The National Language Issue: A Revisit

[Ejike Eze]

THE NATIONAL LANGUAGE ISSUE: A REVIST

By

Ejike Eze

The amalgamation of the northern and southern protectorates of Nigeria in 1914
by the British colonial administrators lumped together people of
diverse ethnic, cultural and linguistic backgrounds into what has now
become the Federal Republic of Nigeria. With over four hundred mutually
unintelligible linguistic groupings (according to Ayo Bamgbose, one
Nigeria's foremost linguists) Nigeria epitomizes a Babelic scenario.
In most cases, linguistic groupings correspond to ethnic groupings
making Nigeria about the most ethnically diverse country in Africa.

Given the problems often associated with ethnic diversity (which I
shall not discuss here), it is not surprising that adopting an
indigenous Nigerian language as lingua franca became a major
preoccupation among Nigerian linguists, language planners and th
e government in the 1970s and 80s. Since linguistic homogeneity
(often) entails nationism (which accounts for why people would
first give up their lives before their languages), an indigenous
national language was seen as one way of ensuring the continued
oneness, or national integration, of the many ethnic groupings
that make up the country. Many believed differences between
indigenous languages keep the people apart, perpetuate ethnic
hostilities, weaken national loyalties and increase the danger
of separatist sentiments. This is because each local language
is intimately related to or equates an ethnic group, thus the
use of a local language reinforces attachment to ethnicity thereby
going against the current of national sentiment.

But the adoption of a national language for Nigeria, and indeed
any multilingual society, is a volatile issue. Several proposals
were considered for Nigeria. The most widely debated is the adoption
of one of the three major languages (Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba) as the
national language. The problem, of course, became determining the
criteria for adopting one over the others. One (not too) incontrovertible
criterion for this choice would be language dominance. But as Myers-Scotton,
a well-known sociolinguist noted, one of the reasons for official language
dilemma in Africa is that there is usually no single group with both
enough numerical and political dominance over the others to make its
language the natural choice. This is exactly the case in Nigeria.

One of Nigeria's leading philosophers C. S. Momoh in 1985 came up with
a supposed compromise solution. According to him, Yoruba should be the
official language. To compensate the other two major groups, Islam should
be adopted as the national religion for the benefit of the Hausa while
the name of the country should be changed to Biafra to appease the Igbo.
Momoh believed that the Yoruba held their language in the highest esteem
and would give up anything else for it. The Hausa valued the Islamic religion
more than they did their lives and thus would not complain if Yoruba
became the official language. As for the Igbo, he was convinced that
since they were willing to lay down their lives in the past for Biafra,
they would willingly give up religion and language to keep the name alive.
But Momoh was wrong for obvious reasons and his suggestion was not pursued.

The second alternative was to create an artificial national language
for Nigeria. Wazobia, a concatenation of Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo, was
an excellent idea and a lot of fuss was made about it in the media.
But in reality, Wazobia faced a lot of insurmountable problems. First,
it was far from being developed and the linguists who could work towards
its developments were too cynical to bond their efforts towards this goal.
Second, it further marginalizes the minorities. If a hybrid language is to
be adoptedit might as well incorporate most of the existing languages.
This was not practicable. Third, a language requires a zealous population
to propagate it and Wazobia had none. But perhaps the greatest impediment
to the growth of Wazobia was the fact that it was not an emergency
and Nigerians had a choice, English the language of the colonial
masters. Thus, Wazobia stood no chance.

Apart from the three major languages, another candidate for national
language status is the Nigerian Pidgin English (NPE). Not only is it
considered a language of solidarity, it is considered a neutral language.
Ayo Bamgbose, however, points out the major drawbacks of NPE as a
national language. First, its language development status is almost
non-existent since there are neither serious books nor a standard
orthography. Second, just like Wazobia, there is no large population
to back it up. Even though it is the unofficial language of the armed
forces and the police and is popular in coastal areas and urban centers,
it is virtually unknown in large areas of the country. Third, it is
likely to be unacceptable to the majority of the people who argue that
English might as well be retained rather than replacing it with an
English-based pidgin, much like going from the frying pan into the fire.

It is then this difficulty in choosing an indigenous language as the
official language that has resulted in the continued existence of
English as the official language of education and administration in
Nigeria long after the colonial circumstances that gave rise to it
has been dismantled. English is considered to be acceptable as an
official language by many because of its neutrality. Therefore,
most people would rather we let the sleeping giant lie.

In addition to its neutrality, the social and political elite who are
generally highly educated in the colonial language have a major stake
in its propagation since its continued use allows them a major share
of lucrative jobs and advances their social position and power. The
same can be said of the developed nations, especially the ex-colonial
masters since the continued use of the colonial language provides a
good market for their products.

Given all the problems associated with adopting an indigenous national
language, the question must be raised as to whether it is really worth
it. Why not just continue with the language of the colonial masters as
in other African countries notably Ghana (English), Cameroon (English
and French), Angola (Portuguese), Zambia (English) Zimbabwe (English)
and Mauritania (French) to mention a few? Is there more national unity
in Somalia where there is one indigenous national language (Somali) in
addition to Arabic? Is the continued use of a colonial language really
an indication of imperialism? How does an indigenous national language
affect Nigeria's relationship with the West? These and similar questions
have cropped up in the past debates on the issue. I cannot pretend to
have the answers. However, it is my opinion that nationalizing our
official language has its benefits.

An indigenous national language promotes respect for a country, creates
employment locally and internationally and puts the languages and
cultures of the country on the map. The languages of Asia and Eastern
Europe are examples. Also, while I do not claim that a national language
for Nigeria will solve all of Nigeria's socio-political problems, it is
my view that it will certainly be a step in the direction of an eventual
eradication of ethnic rivalry. There is no doubt that people identify
more with those who speak their "tongues". But apart from this, the use
of local languages in education is crucial. Language is the most important
vehicle of cultural propagation. Language education is therefore cultural
education. This being the case, it logically follows that foreign languages
propagate alien values. Therein lies one of Nigeria's greatest problems.
A call for an indigenous language should then be considered a cultural
awakening which should be considered a priority for Nigeria's socio-political
development. If we accept that the adoption of a national language is a
sine qua non to national unity and a contributor to Nigeria's socio-political
development, then the issue of adopting an indigenous official language
should no longer be swept under the carpet.

One option that has never been considered to the best of my knowledge
is the adoption of the three official languages. As unusual as this
option sounds, it has its advantages. First, the three languages are
highly developed. Second, each has a solid population to back it up.
Third, each is spoken as a second language by many ethnic minorities.
Finally, the maintenance of more than one official language works for
many countries of the world.

At the same time, the adoption of three national languages is not
without its problems. The most obvious of these problems is that the
minorities may feel marginalized by the arrangement. It must, however,
be borne in mind that minority languages exist in most countries of the
world and that the adoption of major languages as official does not
signal the death of minority languages.

[A Cubed (A^3)]

Ejike Eze (s05...@AIX1.UOTTAWA.CA) wrote:
: THE NATIONAL LANGUAGE ISSUE: A REVIST

: By

: Ejike Eze

I think Nigeria should adopt Hausa as it's National Language (if they want to drop english that is.) Why? It is easy to learn and speak, than Igbo or Yoruba, which would be the other two logic choices and if Nigeria wants to develop with speed this is the way to go. Problems they would face doing this: Most people would say "The Hausa's just want to rule us by force" (i.e. non Hausa's) personally I feel that Language at this time should't be one of Nigeria's concerns.

--
If you leave it up to me I'll be living proof.
-Adegboyega Ayodeji Apata (apat...@cc.gatech.edu)

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[Samuel M. Udom]

Dear Ejike,

On Wed, 8 May 1996, Ejike Eze wrote:

> energy disipated on Esparanto. Today, what is the situation? If we all
> eschew selfishness and think country first, we can easily avoid the pitfall
> of chasing a mirage in the name of creating an artificial language for
> Nigeria.

True, and thanks for your response and for bringing such an
important topic to the square. Have a good evening.

Sam