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Reno Omokri On Why The Nigeria Accent Changed - Nairaland / General - Nairaland

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Reno Omokri On Why The Nigeria Accent Changed by BlackAdam65: 7:21pm On Jan 08
Dear Maryam,

Thank you for your feedback. The way Nigerians currently speak English is not the way we always spoke it. Do yourself a favour and find a video of Sir Ahmadu Bello or Sir Abubakar Tafawa-Balewa speaking English. You will notice that their accent is similar to that of my daughter and I.

The way Nigerians spoke English changed after the January 15, 1966 coup when mostly Igbo military officers wiped out the political leadership of the Federal Government and the Northern, Western, and Midwestern regional governments.

In studying linguistic etymology, people tend to speak like their leaders. That is why the highest form of English in Britain is called Queen's English (now changed to King's English after the death of Queen Elizabeth II).

When a whole generation of well-spoken leaders was killed and replaced by various soldiers whose spoken English was, at best, mediocre, it affected the quality of the English we speak in Nigeria.

The same thing happened in Uganda after the overthrow of Milton Obote by the semiliterate Idi Amin, who meant well but lacked the intellect to turn his vision into reality.

If you get videos of even ordinary Nigerians speaking English in marketplaces prior to 1966, you will observe that their spoken English is remarkably better than that spoken today.

So, please do not tell me to dumb down my spoken English. I rather challenge you, Maryam, to raise the standard of your spoken English and Hausa to match that of Sir Abubakar Tafawa-Balewa. When the late Prime Minister spoke Hausa, it was as if honey was dripping from his mouth.

Read his book, Shaihu Umar. It was written in Hausa in 1934 and published in 1955. Seventy years later, no Hausa language book has even come close to Shaibu Umar.

I gave all my children ONLY Itsekiri names. You see this child you see in this video? She dakun (kneels) to greet me every morning. She does not say good morning to me. She says it to others. To me, she says 'eri owuro owa mi' (good morning my father) in her British accent.

Maryam, we need to raise our intellect, not dumb it down!

Thanks again, and may God bless you.

#TableShaker

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Re: Reno Omokri On Why The Nigeria Accent Changed by BlackAdam65: 7:22pm On Jan 08
Comments
Re: Reno Omokri On Why The Nigeria Accent Changed by BlackAdam65: 7:23pm On Jan 08
Reactions
Re: Reno Omokri On Why The Nigeria Accent Changed by Ecomuse: 7:25pm On Jan 08
Keep dividing an already divided country when we should be healing and making peace
Re: Reno Omokri On Why The Nigeria Accent Changed by MadamVanessa(f): 7:26pm On Jan 08
shocked


Okay this Facebook and X clown again.
Re: Reno Omokri On Why The Nigeria Accent Changed by Padipadi: 8:29pm On Jan 08
BlackAdam65:
Comments
I go skalamutus ya mouth.
You created thread and still carried Firstus tu commentus. Which kind cheating be that?
Re: Reno Omokri On Why The Nigeria Accent Changed by BlackAdam65: 9:03pm On Jan 08
Padipadi:

I go skalamutus ya mouth.
You created thread and still carried Firstus tu commentus. Which kind cheating be that?
i wanted to add some pictures of the comment but the pictures didnt appear

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