The Pursuit of Social Change in Nigeria: The Language Education Alternative

Abstract

Nigeria is on the verge of collapse, our social structures are fast crumbling and there is a general state of anarchy which is fueled by ethno-religious sentiments and insecurity to mention just a few. This is because as a nation, we have lost our national heritage which is deeply rooted in our cultural identities; there has been a social shift towards foreign and Non-African ways and fashion. It is expedient that we engineer a social change if our nation will survive this onslaught.Change is constant and inevitable in every human society. Social change is any alteration in the social structure of a people and it is a product of a number of factors chief of which is culture. Culture cannot be divorced from language, thus, there can be no meaningful change in the society without language education. This paper seeks to examine the efficiency of language education in the realisation of social change in Nigeria. Recommendations are also made on how to rebrand language education programmes in universities and the colleges of education to align with the pursuit of social change.

Keywords: Language Education, Social Change, Social Integration, Indigenous Languages