ABSTRACT
The failure of Central Igbo to take root firmly is attributable largely to the indifference of successive East Regional governments to the need to encourage the study of the Igbo language. An Igbo Language Board should be set up as a matter of urgency; it should incorporate the Society for the Promotion of Igbo language and Culture. A scientific and scholarly journal of Igbo Studies should be started, and printed either by the government press or the University of Nigeria Press. All applicants must be interviewed in order to determine how committed they are to Igbo language studies. Progress reports should be demanded from recipients' supervisors or academic advisers, and in certain cases, it may be necessary to influence, if not determine, the recipients' area of specialisation in accordance with the manpower needs of the Igbo Language Board. Igbo is the least developed of the three major Nigerian languages.
