ROLE OF INDIGENOUS LANGUAGES IN CONFLICT RESOLUTION IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Basically, language is a repository or reservoir or custodian of peoples’culture, personality or idiosyncrasy. It also has the capacity to influence social change as it mirrors culture and reflects thought pattern. It is therefore safe to say that language could play a very significant role in crisis management since it also plays a similar role as a major avenue or channel of communication. Conflict itself or crisis is as old as society itself. There has always been rebellion, anarchy, bloodshed and war. In Nigeria for example, each ethnic group has always been at one another’s throat. The two major religions in Nigeria not only hate each other but are perpetually having mutual mistrust and suspicion against each other. Again, the above mentioned scenario has metamorphosed into the birth or creation of very militant and belligerent militia groups in Nigeria, each championing the course of its own ethnic group. They include the Odua People’s Congress (OPC), representing the Yoruba Nation; the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), for the Igbo Nation and the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) for the Hausa/Fulani. Among the groups that have been associated with violence in Nigeria include the Boko Haram, the Shiite Movement and the Herders. The existence of these and other groups in Nigeria is an indication of a country under the strangle-hold of conflict. No country is without conflicts, hence, conflicts cannot be wiped out but can be mitigated. One weapon for doing this, to our mind, is the use of indigenous language as a tool for conflict resolution. The means through which indigenous languages can achieve this feat is what this paper will unravel.