Bussiness mogul, Chief Molade Okoya- Thomas is calling on Nigerians to learn French and adopt it as their second language.
Speaking at an event when the Alliance Francaise in Lagos and Nigeria clocked 50, Chief Thomas said the late dictator, Gen. Sani Abacha encouraged Nigerians to learn the language. Those who attended the press conference included Mr. Jean-Claude Jacq, Secretary General, Foundation Alliance Francaise in Paris, Mr. Philippe Lebreton, Director, Alliance Francaise Lagos and Delegue General of Alliance Francaise in Nigeria, Mr. Norbert Cazeilles, Deputy Director, Ambassador Ogunsulire Omotayo Vice President, Mr. Issac Founo, Treasure, the committee members, Mrs. E.I. Efion Ekaha and Mrs. Bawor Omiyi.
http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2009/nov/21/national-21-11-2009-00-007.htm

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nice idea, but stupid!
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Nigeria's primary & post-primary instituition is in shambles, & the sleazy black heffa, wants us to learn french?
*****
he should take his millions & open a french language university, rather than ranting foolishly

He's not foolish.

Its a very good idea & will help our future labour force.

The world is getting global and having multiple languages can only enhance one's chances.

We however need to start from early stages (Primary 1).

All our neighbours are French. Should we not communicate with them? This is a wonderful idea and it was during the Abacha era that I decided to attend Alliance Francais to learn some french. The funny thing is that learning french help you understand English better. For instance, you get to find out that the name computer comes from the French verb "to count".

@illusion,
Outside multinational companies, embassies & foreign aid organizations, what other job offers does french bring?
Thousands of students fail Waec/Neco/Jamb etc becuase of English & Maths!
Yet, the obviously pussy whipped mogul, wants Nigerians to learn french!

I agree with you partially on the importance of learning foreign lingua, but lets set our priorities in the right order

We should be learning "Mandarin" the official Chinese language. Next few years belongs to China so says experts.
Even America  anticipate and recognise the future shift in power and is now busy teaching their kids "Mandarin" and "how to do business with Asians".
Lets also pretend we love "chinks" by speaking to them in their own mother tongue.
Our kids would thank us if we do this for them. Sadly the present government lack foresight so I can't see it happening.

Yeah! French is good, but like the poster said, lets revamp our failing education system before thinking about french & french kissing.

Tippy Top:

We should be learning "Mandarin" the official Chinese language. Next few years belongs to China so says experts.
Even America  anticipate and recognise the future shift in power and is now busy teaching their kids "Mandarin" and "how to do business with Asians".
Lets also pretend we love "chinks" by speaking to them in their own mother tongue.
Our kids would thank us if we do this for them. Sadly the present government lack foresight so I can't see it happening.

I personally do not agree that we all need to speak Mandarin. china exists because consumers all over the world require their goods,the domestic consumption in china is just being developed,as its a largely export driven economy. learning any language has its advantages,but i don't see the HUGE benefits of Mandarin  in the future. English is popular because its widely spoken.

donjon:

@illusion,
Outside multinational companies, embassies & foreign aid organizations, what other job offers does french bring?

You have answered this yourself. . . . . . another reason is that NIGERIAN companies are expanding into the ECOWAS region & beyond & only trully bi-lingual peeps stand a chance,I rmber Glo was looking desperately for French speaking engineers sme time back while moving into Benin. This trend will continue. The list is endless.

donjon:

Thousands of students fail Waec/Neco/Jamb etc becuase of English & Maths!
Yet, the obviously womanliness whipped mogul, wants Nigerians to learn french!
I agree with you partially on the importance of learning foreign lingua, but lets set our priorities in the right order

I agree we have a lot of problems with our current educational system,which is a general reflection of the complete failure of leadership in Nigeria,however that doesn't mean we should not have visionary ideas. The man Okoya-Thomas,actually puts his money where his mouth is & is probably the single largest private sponsor of French education in Nigeria at the moment.

illusion2:

I personally do not agree that we all need to speak Mandarin. china exists because consumers all over the world require their goods,the domestic consumption in china is just being developed,as its a largely export driven economy. learning any language has its advantages,but i don't see the HUGE benefits of Mandarin  in the future. English is popular because its widely spoken.

The language spoken by more people is Mandarin, spoken by over 1,000,000,000, people. It will supersede English if you want to do business in future. Chinaman won't have to learn English considering they would be the sole super power. Mandarin am afraid is the future.

Tippy Top:

The language spoken by more people is Mandarin, spoken by over 1,000,000,000, people. It will supersede English if you want to do business in future. Chinaman won't have to learn English considering they would be the sole super power. Mandarin am afraid is the future.

Emphasis on WIDELY,in business,as a service provider or manufacturer you are expected to learn the language of your CUSTOMERS,its the Chinese that need to learn ENGLISH. However as the domestic consupmtion of China grows & they begin to do more IMPORTS,yes companies interested in doing business IN CHINA will need to understand MANDARIN or CANTONESE.

A good example is the current 2nd largest economy in the world(japan) they have been producing most of our automobiles for many decades now,I don't understand Japanese,neither do many Nigerians,however they need to understand us ,cos they are selling TO YOU & I,same will apply to China.

Same should hold hypothetically for Hausa,Igbo & Yoruba (& french cos of our neighbours)languages,if we can just get our acts together.

okoya thomas = becomerich in disguise - French ke?

The importance of adopting French as a second language can not be over emphasized.

I will even advocate that having a P7 ( or whatever the equivalent now) should be a requirement into gaining admission into our universities,polytechnics and colleges of education.

The advantages are numerous

1. Security: Nigeria is surrounded by French neighbors
2. Business Opportunities: Nigerian companies can easily move beyond our bordes, notice that Nigerian companies skip Togo and Benin rep and invest in Ghana
3. Job opportunities for our Nigerian graduates: Taking advantage of the Ecowas citizenship ; our graduates can apply for jobs beyond our border

There are some many other advantages

I remember learning french in primary 3 or 4. I left Nigeria at Primary 5 and I am still trying to learn the language. The problem with Africa is that there isn't Intra-African communication or trade of any significant amount. We are surrounding by French speakers and I will not hesitate to say that French is the lingua franca of West Africa.

When we neva learn our local languages finish, we should be learning French. Arrant nonsense.

Look at South Africa. All 9 of their indeginous languages are constitutionally-recognized official languages.

While it might be impossible to parallel that in Nigeria, what are we doing to ensure that our languages are not relegated into extinction?

Rather than attacking the person of Okoya, I would advise we see the good in what he has suggested. Learning french language will help Nigerians. As the world is going global, there is a high demand for professionals who are bi-lingua. It may interest you to note that many of the countries in Africa are in dire need of professionals. An interesting finding is the fact that most of the immediate neighbours of those who need more professionals could not render much assistance due to the war that they had just gone through inthe last 20 or so years.

They need a lot of graduates and professionals but the problem for Nigerians who have these (graduates and professionals) in abundance is that many of us could not work outside the anglophone zone. Surprisingly, many Ghanaians are filling up this yearning needs of the other African nations by improving their French literacy. Learning the French language is a unique selling point for any professional who wants to remain very relevant, both now and inthe future.

For those folks talking about China's sought after products: a marketing maxim has it that you can buy in any language but the language of selling is the buyer's language. This supports my argument above that to "export" Nigerian professionals, they need the language of the buyer.

Let us begin to see the advantage in the man's' proposition.

Pls,pls let all hand be on deck and keep quiet if they dont know what to say about this topic ok. We are talking of Africa lost their identity someone is talking of f*****k French Language to hell with French. Our education is in mess he is talking of one stupid French Language for what? Is this what naija education or labour need now?. Now listen Mr Okoya and all your suppoters in the first place how many time have you heard that a french speaking country is even dreaming of speaking English Language? Beside we are looking forward for one when all these nasty Anglofracoportugeuss language that has put partition between African race not to undesrastand themselves should crash out and someone is talking of French in Nigeria then he should go and bring Portugess ok. I had travelled to so many Africa French speaking countries belief me when you even speak English you are a like a *shit* they just hate you straight away pls I dont want to talk it will be too explosive ok Let french or whatever go to "Hell". They sold all these language to us in Africa to put us in darkness but Has anybody ask the Okoya's and his cohort he should pls name one country in Europe which speak each other language just one is it Spain that speak Portugal? or is french that speak spanish or German? is it UK that speak French? pls let them tell me and these are the ones who came to sell their languages to us and someone is still suggestng a rubbish idea, all noises to shut up full stop! And let them go learn more as per our lost African dignities. China refused any foreign language look at them today, Japan refused, Korea fefused and so look at them today enough is enough if Okoya want to spend his billion on french Language good for him is nobody headache. Nonsense!!!!!

Learning a second or another language but not only French is certainly a good thing. If you intend to immigrate to a bilingual country like Canada, learning French now gives you more opportunities.

How many Nigerians can even speak good english? . . . . to hell with the french.

=.

English is already the international language. why learn French?
bloody waste of time, NEXT!!!

and BY THE WAY most chinese people that speak mandarin that are into world trade and business already know english. why the hell should we walk around speaking their language? for what?

@the amaka

What languages do you speak?

Regards

what does that have to do with anything?

@amaka

Just asking out of interest. Besides, why are you always so defensive?

defensive?
i was asking a simple question. lol

French nko, , France ni

he should take his millions & open a french language university

gbam

How many Nigerians can even speak good english?

gbam

, lol

Though it is a good idea, i think we should leave that to the private schools, just provide the political will and neccesary support!
Abeg we have a lot in our mouth to chew jare!

Let me break it down for you guys…


Microsoft started with an idea


Virgin Group started with and Idea…

Richard Branson said that around 5 people would believe in you whilst the rest would think you’re crazy or foolish when you come up with an idea,

Henry Ford (the founder of FORD) was nearly sectioned under the mental illness act when he approach Thomas Edison to support his idea of designing and building a vehicle, but Edison supported him and the rest is history.

We are quick to dismiss people’s ideas whereas some other people see it as an opportunity to grow in knowledge. What's wrong in learning how to speak in French? My late uncle could speak the 5 major European languages and this does not include English, he was a Chef and he had everything going for him… How I wish I could do the same…

Hmmm!,out of 16 west African countries,9 de speak french,5 anglophone,then G.bissau portuguesse.me i don learn the languge tete and the french language is much more easier than the english language.
je vous encourage de l'apprendre.ca va vous faire du bein!

It is a good idea to learn French, but first of all we have to learn English!!


Commençons par le commencement !