NATIONAL LANGUAGE POLICY: PROSPECTS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR MINORITY LANGUAGES

Abstract

The Nigerian society is characterised by a high degree of linguistic diversity. A sociolinguistic survey of language diversity and language use puts the number of languages spoken in Nigeria at 540 (NERDC 2008 revalidated, 2021). Three of these languages are classified as major group languages: Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo. This suggests that more than half of the Nigerian population could be members of historically rooted ethno-linguistic minoritised groups. Until recently, there was no explicit national language policy in Nigeria; only a national policy for languages in education (National Policy on Education, 1977, revised 1981, 2000, 2004) was in place. While the National Policy on Education (NPE) recognised all Nigerian languages as meaningful media of instruction at the early stage of education, it treated Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba as the languages of national culture and integration selected to be developed and used all through the formal education system, thus ranking them above all others in national consciousness to the detriment of the ethno-linguistic minoritised languages. To redress this disparity, the National Language Policy (NLP) has designated all Nigerian languages as equal and undertaken to advance their teaching at designated levels of education. This article highlights the prospects and implications of the implementation of this policy on the development of minority languages, particularly with reference to the languages spoken in Rivers State which has a plethora of minority languages. It discusses the role of the government, linguists, language communities and institutions of higher learning for an effective implementation of NLP in Rivers State.