, Faisal Abdullahi, Ila Bappa, Maryam Ado, others. The objective was to promote the Hausa language, its development and the challenges it faces as one of the major languages in West Africa.
The day allows Hausa users to come up and post witty Hausa sayings and make corrections as to how the language is used in conformity with its orthographical rules.
Hausa is one of the most spoken languages in Africa. It is spoken in about 30 African countries, with over 100 million speakers.
The language gathers momentum each day as several renowned media organisations broadcast in it. For example, media houses like the BBC, VOA, DW, Radio France International and the like broadcast in the Hausa language.
However, some social media users lament some challenges that the Hausa language and its people face today.
For example, Nurudeen Dauda wrote the following in his article: “Our people almost regarded begging as [a] profession. All well-meaning Hausas should and or must make [a] serious effort towards discouraging our people from begging. After all, we are not the only people suffering from poverty in Nigeria. It is among all!”
