From the Neo-Nsibidi project simply titled Nsibiri:
More hereThe mission of the Nsibiri Project ('nsibiri' is the Igbo variation of nsibidi) is to record, appropriate nsibidi ideographic symbols for communication in the Igbo and Cross River languages such as Efik, Ibibio and Ejagham, by transitioning it into a (fully) logographic script. Nsibidi is also meant to inspire and encourage Igbo descendants, and people in general, to learn the languages it will be used in.
Why not just the current önwu script?
I don't know about you, but I know quite a few fluent Igbo speakers that have trouble reading a sentence in the önwu Latin-derived alphabet. If you give an average Igbo speaker a novel in Igbo, even with all the accents, they will not be able to read it as fluently as an English speaker reading an English book. The problem, for Latin, is that Igbo is a tonal language and it has limited grapheme's (symbols) to represent the many different tones, phonemes (sounds) and syllables that Igbo utilises. Latin was never made for Igbo, it was there for the convenience of those who wanted to tell Igbo speakers that they have a new queen. Using Latin in Igbo is like using a nice silver Italian (wait for it...) designer fork to eat some extra spicy, thick, meaty, and flavourful pepper soup made with aged ingredients.
Do you ever wonder why most African cultures never independently developed a writing system above the level of ideographs? (nothing really wrong with that) I believe this has something to do with many of the languages being tonal...
