The language of nation-building in Nigeria: a systematic exposition

The general objective of this paper is to study the language of nation-building in Nigeria by making a systematic exposition. Language is perceived in the work as a means of communicating meaning, conveying emotional conditions, viewpoints and philosophies. Nation-building is underscored in the work as the framing or shaping of a national identity through the instrumentality of state power, aimed at unifying the people within the state and thereby engendering political, economic and socio-cultural sustainability and stability of the state. The problem of the study centers on a supposition that in multiethnic and multilingual Nigeria, the citizens invariably hear and understand what the others are saying in the exact language of delivering such communication. Hence, nation-building is on course in the Nigerian nation. Findings of the study however point towards the contrary dimensions of these suppositions, revealing that the assumed language of nation-building in the country has been the language of war, bitterness, animosity, recrimination and vendetta, as principally propagated by the political elite. The work recommends the inauguration of a national language policy in the country within an overall framework of a generic nation-building agenda