From our Oil to our Languages: a continuing Story of Western Exploitation
Ganiu Abisoye Bamgbose (GAB), PhD
One common proverb in Nigerian pidgin is: No let person use him own bread pack your own stew. This saying has its expression in many Nigerian languages. As a rebellion, I choose not to translate this saying into English. If the Pidgin expression does not make sense to you, you simply are not included in the target audience of this piece. If you understand what the pidgin expression means however, I will want to ask if you too do not think that the origin of that statement could be the skillful exploitation of Nigeria by the westerners? Nigerians, especially the leaders, have, from colonial to postcolonial ages, exchanged us for the ‘little little more’ that Europeans have always offered: a pair of mirror and other little gifts for our lands, the Bible and the Quran for our artifacts and the cash for our oil. In their smartness, even after having more than sufficient of our material possessions such as artifacts and oil, the Europeans and Americans still think there are productive things to do with our abstract possessions such as our languages.
This piece is propelled by a thought-provoking long post by the ever-living Pius Adesanmi titled: MY LANGUAGE, YOUR DIALECT. The deep thinker captured very pictorially in the article, how Nigerian languages have always been derogatorily depicted by the westerners. Because everything belonging to the supposed Whites should be better than the possessions of us, supposed blacks, our languages are described as dialects in many western literatures and, of course, theirs are languages. Even our worldviews, philosophies and ideologies are depicted as not being worthy of relevant discourses. Pius, in the article, thanked the great Chinua Achebe for making our worlds ride on the horse of the English language through his nativisation of English in his literary works. As I arrived from the journey of Pius’s article where he vehemently established that the Nigerian languages are not inferior to the English language, what came to my mind was: THE PROBLEM IS EVEN NOW BIGGER!
The erudite and sophisticated professor highlighted the ridicule that our languages have been exposed to in western literature and immediately, I thought of how these smart people are already exporting these linguistic codes which are supposedly inferior to theirs with all of the legacies and wonderful ideologies inherent within the languages such as the Yoruba concept of Omoluabi. Now, through the Fulbright Programme and a couple of others, Nigerians with postgraduate degrees in English and Linguistics are invited to different parts of America and other countries of the world to teach Hausa and Yoruba; of course the two most internationally known Nigerian languages. This is a rosy opportunity and a very competitive one in a country where unemployment is an anthem and certificate holders abound. Different higher institutions in Nigeria too now have institutes of African languages and centres where Europeans and Americans send their people to come learn the Nigerian languages and cultures.
Well, the bad side to this piece is that I do not have a conclusion. But I want to leave the readers, the government and the stakeholders with this: WHILE THEIR OWN LANGUAGE (ENGLISH) HAS SUCCESSFULLY HELPED US RIDICULE AND IMPOVERISH OUR OWN NIGERIAN LANGUAGES , WATCH OUT FOR WHAT THE CRAFTY EUROPEANS AND AMERICANS WILL DO WITH OUR OWN LANGUAGES AFTER SHARING DOLLARS TO YOU TO TEACH THEM THE CODES AND CULTURES OF THE LANGUAGES.
Yours in sympathy,
Ganiu Abisoye Bamgbose, PhD.
Hmmmm.