A professor of Yoruba Language and Literature at the Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti, Olagoke Alamu, recently produced a textbook in Yoruba for Chinese universities offering Yoruba Language as a course to be taught to their students. In this interview with ‘YOMI AYELESO, Professor Alamu speaks more on the book, the first of its kind in China; interest of the Chinese government in Nigeria’s indigenous languages and the need for the Nigerian government to encourage teaching of students in local languages for effective learning, among other issues.
What informed your decision to accept the proposal from the Chinese authorities to write a Yoruba language textbook for universities in China?
You will discover that since over a decade ago, foreign governments have shown interest in their citizens studying some foreign languages, Yoruba inclusive and I have done similar job in Japan between 2012 and 2018. You know that China has some economic interest in Nigeria and then maybe this is one of the reasons they showed interest in studying Nigerian languages. It is not only Yoruba; it includes Hausa. In fact, Hausa started before Yoruba. So, I was contacted by the Beijing Foreign Study University about three years ago through a professor of Hausa Language who was there on a sabbatical. He was the one who nominated me and that was how I got the contact. Since they showed interest and I felt it is my duty to start Yoruba Language Programme for their students. I have been doing that for two years online before they decided we should now do a textbook for the aid of learning the language.
Who are the categories of students the textbook was prepared for and what is the reaction since it was published?
It is mainly for university students and other people interested, including the workers because basically we have a lot of conversational activities in the text. It is a comprehensive text needed to learn the Yoruba language, from the basic up to the conversational level.The text is prepared to help anybody outside the university. They (students) are always eager to come to class and they are showing interest in the language. At present, I have two Chinese students at the Yoruba Language Centre at the University of Ibadan trying to improve their proficiency in the language and another student has just come in from China. The students are eager to learn the language and the ones in UI are sponsored by their universities; they really want to train them so that they can take over and teach the language by themselves by the time we must have done the training and then train the teachers.
In a broader perspective, what do you think the Chinese government is trying to gain or benefit from their investment and interest in the Yoruba language for their students?
Well, no knowledge is lost, that is generally speaking. Like I have told you, with their interest in Nigeria, especially economically, they want their people to be able to communicate, especially the ones that are here or will be coming to understand our language and culture. Maybe they feel it would be better for them. Don’t forget, even in the United States, because I happened to be in the US around 2009 and 2010 and I am a Fellow of the National African Language Resource Centre (NALRC) at the University of Wisconsin, it might not be in the public domain, but they believe if they had studied and known the Arabic and some other languages that have to do with Islam, the infamous and tragic 9/11 incident would not have happened because they would have been able to decode the way the people communicate after getting their gadgets in the country. So, I think that is the main reason Chinese and even the US are now studying foreign languages, not just Nigerian languages, languages of Africa including Swahili. They have their department in some of their universities.
It appears there is ongoing scramble for the African continent between the Chinese and the Western countries. What do you think is the reason behind this?
You know there is a kind of cold war between the Chinese and America and I don’t really think it is a form of colonization or neo-colonization because some people have been saying it. But I believe the major thing lies in their economic interests. And as I said earlier, someone is coming now that will work at the Chinese Embassy who knows Yoruba so that whatever happens they can really know and understand. I had a similar situation in Japan, when a lady seeking asylum who wanted to go to Europe just found herself in Japan. She was looking for an American visa, so they gave her a Japanese visa. She was advised to first come to Japan and she was looking for asylum and she told them to do the interpretation for the Japanese immigration. There are some Nigerians who will claim they do not understand the English language, that they can only speak Yoruba. So, if you say you can’t speak in English language but your local language, I think there will be an officer that can attend to you.
Looking at the way you and your colleagues have been embraced by the foreign countries in this aspect, what will be your advice to the Nigerian government both at the state and federal levels on the place of local languages in learning and advancement of the education sector?
We have been talking about this over the years that we have good National Policy on Education and we have good language provisions in them and the rest. The language of instruction for the first three years in primary school should be the mother tongue or the language of the immediate environment, those things are there. Then, from primary four to six, you can now switch to English language to teach. We have been telling the government that students perform better when they learn in their local languages than in the English language. That is what countries like Japan, China and other countries are doing. Let me tell you that there are professors that could not communicate in English except in their own languages. So, Nigeria will benefit more if we can develop resources for teaching in our native languages; we have those provisions in the National Policy on Education, but the implementation has always been the issue. We will still continue to advise the government to invest in [indigenous] language development and it should start from the top. We thank God that in Lagos State, for instance, on two days of the week, they run the business of the legislative arm in Yoruba and we are trying to see if other states in the South-West can really adopt this. We are developing materials, what we call legislative terminology, in mechanical engineering, sciences, mathematics and the rest. So, if we have all these things, then I don’t know what the problem should be, why we cannot adopt our own languages for instructions.
Do you think Nigeria’s university system should be blamed for the increasing number of our students travelling to study in foreign institutions?
The truth is, our university environment is very poor. Everyone can attest to this undeniable fact. When our students go outside the country, they perform better because of the facilities there and the learning environment they find themselves in, which we are lacking here. I want to encourage that, so that they can go and come back with their experiences if the Nigerian government is ready to do that. How many universities in Nigeria can boast of a language laboratory? At the Ekiti State University, we don’t have a functional laboratory and if you are learning a language, you need a laboratory as you have for science and other disciplines. We are even saying let us have one laboratory for the languages in the Faculty of Humanity for French, Yoruba, all together, which is lacking at the moment.
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