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OPINION: Why My English Speaks Yoruba

Published

3 weeks ago

November 17, 2025

By Lasisi Olagunju

“You taught me language, and my profit on it / Is, I know how to curse” (William Shakespeare: ‘The Tempest’).

The Nigerian government and the Nigerian Academy of Letters are fighting over which language to use in training our kids.

In a recent decision, the government cancelled the language policy which said the first six years of a child’s schooling should be delivered in the language of their local environment. The government probably felt that English is the language of our masters, its owner, so, it cancelled the extant policy rooted in the mother-tongue. It has ordered that henceforth English is the sole language of instruction at all levels of education in the country.

William Shakespeare’s fecundity sows seeds in all fields. He has this passage of lamentation in Richard II:

“The language I have learnt these forty years, /My native English, now I must forgo; /And now my tongue’s use is to me no more/ Than an unstringed viol or a harp, /Or like a cunning instrument cased up /Or, being open, put into his hands /That knows no touch to tune the harmony.”

Above, Shakespeare’s character mourns the loss of his voice, his expression, his linguistic identity. His lines embody a metaphor for linguistic helplessness, for mental dislocation, and forced silence. He says the language he mastered as a youth now lies useless; he laments that his tongue is now a useless instrument, an “unstringed viol or a harp” incapable of producing music.

With permission from Shakespeare, I donate that quote to the children of Nigeria. Their “tongue’s use is to (them) no more.” The Nigerian Academy of Letters (NAL) issued a warning last Friday about the dangers of reversing the language policy of Nigeria. The language policy, recalled the academy, was carefully designed “to promote mother-tongue-based multilingual education by ensuring that children received instruction in the language of their immediate environment during their first six years of schooling.”

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Grandfather of Linguistics, 96-year-old Noam Chomsky, in 2013 delivered a series of lectures on ‘What kind of creature are we?’ The first in the series he entitled ‘What is Language?’ To answer the question, he deploys words and clauses spread over 19 pages. I read him as he says that “language is not sound with meaning but meaning with sound.” More importantly, he draws our attention to the traditional conception of language as “an instrument of thought.” I flow with that.

How I think is how I write. Week after week here, I write what I think. Thinking in Yoruba and writing in English is a pleasant affliction that has been part of me since I learnt to put white chalk on black slate. There has never been a conflict; my early teachers taught me everything in the language I encountered at the dawn of my day. That is why my English speaks Yoruba with all its properties. I listen to it and I like the music – probably because it is my music.

If the government won’t do what is right, parents should brace up and save the future. Read Katherine Reid and her colleagues in their ‘Parents as the first teachers’ published in October 2025. They say “early lexical development predicts later vocabulary, critical literacy skills including reading comprehension and, in turn, academic success.” They add that “because parents are typically their children’s first teachers, some intentionally and actively teach their children new words, while others prefer to expose them to language through rich interactions with the world around them in their daily lives.”

In his ‘Language Learning’ published in February 1970, American philosopher of Language, Gilbert Harman, tells us that “the primary use of language is in thought. Knowing a language is being able to think in it.” Chomsky also writes on what he calls “the fundamental Cartesian insight that use of language has a creative character.” But, is it not true that you cannot innovate in a language you do not fully understand? Professor Babs Fafunwa, in his ‘History of Education in Nigeria’ (1974), says mother tongue is “the first language learnt in the home, the language of the child’s immediate environment, the language in which the child thinks and feels.” Before him and after him, there have been studies after studies which have found that “children who start learning in their mother tongue tend to perform better academically, even upon transitioning to another language later.” (Read ‘Language of Instruction Policy in Nigeria’ by Thelma Ebube Obiakor; read N. Hungi and F.W. Thuku’s ‘Differences in pupil achievement in Kenya: Implications for policy and practice’ (2010).

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The Nigerian Academy of Letters, in its complaint signed by its President, Professor Andrew Haruna, condemned the government’s decision on the language policy. According to the academy, dismissing the policy “so glibly, without due regard for expert knowledge and public opinion, is utterly scornful of Nigerians and does not speak well of the government’s respect for evidence-based policymaking.”

In February 1956, China tried doing almost the same thing our government has just done. China toyed with the idea of replacing its Chinese phono-semantic characters with a new thirty-letter Latin alphabet. Chinese nationalists bitterly denounced the initiative as “a declaration of war on China’s cultural heritage.” Read Tao-Tai Hsia’s ‘The Language Revolution in Communist China’ published in the Far Eastern Survey of October, 1956. The fact that the Chinese mandarin is still a language of symbols is proof that commonsense prevailed in 1956.

A child’s first language is the child’s life. When a child acquires the right language at the right age and stage, it develops cognitively well. That is what experts say. But it is not as if we fully obey what our policy says on the language of schooling. We mix, we switch and adapt and we are getting by. But to decree English, the language of our masters, as the sole vehicle of transport is to get the traveller stranded and marooned where footpaths of development meet.

In another piece today, I wrote about Dr Samuel Crowther’s Abeokuta contest of 1860. The man used science to defeat native doctors. The story has deeper implications than a fight over space, pots and plots. It is about props. In drama, prop is that ‘portable’ item which an actor interacts with. When a soldier holds a sword in a fight scene, he is holding a prop. The future belongs to those who master the right props, the real principles that frame the world. Crowther’s props were scientific instruments. His rivals’ props were charms. When Crowther’s controlled explosion roared, the self-proclaimed ‘medicine men’, adorned in costly garments and charms, fled in terror. In their terror and flight, we see loud display collapse before quiet science. The science and the drama and the resultant chaos demonstrate the superiority of calm knowledge over loud, ostentatious power. The moral is that knowledge-based education defeats performance-based traditions. The same principle underlies the National Language Policy: a child’s language of thought is their first prob in class; children must first understand in order to innovate.

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With their mother tongues, China and Korea have established themselves as tech world powers. Could they have done that if they flip-flopped as Nigeria has just done with its own policy? A post on the website of the Korean Academy describes the Korean language, Hangugeo, as “a symbol of identity and innovation.” Go beyond websites as I did. Read ‘A History of Korean Science and Technology’ by Jeon Sang-woon, Robert Carrubba, and Lee Sung Kyu. I read in that book of history more than snippets on the “Sciences of Earth and Fire”; more than the chapter that says “Chemistry began with the human manipulation of fire.” It is a history of a people who knew (and know) the place of appropriate language in education and innovation.

French chemical engineer and writer, François Le Lionnais, writes in the January 1969 issue of the journal, ‘Leonardo’ that science is an art. He argues that “there should be a discipline of the aesthetics of science.” At the core of that ‘art’ is language. The drama of 165 years ago in Abeokuta between a doctor fresh from medical training in London, and the native “physicians” who challenged him to a contest of powers, is far more than a colourful historical anecdote. It is a parable about the power of scientific knowledge, the courage of innovation, and how societies either rise by embracing modern learning or stagnate by resisting it.

I earlier spoke about props. Because China got its language policy and education right, its props today are semiconductors, satellites, and supercomputers. Korea’s props are robotics, AI, and global electronics. These countries are cool tech giants because they carefully built their futures by teaching their children in languages that let them internalise principles. We enjoy the products of their sanity and clear-mindedness. We ride their fuel-efficient cars and flaunt their sleek electronics. They built their tech steeze and sense by not climbing their palm trees from the top. They made their children understand the world in their own languages. They standardised their scientific lexicons, they enabled their generations to think, debate, and innovate in their native tongues. Only after then did they introduce English. Check Dali Yang (1990)’s “State and Technological Innovation in China: A Historical Overview, 1949-89”. Check others.

Nigeria, by returning to English-only instruction, is choosing the rustic path where science is mystery. And, you know, a 21st century society where science remains a mystery is a society stranded in yesterday. Without apology to Martin Esslin, author of ‘The Theatre of the Absurd’, his title will be apt as the name of that society.

News

7.6m Tramadol Pills, 76,273kg Colorado, Skunk Seized In Delta, Imo, Adamawa

Published

1 hour ago

December 9, 2025

Editor

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have recovered over 7.6 million pills of tramadol and 76,273.4 kilogrammes of different strains of cannabis, Colorado, Loud and Skunk with members of drug trafficking organisations linked to the seizures arrested.

Out of the total opioids seized during the raids, not less than 3,874,000 pills of 225mg and 100mg tramadol, and others as well as of codeine syrup were recovered from a warehouse at Oko market, Asaba, Delta State, on Saturday, December 6, 2025.

About 1.2 million tablets of tramadol 225mg were seized from a suspect, Kelechi Nwakocha, 35, on Wednesday, December 3, when NDLEA operatives on patrol at Orogwe, along Onitsha/Owerri road, Imo State, intercepted his vehicle conveying the consignment, which was loaded at Aba, Abia State, heading to Onitsha, Anambra State.

In Adamawa State, NDLEA officers, on Monday, December 1, 2025, intercepted a Toyota Hiace bus marked MGU 554 XB along Maraba/Mubi coming from Jos, Plateau State, with 1,577,112 capsules of tramadol and exol-5 tablets, all concealed inside jumbo bags mixed with new rubber sandals and slippers.

Two suspects, Kabiru Buba, 25, and Hamza Abubakar, 32, were arrested in connection with the seizure. Another suspect, Mudansir Rabiu, 27, was nabbed along Zaria/Kano road, Kano State, with 197,000 pills of exol-5.

Operatives of a special unit of NDLEA stormed forests in Omuo-Ekiti, Ekiti State, where they destroyed 14,654 kilogrammes of skunk and arrested two suspects: Yusuf Iliyasu, 50, and Okumu Chinedu, 26.

In another operation, the operatives on Tuesday, December 2, stormed the forests in Asin-Ekiti, Ikole Local Council, Ekiti State, where they destroyed 54,300kg of skunk in two large warehouses that were razed while 28.3kg of the same psychoactive substance was recovered for the purpose of prosecution.

Following actionable intelligence, NDLEA operatives on Tuesday, December 2, raided Igoba forest in Akure North Local Council, Ondo State, where 2,483 compressed blocks of skunk and 247 bags of same substance, all weighing 5,442 kilogrammes, were recovered and five suspects arrested. Those nabbed include Jacob Omodowo, 66; Joy Oluatobi Peace, 24; Babatunde Olamide, 40; Echi Fidelis Joseph, 57; and Ankrah Akano, 56.

While 500kg of same substance was recovered from a Mercedes Benz van marked MGU 614 XB by NDLEA officers on patrol along Mokwa/Jebba road in Niger State on December 4, with the driver, Amos Yakubu, 46, arrested, operatives in Abuja on Wednesday, December 3, intercepted a consignment of Colorado, a synthetic cannabis, weighing 22kg at Abaji expressway.

A follow-up operation at the Jabi park in Abuja led to the arrest of a female receiver, Blessing Ali, 33. Also in the FCT, Aliyu Usman, 39, was arrested by operatives on Friday, December 5, with 24kg skunk and 573,500 pills of exol-5 along Kwali/Gwagwalada expressway

In Lagos, NDLEA operatives recovered 217 pouches of Canadian Loud weighing 113kg from Ezenwa Udoka at Ladipo Market, Mushin, while Izuchukwu Usulor was nabbed with 351kg skunk at Onipanu area of the state on December 5, and Susan Okoro arrested with 104.1kg of same psychoactive substance at Trade Fair Complex, Ojo, on Tuesday, December 2.

A total of 447.5kg of skunk was recovered from two Honda Accord cars marked: ABC-678 KK and GGE-772 FB at Agho forest, Akoko Edo Local Council, Edo State.

News

ICPC, Works Ministry Launch Nationwide Audit Of 760 Road Projects Worth N36tn

Published

2 hours ago

December 9, 2025

Editor

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Federal Ministry of Works have jointly embarked on an unprecedented nationwide audit of 760 federal road projects valued at more than N36 trillion.

This is according to a statement released by J. Okor Odey, spokesperson for the anti-graft commission, which described the feat as one of the most extensive infrastructure verification exercises in Nigeria’s history.

Odey said the Special Tracking Exercise, which commenced on November 14, 2025, deploys combined teams of ICPC investigators, engineers from the Works Ministry, and independent experts from professional bodies such as the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NIQS).

According to the statement, the audit teams are currently operating across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory to conduct physical verification and performance assessments of the targeted projects.

The initiative aims to close financial leakages, strengthen procurement integrity, and guarantee that Nigeria’s massive investments in road infrastructure yield real value for citizens.

The commission said key objectives of the exercise include enhancing fiscal governance, exposing and deterring contract fraud, enforcing contractor accountability, and recovering funds from inflated or failed projects.

The commission emphasised that the collaborative approach was designed to ensure sustainable and cost-effective infrastructure delivery nationwide.

The field activities involve detailed inspections of project sites, scrutiny of contract documents, and evaluation of deliverables.

The commission promised that at the end of the state-by-state assessments, findings would be compiled into a comprehensive national audit report. This will form the basis for sanctions, financial recoveries, and other enforcement actions against individuals or companies implicated in wrongdoing.

“This exercise represents a proactive, system-driven approach to safeguarding our national infrastructure investments,” the commission stated.

“Tracking 760 projects of this magnitude underscores our resolve to partner with government institutions in closing leakages, promoting accountability, and ensuring that public projects translate into tangible public good.”

The ICPC reaffirmed its commitment to strengthening transparency in public procurement and ensuring full value for every naira allocated to federal road projects.

In other news, Justice Josephine Obanor of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), sitting at Jabi, Abuja, has affirmed the powers of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to investigate scholarship funds in Kano State.

Officials from the Kano State Ministry of Higher Education, led by the Permanent Secretary, Dr Hadi Bala, and those from the Kano State Scholarship Board, had dragged the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and the ICPC before the court, alleging that invitations sent to them by the commission violated their fundamental rights.

Their invitation, which requested that the officials provide documents and clarification on allegations against them, was part of the ICPC’s investigation into a petition received by the commission, alleging financial impropriety in the administration of scholarship funds in the state.

Delivering judgment in the case brought before the court in the suit marked FCT/HC/CV/2857/2025, the judge upheld the power of the anti-graft agency to carry out its statutory mandate of investigation.

Justice Obanor held that an invitation letter from ICPC for investigative purposes does not constitute a breach of fundamental rights.

News

Gbaboyor’s Allegations Against Otuaro Baseless, Malicious — PAP Office

Published

3 hours ago

December 8, 2025

Editor

The Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) has described the recent allegations made by Mr Jude Gbaboyor against the Administrator of the Programme, Dr Dennis Otuaro, as baseless and malicious.

In a video circulating on Facebook, which he purportedly recorded in the United States, Gbaboyor levelled grave and unfounded accusations against Dr Otuaro, including claims of murder, ritualism, and kidnapping.

Reacting to the video, in a statement issued by the Special Assistant on Media to the Administrator, Mr Igoniko Oduma, on Monday, stated that the video in which he called for the Administrator’s removal, “represents yet another desperate attempt by Gbaboyor to defame Otuaro’s character and undermine the credible work of the Programme.”

The statement added that “Gbaboyor now a fugitive committed the crimes of cyberstalking among others and decided to flee the country to evade arrest and prosecution.”

The statement emphasized that the said Gbaboyor was dismissed from the PAP due to his “unacceptable conduct some years back and should be discountenanced by the reading public.”

The statement reads, ‘’This is not the first time Gbaboyor has made outrageous and unsubstantiated claims against the PAP boss. His persistent campaign of calumny prompted the PAP Administrator to formally petition relevant security agencies, citing cyberstalking and criminal intimidation.

“When invited by the Nigeria Police Force to answer questions regarding these spurious allegations, Gbaboyor fled the country, effectively making himself a fugitive from justice.

‘’It is instructive to note that Gbaboyor’s relentless attacks on Dr Otuaro began only after the Administrator rejected his request for reinstatement at the Amnesty Office, from which he was previously dismissed several years ago due to his lack of character.

“Having failed to ingratiate himself with the PAP leadership and secure reemployment through proper channels, Gbaboyor has resorted to character assassination and the dissemination of false information.

‘’Particularly troubling is Gbaboyor’s appeal to the President of the United States to interfere in what is purely a personal matter under local jurisdiction. This represents a profound insult to Nigeria’s sovereignty and a misguided attempt to internationalise personal grievances.

‘’The Presidential Amnesty Programme urges members of the public to disregard these irresponsible acts and baseless allegations in their entirety. If Gbaboyor genuinely believes in the veracity of his claims, he should demonstrate the courage of his convictions by returning to Nigeria to substantiate them before the appropriate authorities and courts of law.

‘’Instead, his flight from lawful police invitation and subsequent attacks from abroad reveal the true nature of his campaign: a calculated effort to malign a public servant from the safety of foreign shores, beyond the immediate reach of Nigerian law enforcement.

‘’Under Dr Dennis Otuaro’s leadership, the Presidential Amnesty Programme has remained focused on its mandate of fostering sustainable peace and development in the Niger Delta region. The Programme will not be distracted by spurious allegations from misguided and individuals pursuing personal vendettas.

‘’The Presidential Amnesty Programme reaffirms its commitment to transparency, accountability, and the rule of law and will continue to pursue all legal remedies available to protect the integrity and reputation of the Administrator and the agency.”