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An Open Letter to Mr. President: Enforce the use of the mother tongue, please
This idea is not original, Mr. President.
I got it from two African intellectual giants, in the persons of Ngugi Wa Thion’g of Kenya and Boubacar Boris Diop of Senegal, who recently wrote an open letter to President Bassirou Diomaye Diakhar of the Republic of Senegal.
In the letter, which I came across not long ago, the intellectual duo, who are lecturers, writers and essayists, asked the newly elected Senegalese president not to use the colonisers foreign languages of English and French as the official language of his country.
They requested him to use the local language or the main languages, as the official language or languages of the country, spoken by one and all, especially the president and those in positions of authority throughout Senegal.
Specifically, one of the recommendations they made in the letter was that the president should hasten the abrogation of one of the Senegalese constitutional provisions which made it compulsory for any president to speak only in the official language, which is French.
According to them, the two of them have not exclusively written their novels in the languages of the colonialists, which are English and French, but in their mother tongues of Kikuyu and Wolof, as well, so as to encourage the use of the local languages.
Such works in their local languages, include, but not limited to, Matigari (1986) and Bammeelu Kocc Barma (2017), in kikuyu and Wolof respectively.
In the Nigeria we live today, there are some people who do not speak or even understand their mother tongue. They only speak and communicate with the borrowed language of the colonialist, which is English. It is the way they (colonialists) wanted and still want it, so that the imperialism, even if limited to language, would continue on these shores.
This is unfortunate, because these sorts of things are some of what keep us undeveloped, to suit the evil purpose of the developed world, which is, among other things, to exploit our natural resources for their own use.
We need to pass the stage of paying lip service, and seriously start using the three of our local tongues as the official languages of the country. These languages are the Hausa, the Yoruba and the Igbo. Doing so would give our children more appetite and aptitude for studies.
The Hausa serves as the lingua-franca of the north, the Yoruba as the language of communication in the south and the Igbo serves as the East’s lingual-franca. Anyone who wants to speak or communicate in borrowed language, let them do so on their own without the involvement of the government, whether at federal or state levels. Even examinations too. Let them be set in local languages.
For Mr. President, if you receive foreign leaders from the Western World, speak to them in the local official language, not in English. It is up to them to come with their interpreters. That is what they do in advanced places like Russia, China, Japan, South Korea and other places. Those countries’ leaders, some of whom are fluent in the colonialists’ languages, would only speak a few words of the language of the visiting Western leader for fun, not for the purpose of communication.
All the world’s advanced nations use their own local languages for teaching and training of their children in education and skills, not borrowed foreign language, as is the case with the undeveloped or the so called developing countries of the world, like Nigeria.
It is also my belief that Nigeria would have for long been up there among the developed nations of the world if the use of the local languages has been in force as the languages of first choice, not a borrowed one.
Recently, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or, what is commonly known as, the World Bank, has asked the Nigerian President, Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu (popularly known locally as BAT) to remove the subsidy on electricity, having earlier forced the removal of the oil subsidy.
This has caused the dislocation of the social life of many people in the country, leading to some of them selling their motor vehicles because of the prohibitive cost of premium motor spirit (PMS) in the fuel stations.
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The aim of the IMF, in my opinion, is to keep us in the perpetual bondage of the Western World, so as to and keep us always in need of their so called assistance. The ploy is to make their industries perpetually sated with our abundant material resources, and what happens to the Nigerian people is neither their business nor concern.
This is in line with the desire of the US and France to establish their military bases in Nigeria, a move that Mr. President rejected, having seen through this desire of theirs as nothing but a window to siphon out our mineral resources without check.
Do not listen to the IMF or any western countries’ sponsored agents, Mr. President. The Nigerians are already facing a Herculean task surviving daily because of the current economic situation in the country, made so by the removal of the oil subsidy, among other economic policies of yours.
And, enforce the use of the three local languages as the official tongues of communication to all ranking government officials, including you, wherever you may find yourself. And the borrowed language can be spoken anywhere but Nigeria.
I have said my mind, even though I am not an intellectual.
Malam Malumfashi wrote from Abuja.
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