DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH

TOPIC: LANGUAGE AS AN INDISPENSABLE TOOL FOR NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

The place of language in any nation’s development cannot be overemphasized. Unfortunately, however,

subsequent governments in many developing nations of the world pay very little or no attention to the role

of language in national development. According to Olu Obafemi (2012) “One critical constituent of

colonial and imperial subjugation is its dominance and control over the language of the colonized peoples

and the imposition of their own. Thus, language is an instrument of colonial hegemonic control.

Paradoxically, one of the crucial factors in the survival of the colonies after the damages and ravages

wrought by colonialism is the resilience and triumph of the indigenous languages, and by extension, the

indigenous cultures.”

Nigeria’s multilingual nature is very difficult to wish away because of the passion people attach to their

languages and, by extension, their cultures. To the linguist, there is neither inferior nor superior language,

as no language is inherently incapable of being used by its users to express their world view. To this

extent, there is no language that is incapable of driving development that a people are capable of. It is on

record that most developed nations of the world now have used their indigenous languages to drive their

developmental ideas. Of course, the Igbo of Nigeria, during the civil war were known to have developed

the lethal ‘egbunike’ and local industries still continue to flourish in that part of the country till date.

Language is the core essence of science and technology, and science and technology happen to be the new

obsessions of nearly all governments in developing world, to which Nigeria belongs. The obsession with

science and technology seems to be carried too far to the detriment of disciplines in the humanities,

including language, without taking cognizance of the centrality of language and literature to the

advancement of civilization, nation building and technological growth of any nation. Nations which

realize the importance of language in these areas continue to advance the course of language. With
continued neglect of language, as part of development, by national governments who do not value it, no

serious and meaningful planning can be successfully made.

Language is an important educational tool for transmitting science and technology. Education is the

bedrock of nation building. Technology is invention through thorough thought. Thinking is done and

articulated through language; therefore, thought, language and technology are intricately linked. It is

through language that we conceive and impart information, including scientific information, and also

express our thoughts and feelings.

It is often taunted in educational circles in Africa and the so-called developing world that a major

impediment to rapid socio-economic development, including knowledge and skill dissemination is the

imposition of foreign languages as the medium of communication and education. It is assumed that the

presence and dominance of foreign languages through which education is carried out in developing

nations has severely hampered the development of indigenous languages as vehicles of development.

It is indisputable that indigenous languages in developing worlds have been severely undermined. This

continues to give prominence in use, in nearly all domains, to the language of our colonial overlords.

Being underdeveloped, indigenous languages in developing nations have not been able to rise to the

challenge of being used as vehicles of national development. It is on record that all the innovations and

technological breakthroughs of countries such as Russia, Japan, China, USA, and other developed nations

of the world are codified and encoded in their national languages.

Olu Obafemi (2012) has observed that language, as used in day-to-day communication, in the media and

in government circles, has a major role to play in development. The transfer and transmission of science

and technology is one of the ways of ascertaining the realization of the human potential. In the transfer

process, it is common to ignore the fact that science and technology are cultural phenomena. They are the

superstructure of this culture. But language is the base. This is exactly why the transfer of science and

technology in Nigeria often achieves peripheral results. Bamgbose (1994) aptly submitted that “unless
there is technology culture, the seed of transferred technology will fall on barren ground and it will not

germinate”. It should be possible to teach science and mathematics in a child’s first language in order for

him/her to imbibe the culture of technology in his/her own language. The idea that our indigenous

languages are incapable of or inappropriate for scientific and technological purposes should be jettisoned.

As Olu Obafemi has suggested, what should be done is the establishment of Indigenous Languages

Technology Centres and indigenous language laboratories where the findings and outcomes of our

technological and scientific research can be codified into indigenous language concepts.

Although it is lofty to pontificate on the usefulness of indigenous languages as media for technological

development, as has been observed happening in developed nations of the world, Banjo and Unoh (1976)

have, however, observed that “It is not very rational to reject English chauvinistically just because it is the

language of a former colonial power, if it had a certain place and certain resources invested in it in the

country concerned”. This position is very typical of the Nigerian situation, in particular, and many

developing African nations in general. English still has certain resources invested in it that make it, for

now, indispensable as the linguistic vehicle for national development in many nations of the world,

especially those that are multilingual.