Nicholas Rolley, a Ph.D student of the University of
California in Berkley, United States(U.S), is in Nigeria to
research into West African languages at the University of
Ibadan (UI). He shares his views about the country with
STANLEY IBEKU.
It is his second visit to Nigeria – Africa’s most populous
nation. Nicholas Rolley, a doctoral research student from the
University of California in Berkley, United States (U.S), first
visited in 2009 when he came for a research into Ishan
Language of Edo State at the Department of Linguistics and
African Languages, University of Ibadan (UI). His stay was
boring and basically spent on research work.
If his first visit was boring, Rolley fell in love with African
languages in his second visit. He is undertaking a special
research on dialects in West Africa, especially on syntax and
phonology. He came at the instance of Prof Francis Egbokhare
whose research interest is similar to Nicholas’.
Did he just find love in Africa? Nicholas said: “I became very
interested in West African languages during my first degree
programme at the University of Toronto, where I took a course
called Field Methods. It was a course in which all linguistic
students basically dissect a language from the basics and
study the language without being a native speaker.”
Since then, his interest in African languages started to grow.
According to him, Nigeria is a linguistic goldmine because of
its vast number of different cultures, languages and people. He
said negative stories about Nigeria may have prevented
foreign researchers from exploring the country’s goldmine.
He said: “It is incredible the number of linguistic and cultural
wealth that found in Nigeria. There is so much to be done and
I think it is the negative stories and perceptions which hold
researchers back. In the 1970s, there were so many foreigners
who came to Ibadan not just to study but to live here. They
also studied there. My supervisor was a visiting scholar to the
University of Ibadan. There were people that did their research
on Igala, Kalabari, Itsekiri, Hausa and Kanuri. But right now,
because of security and power situation, there are fewer
people coming here.”
Rolley said it won’t be fair to compare Nigeria with the US in
terms of the teaching facilities, noting that Nigeria’s status as
a developing country should not be an excuse for the poor
conditions of the facilities in higher institutions.
On what he perceived about Nigeria, he said: “There is lots of
news about the country, which are mostly negative. There are
amazing people; there are also terrible people just like in
America. But there is a thin line between anthropology and
stereotyping. Generally, Nigerians are highly social. The
country has cultures reflected in the linguistic diversity.”
Rolley said his research work is mainly for the
academommunity and for the promotion and preservation of
Ishan language.
Worried by the state of Nigerian universities, the foreign
student urged the government to set its priority.
“The most important thing in my mind is where the priority
should be. Where specific Nigerian interest should be and also
what students should pay more attention to. Electricity is still
the problem in Nigeria but universities are in the business of
developing knowledge and impacting it. It does not create
wealth. Because universities are knowledge centres, it is
important that we develop knowledge and use it to solve
societal challenges,” he said.
He wants Nigerians abroad to come back and use their
expertise to develop the country while also advocating for
more exchange programmes.
He said: “It is good for Nigerians professionals to go abroad
but they must return to their country to set the pace for its
development. They must discourage brain drain. We should
have ambitious, brilliant and smart Nigerians coming back to
the country to help.
Despite reports of kidnapping and terrorism, Rolley said he
could settle in Nigeria but that has to be subject to his wife’s
consent.
He quipped: “I don’t know if my wife would want it because of
kidnapping, armed robbery and Boko Haram challenges.
Personally, these problems don’t worry me. My worry is the
state of roads. Every time I am on the roads, I always hope to
return back to my base alive. Now, I understand why Nigeria
is very religious; why people pray to God 10 times a day. The
roads are terrible. That, to me, will be one of the things pulling
me back; that fear that I will be on the road and may never
come back alive is always in the mind.”
According to him, Nigeria is a country America should pay
attention to. “It has cities bigger than anyone dreamt of.
Some Americans don’t even understand that Nigeria is highly
urbanised. They think Africa is a bush. They don’t understand
‘everyday Lagos’. They don’t understand traffic jams which
involve 10,000 vehicles. They don’t understand how urban
Nigeria is becoming and many other African cities and
countries,” he said.

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