ISE L'OGUN ISE (WORK IS THE PANACEA TO POVERTY)

 Nigeria Bans Use of Indigenous Local Languages in Pre-Secondary Education

Over the last 20 years, I have written extensively on the subject of loss of self-identity and the inferiority complex that afflicts some of us when it comes to using our indigenous languages in communication. I was intentional about naming my children in my local language, Yoruba, instead of English names. My children have no English names at birth... I have lived in North America for over 21 years, and I still speak Yoruba, my native language, as fluently as if I left Nigeria yesterday. I am intentional about this.

I went to public primary and secondary schools. I did not start to speak fluent English until form four, equivalent to SS2 today. We were taught in Yoruba language in my Primary one (grade 1), and I was one of the best students in my class for it... Things changed in Primary 2, and my decline started. I struggled until Primary 3 when I started to pick up again. Teaching in Yoruba, the only language I knew until the time I started school, made learning easy for me early on in my educational pursuit. When we were in primary school, if you could not communicate in English in our neighborhood, you were made to feel inferior. English was made to look like a superior language. You will hear some parents say - Ma so Yoruba s'omo mi oh, mio fe ko y'olodo" - meaning, do not speak Yoruba to my child because I do not want him/her to be dull... It is the same warped sentiment that was reiterated by the current Minister of Education in Nigeria, Mr. Tunji Alausa, at an event organized by Nigeria's former colonial master, through the British Council... This is a shame... Mr. Tunji Alausa reversed a 2022 policy that provided freedom to teach children in their native languages up to Primary 6 (Grade 6). This reversal is one of the worst things that happened to us as a nation in terms of reclaiming our identity and setting ourselves up for independence and self-reliance.

Has anyone ever wondered why the Chinese, Koreans, Japanese, and other people choose to retain their languages in educating their people? These are cultures giving the West a run for its money in 2025. All learning in Korea or Japan is done in the native language. Most of these people are bi- or multilingual, but they prioritize their indigenous languages. I understand the argument that these other cultures have one language and not 250 tongues that we have in Nigeria… When there is a problem, there is a solution. Instead of scrapping the policy, we were supposed to seek a solution. We have three main languages in Nigeria. They can be adopted. I took Yoruba as a subject until my third year in high school. The policy does not have to be enforced to teach in local languages. Where they can, they should. English should still be taught from the onset. The poor performance in secondary school exams is not because kids were taught in their native tongue until Grade 6. It is because there is decadence in the educational system in Nigeria, where schools are under-funded, and teachers are underpaid. Where are the resources to teach all subjects… The excuse of poor performance in a Grade 12 exam is not a good reason to scrap native language use for instruction up to Grade 6.

It is a shame that our minister of education continues to perpetuate the colonial mentality of asserting that learning or speaking local languages makes our children dull. A three-year experiment that was not funded or supported by the government should not be considered a failure... Why? Because the resources to execute this were never there. The teachers who are supposed to be teaching in the local languages are lost themselves... They cannot speak the language. I do not know any Nigerian of my age, let alone those in their 20s or 30s, or 40s, who can speak their local languages without mixing it up with some bits of English or Pigin English. What we have seen over the decades are a people lucked up inside because they cannot speak any language fluently - they cannot speak their native language well, nor can they speak English fluently ... They have a horrible repertoire of any language at their disposal and so they cannot express themselves… That alone can make a people dull..

This is a big problem for us as a nation. The many languages that we have notwithstanding, we MUST not lose sight of who we are and what our ancestors were. That starts with us preserving our languages. Otherwise, we will lose ourselves as a people and as a nation.