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With the renewed focus on trade integration in the West African zone, something tells me that Nigerians may actually be in a disadvantaged position without the adoption of French as a second national language. According to geographical studies, West Africa consists of 16 countries -Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo. The United Nations, in its wisdom, had included the islands of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, which are United Kingdom Overseas Territories, as part of West Africa.
Of these countries, Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Togo, Benin, and Niger are French-speaking. This means that of the 16 West African countries, nine are French-speaking. These are added to Seychelles, Comoros, Equatorial Guinea, Djibouti, Gabon, Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Burundi, Rwanda, Chad, Cameroon, and the Democratic Republic of Congo to complete the list of African countries that have either adopted French as second official language or have it as national language.
Interestingly, of these countries, four French-speaking nations border Nigeria. These are Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Benin. Looking at the geographical map of West Africa, the nearest Anglophone country to Nigeria is Ghana. And, on a road trip, a Nigerian must go past Benin and Togo before hitting Ghana. The implication of these for trade, commerce and international agencies’ employment opportunities, is huge for Nigerians. Cameroon has English as its second official language. Niger probably does not have as much to worry about because Hausa is also one of its national languages. The same goes for Benin which also has Yoruba as a national language. On its part, Chad has two official languages, French and Arabic.
Looking at the implications for trade and commerce for instance, while the AFCTA seeks to “enable the free flow of goods and services across the continent and boost the trading position of Africa in the global market”, there have been logical arguments in favour of intra-African trade and commerce. This argument also favours sub-regional trade and exchange of services. I am aware that there are many Nigerians who would love to engage in such intra-African and sub-regional trade. However, their interests are negatively affected by their inability to speak French. For instance, there have been many Nigerians who engaged in commodities exchange between Nigeria and Ghana and even Ivory Coast. Some of their biggest heartache was getting through immigration and customs at the Nigeria-Benin border, Togo-Benin border and Togo-Ghana border or even Ghana-Ivory coast border. There are arguments that this heartache may have negatively affected road transport businesses that were created a few years ago by major transport companies in Nigeria to enhance sub-regional trade and commerce.
However, this handicap shows itself clearly in recruitment to fill job opportunities in major international and regional agencies including the African Union and Economic Community of West Africa (ECOWAS). Speaking a second language is now considered a major and very useful skill, in securing employment in major international organisations and businesses. A recent study said that “if you are eying a career in international diplomacy or close to it, staff position in the United Nations requires that you are fluent in the English language as well as proficient in one or two other official languages of the United Nations. In all of the agencies of the United Nations, this is a rule that is strictly followed.”
The report further said that “commitment to become fluent in another language is beneficial in today’s international professional setting… speaking a foreign language at a conversational level is not enough to get you a job that requires proficiency in another language. What companies need are people that are qualified for the job as well as near fluent in their skills in a foreign language.”
Accordingly, Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish are listed as official languages of the United Nations. And, according to the UN, “the correct interpretation and translation of these six languages, in both spoken and written form, is very important to the work of the organisation, because this enables clear and concise communication on issues of global importance. This is also applicable in AU and ECOWAS.
I had taken up this issue with a state official who left the civil service after serving as a Permanent Secretary in different federal government ministries, who told me that he was worried by suspicion that ECOWAs, which Nigeria hosts, has more francophone West Africans in its employ than it has Nigerians. His curious inquiry into this reality led him to the office of a country representative of one of the UN agencies in Abuja. According to him, the Country Representative agreed that not many Nigerians were making it into such international, regional and sub-regional agencies. The reason was the language barrier. The Country Rep, a lady, spoke fluent English though she is francophone African. For her, the mastery of the English language, which was the second national language of her home country, was an asset that enabled her journey into a UN system. She also left the state official with a piece of advice –that Nigeria should seriously consider making the French language its second official language.
And I agree. There are a whole lot of advantages in Nigeria taking the bold step to make one of the six official languages of the UN, its second official language. The closest, for reasons of geography, is French. Unfortunately, the study of the French language in Nigerian schools is optional in practice though it was adopted as the second official language several years ago. Many schools in Nigeria, especially the privates, do not even teach it beyond the junior secondary school level. Ifeoma Onyemelukwe of the Department of French at Ahmadu Bello University, in an inductive survey of the degree of implementation of Nigeria’s language policy which accorded French the status of a compulsory subject in schools as a second national language, titled “French in Nigerian Schools: Policy, Practice and National Development” published in January 2003 found that “…although majority of school administrators and French Language Teachers (FLTs) were aware of the policy, they lacked the instrument with which to implement it”. Onyemelukwe concludes her report saying “thus, French has become compulsory in theory but not in practice”.
Head of State, General Sani Abacha, had said in December 1996: “We have seen that we are virtually surrounded by French-speaking countries. And these French-speaking countries are our kith and kin. But, because of the difference inherited in the languages of our colonial masters, there has been a vacuum in communication with our neighbours. It is in our interest to learn French”. Perhaps, it is now of greater interest to make the study of the French language compulsory at all levels of secondary education.
