Dr Bala Mohammed, the Secretary for Education in the Federal Capital Territory, has pledged the administration’s commitment to partnering the French embassy in reinforcing and consolidating the teaching and learning of French in schools.

Mohammed said this at the opening ceremony of the Francophonie week at the Institut francais du Nigeria.

The week, which opened on Monday, would end on Sunday.

He said the FCT was aware of the relentless effort of the Embassy of France in promoting the teaching and learning of French across the country.

Mohammed also said: “We further pledge that our doors are wide open to welcome any initiative by the embassy that will further reinforce and consolidate the teaching and learning of French in the FCT.

“It gives a great pleasure to be invited to the Francophonie week, a yearly occasion to spotlight and showcase the French language and the French culture.

“It is an incontestable fact that when linguistic and cultural barriers are bridged and reinforced, people and cultures gets closer for better understanding and harmonious existence of the world that has already become a global village.’’

He added that the FCT also took into cognisance the fact that Nigeria is surrounded on three sides by francophone countries.

Mohammed further said that the reality that French remained one of the most important working language of international organisations had made it imperative as a core subject at JSS level in FCT schools.

According to him , there are over 150 French language teachers in FCT schools.

Mr Audrem Rerdrel, the Deputy Ambassador of the French Embassy in Nigeria, said that the celebration was an avenue to enlighten and showcase the importance of learning French.

“We are here to celebrate the francophonie week and also to convince people present here of the importance of learning and deepening their French because French is the second most studied language,’’ he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the 2019 edition was a collaboration of the embassies of Mali, Ivory Coast, Niger, Republic of Congo and Democratic Republic of Congo