For millions of young people across Hausa-speaking communities, the first obstacle to learning how to code may not be programming itself, but language.
Before writing a single line of code, many aspiring developers must first navigate complex English terminology, academic language and technical concepts that may feel far removed from the way they naturally think and communicate.
That is the accessibility challenge Hajara-Yasmin Isa is seeking to address through Littafin Fasaha (LF), a Hausa-first technology education platform designed to make computing and programming more accessible, intuitive and culturally relevant.
In an exclusive interview with AIBase reporter Ahmad Ibrahim, Isa explained that Littafin Fasaha was created to tackle what she described as a significant accessibility bottleneck within the technology ecosystem in West Africa.
“I created Littafin Fasaha because the tech ecosystem in West Africa has a massive accessibility bottleneck,” she said.
“For millions of bright, ambitious young people across Hausa-speaking communities, learning to code means first wrestling with complex English academic jargon before writing a single line of syntax.”
The central mission of LF, she said, is to separate technological literacy from English-language proficiency.
“We are solving a fundamental friction point: decoupling technological literacy from English proficiency,” Isa told AIBase.
“LF is designed to make computing feel native, intuitive, and dignified for anyone with a desire to build.”
When language becomes a barrier to learning
Isa said the challenge is not necessarily the absence of programming resources in Nigeria. Instead, she believes the existing learning environment can be fragmented, difficult to navigate and particularly challenging when beginners encounter increasingly complex technical concepts.
“To be frank, it isn’t that resources for learning programming don’t exist in Nigeria – they do,” she said.
“The current landscape is fragmented, incoherent, and complex to navigate.”
The problem becomes more pronounced, she argued, when learners are required to process unfamiliar technical concepts while simultaneously translating complex English.
“When a beginner is forced to parse complex English academic syntax alongside new technical logic, their cognitive load doubles,” Isa said.
“They aren’t just learning to solve a problem with code; they are translating thought processes across a language barrier.”
According to her, this additional burden can discourage otherwise capable learners from continuing their journey into technology.
“This extra layer of friction breeds imposter syndrome, causing brilliant minds to abandon tech early not because they lack aptitude, but because the entry door was built in a language they don’t think in naturally.”
For Isa, language should support technical learning rather than become an obstacle to it.
“Language should be a bridge to technical mastery, not a gatekeeper,” she said.
By reducing this linguistic friction, she believes learners can develop a deeper understanding of programming concepts and focus more directly on logic, creativity and problem-solving.
“By removing the linguistic friction, we allow learners to build mental models faster, retain core concepts deeper, and focus entirely on logic, creativity, and problem-solving.”
Beyond direct translation
Littafin Fasaha is not simply translating English technology materials into Hausa, according to Isa.
She argued that direct translation can often fail in technical education because it risks producing awkward language that may preserve individual words while losing the meaning and educational value of the original concept.
“Direct translation often fails in technical education,” she said.
“If you translate an English textbook word-for-word, you end up with awkward, robotic phrasing that loses its educational punch and, most importantly, meaning.”
Instead, LF is adopting what Isa describes as a Hausa-first approach, using local context and familiar cultural references to explain technical concepts.
“A Hausa-first approach means building concepts from the ground up using cultural metaphors, local mental models, and contextual examples that resonate naturally with Hausa speakers,” she explained.
“We aren’t just swapping words; we are architecting an end-to-end learning experience that meets our students where they think and live.”
The approach reflects a wider debate around the localisation of technology education and artificial intelligence. As digital tools become increasingly central to education and employment, the accessibility of those tools in African languages could play an important role in determining who is able to participate fully in the technology economy.
Hundreds of users after beta launch
Littafin Fasaha is already beginning to build an audience.
According to Isa, learners can access foundational programming concepts through the platform’s flagship book, “Ka’idoji da Dabarun Koding a Kwamfuta”, translated as Principles and Strategies of Computer Coding.
“Today, learners can dive into foundational programming concepts through our flagship book,” she said.
Since its beta launch last month, Isa said the platform has seen “incredible grassroots momentum”, with hundreds of active users engaging with LF.
“To match this demand, we are actively growing a dedicated community of contributors and technical experts to help expand LF’s curriculum and learning ecosystem,” she said.
The platform’s growth plans include developing additional learning resources and building a wider network of technical contributors and educators.
‘Malamin AI’ aims to bring personalised Hausa tutoring
Artificial intelligence is also expected to become an important part of Littafin Fasaha’s future development.
One of the platform’s upcoming features is Malamin AI, which Isa described as a personalised and localised teaching assistant.
“Malamin AI is a coming-soon feature that acts as a personalised, localised teaching assistant,” she said.
The planned feature will use AI to help learners understand coding errors, work through debugging processes and generate practice exercises based on their progress.
“We leverage AI to help contextualise complex coding errors, break down debugging steps, and generate practice problems adapted to the user’s progress – all in natural Hausa phrasing.”
Isa believes the approach could make personalised technology education more widely available without removing the cultural context that makes the Hausa-first curriculum effective.
“It allows us to deliver one-to-one tutoring at scale without losing the cultural nuances that make our curriculum effective,” she said.
Building a place for African languages in the AI era
Beyond teaching programming, Isa sees Littafin Fasaha as part of a broader effort to ensure African languages and communities are not left behind as AI becomes more deeply embedded in education, work and daily life.
“If global AI models are trained overwhelmingly on Western data and exclusively by the West, African languages and local contexts become second-class citizens in the AI era,” she said.
As artificial intelligence increasingly becomes an interface through which people learn, work and solve problems, communities without meaningful representation in their native languages could face new forms of exclusion, she warned.
“As AI becomes the main interface for how humans learn, work, and solve problems, populations without strong native-language AI representation risk being left further behind.”
For Isa, localised technology education can serve as an important step towards ensuring that Hausa-speaking communities participate actively in the development of the AI economy.
“Building localised infrastructure like LF is a stepping stone to ensure that our communities aren’t just consumers of AI, but active in learning about it and becoming co-architects of it.”
A model for other African languages
The longer-term potential of Littafin Fasaha could extend beyond Hausa.
Isa said the platform’s underlying technical architecture and educational framework have been designed to be modular, potentially allowing the model to be adapted for other African languages.
However, she said successful expansion would require more than translating existing content.
“The most critical factor in expanding LF across Yoruba, Igbo, Swahili, or other African languages comes down to uniting native software engineers and localisation experts who understand both high-level engineering and deep linguistic nuance,” she said.
“Because our underlying technical architecture and pedagogical framework are modular by design, the blueprint is already set.”
An official language expansion plan is currently being developed, according to Isa.
She said building culturally aligned teams of engineers and localisation experts would make it possible to adapt the platform to new linguistic communities.
“While an official language expansion plan is currently in the works, assembling these culturally aligned technical teams will allow us to seamlessly replicate the framework across new regions,” she said.
Government collaboration and new classroom tools
Isa also said discussions with government stakeholders have been positive, as Littafin Fasaha explores opportunities to make technology education more widely accessible.
“The discussions were very positive and encouraging,” she said.
“We look forward to collaborating with the government on making education more accessible.”
The platform is also preparing to introduce a new user-facing feature designed specifically to support educators.
“A new user-facing feature will soon be added to help educators onboard students and track learning in their classrooms,” Isa revealed.
The planned tool could expand Littafin Fasaha’s role beyond individual learners by providing teachers and educational institutions with a structured way to introduce students to programming and monitor their progress.
Making technology feel native
Littafin Fasaha’s broader ambition is built around a simple but potentially consequential idea: a learner should not have to master a foreign language before gaining access to the logic and creativity of technology.
By placing Hausa at the centre of the learning experience rather than treating it as an afterthought, Hajara-Yasmin Isa is betting that localisation can unlock technology education for a much wider audience.
The platform’s planned expansion, AI-powered tutoring ambitions and future classroom tools suggest a vision that extends beyond translating programming content.
For Isa, the objective is to build an ecosystem in which African-language communities can learn about, use and ultimately contribute to the technologies shaping the future.
“LF is designed to make computing feel native, intuitive, and dignified for anyone with a desire to build,” she said.
