Language, Education and Manpower Development in the Present-Day Nigeria

Abstract

Students of secondary and tertiary institutions are, by the nature of their education and training, potential socio-economic manpower and political force for personal/individual development as well as national manpower development. In Nigeria, as in all nations of the world, this tends to be the primary goal of establishing secondary and tertiary institutions such as grammar and high schools, the polytechnic, colleges of education and universities. The knowledge and skills acquired in these institutions are therefore expected to translate into concrete personal and national advancement socially, economically and politically. Language naturally provides a ready means for communicating skills and expertise that are impacted on these students and in which they too express their competence, skills and expertise in pursuit of personal and national goals. Thus there is the need for competence in the use of the language of education as well as in language of general communication. By the accident of history, Nigeria, a multilingual country, has become officially bilingual. This fact has precipitated a precarious linguistic situation for most present-day students of tertiary institutions in Nigeria. Close observations have shown that many of them are neither competent in English, which is their official language, nor in their indigenous languages. Research has shown however that competence in both or either the official language or indigenous languages is not only desirable but is also required for individual’s personal advancement as well as national development. Based on personal observations, surveys and observations of others such as my students and colleagues at the University of Lagos and other universities, polytechnics and colleges of education as well as grammar and high schools, I present, in this paper, my own perspective about the state of language, education and manpower development in the present-day Nigeria.

Keywords: language, competence, education, manpower development