Onitsha – Nigeria

"There is no tracing the connection of ancient nations, but by language; and therefore I am always sorry when any language is lost, because languages are the pedigree of nations."

Boswell's Journal of A Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson, LL.D.

INTRODUCTION

Sometimes people write not because they feel like writing or making themselves popular in their time but, in most cases, they feel aggrieved of what they saw or see, heard, or experienced in the course of life. To write about a people’s language is not new under the sun. Many people have written even about the Igbo language, but I feel aggrieved this day and in my own time how the Igbo language is fast deteriorating. In our schools, markets, public places, business sectors, and even at homes, no one seems to speak the Igbo language anymore. This is indeed sad, knowing fully well that the Igbo language is one of our major forms of identity. Presently, foreign languages are more respected in Igboland, especially the English language, to the extent that you must credit the subject before you can gain admission into an institution of higher learning. Many Igbo sons and daughters fail to gain admission into the university because of their inability to credit English language, even after scoring well above credit in other subjects. It is not as if we should not learn or speak foreign languages, but not to the depredation of our own language.

A GOOD EMBARRASSMENT

In neighbouring Cameroon, the Bakweri⁽¹⁾ language (spoken in Fako Division, South West Province) is facing the same condition as the Igbo language. I was impressed with the level of embarrassment a young man received the last time I went there. This man recounted later that he had never faced such a level of embarrassment throughout his previous trips. Though his papers showed his dual-nationality (born of an Igbo-Nigerian mother and a Bakweri-Cameroonian father), he was put in detention for at least three hours because he could not communicate in Bakweri, the very language into which he was born. The reason: he spent most of his life in Nigeria. All efforts made to convince the police officers proved abortive; not even his ability to communicate in French could help matters. It was an embarrassment, but it was to the sustenance of a language that is fast depreciating.

I spent about a month in Cameroon before returning to Nigeria. When I returned, a similar incident happened. This time around, it was an Igbo challenging another Igbo over who speaks better English! This incident geared me to write this article.

BACK HOME

When I returned from the trip, I was challenged; I knew at that moment that the Igbo language is fast deteriorating, and we seem not to notice its effect. The first occasion I attended when I returned was a traditional marriage at a village in Orlu, Imo State. That was the day and for the first time to my hearing the adage “E jighi Bekee awa oji” (You do not break the kolanut in English) was used. This means that the prayer or -- more appropriately -- the consecration of the kolanut was in English! The fact is that we adore what we cannot understand. “Ignorance,” according to Nicolas Ling “is a voluntary misfortune.”

IN SCHOOLS

The most successful terrain in ensuring that the Igbo language disappears from the face of the earth is our schools. From the nursery to the university level, you are sometimes regarded as being savage if you speak Igbo. In fact, you will be tagged “Jew man” -- whatever that means is still a mystery to me. The Igbo language has so deteriorated in our nursery schools -- the bedrock of western education -- to the extent that you hardly find a young pupil speaking Igbo. Competitions are organized and aired over the radio and television for these young ones in English and, openly, they are made to understand that the best medium for communication is the English language. There is no doubt about English being a great medium of communication, but what about the Igbo language?

The situation in secondary schools is a bit balanced, especially the public ones. However, in private schools, you are not only punished but also mocked for speaking Igbo. I am a witness to this fact. ‘The universities are a free world,” so they say, where you speak what you want. But our universities are so western-influenced that if it is not good English, it is the “American madness”: “whazzup men”; “fuck u”; “kiss my ass”; “son of a bitch”; “bitch”; etc. Is it therefore surprising that when they are out of schools as university graduates, they roam the streets as ‘graduated gangsters’ -- no thanks to one of the consequences and pains of capitalism: unemployment.

BUSINESS SECTORS

If there is any sector in social life where one needs to understand other people’s language, then it is the business sector, more so under Nigeria’s capitalist, business society. My annoyance here is that we have so much capitalised on this advantage to the detriment of Igbo language. My grievances go straight to Ndiigbo who will come to the market places and communicate in English, even when it is obvious that the old man or woman does not understand -- let alone speak -- English. Nevertheless, I must give credit to our traders in Onitsha who, at times, will mock any son of the soil who speaks English in the market to the person’s “embarrassment.”

If a stranger comes, it is good to communicate in a language the person can understand but, in a case where you cannot express yourself in the person’s language, it is better to bring in an interpreter and not look at yourself as being inferior. This is what happens in Lagos with Yoruba women. They rarely speak English to you, not minding the fiscal profit at stake. What of an Hausa man? He would tell you in Hausa that he does not understand you. The alternative is for both of you to become deaf and dumb, using finger signs to communicate. Some call it primitivism, but I say it is not.

WHAT TO DO

There is no doubt that yesterday cannot be brought back to the present or into the world yet to be. All we need to do is to learn from yesterday to make tomorrow better. It will amount to foolishness and cultural treason if we continue in the way we find ourselves today. There is no better way to correct yesterday other than ensuring that our children understand the importance of our language from our homes, irrespective of where you find yourself. An English man living in our land will be the last person to teach his child the importance of Igbo language, or an Hausa man to his child the importance of English. Alas, this is happening mainly to the Igbo in Cameroon. More than 60% of Ndiigbo do not speak the Igbo language in places like Tiko and Limbe. I was a victim until I returned to Nigeria. Thank God, I do not only speak Igbo now I am also in the forefront with those ensuring that our glory is restored towards a more wholesome focus.

We have educated people in our land who have acquired western education to the best of their abilities. If they really want to help rescue the situation, they will tell you that the best form of education is that which is acquired at home. “A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it,” George Moore said. Ask yourself, “Have you got that which you seek in the name of English speaking?” You can achieve even better by speaking your mother tongue.

Latawa! (Come home!)

BIKO NA-ASU IGBO!

The importance of language, the Igbo language, is very much obvious. Without being told, the Igbo language makes a clear distinction between Onyeigbo/Ndiigbo and the rest. It is indeed a shame that many Igbo persons no longer see Igbo language as very valuable, unique, and worth speaking in public places. Speaking Igbo in the public will not reduce you to a primitive person and, if you are called “Jew man” for speaking Igbo, then it is a credit because you are indeed a Jew -- not a Gentile.

You do not need to be in Igboland to speak Igbo; wherever you are outside your home, it is even better to speak Igbo. It is your identity at home and abroad, an identity God has given you just as he has given to others. I see no reason why an Igbo person will prefer a foreign language as a means of communication even at home. I believe the years of ignorance of gentile psycho-manipulations are over, and we truly need to start looking at ourselves the way we were made in the Garden of Eden -- naked but not ashamed.

CONCLUSION

Let me borrow the words of Jawaharlal Nehru in concluding: “A language is something infinitely greater than grammar and philology. It is the poetic testament of a race and culture and the living embodiment of the thoughts and fancies that have moulded them.” What else would you want me to say again if not for you to make it a habit of always speaking Igbo.

Biko na-asu Igbo. Our culture is our identity.

(1) BAKWERI ( MOKPWE, Bekwiri, Bakpwe, Bakwedi, Bakwele, Kwedi, Kwili, Ujuwa ) is spoken in Fako Division, South West Province, Cameroon. For the complete ethnologue of the Cameroon, go to http://198.62.75.1/www1/pater/ethno/Came.html#BRI