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In 2004, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) listed Igbo, supposedly one of Nigeria’s three main language groups, as under threat of "extinction".
The extent of illiteracy in the use of Igbo language to which the educated and semi- educated Igbo have sunk could be gleaned from the ordeal of a security chief translating a "calm down" message on television in the wake of the Ikeja Army Cantonment bomb blasts scare in January, 2001. For a task that his co-Yoruba and Hausa speakers had discharged with minimal difficulty, the Igbo translator stumbled with his assignment, switching from Igbo to English at intervals. Repeatedly, the security chief mentioned the word ‘bomb’ whereas a proficient speaker of Igbo would have said ogbunigwe. It is believed that the majority of educated Igbo prefer listening to radio and television news in English rather than Igbo that could pose problems of deep nuances of expression. If older people of Igbo stock who grew up within a vernacular climate face this plight today, the fate of the culturally alienated younger generations seems all too clear.
Cultural imperialism in the context of the superpower status of English Language will remain potent in the foreseeable future. As the historical influence of Greek and Latin cannot be divorced from the great Greek and Roman empires, so the "nationalisation" of English by the modern, powerful West, accounts for its international dominance. A measure of the influence of political economy on language and culture can be viewed from the increasing shift to American spelling as a result of the use of American-made computers. When practitioners in the fledgling, Nigerian home-video industry sometimes criticized as the visual equivalent of Onitsha market literature, designated their trade "Nollywood," it perhaps did not strike them that the next logical step would be the imitation of Hollywood’s subtle cultural agenda. It is interesting to note that this local video scene which took off in 1990 with substantial productions rendered in Igbo has since abandoned the vernacular medium for scripts written in often, poor English.
The fortunes of the Igbo language have been further eroded as a result of the political disadvantage faced by the 25 million Igbo nationality group. In the winner-takes-all equation that defines much of Nigeria’s power game, fluency in the language of a ruling ethnic group could be a big asset. With the military in power from 1966-1999, except for a four-year civilian break (retired generals are still calling the shots in the present democratic dispensation), the post-Biafra officer of Igbo extraction was understandably a spectator at the theatre of power. While some Igbo consciously embrace the language of the ruling group to the detriment of mother tongue, some are subtly conditioned by the prestige and influence overflowing from political authority.
Yet, the single greatest factor underlining the grave threat to Igbo as functional language is the unwillingness of the sub-Igbo nation to come to terms with its split personality. Some Igbo continue to use the misnomer Ibo for the language blissfully unaware of its colonial origins. Indications point towards a lack of consciousness of social imperatives.
The pan Igbo socio-cultural organisation Ohaneze in its over 24 years of existence has mostly been vacuous, neither articulating nor advocating any identifiable cultural agenda. Many have tried to use the organisation as platform to achieve political relevance and patronage. Another relevant body, the Society for the promotion of Igbo Language and Culture, which recorded modest gain in the past, has been in limbo since the death of its founder and foremost author in Igbo, F.C. Ogbalu, in 1989. Igbo traders often resort to other languages to seduce potential buyers.
It is also the case that even without any undue influence, some Igbo choose to learn and speak other language simply to demonstrate their linguistic prowess. In itself, this seems a very positive aspiration. But this apparent liberalism is contradicted by what amounts to an abandonment of the mother tongue. Consider the not uncommon spectacle of a religious worship in Igboland where all members of the congregation are Igbo-speaking, and the choir busies itself singing hymns in other Nigerian languages! One is even more at a loss that this could be happening in an age that Christianity speaks on local enculturation of the gospel. The same desire for sophistication lead some parents to communicate with their infants in English at home even as Nigeria’s national policy on education advocates that instruction in the primary school should be in the child’s mother tongue.
Although the language question remains a controversial issue for African writers, Chinua Achebe’s position that he is a bilingual speaker of English and Igbo and could therefore, write in either of them, seems to command greater merit than the exclusivist stance of some other writers. As it were, a co-habitation of Igbo and other languages will be a victory for a language in danger of abandonment.
In its neglect, the Igbo language, in April 2006, found a friend in Out Subakwa Asusu Igbo, an association that as its name says, will work towards rekindling interest in the speaking of Igbo language. Led by Professor Pita Ejiofor, immediate past Vice Chancellor of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, the body is presently drawing up a programme with which to pursue its objectives. Concerted efforts are however, needed to save Igbo language from falling into disuse.
Top on the priority should be the compilation of a standard Igbo dictionary. The lack of such a definitive reference book has rendered the language dormant; like a car without fuel.
The ratio of Igbo language programmes’ air time to English language programmes in government- owned broadcast stations in the Igbo-speaking South Eastern States presently stand at about 20:80 per cent in favour of English. This lopsidedness cries for urgent remedy. Furthermore, the relevant state and local governments can give the language a boost by making it the alternative official language at legislative and executive council sessions.
Translation of general and literary classics into Igbo ought to start apace. That Achebe’s classic, Things Fall Apart, has yet no published Igbo translation is a serious indictment on the Igbo society.
The Igbo society should also throw into the bargain provision of scholarships for studies in Igbo language and prizes for brilliant literary creativity in Igbo. A well-furnished Igbo website on the Internet is inevitable. One hopes it will not be too long in coming.
•Afuba wrote in from Nimo, Anambra State
www.independentngonline.com
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Originally Posted by bluestocking
