National Integration: Many Languages, One Voice

One of the things I was delighted to experience during my graduate internship at the United Nations Office at Nairobi (UNON) was the practicality of united diversity. If my memory serves me right, behind my desk was an European and by my right was a Cameroonian, while on the left was an Asian who did not compromise weekly karate classes. In front of my desk there was a row of Africans and Latinos. 

Outside of my workspace, I worked closely with a uniquely meticulous Ugandan in furtherance of my assigned projects. The Indian lady down one hallway could graciously adorn her signature sari and forehead dot, and a Kenyan consultant looked ever so gorgeous in her native attires and beaded accessories.

 

Everyone could just be present to add value to the broad unifying objectives of the workplace community. Here is my bottom line: the United Nations system presents a model of what is plausible when people with varied ethnic nationalities, native penchant, and skills cooperate to achieve unifying objectives and targets. In addition, the powerful nation of Israel was forged from a fragmentary association of formerly competitive tribes into a common Jewish heritage that adds value to varied segments of the global economy today. 

Moreover, the founding fathers of the American unity forged a framework (built on the foundation of a visionary constitution) for a society that can be home to the free and brave, irrespective of ethnic descent. From the foregoing examples, global integration is a living experience and national integration is an irrefutable possibility.

 

Recently, I was at a faculty seminar where a colleague shared findings on preferred indigenous languages for delivering mass media messages of national integration. While I listened, I wondered how much of the local dialects could be featured, given that Nigeria is arguably one of the most linguistically diverse countries in the world. Just then, I remembered how the colonial administration engineered a unification of Nigerian peoples and territories with the primary use of English as an official language.  

Through the school system, the British culture, language, and literature has become an accepted norm and standard, permeating the perspectives, culture, language, and literature of indigenous populations. Even though, this foreign language adoption delivered many benefits in faith, education, and civilization, it may also have led to some degree of indigenous identity loss and subtle self-hatred. 

Today, many of the young children, with educated parents who grew up in Nigerian cities, are most likely to speak English as their mother tongue. I am certain that a unifying dream for a new Nigeria can have a far more generational and progressive effect on the Nigerian society.

 

As Nigeria marks its official democracy day, the post-independence realities of ethnic discrimination, religious bigotry, and tribal jingoism are palpable. Conflicts generated by these negative energies are ultimately inimical to international investment inflows and sustainable economic growth. 

The foregoing echoes the need for a new breed of selfless and visionary nation builders who can create and implement a template for engineering a unified Nigerian dream. With a unified Nigerian dream, even though we may speak over 500 languages, we would be uttering a single voice of unity, faith, and love. 

Hopefully, the Nigerian people will sit at the table of brotherhood to forge a new Nigerian heritage, equally owned by all. A country where everyone is first a Nigerian before anything else, esteeming peace, justice, and spirited joy in the unique priviledge of being born Nigerian. A nation united in supreme affection, supreme aim and supreme rule is the Nigeria of my dreams.

Photo credit: Dumo Lulu-Briggs