LANGUAGE AND DEMOCRACY: THE NIGERIAN EXPERIENCE

Ofoegbu Cyril Okechukwu

Department of English

Anambra state university, Igbariam campus, Anambra State, Nigeria

Email: ofoegbucyril@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT:

Language is man’s most important asset, his most important tool with which he interacts. The place of language in any democratic dispensation cannot be overlooked. There is indeed a marriage between language and democracy and the Nigerian democratic scene is not an exception. The question remains how this marriage has fared in the Nigerian environment. The coming of democracy in Nigeria 13 years ago has given this language issue a new face. Due to the freedom democracy afforded everyone in Nigeria, there is abuse of language in Nigeria. Ethnic wars, tribal wars, religious wars and a lot more have been witnessed and are still on the rise in Nigeria in the past 13 years. The language question on the other hand lingers in the minds of Nigerians, who still question our use of English language as our national language. The basic message in democracy is freedom for everyone and everything but we can still ask: is language really free in democratic Nigeria? The last 13 years has shown that language in Nigeria is not really free. It is a manipulative tool which most Nigerians who breathe the air of democracy use to cause confusion, problems and disasters in Nigeria. Today, a turning point should be reached by Nigerians in their attitudes towards their fellow Nigerians and their languages, a point at which Nigerians, irrespective of tribal ethnic or religious affiliations, should accept to work together and choose a language as their national language to foster peace unity and national development in a democratic Nigeria. Our multilingual nature should be a blessing and not a curse to us. Democracy should be a crowning effort to address this language issue in Nigeria. In the end we should have a language of the people by the people and for the people.