Atreides:

@Dede,i do agree that not every Nigerian can speak/understand standard English. If you're saying that politicians should should speak in pidgin,then that's a different thing entirely. I personally think that pidgin is so widely used it should be made a national language. However,you didn't say 'pidgin';you said 'mother tongue',by which you mean indigenious languages. I still say that politicians speaking in their mother tongue is not feasible. Nigeria is waay too diverse for that. Speaking in a mother tongue would limit you to a certain group/tribe,while speaking in English would cut across tribal boundaries. And again,we have been speaking English for the past 50 years. It is not too much to expect that we develop some proficiency in it. English does unite us,not just as Nigerians but as humans. In an international forum,could our president speak Yoruba and be understood by people who are not Nigerian natives? If he spoke in English,everybody,both Nigerians and foreigners would stand a better chance of understanding him.

If you are not troubled by Nigerian politicians making speeches in Pidgin English, I am also for it. However, I do not subscribe to the plank of international forum because leaders whose languages are not English Language address international community through interpreters. Again due to the diverse nature of Nigeria, both in culture and tradition, I tend not hold Nigerians or the politicians to unadulterated standards of spoken English Language. Nigeria is not my ideal country but have to make do for now.

I can just see MC OMo's interview with louis theroux all over again,

little wonder most of them are aggressive and brutish, since they find it hard to communicate, they use thugs and policemen to terrorise their critics

Katsumoto:

It is because they are products of a system that does not support meritocracy; a system to which they are now part and parcel of. No one can do more than his ability; expecting an eloquent political speaker in Nigeria is akin to expecting a cat to swim through an ocean.

I agree the leaders of men should pass through some kind of meritorious strata. But quality of a leader should not be appraised through the prism of oratorical skills especial when the mode of communication is not a mother tongue.

A politician is a leader. He should be able to speak standard English. Being a good public speaker isn't just about using fancy words or big grammar. It's about connecting with the people you're speaking to and inspiring them. We should not use the fact that English is not our native language as an excuse for mediocrity. Every student is taught English in schools. Even if that's not sufficient for them,they can hire people to whip them into shape. They should be able to speak standard English,shikena. Things will never change in Nigeria until we Nigerians stop accepting mediocrity.

The decay in our educational system is catching up on us. Plus they are not accountable to the people by way of explaining their policies. We don't vote on ideas so you can win elections without laying out your policies. Its not even an English issue, few of this guys can speak convincingly in their language. Compared to pastors who have to speak to crowds every week, even the pastors without education can speak boldly in public. Practice make perfect.  

Katsumoto:

It is because they are products of a system that does not support meritocracy; a system to which they are now part and parcel of. No one can do more than his ability; expecting an eloquent political speaker in Nigeria is akin to expecting a cat to swim through an ocean.

Now this is a very reasonable reply. Nigerian politics are based on Money and Connections. Merit doesn't even come into it. It's all about who you know and how much money you have. There are eloquent speakers in Nigeria,people who are genuinely qualified to run for office but they are not given the opportunity to do so.

Atreides:

A politician is a leader. He should be able to speak standard English. Being a good public speaker isn't just about using fancy words or big grammar. It's about connecting with the people you're speaking to and inspiring them. We should not use the fact that English is not our native language as an excuse for mediocrity. Every student is taught English in schools. Even if that's not sufficient for them,they can hire people to whip them into shape. They should be able to speak standard English,shikena. Things will never change in Nigeria until we Nigerians stop accepting mediocrity.

another thing you'll notice is that they rarely understand what they are reading, if they miss a line in their speech the are lost, some don't even look up from the notepad they read from, i doubt some of them understand some words used in their prepared speech.
Totally agree on the connecting with the people part, the speech don't have anything personal, its totally abstract from their audience, many people just play with their phones or fiddle with their pen until they are prompted to clap.
Gordon brown wasnt excellent but he could connect with the people, he knows what he is talking about. our politicians just recruit some first clas graduate to write for them, unfortunately they cant convey the message

Dede1:

I agree the leaders of men should pass through some kind of meritorious strata. But quality of a leader should not be appraised through the prism of oratorical skills especial when the mode of communication is not a mother tongue.

You miss the point; Nigerian politicians are rogues. There are rogues in other countries but the level of criminality in Nigeria is quite high; consequently, only the dirty and uncouth are able to play. Can you argue that there are no Nigerians with a better grasp of English grammar than GEJ, Atiku, Akala, OBJ?

Like my dad used to say, politics is not a dirty game; the level of dirt in it is determined by it players. We are not asking for Obama or Clinton; speakers such as Kofi Annan, Ojukwu Akintola will do. Can you compare the oratorical skills of the politicians of the 60s with the area boys we have today.

Dis Guy:

another thing you'll notice is that they rarely understand what they are reading, if they miss a line in their speech the are lost, some don't even look up from the notepad they read from, i doubt some of them understand some words used in their prepared speech.
Totally agree on the connecting with the people part, the speech don't have anything personal, its totally abstract from their audience, many people just play with their phones or fiddle with their pen until they are prompted to clap.
Gordon brown wasnt excellent but he could connect with the people, he knows what he is talking about. our politicians just recruit some first clas graduate to write for them, unfortunately they cant convey the message

The one I find most annoying is reading a speech from paper at say a children's Christmas party. Am like, this are kids and its crazy when you have to resort to paper to interact with them. A lot of first ladies are very guilty of these

Atreides:

Now this is a very reasonable reply. Nigerian politics are based on Money and Connections. Merit doesn't even come into it.  It's all about who you know and how much money you have. There are eloquent speakers in Nigeria,people who are genuinely qualified to run for office but they are not given the opportunity to do so.

Correct; if you look at the skills of politicians over the years starting the likes of Macaulay, Zik, etc through others such as Awo, Akintola, Balewa, Ekueme down to the present day you will observe that falling standard goes hand in hand with the falling standard of education which quite ironically is as a result of illiterates ruling Naija.

@Dis Guy,you're getting the point! When GEJ was speaking,he looked up from his notes like 3 or 4 times during the whole speech. A speaker must ALWAYS make eye contact! That's public speaking 101. A good public speaker must also convey the feelings behind the message,he must show warmth so that the audience can connect with him. He must show confidence in what he's saying-if he sounds like he truly believes what he's saying then his audience is more likely to believe him. His facial expressions must match the things he says-not the 'hard face' that GEJ had from beginning to end-no variation. When you add speaking standard English to these(and more) qualities,you get a good speaker. If i connected with a speaker i might be more inclined to forgive his grammatical gaffes. Being a good speaker is a lot more than using fancy words-it involves connecting with people and that is an ability most politicians do NOT have. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. Who's to say a boring speaker in any other language wouldn't sound as boring?

Katsumoto:

Correct; if you look at the skills of politicians over the years starting the likes of Macaulay, Zik, etc through others such as Awo, Akintola, Balewa, Ekueme down to the present day you will observe that falling standard goes hand in hand with the falling standard of education which quite ironically is as a result of illiterates ruling Naija.

I wasn't alive during Nigeria's glory days so i never heard them speak,but i've been told that Zik and co were great. I just think it's deplorable that we are being ruled by people who are barely literate,people who cannot string together grammatically correct sentences if their lives depended on it,not to talk of connecting to their audiences. I'm not usually interested in Politics,but when i watched Obama's 20 minute inaugauration speech i was blown away. There are people in Nigeria who can speak good English. There are people in Nigeria who are remarkable orators(just enter any church and listen to the pastors). English is not that hard abeg. We need to accept that things in NIgeria have gone downhill. We must stop making excuses for mediocrity.

Atreides:

I wasn't alive during Nigeria's glory days so i never heard them speak,but i've been told that Zik and co were great. I just think it's deplorable that we are being ruled by people who are barely literate,people who cannot string together grammatically correct sentences if their lives depended on it,not to talk of connecting to their audiences. I'm not usually interested in Politics,but when i watched Obama's 20 minute inaugauration speech i was blown away. There are people in Nigeria who can speak good English. There are people in Nigeria who are remarkable orators(just enter any church and listen to the pastors). English is not that hard abeg. We need to accept that things in NIgeria have gone downhill. We must stop making excuses for mediocrity.

Dude, I wasn't around back then too  but there are old recordings that you can listen to. You can also read their papers and compare with our current bunch.

Katsumoto:

You miss the point; Nigerian politicians are rogues. There are rogues in other countries but the level of criminality in Nigeria is quite high; consequently, only the dirty and uncouth are able to play. Can you argue that there are no Nigerians with a better grasp of English grammar than GEJ, Atiku, Akala, OBJ?

Like my dad used to say, politics is not a dirty game; the level of dirt in it is determined by it players. We are not asking for Obama or Clinton; speakers such as Kofi Annan, Ojukwu Akintola will do. Can you compare the oratorical skills of the politicians of the 60s with the area boys we have today.

I am not discounting that fact Nigerian political landscape is populated with rogues masquerading as politicians. My argument is based on eloquence or not. Most of the con dudes are eloquently endowed and can mesmerize with oratorical skills. We must look at the cross-section of Nigerian society before handing down our indictments. I bet you that a candidate who is grounded in eloquence can not even win a dog catcher position in your village if such candidate is not a brown-bag carrier.

Fashola, Duke, Ibori, Fayose, Odili, Obi, Oshiomole, Imoke etc are all good speakers. So make una leave matter. 'Sweetmouth' and oratory has never been in short supply.

Saying is easy, it is the doing that catches out the politicians

And, we used to have one Cicero of Esa-Oke, James AjiBola Ige!

SapeleGuy:

Fashola, Duke, Ibori, Fayose, Odili, Obi, Oshiomole, Imoke etc are all good speakers. So make una leave matter. 'Sweetmouth' and oratory has never been in short supply.

Saying is easy, it is the doing that catches out the politicians

The topic said MOST; do those guys qualify as most? Besides you are being very generous, many you have listed sound like bushmen.

Katsumoto:

The topic said MOST; do those guys qualify as most? Besides you are being very generous, many you have listed sound like bushmen.

That 'MOST' is ridiculous. Do you know all of them, to be able to make judgement about most? You may not like some of their accents or mannerisms but they understand the dynamics of communication.

Bushmen? My guy, it's 2011, drop the shakara.

What has good oratory skills got to do with good governance. I just believe our leaders should be able to communicate in simple english since it's our Lingua franca.

SapeleGuy:

That 'MOST' is ridiculous. Do you know all of them, to be able to make judgement about most? You may not like some of their accents or mannerisms but they understand the dynamics of communication.

Bushmen? My guy, it's 2011, drop the shakara.

'Most' is ridiculous? Out of the 36 governors we have,how many of them are good public speakers? Of the thousands of PDP members in Nigeria,they could not produce one single candidate that can speak publicly. GEJ,Atiku and Madam Jubril are NOT good public speakers.

Atreides:

'Most' is ridiculous? Out of the 36 governors we have,how many of them are good public speakers? Of the thousands of PDP members in Nigeria,they could not produce one single candidate that can speak publicly. GEJ,Atiku and Madam Jubril are NOT good public speakers.

I bet they are good speakers in their native language, NO? And what do you care that they are bad public speakers in French or Chinese or English or any of the foreign languages?

Why dont you ask Obama to speak in Yoruba or any other Nigerian language , and lets see how good of a public speaker he is.

English is not our native language for satan's sake, and the insistence of having our politicians speak like  Obama before they can be taken seriously,   smacks , IMO, inferiority complex. We have a language that was foisted on us by our colonial masters for their own selfish reasons, and here, some 60 years later, we still have people, our own people, wanting us to be master  this foreign language despite it not being any better than ours, the height of ignorance. Colonization has done a great deal of damage to our psyche and it seems we are not doing enough as a country to redeem ourselves from the monumental damage the White Man did to our self image.

I pity future generations of Nigerians.

@Fstranger,this has nothing to do with colonial mentality/inferiority complex. I've said that being a good speaker isn't just about fancy words. It's about connecting with the people. It's about facial expressions that denote warmth. It's about eye contact. It's about words spoken in a confident,uplifting manner,words coming straight from the heart. These are qualitites our leaders DO NOT have. And how do we know that they'll be any better speaking in their native language? What do native languages have to do with eye contact,or warm facial expressions? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. Who's to say a boring speaker in any other language wouldn't sound as boring? And the native language idea cannot work in Nigeria because we are too diverse. If GEJ were to speak in Ijaw,how many people would understand him? He's not just the president of the Ijaw people,he's the president of whole country and he has the responsibility to speak in a language we all can understand. Nigerian political leaders speaking like Obama is too much to ask for. Is me wanting them to stop putting me to sleep everytime i have the misfortune of listening to their boring speeches too much to ask for?

Atreides:

@Fstranger,this has nothing to do with colonial mentality/inferiority complex.

Yes, it has everything to do with colonial mentality. You have been programmed to feel as though the Queen's language is inherently better and superior to yours and for you to accept you VERY OWN leaders, they have to be as good in their usage of English language as , say Obama.

From Wiki: Colonial mentality; the concept essentially refers to the acceptance, by the colonised, of the culture or doctrines of the colonizer as intrinsically more worthy or superior.

I've said that being a good speaker isn't just about fancy words. It's about connecting with the people. It's about facial expressions that denote warmth. It's about eye contact. It's about words spoken in a confident,uplifting manner,words coming straight from the heart. These are qualitites our leaders DO NOT have.

This is what you wrote earlier: Which mother tongue? Nigeria is too diverse for that idea to fly. There are too many indigenous languages/ethnic groups in the country for that idea to be practical. There is no common mother tongue. Say Atiku speaks in Hausa. I'm not Hausa,so i won't understand him,and i don't think he can speak in Bini. English is our common language. It's what unites us,despite the different cultures and tribes in Nigeria. We've been speaking English for the past 50 years. Is it too much to ask that we develop some proficiency in it?
you seem to be flip-flopping on your message. Stay focused and come back with a better defense.

And how do we know that they'll be any better speaking in their native language?

Do you watch Nigerian movies t all? In terms of delivery which genre is better? The so called English ones or the Yoruba? The English ones struggle badly in delivering their lines, even the almighty Genny is guilty of that. Now, compare the best artiste in the English genre to the worst in the Yoruba industry and you'd see that the difference is just CRYSTAL clear. 

Now draw parallels with the political system if you could.

What do native languages have to do with eye contact,or warm facial expressions?

Confidence! Confidence! Confidence!!!  if you are confident in your grasp of the language you are communicating in, everything else falls in place smoothly.

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. Who's to say a boring speaker in any other language wouldn't sound as boring?

Who is not to say that a boring speaker communicating in a foreign language wouldnt come alive if allowed to switch in his/her native language?

And the native language idea cannot work in Nigeria because we are too diverse.

Yes it can work.  Since you want them to speak like Obama, we can have them speak in their native langaugae and have someone versatile in both languages translate to the rest of the country

Win-Win situation  eh?  The 'said' politician is happy and you the listener wouldnt have to 'hit the sack' anytime they come on your flat screen.

If GEJ were to speak in Ijaw,how many people would understand him?

About 20 million people. Not a small number right? i bet you did not know that. You prolly thought the world revolves around you.

He's not just the president of the Ijaw people,he's the president of whole country and he has the responsibility to speak in a language we all can understand.

Not everyone can speak and understand English. I have uncles who can neither speak nor write in the Queen's language. And i know a lot of people who are not good with English, my mother is one of them . Just because you happen to belong to the lucky few who can understand the language, you feel it right to alienate the rest of us. Isnt that selfish of you?  If we all acted the same way in other areas of our nationhood, where would you be today?

1-I do not feel that the English language is better/superior to our native languages. I feel that speaking in English means you have a better chance of reaching more people with your message. You said 20 million people speak Ijaw. That's a big number. I didn't know they were that many. But what happens to the remaining 130 million Nigerians who do not speak/understand Ijaw? The native language theory can never fly because there is no common native language. Which is easier,all politicians learning indigenous languages from Tiv to Efik or them getting more proficient with the English language? 2. I never said fancy words/standard English had NOTHING to do with being a good speaker,i said that's not the ONLY THING being a good speaker is about. Yes,our leaders developing some proficiency in English is a factor,but connecting with the people is an even bigger one. I've said that severally,so how am i flip-flopping?

And i find you saying i have the 'colonial mentality' very offensive. I'm a Nigerian teenager. I was born here,i'm living here,i went to primary and secondary school here and i will go to University here. If i can speak and communicate in clear,concise English,then i don't think wanting my 40-something year old leaders to do the same is asking for too much. When they bore me to tears with their dry speeches,i protest it. I protest,not because i have the 'colonial mentality' but because i hate mediocrity. Our colonial masters are such convenient scapegoats,are they not? We must stop making excuses for mediocrity. Until we do so this country will not move forward.

True gej&atiku are very annoying