The saying that there is strength in unity has made countries to cooperate on issues of common interests.
With this saying, West African countries also crave for integration as demonstrated in their desire for a regional currency, market liberalisation and common efforts to increase agricultural output, technology and infrastructure.
West African states also seek through integration to be linked to and recognised by other parts of the world through many channels such as language.
In the light of this, the need for effective communication among West African countries to facilitate the integration was the focus of an inaugural lecture by a professor of French Language Education, Dr Carol Opara.
Opara, Head of Department of Arts and Social Sciences Education, University of Lagos, delivered the institution’s 8th Inaugural Lecture for the 2016/2017 academic session recently in Lagos entitled: “Quest for Sub-Regional Integration: The French Language Education Factor’’.
According to her, Nigeria is a key player in the West African integration process and needs to ensure effective communication with other countries in the sub-region through implementation of its bilingual policy of French as a second official language.
“French as Nigeria’s second official language has great potential for achieving objectives of the integration that will improve Nigeria’s economic prospect and security and foster peace in the West African sub-region.
“Nigeria is surrounded by French speaking countries — Republic of Benin in the West, Republic of Niger in the North — as well as others such as Mali, Chad and Cameroon.
“Remember that when people understand the language of their neighbours, they are bound to live in peace, which is a global concern now.
“Wars and misunderstanding can be avoided if people could speak with one language, as they will understand themselves better.
“There is unity in language as it bonds people together irrespective of the colour of their skins and cultural affiliations,’’ she said.
According to Opara, French is a language of diplomacy and integration as it is spoken in the five continents.
She, nonetheless, observed that since the decision of the Addis Ababa and Yaounde conferences of 1961 and 1963, respectively, for ministers of education in West Africa to adopt French as a second official language, Nigeria had not done well in implementing the policy.
“It only started opening up to that policy in 1998 when it was revisited, and eventually adopted it in the National Policy on Education,’’ she said.
She identified incompetence by some French teachers, overpopulation in classes and inappropriate teaching methods as some challenges hindering effective implementation of the policy.
“Also, some teachers may have the certificate but not proficiency in the language; they are just qualified on papers but do not have the competence for proper impartation of the language,’’ she noted.
She said effective teaching and learning of French would assist Nigerians in getting international jobs and making them highly competitive in the labour market.
She called for the appropriate method for teaching French to facilitate the development of the language, insisting that institutional strategies must also be right and appropriate.
She suggested that security operatives should also be trained in French language to forestall aggression from French speaking countries.
According to her, if Nigerian soldiers and other security personnel can speak French, they will be able to alert authorities when there are threats to invade the country.
“There is need to train our border officials too in French language to communicate effectively with trans-border traders and other travellers to enhance free movement of goods and people in West Africa.
“This will manifest in increased trading activities and investors from other member states will be able to do business in all places within the sub-region,’’ she said.
She observed further that although French language teaching in school curriculum was comprehensive enough to foster the intended integration “it is deficient in implementation.’’
She therefore called for strong advocacy and monitoring to effectively implement the policy.
“To harvest the huge benefits of integration, Nigeria must adopt French Language as a compulsory subject, not only from Basic 4 to Basic 9, but up to the university level.
“This may take a while, but the effort will be quite rewarding and University of Lagos, being a leading university in Nigeria, should play a leadership role in this regard by introducing French as a general/university-wide course.
“This will give students an internal leverage and make them more competitive in the international labour market,’’ she said.
Opara also called for an integrative curriculum to reflect the new objective and status of the language.
In his remark, Prof. Rahamon Bello, the Vice-Chancellor, University of Lagos, noted that rapid national development and integration required emphasis on language of communication.
He restated that Nigeria should embrace French language to enhance integration and social interaction.
Similarly, graduate of Linguistics Chisom Ilo, agreed that ability to speak French would widen the chances of Nigerians to secure international jobs.
She noted that since “French is spoken in many countries; Nigeria should not be left out, calling for early exposure of students to French to stimulate their interest in the language.’’
- Popoola and Nwachukwu are of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)
