Ethnicity, National Integration And The Language Factor In Nigeria

Studies have shown that Nigeria has over 400 indigenous languages as well as over 250 ethnic groups. Each of these ethnic groups has its different language, culture and religion. Because of these differences, conflicts usually arise amongst them. These conflicts often degenerate into violent clashes and trigger off senseless wasting of human lives and properties worth billions of naira. There is hostility and unhealthy rivalry amongst the ethnic groups. This situation destabilizes the polity and hampers national integration and unity. The contest for political power in Nigeria is driven by ethnicity and sectionalism rather than nationalism and unity. The sense of oneness is lacking, what obtains is ethnic attachment, ethnic loyalty and solidarity which over-rides collective national interest. The damage that ethnicity has done is astronomical and could lead to national disintegration if nothing is done. It is therefore high time we re-awakened the fire of nationalism amongst Nigerians; the type that the politicians who fought for our independence had. Nigerians must be re-orientated and must be made to know that they belong to one nation and should be committed to the ‘national cause’ not to ethnic and religious loyalties. It is the spirit of nationalism that will pave way for national integration and unity. This paper posits that national integration can be achieved through an intensive re-orientation towards nationalism. This orientation must be packaged and delivered in the language that people understand, considering the multilingual nature of Nigeria. The paper therefore advocates the use of local languages alongside the English language in reaching out to people. Through this, the larger populace would be reached, ethnic opposition would reduce and peaceful co-existence would be achieved. This paper is hinged on the theory of CUP (Common Underlying Proficiency), in additive bilingualism.