English language, one of the surviving remnants of colonialism (I say this, colonialism had its merits and demerits) is still riding strong in Nigeria. If you are not eloquent in the queens' language, you are deemed an illiterate. Unfortunately, even after our independence, we are still confined to this stereotypes, judging people on their ease with the queen's language. In schools, particularly private schools, you are deemed a "local person" if you converse in your native dialect.

So at a get together party, last year, I proposed that at our age, Nigeria should have been able to create its own national language instead of adopting the English Language as our official language. Suggestions were made on which language would better serve us. Prior to this discussion, I thought of Swahili, adopted in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania as their Lingua Franca. But no deal. Ok, Wolof came to my mind, since its influence has spread to places like Senegal and Gambia. If the Chinese could be at ease with their own language and culture, likewise the Indians with the Hindi language or the Phillipines with the Tagalog language, then I see no point why Nigerians or Africa should continue to perpetuate this colomentality of adopting English Language in our day to day conversations.

But another guy at the party brought up a point which was on target. If Nigeria were to adopt Hausa, that may mean the implementation of certain customs/traditions of Islam on non adherents of that religion. We all know about the Sharia laws which runs contrary to the Christian tenet of God's Grace and Forgiveness. Other tribes with a prominent standing in the society may justify their reasons for this barbaric conduct because of their dialect. Adopting the lingua Franca of another African country may reduce our status as the "Giant of Africa".

So, we are left with the option of using the Queen's language as or means of communication, because of the potential disagreement/conflict that may arise if a local dialect is adopted as our lingua Franca.

Food for thought!!!

Unfortunately, with Nigeria having 200+ languages, it will be tough for us to agree on one. That is why I tell pple that technically, Nigeria isn't a nation, by true definition of one. We are a nation-state.

Rather than want to adopt queen's english, I would personally go for pidgin english That way, we are oyibo, but not exactly lol. Think about it folks, we could start a revolution in Africa as a whole. We could also be like some other countries where even though the leader know english fluently, they insist that they are interviewed in their language.

Pretty much everyone in Nigeria speaks and/or understands pidgin. Abi, no b so?

Sorry, that´s crab, English is the language that takes you everywhere nowadays and it was the only good thing about colonialism: establishment of the English language in Nigeria. Nowadays all Anglophone countries can easily communicate with each other and that is paramount.

Moreover, I think that our country has a lot of more problems to solve (MORE ROADS, HOSPITALS, DECENT SOCIAL SYTEMS, MORE JOBS, DIVERSIFICATION OF THE ECONOMY, DECENTRALISATION, the list is endless!!! ) instead of searching for a national language that will be difficult to find

Ndipe:

If you are not eloquent in the queens' language, you are deemed an illiterate. Unfortunately, even after our independence, we are still confined to this stereotypes, judging people on their ease with the queen's language. In schools, particularly private schools, you are deemed a "local person" if you converse in your native dialect.

It's not true that you're deemed an illiterate if you're not eloquent in the queen's language. Most of us are not, even graduates. So many of the younger lawyers you hear speaking on tv make a lot of grammatical errors. Some journalists are not even eloquent. So many teachers, pastors etc. Even our politicians too. Unless one's english is terrible, most ppl overlook mistakes as we all make them.

It's true that conversing in native dialects used to be looked down upon in private schools, but that is fast changing. You're not considered local because you speak native dialects anymore, as long as you can speak good english. I think this is mostly because we have respected musicians singing in pidgin and local languages and these songs are bcoming popular even outside the country. I hear a lot of secondary school (some from the expensive private ones) speaking pidgin and yoruba these days.

Pidgin is becoming more popular in Nigeria, and even though it is spoken in some other West African countries (with slightly different variations though), it cannot be our national language. It isn't as well developed as most other languages, and would limit our communication to neighboring countries. There's so much advantage in being able to speak english nowadays, as some of the biggest and prosperous countries are english-speaking - US, UK, Canada, Australia, S/Africa etc. Plus, it is the most widely spoken language, and young people in non-english speaking countries now learn to speak it.

I think what we need is to strengthen english language by ensuring that all teachers, particularly primary school teachers, learn to speak and teach it very well. Then we should ensure that we have enough native language teachers and that the curriculum is drawn up such that by 10, a child can speak a native language and english properly. This is doable.

English is fine. There is no point in pretending that the very existence of Nigeria is not as a result of British wars/colonization.

Instead of Nigeria adopting a new language, I would rather the 3 major zones secede from the Nation. That way, each zone can have English + Language of the Dominant group as the official languages.

And as for the comment of implementing Hausa as the National language, I would rather put a bullet in my head.

Since you recommend Hausa for the national language, are you even Nigeria?

Why nominate the language of the most disliked (not going to use hate ) ethnic group in the entire nation to be the national language? If anything, Yoruba would be the perfect language because we are infested with so many degenerates that anyone and everyone is sure to find a sizeable group of Yorubas that they get along with.

P.S. I am a Yoruba boy, so don't try and label me an Odua hater!

@GL

I dont know about this day and age in Nigeria, but when I was growing up, conversing in your mother's tongue was an anathema in some social circles. In the primary school that I attended, (Unical Staff school), you were bound to be punished if you were overheard speaking in your native dialect. In college, I was derided by my neighbour's girlfriend because I was speaking in Ibibio. And this girl, Rosa hails from my ethnic trip, so think about it. In the same institution, some folks would be yarning foreign dialects, sometimes denying that they could not speak Ibibio, but all that would change when bursary from the state government would arrive, and they would all queue up.

While I do agree that English Language is the dominant language in today's global world, thereby putting its adherents at an advantage over non English speakers, we have to realize that this should not be at the detriment of our local dialect. I had read somewhere that our dialect is dying, as a result of being supplanted by this foreign language. I dont know if mine will survive in the next 100 years or so, and even our local television programme, like the "Efe Mbre" which was popular in Calabar has been replaced by foreign programs. There was once a satirical documentary that featured a mother bragging that her kids only knew how to speak English language, but were not fluent in their native dialect. What does that show us? That our dialect is inferior or what?

Think about it!!!

Ndipe,

Your last comment is what motivated me to come up with the ibibio website. http://www.geocities.com/myibibio

Check it out and spread the word

so because George "City" decided to mandate English as Americas official language, we to want to copy copy?

eh yah, too bad

Yes, even parents didn't want their kids to be seen speaking local languages. but i believe all that is changing because I see school children speaking local languages (especially pidgin) among themselves. In fact, it seems they love to be able to speak pidgin well. I attribute that to the many musicians and celebrities who sing and talk in public in local languages. Ppl now see that it isn't really detrimental to one's success. The emphasis now is on speaking good english. Language departments in universities should be able to package books/software/cassettes that would teach ppl to speak local languages. that way Nigerians in diaspora can get their kids to learn the languages easily. and someone like me might learn up to 10 languages.

Afeni, if Nigeria is divided into 3, what happens to the South-South? They wont stay with either Yorubas or Ibos. plus, the so many small tribes wont want to adopt a majority language

I don't care where they go. It would just be in their best intersted to join one of the 2 in the southern regions, or they woud get swallowed in a war.

answers pls

Your idea serves absolutely no purpose. Like another poster mentioned, there are so many issues facing Nigeria that a cosmetic idea, which is probably based on national pride, should be the least of our worries. What do we gain by adopting an African lingua franca? Will that not put us at a disadvantage? Should we not strive first to gain a seat at the table. Even the Chinese who are at the table and have the most spoken language in the world (Mandarin) still strive to learn English because they need English to do business with the rest of the world.

Please come up with ideas to solve the problems bedeviling our nation first. When we don chop beleful, then we fit they find language.

No, thank you.  English is just fine unless you prove otherwise.
We cannot deny the impact of colonization on Africa/Nigeria
Our fear of colonization should not drive us to fear something so harmless.

Is this a national priority?

DaHitler:

I don't care where they go. It would just be in their best intersted to join one of the 2 in the southern regions, or they woud get swallowed in a war.

So funny! With which money? Abi no be money dem de take fight war? Some people just can't see the realities on the ground.

@topic
I propose Pigdin English and we also need to change that rubbish name "Nigeria" to something else as well. Why should we answer a name given by lugards mistress? Everything about the countries set up is shabby.

If Pigdin English becomes our official language, we will see how some idiots will go abroad for one week and start talking in a way that both home people and oyibo can't understand. It will make us look inward to ourselves with confidence, because language is identity. Confidence will boost attitude to development (no more "that is how they do it in London", if we can do it in Nnewi or Ilupeju, we will look to perfect it).

Good topic.

Beaf:

So funny! With which money? Abi no be money dem de take fight war? Some people just can't see the realities on the ground.

@topic
I propose Pigdin English and we also need to change that rubbish name "Nigeria" to something else as well. Why should we answer a name given by lugards mistress? Everything about the countries set up is shabby.

If Pigdin English becomes our official language, we will see how some idiots will go abroad for one week and start talking in a way that both home people and oyibo can't understand. It will make us look inward to ourselves with confidence, because language is identity. Confidence will boost attitude to development (no more "that is how they do it in London", if we can do it in Nnewi or Ilupeju, we will look to perfect it).

Look at yourself, responding to a post made in 2006? do u think the poster can read it now??

tumfulu.:

Look at yourself, responding to a post made in 2006? do u think the poster can read it now??

The topic is still relevant, who cares when it was first posted? And what makes you think a topic posted to a forum with a membership running to several thousand is for the benefit of the poster; that is twisted logic.

are you talking to me, or your mother with the twisted neck?

Beaf:

The topic is still relevant, who cares when it was first posted? And what makes you think a topic posted to a forum with a membership running to several thousand is for the benefit of the poster; that is twisted logic.

you are better off paying tumfulu no mind. he's a daft nut.

And 5years Later, this discussion answered my class test...

Ten years later**** This topic is about to answer my assignment.