Specialists in Languages have expressed dissatisfaction over what they described as high level of corruption and political-economic instability in West African countries, saying the development is slowing down the economic prosperity of the sub-region and its people.
They made this observation at the 2021 international conference of the West African Languages Congress (WALC) and the Linguistic Association of Nigeria (LAN) held at the Lagos State University (LASU), Ojo, on Monday last week.
Speaking at the event, which had participants from across West African countries and beyond in attendance, President of LAN, who is a lecturer at the Lagos State University (LASU), Professor Harrison Adeniyi, said it was unfortunate that West African countries with no exception had become a laughing stock in the comity of nations, as the sub region, according to him, had found it difficult to manage its resources and differences well.
He lamented that despite the calamities that the leaders had subjected the citizens to because of their ineffectiveness, they still wanted to remain in power at all cost.
According to him, it is not only that the bulk of resources of the sub region are in the hands of few individuals, there are certainly cases where some individuals are far richer than their countries in the sub region.
He noted that leaders in the region do make deliberate efforts to cause disaffection among people of different ethnic groups and languages all for their selfish gains.
He disclosed that such situation was one of the strong reasons that made it difficult to create any economically viable country in the region, tasking members of both LAN and WALC to use languages to tackle corruption and instability in the region.
In his own contribution, the keynote speaker who is from the University of Vienna, Austria, Professor Adams Bodomo, affirmed that corruption was not only deeply rooted particularly among political leaders, but also greatly retarding genuine progress of the region.
He said the language of corruption was almost the same across countries in the sub region with each ethnic group having familiar language to describe and practices corruption.
In his remarks at the event, Acting Vice Chancellor of LASU, Professor Oyedamola Oke, commended the organisers, saying the forum is expected to provide workable solutions to the twin problems of corruption and instability which he said had made life difficult for people of the subregion.
He asked participants to come up with a framework for a language policy that would guarantee peaceful coexistence and also encourage socioeconomic and political development of the region.
Some individuals including Professor Franscis Egbokhare, Dr Tunde Adegbola, Mr Babajide Kolade Otitoju of Television Continental as well as the Ooza of Ugbodu, His Royal Majesty Oloza Ayo Isinyemeze were conferred with one honour or the other at the event.
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