THE PLACE OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE IN ETHNO-SECURITY ISSUES OF NIGERIAN POLITY

Abstract

Most developing countries are ethnically diverse and Nigeria as an entity and political polity is not an exception. Nigeria is one of the African countries that has ethnic diversity which has led to increased civil and national strife. Potentially, the detrimental economic/social effect of diversity and ethnic conflict and consequent national security problems are increasing at an alarming rate. Ethnic conflicts have become the serious challenges of our times, which perhaps explain why ethnicity and security problems are seen as the reigning concepts in African studies at present. Nigeria is widely known as a country with extreme linguistic fragmentation. Nigeria is made up of diverse ethnic groups, the majority of which have minority status. Based on the size of the various ethno-linguistic groups in the country, three distinct groups have been recognized: Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba. In addition, Kin-selective altruism has made its way into Nigerian politics and has spurred various attempts by tribalists to concentrate Federal power to a particular region of their interests. Consequently, such factors have led to national security issues in the Nigerian polity. The communicative roles of the English language and literature in solving security problems that emanate from ethnicity and national security problems cannot be undervalued especially in our contemporary Nigeria where English serves as a second language cum first language to a great number of the people. This paper therefore explores extensively the communicative roles of English and literature in solving national security problems of the Nigerian polity. The writer reiterated that Ethnocentrism, tribalism, religious persecution, and ethnicity have played a visible role in Nigerian politics. The writer highlights linguistic strategies and techniques that could be tantamount to tackling security problems and she concludes by reiterating the fact that concerted efforts should be made by the government, individuals, teachers, students and corporate bodies in order to utilize fully the tremendous impacts of the integration of the English Language and African Literature in solving national security issues.