THE NATIONAL LANGUAGE POLICY IN NIGERIA: PROBLEMS AND

PROSPECTS OF IMPLEMENTATION

David, Stephen .O.

Department of English,
Faculty of Arts
Nasarawa State University, Keffi

ABSTRACT
Nigeria is one of Africa’s fledgling Multilingual Federations that has in quick successions
experimented with parliamentary and presidential forms of democracy, which has been
disrupted by prolonged military intervention. It has toyed with an inarticulate discernible
language policy because both past military dictators and present democratic government have
refused to take decisions to resolve the problems that have emanated from the policy. The
paper therefore looks at what the policy is, how it evolved, what problems have bedeviled the
policy and what are the possible ways forward?

INTRODUCTION
Nigeria is multilingual and multicultural nation whose indigenous languages have not been
ascertained uptil now. The range has been between 300 and 400. Jubril (1990), Tengan
(1994), Bleambo (1999). Of this number, only thirty-six according to Aboderin (2002:9) have
been reduced into writing. The National language question in Nigeria was brought to
prominence by our colonial experience, which has left behind a foreign national language to
cater for the affairs of administration, communication, and instruction in education from early
or later primary school up to the university level.

Since then, Nigerian nationalist have continued to advocate for the replacement of the
English language with an indigenous language to ensure the achievement of national
integration and preservation of our national values. Going by the present National language
policy, the issue of National Language has gone beyond the question of desirability of a
National Language. It has also gone beyond the desirability of an indigenous language
emerging as a strong candidate for a National Language. These two linguistic horizons seem
resolved and a language policy has been enunciated to this end. However, the resolution is by
no means free from scathing criticisms from linguists, politicians and researchers. This paper
therefore looks at the struggle by the nationalists to evolve an indigenous National Language
and identifies factors affecting the national language question. It also explores the approaches
towards evolving a national language and at the end proffers ways of narrowing the different
views of the three schools of thought to ensure the evolution of a national language. With all
these developments, there have been problems and prospects. The paper ends with pragmatic
ways to move forward.

Approaches to the National Language Question

There are three discernible approaches to the national language question. The approaches are:

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(i) THE STATUS QUO APPROACH, (ii) THE RADICAL APPROACH
GRADUALIST APPROACH.

THE STATUS QUO APPROACH: This is one which focuses in the direction of
nationalism. Their argument is that our country is young and faced with many problems
especially those of rapid economic development, better education and technological
advancement. Any language that can make it possible for us to attain these goals is welcome.
They support retaining English because to them it should cease to be regarded as a foreign
language since a lot of literary works and creative writings have been produced in it; and,
above all, it has been serving them well.

THE RADICAL APPROACH: The argument of the scholars is that for a long time, we
have been talking about a national language without doing anything about it as it happened in
the (1978) constituent Assembly. They maintain that the more we delay, the greater the
danger and that we will lose the will to change. Thus we will continue to have a foreign
national language as a symbol of our nationality and this language with its association with
the foreign culture will cut the majority of our people off from participation in the national
system. It is true that our languages may not be well developed yet for higher education and
technology, but they never will be until we decide to use them. A decision should therefore
be made in favour of a national language and immediate steps taken to develop and spread its
use in a wide range of domains.

THE GRADUALIST APPROACH: This approach tries to achieve a compromise between

the national consideration of having an indigenous language and the nationalist requirement
for a language of running the country in an efficient manner. They agreed that the adoption of
a foreign language as our national language is not justified. On the other hand, immediately
decision on an indigenous language is not a feasible proposition. To this school of thought,
there has to be a gradual development of the indigenous language while steps are going on to
evolve an indigenous national language or languages while the foreign languages currently
serving as an official language should continue to serve in that role.

Attempts Made to Evolve an Indigenous National Language

Fafunwa (1991) as the then Honourable Minister of Education said; “The importance of
language in the achievement of the national education policy objective cannot be
overemphasized...” but long before this recognition was given to the indigenous languages,
several attempts were made by different nationalists in favour of an indigenous language to
replace the foreign (official) language with its alien culture. The. first of such attempts aimed
at recognizing our indigenous languages as eligible candidates for their introduction as
subjects to be taught in schools and ensure their optimum development so that one of them
could later be adopted as a national language was by Honorable Balia in 1961 as a member of
the then National parliament representing Adamawa North-East when he tabled a motion that
the federal government in consultation with the then regional government should introduce
the teaching of Hausa, ‘Yorhba, Igbo and other indigenous languages into institutions of
learning throughout the country. His motion was defeated in favour of retaining the English
language as the national language. ! ■

The second attempt was made by Honorable Barshir Ikara in 1978 in the then constituent
assembly as a member representing Ikara local government Area of Kaduna State. His
attempt was from the top and not from below, with a view to using the indigenous language

47
in the national and State Assemblies so much so that learning them at the school system
would be encouraged. Here again, his motion was defeated in favour of the English language
through a vehement rejection by members.
Another factor that helped in no small measure in accentuating linguistic situation in the
country is State Creation. For example, the division of the country into three regions before
and after independence brought into prominence, Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba. Also, the creation
of Midwestern State in 1964 brought Edo dominance to the fore. The division of the country
into twelve states in 1967 gave prominence to Efik and Ijaw in the South-East and River State
while the division into 19 States in 1976 accentuated Kanuri in Bomo, Fulfulde in Gongola,
Tiv, Idoma and Igala in Benue, Nupe in Niger State and Biroms, Angas and Tarok in plateau
State. Further divisions and State creation up to 1997 brought other minority languages into
prominence. For example, when Nasarawa State was created out of Plateau in 1997, it
brought into prominence languages like the Alago, Eggon, Mada Afo etc.

The 1979 constitution which allowed the use of Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba in addition to
English in the National Assembly and in the State Assemblies, English and any other
dominant language of the State further brought to prominence the linguistic situation in
Nigeria. Brann’s (1985) details are summarized below:

In October and November 1979, seven to ten States adopted Hausa as the language of
business in their Houses, Kanuri in Bomo was adopted in addition to Hausa, in
Gongola, Fulfulde was rejected due to multiplicity ofethno linguistic minorities in the
State. Benue, Kwara and Plateau States used English due to either lack of accepted
standard or co-dominance of different ethnic groups. In Igbo speaking States, English
was used due to lack of accepted standard. Cross-River, Rivers and Bendel State
adopted English due to co-dominance of different ethnic group while the then four
Yoruba Speaking States adopted Yoruba in addition to English.

It is therefore clear from above that the language question in Nigeria has its origin in two
main factors. The factors are multilingualism and colonial legacy.

The Language Policy In Nigeria

According to Akindele and Adegbite (1999:78ff), a policy is a government statement on the
planned course of action contained in national documents such as the constitution and the
National policy on Education (NPE) document. A policy is crucial to language planning and.
language is crucial to the achievement of the objectives of the National policy on education.
The major language policy is enunciated in the Federal Republic of Nigerian National Policy
on Education Formulation in 1977. The policy reads: -

In addition to appreciating the importance of language in the educational process

and as a means of preserving the people’s culture, the government considers it to b-
in the interest of national unity that each child should be encouraged to lean one of
the three major languages other than his own mother tongue.

The N.P.E. has a language policy which has also undergone reviews from 197? when ii-fiiv
came to limelight to 1981, and 1998. The NPE 0998:11) clearly state’s in paragraph 14c thur
“Govcrrtmcnt shall ensure that the medium of instruction is principally the mother tongue <v
the language of the immediate community of the pre-primary level of education'. Th
statement means that English sh.oufd nor be used as. a medium of infraction this lovct Tb/,

48
is to make the child feel at home and be free to relate with his peers, teacher and
environment.
At the primary level of education, the NPE in paragraph 17 (e) states “the medium of
instruction in the primary school shall be the language of the environment for the first three
years. During this period, English shall be taught as a subject. In paragraph (f), the policy
states that: “from the fourth year, English shall progressively be used as a medium of
instruction and the language of immediate environment and French shall be taught as
subjects”. The implication of the above language policy statement is that the child is expected
to have been proficient in speaking the language of the environment by the end of lower
primary education while he switches over to English as a medium of instruction from upper
primary to a higher level of education. The language policy for primary education recognized
the importance of both the mother tongue and English at this level. It requires English to
assist the mother tongue ‘at a later stage’ in the primary school when it is believed the
resources of the mother tongue may not be sophisticated enough for the expression of
concepts and for teaching other subjects.

At the secondary level of Education, the NPE does not state explicitly what the medium of
instruction is for secondary Education. But one can infer from the provisions of paragraph
15(4) that the intention of the government is that English should be the medium of
communication.

The policy was further entrenched in the Federal constitution of 1979, 1989 and 1999. For
example, in the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, section 55 states that:
“The business of the National Assembly shall be conducted in English and in Hausa, Igbo
and Yoruba when adequate arrangements have been made thereof’. The same provision was
made in the 1979 and 1989 constitutions. The implication of the above is that English and the
three major languages are recognized as national languages with the usage of the conjunction
‘and’.

At the state level, section 97 of the 1999 constitution states: ‘The business of the State
Assembly shall be conducted in English, but the House may in addition to English conduct
the business of the House in one or more other languages spoken in the state as the House
may be resolution approve *. Till dale, no state House of assembly has transacted the business
of its House in another language other than in English. (Osir.awo 2002). This may be due to
many reasons ranging from pride to avoidance of a language being imposed on the people
against their wish especially in the state with many languages like Rivers, Cross River, Edo,
Qndo and Nasarawa stales eio

The policy from incunriou is a product of linguist ‘gradualist approach’ to developing

N e'riug ‘a Natioii.d language. While English language
prlmcaily and realisrk-^iy corrirues u> i amain for the time being the iingua franca and
f of ;hc nation, -be nation does r.cn truly have a national language. What
i -Brians Mvc tried :c< ;o the Enghsh language such that it now looks like a
V
■:\v W- It. Bnglfsh and our indigenous languages are
tC‘
 —
Problems
There are so many factors bedeviling the implication of the National language Policy (NLP)
because almost every aspect of the policy has problems. The first problem has to do with the
use of the mother tongue in pre-primary education. This means that English should not be
used as a medium of instruction at this level. This is a good position if it is well implemented.
However, the position only exists on paper. What is stated there in the policy is contrary to
what operates in reality? Government finds it difficult to control the language of instruction at
this level because most of the nursery school are privately owned. Not only that, these
schools are in every nook and cranny of each town nowadays. Funny enough, they are all
‘international’ by name.

Another problem linked to the above is that many parents who send their children to nursery
schools are elites who do not see anything good in the language of the immediate community
and as such kick strongly against the implementation of the use of the mother tongue or the
language of the environment on their children. Such parents even go further to employ
private teachers to teach their children English at this level.

Still linked to the mother tongue or the language of the immediate community (LIC) is the
problem of shortage of teachers. In addition to this, many of the languages have not been
reduced to writing. It had been asserted that only thirty six Nigerian languages from about
over four hundred languages that we have, have been reduced to writing. This is so because
most of these languages are not taught in schools, neither are there books on them. For
example, Otuo language in Ondo state, Egun language in Lagos, Mada, Eggon, Alago, Afo
Gwandara languages in Nasarawa State have not been reduced into writing and since this is
the situation, it is not practically possible to include all these languages of the immediate
community into the school curriculum to be taught.

The policy on primary education has the problem of vagueness of the phrase ‘at a later stage’.
The policy does not say when exactly this later stage is when the medium of instruction
should change from the mother tongue to English. Presently, what operates in the primary
school is amorphous.

Another problem is with the National Assembly conducting its affairs in ‘English and in
Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba when adequate arrangements are made’. It is not very clear what the
expression suggests. No one knows the specific time when these arrangement would be made
and what are the things involved in making the arrangements. Again, English and Hausa,
Igbo and Yoruba are recognized in the constitution as national languages directly or
indirectly because of the usage of the conjunction ‘and’. This has therefore brought stiff
opposition to the use of these three majority languages by the users of the minority languages
for fear of further domination. In the second republic for instance, during the debates to
implement this aspect of the policy, the minority languages in the national assembly
particularly objected to the use of just the three majority languages of Hausa, Igbo and
Yoruba. They argued that other languages were also as important as the three languages
elevated.

Also, low budgetary allocation or poor funding of the educational sector is a problem. This
problem is one of the reasons why the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) went
on a prolonged and protracted strike. Both past and present administrations have shown that

50
they are not totally committed financially to funding the educational sector and policies. This
is a serious problem that must be addressed by our policy makers and implementers.

In addition, there is a problem of continuity with policies. We have witnessed different

military and civilian administrations in this country. Usually, a change of government means
a change in policies. Every government wants to be identified with something new. This idea
has drastically affected the implantation of the NPE. For example the NPE has been on for
the past twenty years. What has the policy actually achieved? Right now, we are talking of
UBE. What has it achieved? Not only that, facilities provided in the teachers training
institutions themselves do not reflect the importance of language education under the NPE or
UBE. The managers of pre and primary schools have yet to realize that language teachers
need special training and up to date equipment and materials just like the science teachers to
be very effective.

According to Mohammed and Zarruk (1991:24), due to ignorance and sometimes parochial
sentiments, the goal of education is interpreted narrowly by some people in “bread and
butter” terms only. They regard the teaching of Nigerian languages in schools as a waste of
time. To them, being educated simply means being able to speak English. Such people
though numerically small, do occasionally succeed in deliberately derailing or disorientating
the implementation of the National Language Policy (NLP) as some of them happen to
occupy strategic positions in government or private sector.

Prospects
Despite the ‘herculean’ problems listed above, the situation before us as a nation is not
insurmountable. The reality is that there is room for optimism. For example, if professor Babs
Fafunwa as a Federal Minister of Education in 1989 made all Federal Secondary Schools and
some states secondary schools to take and enroll students for the ‘WAZOBIA’ (i.e. the
translation of ‘come’ in English into Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo in that order), for the three
languages required as national languages and prepared their students for SSS certificate final
examination, starting from 1991, then the present democratic government in Nigeria having
the Nigerian constitution as a legal document for their ‘modus operandi’ can make a lot of
impact to ensure that the NLP is fully implemented. Also, if the National Academy of
Education (NAE) and the National Book Council (NBC) will all be resuscitated, then, we will
see more of language education where many books in various languages will be produced
locally through public and private efforts.

Again, government should give more attention to pre and primary education so that there is
proper regulation instead of the proliferation that we see everywhere; In addition government
should make the mother tongue (MT) or Language of the Immediate Community (LIC) the
medium of instruction throughout these two levels. This is so because the mother tongue is
the most useful language to a bilingual child in the formation stage of his life. According to
Fafunwa 1991, “it is natural to him like his mother’s milk”. The child should therefore be
encouraged in his first twelve years in life to master his mother tongue for the positive
development of his physical, mental and intellectual potentials. Experiences have shown that
children will learn and comprehend their subjects better in their mother tongues, especially if
they are allowed to mature in them, (cf Afolayan 1979, Omojuwa 1976). The mother tongues
of Nigerian pupils must thus be allowed to play adequate roles in primary education.

51
 For us a nation to achieve the desired objectives of the National Languages Policy (NLP),
adequate and intensive supervision should be a matter of priority. More money should be
injected into language education to provide better facilities and incentives for language
teachers to enable them do a good job. Successful policy implementation takes time. The
present civilian regime having come back to office the second time should make the
implementation of the NLP a top priority. Nigeria should learn from the United States that
} •even when you have all the resources available to fully implement melting point philosophy
or policy, it does take considerable time and effort. With this kind of understanding and
determination to excel, the implementation of the policy will be a thing of the past.

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