TOGETHER WE STAND

𝐓𝐎𝐆𝐄𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐖𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐃

By Joy Titobiloluwa Adekanbi 

Going down memory lane, English language used to be a boring subject. The essays and grammar made it worse. What’s with the comprehension passages and summary? Yet we had to pass it. 

We needed to because it was compulsory to pass a subject that was about a language imposed on us by the very people who enslaved us. 

We got our independence from them but kept their language as ours. 

Well, with a country like ours, we don’t have much of a choice. About 250 ethnic groups living together in one hood isn’t a joke. 

How else would we communicate? The decision to use a single language negates what God did at the Tower of Babel.

We are struggling to maintain unity among people of different languages who have refused to be one because of the fear of being betrayed.

English which is supposed to be a unifying factor has brought about discrimination among different social classes. 

This discrimination exists within each ethnic group as well as among different ethnic groups.

People who speak English feel superior to those who don’t. Our leaders intimidate us with a formidable curriculum vitae gotten outside the shores of our dear country Nigeria. 

What we don’t understand is how the language has helped to improve our educational system. Has it impeded or enhanced our comprehension? 

Comprehension and application is the goal of education. If English is not the only language in which we can be taught, then anybody can teach. Do you think anybody can write? 

To answer this question, we need to look at the necessary criteria to be a writer.

A writer is someone who has an idea to share but prefers to write instead of saying it. While we can forget what people say, a book will always be there for us to refer to.

 Anybody who has an idea can write. I believe so many people have something to write but can’t because they have not mastered the White man’s language. 

There could be more beautiful ideas in the mind of a palm wine tapper who has no western education than there are in the number one citizen of any nation.

How then can this idea be tapped and used for the benefit of all? The solution lies in a mental shift from the misconception that only the educated ones can get to the top. 

This mindset has limited a lot of people, while we continue to celebrate the few who have nothing but a certificate and their father’s inheritance; an inheritance they feel entitled to by the virtue of their birth.

I then wonder if people from low backgrounds are poor solely because their parents are poor or because they have to be poor because their parents are poor. 

It all boils down to each person’s mindset. You can’t be rich if you believe you don’t deserve to be. The reason why is best known to you.

Anybody who believes that she can write definitely will. It is just a matter of time before she does.

®️Titobiloluwa