Texting: Scholarly Essays By Oloyede

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THE SOCIO-POLITICAL RELEVANCE OF NIGERIAN MUSIC:
A CASE STUDY OF SELECTED SONGS OF
ALEXANDER AJIFOLAJI (9ICE),
BUKOLA ELEMIDE (ASA)
AND BISADE OLOGUNDE (LAGBAJA)

BY

OLATUJA OLOYEDE

MARCH, 2017

A RESEARCH WORK PRESENTED AT THE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH AND LITERARY STUDIES IN THE FACULTY OF ARTS,
ADEKUNLE AJASIN UNIVERSITY, AKUNGBA AKOKO, ONDO STATE.

BY
OLATUJA OLOYEDE

CERTIFICATION

This is to certify that this project work was carried out by Olatuja Oloyede
of the Department of English Studies, Faculty of Arts, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, Ondo State.
SUPERVISOR
Professor C. Olujide Ajidahun

HOD
Dr. Sola Owonibi

Copy Right

This is an intellectual property which belongs to Olatuja Oloyede and it cannot be copied, transferred, stored or redistributed in any form whatsoever without a prior permission from the author. © Olatuja Oloyede (2017)

DEDICATION

I dedicate this work to God for His overwhelming grace given to me to successfully complete this project. I also dedicate this to my beloved parents and to all Nigerian students in general. I hope you will find this relevant in the advancement of literary scholarship.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

What more can I say than thank you Lord. God’s faithfulness is the secret behind the success of this work. Only Him deserves the praises and glory.
Words will fail me in appreciating the contributions of my supervisor whose unique academic and moral soundness has provided me the needed mentorship and guidance throughout my studentship in this great institution of learning. The impacts you have made in my life sir will remain forever part of my life.
My parents are certainly inestimable treasures in my heart. Their great sense of responsibility and commitment towards my progress in life can only be rewarded by God. It is my prayer that their labours of love will not go in vain.
I want to appreciate Dr (Mrs) Awe Bolajoko for her constant encouragement throughout the course of this work. She gave the all the papers for the printing and offered to give money and printer if need be. I appreciate this kind gestures ma.
I am grateful to Pastor David Oludipe, Mr Akinsola Akinwunmi, Uncle Jerry Okogwu, Mr Bamidele Anderson, and Erg Edward Olatuja for their consistent concern over my academic progress.
I appreciate my great lecturers in the Department of English Studies, Adekunle Ajasin University for their selfless sacrifices and contributions to my life. The H O D of the Department, in person of Dr Sola Owonibi has been a wonderful and dynamic person. May God bless you all in Jesus name.
To my wonderful siblings: Abiola, Joy and Thatcher, you are the very best and I’m grateful to God to be in such a beautiful family.
I also say thank you to the Nigerian Fellowship of Evangelical Students for making their printers and generator available so as to ensure that this work is a success. To my brethren in this unique family of God, I say thank you and God bless you.
To my personal friends in Living Vine Prophetic Church who have come to become a necessary part of my success, may God bless you.
I appreciate all my colleagues in the Department. It has been a worthwhile experience together since 2012. Greater heights in Jesus name.
Obviously, names are too numerous to mention. To everyone who has been a part of my life, I say thank you and God bless you. Amen.

ABSTRACT

This work focuses on the sociopolitical relevance of Nigerian music by examining how artists have been able to use the institution of music as an instrument of evaluating the society. Musicians therefore are regarded as social critics who appraise the society, locate the basis of encountered human challenges and proffer solutions where necessary. There is an inseparable link between music and the society. It does not exist in a vacuum but within the cyclic continuum of the communal life of the people. The three musicians used as case studies are Bukola Elemide (Asa), Alexander Ajifolaji (9ice), Bisade Ologunde (Lagbaja). The songs examined are Fire on the Mountain, Iya Ni, Petepete, 200 Million Mumu (part 1 and 3). The sociological theories provide this project the systemic principles through which the analyses of the selected songs are done. The artists studied in this work appraise a society that is populated by selfish politicians and corrupt citizens by speaking to such themes like economic hardship, social upheaval corruption, insecurity, poor standard of living, lack of social amenities, misappropriation of public funds and political instability. The major focus of this work is therefore to place music as a relevant art institution through which the totality of a people’s worldview can be understood. It is recommended that the music criticism be given such similar attention enjoyed by literary criticism and more scholarly resources be channeled towards the analyses and evaluation of musical productions to elicit the wisdom embedded in them. This will not only foster the expansion of scholarship but also provide us with a totally new dimension of perceiving our social and political challenges and the suggested ways forward.

Title Page I-II
Certification III
Dedication IV
Acknowledgements V
Abstract VI
Table of Contents VII-XI

CHAPTER ONE

Music, Literature and Society 1-4
Background to the Study 4-5
Significance of the Study 5-6
Theoretical Framework 6-7
Research Methodology 7
Scope of the Study 8
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
Bukola Elemide 8-10
Musical Career 10-11
Bisade Ologunde 11-12
Musical Career 12
Alexander Ajifolaji 13
Conclusion 14

CHAPTER TWO

SECTION ONE

What Is Music? 15-16
Music as A Means of Entertainment 16
Music as A Means of Education 17
Music as an Instrument of Socio-Political Criticism 18-19

TYPES OF MUSIC

Blues 19
Children Music 20
Classical Music 20-21
Country Music 21
Hip Hop 21-22

SECTION TWO

Sociological Theories 23-24
SECTION THREE
Nigerian Music 25
Traditional Music 26
Theatrical Music 26-27
Children Music 27
POPULAR MUSIC
Juju 27
Apala 27
Rock N’ Roll 28
Highlife 28
Fuji 29
Afro-Juju 29
Afro-Beat 29
Reggae 30
Hip Hop 30
Classical Music 31
Conclusion 31

CHAPTER THREE: THE THEMATIC APPRAISAL OF 9ICE’S AND ASA’S SONGS

General Introduction 32
A Critical Appraisal Of 9ice’s Musical Style 32-34

PETEPETE

Post-Colonial Disillusionment 35-36
Social Recklessness and Its Effects 37-38
Political Insincerity 38-41
Law of Retribution 41-42
Conclusion 42

THERE IS FIRE ON THE MOUNTAIN

Social Imprudence 43
Political Instability and Insecurity 43-45
Civilian Pitfalls 45-46
Cultural and Moral Decadence 47-48
Conclusion 49
IYA NI
Poor Standard of Living 50-51
Poverty 51
Sociopolitical Servitude 51-52
Conclusion 52

CHAPTER FOUR: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF LAGBAJA’S SONGS

An Appraisal of Lagbaja Musical Style 53-54
200 MILLION MUMU (PART ONE)
The Roles of the Citizens in a System of Corruption 55-57
Relevance of His Masked Tradition 57-58
Criticism of the Social Culture of Scapegoatism 58-60
Restoration of Moral Values as the Way Forward 60-61
200 MILLION MUMU (PART THREE)
Political Avariciousness 62-63
Social Recklessness 63-66
Suggested Remedies 66-68

CHAPTER FIVE

Conclusion 69-70
Recommendations 71
Works Cited 71-74
Appendices 75-83

CHAPTER ONE
GENERAL INTRODUCTION

LITERATURE, MUSIC AND SOCIETY
Literature, being a fundamental discipline in the humanities, is a field of study with no univocal perception or definition which to various people can mean various things. However, a critic once mentioned that “in an attempt to define the term ‘literature’, one can distinguish between two general directions: a broad and a narrow definition.” In its broadest description, literature can be seen as works of art written or spoken which serves men as a means of creative or imaginative expression of their thoughts, feelings, anxieties, affections and the sum total of their activities. Proponents of this school of thought divide literature into two important strands: Oral Literature and Written Literature.
Moreover, stories, songs, rituals, festivals, ceremonies etc which are the ancient forms of oral expressions are not established on some unorganized or primitive customs but premised upon a systemic pattern concentrated towards a definite end and a concise objective. Therefore, ever before the advent of graphological representation of verbal act in alphabetical or pictographic medium, man has always given a concerted effort, through verbal means, to the evaluation of his society, explanation of natural complexities and interpretation of communal perception of moral acceptance which is adequately preserved in his oral tradition.

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Abstract: Criticism is like a lens use to read any literature. According to Jonathan Culler, criticism is defined as the general account of the work of literature and of the methods of analyzing it.

Zombie is a studio album by Nigerian Afro-American musician Fela Kuti . It was released in Nigeria by Coconut Records in 1976, and in the United Kingdom by Creole Records in 1977. [1]

Fela Anikulapo Kuti is a political critic, afro-beat musician. Whose song (Zombie) can be classified as a poem. Before it was sung, the lyrics of the song is figuratively written and the imagery used pictures what he (Fela) refers to as "Zombie".

The album criticised the Nigerian government; and it is thought to have resulted in the murder
of Kuti's mother Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti , and the destruction of his commune by the military.

Critical reception
In a 1981 review, music critic Robert Christmas gave the album an "Aâ��" and found Kuti's English lyrics to be "very political" and "associative". He said that Kuti records "real fusion music â if James Brown 's stuff is Afro-American, his is
American-African." [2] In a retrospective review, Allmusic 's Sam Samuelson gave Zombie four-and- a-half out of five stars and called it Kuti and Africa 70's "most popular and impacting record".

The political critic follows Marxists theory to criticize the then government which was dominated by Nigerian army,under the leadership of the Head of State (Olusegun Obasanjo). Karl Marx Marxists theory States that without the infrastructure, the superstructure can't stand.

The lyrics is gifted with figures of speech. The use of repetition, alliteration, and many more. The language used is highly political, associative,and simple for an illiterate to comprehend.

The political critic is not only criticizing the then military government; it lambasted the irrational, dehumanizing, voiceless lives they live. All they do is follow the generals who are interested in plotting coup against either the Head of State or president.

This he also pointed at in his "Beast of no nation"_ Fela. He classified them to be a Beast. And the country is a regardless nation.

The afro-beat artist used his artistic intelligence to picture the soldiers as" Zombie" that is always controlled, speechless, not opportune to question the cause of the action.

I
“Human beings have always have stories to tell and as our species evolve, so is our means of self-expression … and our need to and our need to preserve what we understood to be our past” (Kirszer. 141)
Story telling has been a crucial part of humanity right from time immemorial, and it cannot be narrowed down to just one group of people. However, the history of story-telling may be vague in our insight, we are certain that writing came at a much latter time. Without complexities, writing due to its versatility was used from earlier period to document human philosophies, beliefs, traditions, stories (which the youngest of all is novel), discoveries etc.
Writing begins with the cautious effort of the Neanderthal men attempt to represent their well developed speech traditions through the use of symbols and picture which eventually lead to the unavoidable transition from the dark ages of primitivism to that of literary (Yule 1996). As a matter of fact, history has it that writing began in Africa (Egypt, the cradle of world civilization) and the various groups of people in the world do not develop at the same pace. The Western countries, for example, have gone ahead of the rest of the world in technology, science, literature, commerce, etc. Their languages such as Greek, Latin, and English are considered the languages of scholarship, government, religion etc.
When the Western countries are aggressively progressing in civilization and literacy, many African communities have no written literature but possess rich and varied traditions __such as folklores, folk songs, proverbs, moonlight stories, riddles etc. In this rich form of literature which the Ugandan Scholar, Pio Zimuru, coined as “orature” (oral literature) consists the African philosophy and ideology of life, of humanity, of divinity, of government, and of belief. We cannot explain African peculiarity without deliberate reference to their oral traditions.
II
Not withstanding, we must understand that though Africans prided this wonderful form of literature in their cranial repositories and preserve its uniqueness of history in their capacious memories, there is a need to transliterate it for posterity. As Erily rightly observed that “it is chiefly through books that we have intercourse with superior ancient minds”, the fact is that the faintest ink is better than the sharpest memory.
Although there have been substantial intriguing historical facts about the long tradition of writing in Africa, some enough to arouse our studious minds of curiosity, we should at first agree with Edgar Wright who establishes that “real African literature in English occur in the fifties” (Wright. 1973). However, history has it that books have been in Africa before the Whites came.
Historically, myriad of incunabula books have been brewing in Africa especially in the Northern countries. About 300,000 manuscripts are tucked away in various libraries in Ethiopia (Timbuktu) which is dated back to around 4th century AD. Among these several extant literature of this ancient time include the “Epic of Sundiata” composed in medieval Mali, “Kebra Nagast” (Book of Kings) written in Ge’ez etc.
Overtly, the history of writing is not our main concern but the peculiarity of the Novel literary genre as African. This consequentially leads to the ineluctable question, what is a Novel? In his book, “The Development of the English Novel”, Cross L. Wilbur provided a general explanation for the Novel thus:
“The Novel gives a familiar revelation of such things that pass every day before our eyes such as may happen to our friends or to us; and the perfection of it is to represent every scene in so easy natural manner and to make them appear so probable as to deceive into persuasion (at least while reading) that all is real until we are affected by the joys or distresses of the persons in the story as if they are our own”
This definition seems to be an ordinary explanation, yet it has revealed precisely the pivotal facets of the Novel. Another great definition of great fascination is contained in contained in the Encyclopedia Britannica thus:
“The Novel is an invented prose narrative of considerable length and certain complexities that deals imaginatively with human experience, usually through connected sequence of events involving a group of persons in a specific setting”
This has shown explicitly that the novel is usually of certain length, prosaic, fictional, and realistic. These elements make it different from other forms of literature such as plays, allegories, fables, epic, short stories, and poetry. Having said that, at this juncture, we must consider the argument before us which states that is the Novel African to not?
III
To be certain that our standpoint is justifiable, we must know what we are arguing for or against. Are we saying that the literary genre of the Novel is strictly African or the Novel has an African variant? To say strictly that the Novel is African is an academic aberration devoid of historical fact but positing that the Novel has an African variant is justifiable.
Novel most times is defined by its geographical locations; therefore, we have the English Novel, American Novel, Italian Novel, African Novel etc. The hilarity of saying the Novel is an African “thing” is quickly exposed when some historical fact is considered. The first English novel for example is written by Daniel Defoe (Robinson Crusoe) in 1719, while the first African novel written by Joseph Ephraim Casely Hayford was in 1911 _a difference of nearly 200years. It is therefore an unequivocal implausibility and improbability to propose that the Novel is African characteristically. Considering the works of Defoe, Richardson, Bronte, Sontag, etc which include novels like “Moll Flanders” “Pamela” “Emma” “Death Kit” which are already published earlier before any modern African novel, we cannot but assert that the novel is not born in Africa. Or do we affirm that those numerous books written in Europe, America and Asia are not novels?
Moreover, I have avowed earlier that the novel is identified by its geographical locations; hence, we have America Novel, English Novel, and Italian Novel etc. However, it is most appropriate to say instead that we have African Novel. The question is, “what makes the African Novel African?” Since not all novels are African, what therefore are the peculiarities of the African Novel differentiating it from other forms of novels in the world?
In the first premise, the African Novel is controversially established as the novel whose authorship is by Africans, for Africans and about Africans. In other words, the African Novel is a novel written about Africa, and African people, their culture, religion, history, socio-political experiences, daily challenges etc. There has been an hot argument about who an African writer should be and what an African writer should write. We have non-Africans who have written extensively and interestingly about Africa and its people, and we have Africans who have written books but not about Africans. It is generally agreed that as African Novel must be about Africans.
These novels usually consist of themes such as: the clash between Africa’s past and present, between tradition and modernity, between indigenous and foreign, between individualism and community, between socialism and capitalism, between development and self-reliance and between Africanity and humanity.
George Joseph notes this in his chapter on “Africa Literature and Understanding Contemporary Africa” that:
“… traditionally, Africans do not radically separate art from teaching. Rather than write or sing for beauty itself, African writers help in communicating some important messages about the community” (emphasis added)
Similarly, the language of the African Novel must be in such a way that it conveys the beauty of African culture. Though, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Obi Wali and Francis Irele Abiola anong others have argued that African novels should written in indigenous languages, and scholars like Ache has defended his use of English in writing novels, African novels must be written in such a way that it communicate the beauty of African culture.
Its thematic preoccupation is also centered on African past, present and possible future such as its colonial experience, post-colonial occurrence, etc.
Surmising it all, it is obvious that all African novels are novels but not all novels are African. So we have other novels defined by their geographical locations such as English Novels, American Novel etc
REFERENCES
Kirzer, Mandell. Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing
Yule, George. The Study of Language(1992)
Wright, Egdar. The Critical Evaluation of African Literature
Epic of Sundiata
Kebra Nagast (Book of Kings)
Wilbur, Coss. Development of the English Novel (1906)
Encyclopedia Britannica
Defoe, Daniel Robinson Crusoe (1719)
Richardson, Samuel. Pamela
Defoe, Daniel. Moll Flanders (1729)
Sontag, Susan. Death Kit
Joseph, George. African literature and Understanding the Contemporary Africa
Irele, Abiola. The Criticism of Modern African Literature
Thiong’o Ngugi. Decolonizing the Mind: the Politics of Language in African Literature (1986)
Achebe, Chinua. The Politics and Politicians of Language in African Literature (1989)
Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. (1958)
Oloyede, Olatuja. The English Novel: its History and Characteristics
Encyclopedia of African Literature, London: Routledge, (2003)
George, Joseph “African Literature” in Gordon, Understanding Contemporary Africa (1996)
Ali, Mazrui. The Development of Modern African Literature since 1935.

In Poetics of Aristotle (384 -322BC), Aristotle asserts that a tragic hero is a character that has risen to a lofty height of prominence only to be crumbled by his own innate flaws and mistakes and not as a result of his adversaries. “Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond. His fame rested on solid personal achievements. As a young man of eighteen he had brought honour to his village by throwing Amalinze the cat. ...Okonkwo’s fame had grown like a bush-fire in the harmattan”(1)Okonkwo was clearly cut for great things (6) though he inherited nothing from his lazy father Onoka. He was a wealthy farmer and had two barns full of yams (6).

Here is a man who has risen out of the penury conferred on him by ugly paternity to honour, respect, influence and affluence in his community. He is among the nine marked spirit who administered justice in the clan (12) and he has taken all but one title. He has shown incredible prowess in two inter-tribal wars. He is already one of the greatest men of his time.

However, his hatred for everything his father loves which include gentleness and idleness (10) imprisons his life in perpetual fear of the unknown and the dread of the uncertain. Achebe puts it in explicit terms thus:
But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and weakness. It was deeper and more intimate than the fear of evil and capricious gods and of magic, the fear of the forest, and the forces of nature, malevolent red in tooth and claw. Okonkwo’s fear was greater than these. It was not eternal but lay deep within himself. It was the fear of himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father (9-10)

Aristotle in his Poetics (384 – 322 BC) seems to capture the fall of Okonkwo as he expostulates on what constitutes the elements of a tragic hero by writing that “the downfall of a noble hero or heroine is usually through a combination of hubris, fate and the will of the gods. The tragic hero’s powerful wish to achieve some goals inevitably encounters limits, usually through human frailty (flaws in reason, hubris and society.)”

Things started going in antipode direction for Okonkwo, who has enjoyed the felicity of being an authority in his clan, the moment his gun explodes and pieces the heart of Ezeudu’s son (86). In the words of Achebe, “nothing like this had ever happened”(87). This act alone destroys the wealth and prosperity he has built all his life except the little ones his friend, Obierika could rescue. Like a child with fire within his thighs, he flees from his father’s land and suffers banishment for seven years.

As corroborated by Aristotle, “the tragic hero is a great man who is neither a paragon of virtue and justice nor undergoes the changes of misfortune through real badness or wickedness but because of some mistakes (hamartia)”

Overtly, Okonkwo’s fear-driven life leads him to a more sinister chasm of derision and self destruction than that of banishment. Borrowing Bode Ajuwon’s phrase in his article, Oral and witten Literature in Nigeria, Okonkwo should be regarded as the “keeper of the peoples’ ancient wisdoms and beliefs”, a staunch pillar of antiquated past who vehemently insisted on the maintenance of the status quo rather than been drifted around by aliens’ philosophies, customs and beliefs.

In the essay, Okonkwo’s Downfall in Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, the anonymous writer enlightens on the hubris in Okonkwo’s life thus
“Okonkwo’s devotion to manliness is an obsession that leads these incredible situations of violence and resistance with regard to the colonialist and therefore is the reason for his destruction.”
When Okonkwo returns to his father’s land, he is dismayed by the unhampered changes that have infiltrated Umoufia during the course of his absence. The Europeans have not only brought a religion, but also a government. The conversion of his only son Nwoye to Christianity, the fanaticism of some over-zealous converts such as Enoch who no longer respected the customs of their forebears and the excesses of the White administrative body aggravated his untameable passion for remonstrance _which consequentially leads to his murdering of one government official.

“In a flash, Okonkwo drew his matchet. The messenger crushed to avoid the blow. It was useless. Okonkwo’s matchet descended twice and the man’s head lay beside his uniformed body.” (144)
Just as Aigboje Higo observes in his introductory note that “you can see him [Okonkwo] as the hero who fails to hold or uphold the share responses of his clan and as a result of which the clan, like him, breaks apart” the Irish Poet, W. B. Yeats, writes in his poem The Second Coming from which Achebe derives his afflatus of his title thus:
“Things fall apart: the centre cannot hold
Mere anarchy his at loosed upon the world”
However, Obierika sums up the totality of Okonkwo’s existence, his fame and failure, strength and weakness, and all he lives for or represented when he accuses the District Commissioner and his high handed governance thus:
“That man was one of the greatest men in Umuofia. You drove him to kill himself: and now he will be buried like a dog...” (147)
Without further ado, it is very reasonable to assert that it is the Aristotelian tragic hero that has inspired the character of Okonkwo who has risen out of obscurity and poverty to prosperity and lofty height of enviable success only to crumble not as a result of his adversary, evil or enmity but by his own innate limitations and flaws called hubris (flaws) and hamattia (mistakes) in Latin.

WORKS CITED
Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. Heinemann Educational Books (With introduction and note by Aigboye Higo). 1958
Aristotle. Poetics (384 – 322 BC)
Bode, Ajuwon. Oral and Written Literature in Nigeria. Nigerian History and Culture, Richard Olaniyan, editor, (Hong Kong, Longman Group Ltd, 1985) pp 306 – 318
Okonkwo’s Downfall in Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. 123helpme.com
W. B. Yeats. The Second Coming.

INTRODUCTION
Literature being a multifaceted phenomenon has never been given a univocal definition, nether is there any catholic or conventional explanation for it. Over the decades, literature has meant different things to different people. Literarily, literature is seen in its broadest sense as any written piece or document. This aforementioned position of what literature entails does not put into consideration the aesthetic content of such written piece, hence it (literature) could be political, scientific, economical or historical documentations. However, to myriad of scholars, literature is believed to be any form of aesthetic and artistic expression whose purpose of existence is to mirror and reproduce the society, by reflecting life: its paradoxes, ironies, tragedies, mysteries and events in totality. It is believed to be a set of imaginative creation engendered from the author’s cognition which draws heavily from the society surrounding men. To a very large and considerable extent, literature is primarily seen as the work of art which entertains and educates.
Unequivocally, literature as a field of study goes beyond an ordinary written document which may contain specific set of information on a particular phenomenon, rather it suggests an aesthetic and artistic creation verbally or literarily reflecting the multifarious human society. Without further ado, we must understand in lucid terms that literature does not exist arbitrarily, but being such an indispensable fragment of humanity, it serves some very crucial and overwhelming purposes. Among these functions are its affective/emotive, entertaining, biographical, historical, and didactic functions. The main focus of this paper however, is to expatiate explicitly yet in succinct terms the didactic, entertaining and emotive functions of literature.
Methodology
Being a literary research, this work is mainly library based. It draws heavily from the ideologies of various scholars published in various articles, reviews, books internet materials and interviews. The paper is therefore intended to provide ample pieces of information on some salient functions of literature.

LITERATURE SERVING DIDACTIC FUNCTIONS
Disambiguation of Nomenclature
In the first premise, what is didacticism? Didacticism simply denotes the instructional qualities embedded in a particular thing. Didactic literature by implication portends a work of art intended to dispatch information and teach certain ideology most times on morals and ethics. Didacticism is a philosophy that emphasizes instructional and informative qualities in literature. In other words, didactic literature is a kind of literature which is intended to communicate a moral theme or other rich truth to the audience. Didacticism will therefore be considered concisely in oral and written literature.
DIDACTICISM IN ORAL LITERATURE
Oral literature is used to cover a wide range of religious, social and cultural activities that sprout from the historical and social experiences of the pre-literate people which in turn make up their world view and philosophical orientation. Oral literature, according to someone like Ruth Finnegan, refers to the totality of unwritten form of believe and values of a people which are given expression to through myth, legend, folk traditions, proverbs, festivals etc.
Didacticism is incontrovertibly more pronounced in oral literature than the written form. Borrowing Pio Zirimu, a Uganda scholar’s terminology, “orature” (i.e. Oral Literature) apart from being a very vital tool of meeting the people’s aesthetical desires, it vehemently establishes itself as a pivotal source of passing salient information to the audience acquainting them with certain norms and acceptable ethics of a given society.
Just as Bode Ajuwon hinted in his essay: Oral and written literature in Nigeria, “Telling stories is used by narrators to instruct the young and teach them to respect the dictates of their custom: as a result, a large body of moral instruction, of societal values and norms are preserved for posterity.” George Joseph similarly in his African Literature in Understanding Contemporary Africa posits thus: “Literature does not imply an artistic use of words for the sake of art alone… traditionally, Africans do not separate art from teaching. Rather than write for beauty in itself, African … use beauty to help communicate important truths and information to the society. Indeed, an object is considered beautiful because of the truth it reveals and the communities it helps to build.” Palpably, oral literature in Africa plays a crucial role in educating the populace about African cosmology and philosophy. Finnegan espouses this in her lauded book, Oral Literature in Africa by expounding on the fact that morality is inseparable even from daily life of an average African society. The moonlight stories, festivals, ceremonies etc are fundamental sources of communicating to the younger generation the essentials of a given society.
DIDACTCISM IN WRITTEN LITERATURE
Didactic literature are set of literary works created with the intention of teaching morals, relaying certain instructions the author deems crucial, exposing certain things for the purpose of educating its audience. Around the 19th century, didacticism became a term in criticism used to denote works that are over-burdened with instructive, factual or otherwise educational information. Though contrary to Allen Poe ideology (in his The Poetic Principle) about didacticism being the worst heresy, didactic literatures are often times characterized with idiosyncrasies. That is, as societies varies so do its set of believes varies.
However, literature being an aesthetic expression is a versatile ground in which writers from inception recourse to establish their moral believes, academic philosophies, sociopolitical ideologies and even economic idiosyncrasies. Some of such didactic literatures are John Bunyan’s Pilgrims Progress (1878) and Alexander Pope’s An Essay on Criticism (1711). Alexander Pope for instance advises about the critics and criteria that are best adopted in scholarly researches. On the other hand, Bunyan in his allegorical literature establishes vehemently the Christian values, moral uprightness, and the just judgment of the most high and holy God. Consider the extract below from Bunyan’s Pilgrims Progress
“In my own eyes and the eyes of others, I was once an honest and flourishing professor of faith. I consider myself a good candidate of Celestial City and at that time, I even had joy of living there…I am now a man of despair…I have stopped being alert and self controlled…I let loose the reign of my desires. I sinned against the Light of the Word and the good God. I’ve provoked God to anger and he has left me. I have hardened my heart that I cannot repent. I’m guilty of crucifying Him again. I’ve despised his position, I’ve hated His righteousness, and I’ve treated His blood as an unholy thing. I’ve insulted the Spirit of Grace. So I’ve excluded myself from all the promises and now there remains for me nothing but threats, which will devour me as an enemy of God” pp 42-43
It is crystal clear from the aforestated extract that Bunyan with no intrepidity intends to acquaint his audience with the unbearable and insufferable pangs of being separated from God. Surmising it all, didactic literature are literary works with instructions aimed at influencing people’s disposition to certain things. Example of didactic literature include: Sophie’s World (1991) by Jostein, The Adventures of Nicholas Experience by Ignacy Krasicki (1776) and John Bunyan’s Pilgrims Progress (1878).
Unequivocally, Babatunde Omobalawe caps it all by affirming that “two things at least are indispensible to the creation of work of art. The first is it is the representation of life whose creation is propelled by a host of other factors. Second, it is created to serve a pragmatic purpose, which is usually didactic in nature”

LITERATURE AS A MEANS OF ENTERTAINMENT
Disambiguation of Nomenclature
Indubitably, entertainment in its broadest sense is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience, or gives pleasure and delight. Moreover, entertainment in literature goes beyond just activities which sustain the interest of an audience, entertainment being a multifarious fragment of literature gives life and vitality to literary artifacts. Hence, we have scholars of ‘Art for Art sake’ and crusaders of ‘escapism’ who rigidly insist on the artistic quality of any literary piece. It is expedient to state that a total demystification of the term ‘entertainment’ is practically impossible but without mincing words, literature remains to a great extent an unparallel medium of meeting the peoples’ creative desires.
ENTERTAINMENT IN ORAL LITERATURE
‘Orality’ being the forbear of the world literature has at its core the important rudiments of entertainment. The legacy of the bards, the raconteur, the griot, the masque motif performance has entertainment as its basis and fundamental purpose of existence. Bode Ajuwon exposes this in his essay Oral and Written Literature in Nigeria thus:
“Pre-literate society once enjoyed a verbal art civilization which at its high point was patronized by traditional rulers and the general public… The Oral artists, freelancers or guild-associates, enjoyed reference as the keepers of the people’s ancient wisdoms and beliefs. The Oral artist frequently entertained their audiences dramatically, providing relaxation and teaching moral lessons”
In nexus with that, Peter Widdowson observes that:
“West African audiences participate noisily and bodily in some genres, commenting upon the poet’s style and behaviour of the fictional protagonists; in other genres, they are required to be silent while the drummer set the rhythm and the syntax for the performers to follow.”
Oral literature is a form of entertainment which fosters the feelings of solidarity with others who have similar experiences. Being the repository of artistic expression in the society, its beauty resonates cultural frontiers.
ENTERTAINMENT IN WRITTEN LITERATURE
“If I am not entertained by a book to some level, I’m not reading it.”
___Mirabell, in (World Literature Forum)

It is neither strange nor arguable to affirm that literature offers a great deal of entertainment and relaxation to its audience. Many a times, people recourse to literary text for the pleasure and the fun of it. As a matter of fact, there are literatures created solely for the purpose of entertaining the audience. All the comic plays of Olarotimi such as Our Husband has Gone Mad Again and Grip Am and the farce of Femi Osofisan such as Midnight Hotels, Yungba-Yungba and the Dance Contest etc are good examples of such works which readily comes to mind.
The musico-dramaturgical presentations of Osofisan for instance have been lauded over the decades for the wide range of satirical entertainment it offers. Just as Kole Omothosho reveals in his Theatrical into Theater, good theatrical presentations are often interpolated with musicals, dance and every other forms of aesthetic extravaganzas for the amusement and enjoyment of its audience. No wonder Thomas Ligotti in an interview posits that “literature is entertainment or it is nothing.”
Just as the Roman Poet, Horace says, “Literature is sweet and useful”, and it has even progressed from providing mere pleasure to its audience to offering an escape route from mental pressure, situational distresses, emotional traumas and conditional depressions. The school of thought who holds such ideology has been termed escapism.
Escapist fiction is the fiction which provides a psychological escape from thoughts of everyday life by immersing the reader in exotic situations or activities. Escapism as a literary term is the mental diversion by means of entertainment and recreation, as an “escape” from perceived unpleasant or banal aspect of daily life. Without doubt, literature occupies the leading role of relieving people of persisting feelings of depression or general sadness.

AFFECTIVE AND EMOTIVE FUNCTION OF LITERATURE
Disambiguation of Nomenclature
Affective and effective quality of anything (be it an idea or action) is solely determined by the external expression, psychological reaction and emotion response it is capable of effecting in its recipients.
Overtly, literature is one thing which affects the conducts of man, and contributes immensely to the construction of certain ideology and world view in the society. Diachronically, literature, right from time immemorial, has in no small measure affected humanity; their inter-personal relationship, perception of their cosmology and divinity, sociopolitical conceptualization of their immediate environment and understanding of their personal and corporate existence.
Taking a cursory look at the rich works of the 5th century BC of the ancient Greece such as the plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes, or the artistic works of the Old Roman Empire which include the works of Horace, Luvius Andronicus, Gnaeus Naevius and Seneca, it is readily obvious why the general belief and ideology then is that of predestination. Sophocles’ King Oedipus for example re-emphasizes the fact that man is a victim of fate and destiny.
With the conception of such geniuses like William Shakespeare and John Milton in the literary scene, this idea is gradually decimated and finally dilacerated with the works of such Victorian writers like Thomas Hardy, James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, T. S. Eliot, D. H. Lawrence, Katherine Manfield, Viginia Woolf and George Orwell. Just as a critic once commented:
“Literature in the period 1870-1945 reflects a world in transition, but literary writing in itself became a force in changing the way that world could be represented, valued and reflected on. This was also the era in which artists revolutionized the forms of their arts and in relation to the society, tradition and reality. Then, issues which continues to define our times _ access to education, question of democracy, gender equality, race and imperialism, sexuality, individualism _ were at the core of social upheaval. And at this time, ideas which have dominated twentieth century intellectual life___ including the thought of Darwin, Marx, and Freud _ first entered the wider cultural and political areas.”
Even apart from literature being capable of transmogrifying man’s perception of his cosmology, it can also instigate such emotional response like bravery, fear, cowardice, pity, empathy, sympathy, resentment, affection, etc in the audience. However, these responses are determined by the author’s dexterous use of words and ability to communicate his heart and intentions effectively. For example, one could hardly read Sophocles’ or Aeschylus’ plays without being caught up in perpetual fear of the unknown. Neither is it usually possible to come in contact with the divine afflatus imbedded in Shakespeare’s plays without loving his artistry and choice of words. Most of Achebe’s novels have also been deemed to initiate a feeling of empathy in the reader as it acquaints them with the situational dilution and confusion of a given ‘geographical expression.’ Similarly, Femi Osofisan’s comic histrionics, scatological jokes and musico-dramaturgy has been a good source of massive relief to his audience and admirers.
Therefore, the judgment of a literary piece based on its effectiveness in terms of how it affects the audience’ emotion remains the domain of psychoanalytic critics. However, contrary to the proponents of impressionalist fallacy, who argues that the readers’ response to a literary piece is the ultimate indication of its value, critics like W. K. Wimsatt and Monroe Beardsley came up with the idea of affective fallacy (a term used to refer to the suppose error of judging or evaluating a text on the basis of its effects on the reader.) For Wimsatt, a view of literature based on his putative emotional effects will always be vulnerable to mystification and subjectivity. It is believed that such impressionistic approach poses practical and theoretical problems. Nevertheless, the extremism of Wimsatt’s approach is ultimately judged untenable by a number of critics.
CONCLUSION
A conscious effort has been made to expatiate on the didactic, entertainment, and affective function of literature though in a very concise and precise language. However, as it is shown in this paper, the aforementioned function of literature remains the ‘major’ reason for its continuous existence. Literature is the most effective tool of educating, entertaining and affecting the world.
WORKS CITED
Abrams, M. H. Glossary of Literary Terms
Ajuwon, Bode. Oral and Written Literature in Nigeria
Bunyan, John. Pilgrims Progress (1878)
Finnegan, Ruth. Oral Literature in Africa
Joseph George. African Literature in Understanding Contemporary Africa
Jostein (1991). Sophie’s World
Krasiski, Ignacy (1776). The Adventure of Nicholas Experience
Ligotti, Thomas. Literature is Entertainment or it is Nothing: An Interview with Thomas Ligotti by Dr Bentham (8/13/2005)
Obafemi, Olu. 50 years of Nigerian Literature (2012)
Omotosho, Kole. Theatrical into Theater
Osofisan, Femi. Midnight Hotels
Osofisan, Femi. Yungba-Yungba and the Dance Contest
Owonibi, Sola. The Political Consciousness in African Literature: A Critical Analysis of Selected Plays of Femi Osofisan: Emerging Perspective.
Oriakhi, Braimah. Introduction to Theater and Drama
Poe, Allen. Poetic Principle
Pope, Alexander. An Essay on Criticism (1711)
Rotimi, Ola. Grip Am
Rotimi, Ola. Our Husband has Gone Mad Again
Wehmier, Sally. Oxford Advance Learner Dictionary
Wimsatt. W. K. with Monroe Beardsley (1954). The Verbal Icon: Studies in the Meaning of Poetry. University of Kentucky Press.
www.worldliteratureforum.com
Wikipedia

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract
Methodology
Introduction
Multilingualism
National Language
Characteristics Of National Language
Nigeria As a Multilingual Society
Existing Postulations Concerning The Adoption Of National Language In Nigeria
Exglossic Option
Endoglossic Option
Artificial Option
Pidgin English Option
African Option

Implication Of Having a National Language
Recommendation
Conclusion

ABSTRACT
A serious linguistic/language issue in Nigeria is the issue of the choice of a national language among the various indigenous languages in a multilingual society. Nigeria’s dense multilingualism, multiculturalism, and multi-ethnicity pose a huge challenge in the desire and effort to choose a national language. Due to the existing role of the English language, some people suggest the English language as the appropriate option for a national language while also prompting the inadequacies noticed in Nigerian indigenous languages. Our intention, therefore, in this paper is to investigate these existing opinions for the purpose of reaching a tenable conclusion, making general statements and reconciling the various facets of our positions by proposing some recommendations.
METHODOLOGY
Being a research work that is specific on the sociolinguistic status quo of the Nigerian society, our work is primarily library based. Books as well as online materials provided us with wealth of information that has been so fundamental in this paper. Our aim therefore is by providing a review of various existing postulations and opinions as a means of entrenching the fact that Nigeria multiculturalism and multilingualism remain pivotal to the overt impossibility of reaching a conclusion as far as the national language is considered.
INTRODUCTION
A serious linguistic/language issue in Nigeria is the issue of the choice of a national language among the various indigenous languages in a multilingual society. Nigeria’s dense multilingualism, multiculturalism, and multi-ethnicity pose a huge challenge in the desire and effort to choose a national language. Due to the existing role of the English language, some people suggest the English language as the appropriate option for a national language while also prompting the inadequacies noticed in Nigerian indigenous languages. Kebby (1986) argues that “no Nigerian indigenous language can serve the scientific and technological needs because none is complete.” The neutrality of the English language will deny any claim of ownership of national language by any ethnic group in the country.
However, some Nigerians have advanced the need for an indigenous Nigerian language as national language because of certain reasons: national consciousness, unity and pride. A break away with English will justify Nigeria’s claim for political Independence; put an end to the ‘elitist’ society that English has created and the choice of an indigenous language will facilitate national integration as all members of the country speak the same national language. Olagoke (1982) argues: “There are many Nigerians who feel strongly that the country needs a lingua franca other than English, not only to foster national unity but also to facilitate self-discovery and pride convincing the world and ourselves that we are truly independent of Britain.
By way of recap, the proposition to choose an indigenous language as national language is laudable, but the problem is the choice of national language among many Nigerian languages. Attah (1987) identifies one of the paradoxes of the national language question. He writes that while many Nigerians express a desire for a national language other than English, few are convinced of the need to choose a language other than their own. The proponents of the national language, therefore, may be divided into the major camps based on their preference/choices. First are those who want the national language to come from the major Nigerian languages. Second are those who advocate for the adoption of English.
The problem of national language is not only peculiar to Nigeria just as Lehmann (1976: 28) maintains that it is the problem of all multilingual nations. Some other multilingual and multicultural nations, at one time or the other had to tackle the problem in all multilingual nations. India, for example, is said to have over 800 indigenous languages, but the government has been able to tackle this problem by singling out Hindu as the only national language. This was possible probably because Indians are more tolerant politically than other countries. Moreover, the Indian approach failed in Philippine as the imposition of Tagalog as the lingua franca in 1940 by the Philippine government causes social and political crises. Also in Soweto, the 1976 introduction of Afrikaans as a compulsory language in black schools sparked off the riot that culminated in the historical “fire of Soweto.”
Our intention, therefore, in this paper is to investigate these existing opinions for the purpose of reaching a tenable conclusion, making general statements and reconciling the various facets of our positions by proposing some recommendations.
MULTILINGUALISM
Multilingualism is a linguistic situation of a speech community where more than two languages are being used in the act of communication. Ojo and Farinde (2005: 35) mentioned that “multilingualism is a phenomenon that results from a situation where people belonging to a geographical entity, community or society speak different languages.” In reality, multilingualism is the linguistic state of many countries in the world. Nigeria, for example, is a heterogeneous society with over 400 ethno-linguistic units.
Multilingualism is a global linguistic state. Clyne (2003: 301) sees multilingualism as either the language used or the competence of an individual, or the language situation of an entire nation or society. Baker (2006: 19) expostulates, however, that several overlapping and interacting variables have made the definition less specific, “elusive and ultimately impossible.”
NATIONAL LANGUAGE
In the first premise, it is expedient to disambiguate the notion of what a national language implies. Bamisaye (1988: 10) believes “a national language is the language adopted as a common medium of communication by a given society for the expression of its worldview and day to day endeavours.” Fishman (1997: 38) similarly posits that a national language is a common indigenous language in the modern nation which is a powerful factor for unity, cutting across tribal and ethnic lines and promoting a feeling of single community.”
The aforementioned positions establish the fact that a national language is a language of unity among various linguistic communities. Onuigbo (1987: 38) justifies this by asserting that “a national language is not just a language spoken by everybody in the country but one which cuts across ethnic lines and makes possible the expressions and developments of cultural identity.” Farinde and Ojo (2005: 46) emphasizes this by stating unequivocally that “characteristically, speakers of a given national language must share the same certain linguistics norms, values and emotional attachment towards the language.”
In succinct terms, national language is obviously the language that depicts the cultural identity, purpose of existence, ideology, and mutual understanding of a particular nation.

Characteristics of a National Language
The language must be indigenous
Since national language is not just a language adopted as a means of communication by a given people, but a language of cultural and national identity, such language as a matter of importance must to a great extent be historically linkable to them. Certainly, it is nothing but cultural alienation if the language of national identity of a country is an imported or foreign language.
The language must be constitutionally recognized
Overtly, a language cannot serve as the language of a nation without having a constitutional backing of that country. It must be clearly stipulated and explicitly spelt out in the constitution before the status of a national language is conferred on a particular language.

It is a language reached by consensus
National language is a language unifying multilingual speech communities. However, due to the multiplicity of languages among these diversified linguistic communities, a language is generally concluded on to serve as a means of national expression and identity.
Nation-wide geographical spread
Elugbe (1990) shares the opinion that a national language should have a nation-wide geographical spread. A national language must be an indigenous wide spread language spoken by a large percentage of the population; having the potential to represent or symbolize the national heritage. Baldrige (1996) posits that “national language is that one which enjoys use throughout an entire nation in the political, social, and cultural realms. It also functions as a national symbol”

It must have international recognition
The national language of a particular country must be recognized in the international community in order to be the language of that particular nation.

Nigeria as a Multilingual Society
Some scholars believe that Nigeria is a mere geographical expression with overt cultural, social and linguistic diversity. Nigeria, as a nation, was born in 1914 due to the colonial policy that amalgamated the then Southern Protectorate with the Northern Protectorate _an action that changed the course of our history forever. However, sequel to this period, various autonomous geographical entities were in existence with a language, ideological perception of their natural environment, culture and believe that was specific to them. Therefore, colonial policy has engendered a country that is obviously a conglomeration of languages, cultural philosophies and ideological differences.
Estimates place the number of languages in Nigeria has been over 400. This assertion may not be accurately justifiable but Nigeria is definitely a nation that has over 250 ethno-linguistic communities characterized by multiple dialectical variations that may sometimes be without mutual intelligibility. With this problematic language situation, Nigeria then faces complex ethnic groupings with very perplexing linguistic problems (see Ojo and Farinde 2005).
Ojo and Farinde (2005) are of the opinion that the linguistic multiplicity of a particular nation has a negative impulse on the nation’s unity, loyalty and the allegiance among her citizens (pp. 36). Moreover, Trudgil (1983) opines that “language is a social and cultural phenomenon”. Similarly, Edward Sapir (1949) argues that “we see and hear and otherwise experience very largely as we do because the language habits of our community predispose certain choices of interpretation.” Without further ado, it is lucid to establish that language is a powerful instrument of unity as it fosters a sense of belongingness among its users.

EXISTING POSTULATIONS CONCERNING THE ADOPTION OF A LANGUAGE AS THE NATIONAL LANGUAGE IN NIGERIA
Over the years, the discussion of Nigeria national language has dominated sociolinguistic parlance and several positions and ideas have been advanced. Among these are prominent figures such as Professor Adegbite, Professor Wole Soyinka,Guosa Ighinewaka, Jowitt among others. However, their perceptions have constantly been devoid of conventionality, for none of their advancements has a catholic or univocal standing. In fact, the discussion of the national language question is often characterized by serious debates largely due to the ethnicity, linguistic multifariousness, multilingualism and cultural diversity. There is practically no reconciling ground of the multifaceted opinions and positions that have been espoused by these noble minds in time past.
Some of these schools of thoughts are identified by Ojo O.J. 2005: 47-52 as:
Exoglossic Option
Endoglossic Option
Artificial Option
Pidgin English Option
African Option

Exoglossic Option
The proponents of this position, such as Onigbo 1987, Bamisaye 1988, Jowitt 1995, etc., have vehemently argued that the English language is already an entrenched language of official purposes making it a peculiar language as far as the national language question is concerned. The English language, to them, is believed to have stayed long in the country and has been nationalized over time that even a distinct variety of the language, which is called the Nigerian English is now recognized. Though over the decades, the English language has been recognized as the language of inception, exploitation, cultural alienation and linguistic imposition, but just as Jowitt (1995:55) observes, the indigenization of the English language now exists mainly among the lower levels of the society.
Ojo J. O. (2005) hinted quoting Onuigbo (1987:40) that there are chances that the English language would be developed in its status and functions to serve as a national lingua franca in Nigeria. Buttressing his claim, Onuigbo presses further to state some clear reasons in favour of the English language becoming a national language.
The demands of present day Nigeria, which include an official language and a functional language, are basic in some ways to its survival.
The English language is swiftly gaining universal sympathy and competence.
The English language is gradually getting into every home which is a response to a change over which nobody has any control.
Official roles and educational advancement require the ability to use the English language.
Ojo J. O. (2005:51) expatiating this exposed that it should be made clear that adopting English as Nigeria’s national language is a good step in the right direction. Apart from being already on ground with necessary infrastructures and logistics, it is about the only language that has fostered unity among the over 400 ethnic grouping in the country.
Overtly, it has been proven through the diachronic study of language that it is most likely that an indigenous national language would evolve, however distracters of this school of thought have pointed out that the English language is fundamental and basically a foreign language foisted on us by the colonial masters. They also argue that the English language is primarily the language of the educated class. some estimates placed the popularity of English language at about 10% in Nigeria. By implication, this implies about million speakers.
The tendencies of the English Language becoming the national language is definitely contestible due to the fact that it does not depict the nationalistic identity of Nigerians.
Endoglossic Option
Contrary to the exoglossic conception, the advocates of this philosophy among which are Joseph Ushie (1980) and Sofunke (1990) claim that choosing from the numerous native language will foster a sense of nationalism and patriotism. Ushie for instance proposes that ‘Afrike’ should be adopted as the language of the nation while Sofunke also rationalizes that ‘Igala’, which is one of the minor languages in the country, to be adopted as the language of national identity. Jowitt (1995: 47) also believes in the superiority of the Hausa language because the language boasts to have the largest number of papers and magazines among the indigenous language in Nigeria and that it is one of the broadcasting language in operation by the British Broadcasting company (BBC) and the Voice Of Africa (VOA).
More so, the federal government has identified bi-lingualism alongside the English language in the conduct of the National House of Assembly business. This in no small measure as elevated the status of the three major language in Nigeria (Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa), although not to give any of these language prominence, or a national outlook.
Ajeigbe 1987 emphatically mentioned that all efforts at foisting an indigenous language have remained unproductive because whichever candidate (language) wins the loser will team up with others (not favoured) to present the winner from functioning.
3. The Artificial Option
Based on the fact that language must be neutral, some linguists have gone as far as creating an artificial language for the people. This approach to adopting a national language is obviously a ridiculous one. Guosa Iginneweka is a major proponent of this option. He created a language he called “Guosa” and affirmed that the language is created from the existing 22 languages in Nigeria and also went ahead by creating a 52-page dictionary for the language. However, this approach has never been favoured by linguists. Elugbe condemns “Guosa” as being weak and artificial. Bamgbose reveals that in effect, Igbineweka would be the sole arbiter of the grammaticality of any of its sentences which would be absurd. Just as Ojo and Farinde pointed out, such artificial problem and logistics shortcomings face difficulty in persuading large numbers of people due to the special effort required to learn such language and the risk in learning a language that has no native speakers.
African Option
Jowitt (1955: 45) reports that Wole Soyinka suggested this option at the Second International Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC) held in Nigeria in 1977. He suggested that Swahili should be adopted as the national language of Nigeria. One of the merits advanced by him is based on the language phonological and grammatical structures. As a matter of fact, it is already the lingua franca in East Africa. It is the national language of Tanzania and Kenya coupled with the fact that it is well developed. It is also considered to be a language indigenous to Africa. However, this option has few supporters. Elugbe and Omamor (1991) argues that the language has no existing constituency in Nigeria to qualify for a national language.

The Pidgin English Option
This has also had its vocal advocates. It is seen as a viable candidate to be considered as the national language for Nigeria. Elugbe and Omamor (1991) wants us to believe that the phonological and grammatical structures of Pidgin are African and its major lingua franca in the Southern part and to some extent in the North. Also Pidgin is used in reading for literary purposes and is free from the political colouration of the local languages. However, the demerit of the Pidgin option include its not being sufficiently developed, its limited vocabulary and the popular perception of it as a debased form of English. Though the demerits seem to outweigh its merits, it should be pointed out that this option has attracted more support than any of the previously discussed options.
Implications of Having a National Language
Apart from the fact that the idea of a national language or languages is not encouraged in contemporary sociolinguistic studies on minority language, it is a political issue which requires caution and restrain due to the linguistic and cultural heterogeneity situation of the country (Schmied 1991, Webb 1994, Igboanusi and peter 2004). Nigerians’ political awareness, ethnic consciousness and loyalty, cultural alertness, and interest in the national economy will not tolerate a linguistic hegemony. Bamgbose (1993: 4) records the strong and sharp objection raised by the members of the minority language groups to the adoption of any or all of the major languages as a national language(s) when it was proposed for debate at the parliament in 1961.
Bamgbose (1991: 23) stated:
“The political survival of Nigeria as a country would be even more seriously threatened than it is if any of these three languages were promoted by the Government as being the national language”
The multifaceted implications of such an attempt are far-reaching and grave for the speakers of the minority languages. Apart from the minority language group being politically marginalized and economically deprived, the adoption of a Nigerian major language as a national language will do more harm than good. Some of these implications are stated in a very concise language below.
It constitutes a threat to the continued existence on other minor languages because they are likely going to be relegated to the status of rurality. As it were, an average Nigerian would prefer a metropolitan language to a rural one.
Similarly, the speakers of such minor language would diminish to a somewhat negligible figure. What language vitality actually connotes in the scholarly linguist discussion is the fact that some languages are confronted the ugly reality of going into extinction because of the drastic reduction in the numbers of their speakers. Already in some parts of Delta state, Pidgin English has a Creole (spoken as a mother tongue in a community) and Hausa has become the mother tongue for some Northerners who were not originally Hausa by tribe. (see Egbokare 2001 and Igboanus and Peter 2005)
The death or disregard of a language have indelible effect on the unique culture and believe system of a particular people. Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf among others have shown over time that language in its purest sense is inseparable with the people’s culture. The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis asserts that we are constrained in all that we understand, feel and aspire to by the mould, shape and the contours of a particular grammar, and we are forced thereby to recognize and interpret reality only and always in record with those patterns that the particular grammar recognizes and imposes on every thought and every formulation. This explains to us that the death of a language at every point in time is in reality a tragedy. Overtly, this is the possible outcome of having a national language imposed on such a multilingual country like Nigeria to depict our national identity.
As it has been mentioned earlier, the cultural identity of the people who lost their linguistic heritage consequently disappears. Such people are subsequently absorbed into the culture of the newly found language.
RECOMMENDATIONS
If the indigenous language must be saved from the threat and danger of extinction, Nigerians and Nigerian government must be ready to make a lot of serious efforts to the pragmatic steps towards the restoration and revitalization of the values of these languages. The truth is that some of these native languages still need to be codified and standardized in order to meet up with the requirements of modern development and technology research, the Nigerian indigenous language have the right to live because, in their own right, they are the containers of the cultural essence, traditional values, and communal wisdom of their native speakers. They also remain the best and only languages that can fully appreciate and accurately express such cultural essence and traditional values. Every language is both an embodiment and an epitome of the characteristic behavior, attitude, and thinking of its speakers, therefore, no Nigerian indigenous language deserves to die.

However, developing a national language will not be an easy task in such a multilingual nation as Nigeria. But if the government is willing to invest heavily on this subject and take the issue of the language policy serious, that is, one of the major languages other than the students’ indigenous language should be taught in schools. Perhaps, within a couple of years, a national language that will cut across the diverse ethnic groups in the country may be developed.
Conclusion
Having investigated the existing postulations and various positions assumed by scholars over the years, we highlighted the danger and damages that is eminent in the impostion of one language over the other. However, we recommend that at the educational level, students may be made to learn a language other than their own. This will in turn foster unity, oneness and mutual understanding among the different ethno-linguistic units in the country.

references later

INTRODUCTION
Error analysis is a posteriori evaluation of the errors that are noticed in the process of language learning and language use. Error analysis in Second Language Learning (SLA) was established in 1960s by Stephen Pit Corder and colleagues mainly because of the deficiencies encountered in Contrastive Analysis.

Contrastive analysis being a systematic study of a pair of languages with the view of identifying their structural differences and similarities evaluates errors in language learning and language usage as primarily caused by interferences. Robert Lado posits in his book, Linguistics Across Culture (1957) that:
“Those elements which are similar to (the learner’s) native language will be simple for him, and those elements that are different will be difficult”

Lado’s position is that the efficiency and efficacy of a learner to use or learn a language is characterized by positive interferences and negative interferences. Nevertheless, critics of this approach in the 1960s have pointed out that errors encountered by language users are beyond mere interferences. Some possible reasons advanced are interlanguage, fossilization, modality, incompetence, etc.

However, error analysis which was given impetus to by Stephen Pit Corder became an alternative to Contrastive Analysis. The objective of this approach is to distinguish between errors which are systematic, and mistakes which are not. By developing a typology of errors, some basic types have been advanced, such as, omissive, additive, substitutive, or related word order. We also have overt errors and covert errors evident only in context. This typology is however, characterized by methodological problems due to the complexities of errors made by Second Language users.

Therefore, for the purpose of clarity in this project, errors are classified according to:
Modality (that is (i.e.) level of proficiency in speaking, writing and reading)
Linguistic level (i.e. errors on pronunciation, grammar/syntax, vocabulary, and style)
Form (i.e. omission, insertion, substitution)
Cause (i.e. interferences, interlanguage)

Nevertheless, error analysis, as we have hinted earlier, is only capable of dealing with the learner’s production (speaking and writing) and not with the learner’s reception (listening and reading). Overtly, errors encountered by Nigerian students who use the English Language as their second language is often times characterized by interferences, linguistics deficiencies, code-mixing and code-switching.

Unequivocally, we do not claim to proffer an automatic remedial solution to the poor linguistic states of our academic institutions, but we are of the opinion that students especially those in the Humanities to work consciously and assiduously on the enrichment of their speech repertoire and knowledge of syntactic rules.

METHODOLOGY
Through interviews, audio recordings of discussions and conversational observations of students in Adekunle Ajasin University, we are able to gather some basic facts concerning the proficiency and deficiency of students of higher institutions who use the English language as a second language. The steps we employ in carrying out this research work are:
Collecting samples of learner language
Identifying the errors
Classifying and describing the errors
Explaining the errors
Evaluating and correcting the errors

TRANSCRIPT OF SOME INTERVIEWS
An Interview with Owaduje Fisayo, an 100level student of the Department of Biochemistry.
Interviewer: Can we meet you sir?
Fisayo: My name is Owaduje Fisayo. My department is Biochemistry. I’m an hundred level student.
Interviewer: Can you share with us some of your experiences so far in school?
Fisayo: To me Adekunle Ajasin is hell. That’s just it. Like summary. What I have experience, I can’t say it out, but I know is hell. Everything in Adekunle Ajasin, you have to like queue for everything, to buy food, to go to class, to do everything, to go to bank, everything sha.
Interviewer: How has been your academic and social experience so far?
Fisayo: Ya, as in the academic stuff, I think it has been like fun. As in, they have like the teaching standard that we need. As in, it is very normal. Ya.
Interviewer: As a hundred level student, we believe you have some goals you want to achieve at the end of your stay here. What are those goals and how do you plan to achieve them?
Fisayo: Actually for me I just want to be successful in everything. As in anyway. Anything life bring to me. I might not eat with this academic stuff. My aim is just to be successful.
Interviewer: What’s your definition of success?
Fisayo: Ah! Definition for success as in like, my own definition of success is to have this thing ( gestures by tapping his hands together to lay emphasis) is to have what we call money and peace of mind. Actually, I have learnt some entrepreneurship stuff like tailoring, like I have an alternative to biochemistry. I know in any one I follow, I know I will be successful.
Interviewer: Thank you very much for your time sir.

Interviewer: Can we meet you sir?
My name is Wamitula Daniel
Interviewer: Can you share with us some of your experiences so far in school?
Daniel: As in it is like stressful, as in like signing, moving from one place to another. And if you go to those lecturer office, they will like send you away, like shout on you like that and if you are going to bank, you want to collect money, as in like you queue. As in you stay there from morning till even if ATM… if you want to everything is just stressful.
Interviewer: How has been your academic and social experience so far?
Daniel: is good but is like, as in my own opinion, they are like slow sha. As in like, their programmes sometimes, as in if we want to have practicals, they will like suspend it to the next week. Like prosponing some like practicals, they prospone it.
Interviewer: As an hundred level student, we believe you have some goals you want to achieve at the end of your stay here. What are those goals and how do you plan to achieve them?
Daniel: My aim is like I don’t want to like sleep off, as in like I want just a normal grade like 2nd class upper or 1st class. Through hard work and endurance. As in like endure the circumstances of the place. What I know is that if I’m hard work and I am like, if I can endure, just endure it in this place and read my book, I know I will make it.

Interviewer: Thank you very much for your time sir.

Identified Errors in the Conversation
Overtly, the transcripts above have provided us with copious examples of the ungrammaticality (ranging from negative transference of elements from 1st language to obvious phonological and syntactical errors) which characterizes the speech acts of students in Nigerian higher institutions. Therefore, extracting some basic linguistic errors from the above interviews, we shall attempt classifying the errors into linguistic levels (i.e. phonological errors, and syntactical/grammatical errors) as well as identifying individual idiolects which to a great extent seems to have affected the speech behaviour of inferably most of the Nigerian students. Other errors to be classified include interferences and mannerism/style.

Phonological Errors
Phonology according to George Yule is essentially the description of the system and patterns of speech sounds in a language (1985: 54). Certainly, it is no gainsaying that the linguistic capacity of an average Nigerian student is relatively low compared to the Received Pronunciation accent of London. In fact, scholars like professor Adegbite have vehemently established that there is no Nigerian who uses the English language phonologically like the native speakers. However, literary prowess may be attained in terms of literature and expression but all Nigerians speakers of the English language uses what is technically known as the Nigerian English. From the foregoing, we can inferably state that the above interviews are full of interferences from the native languages of the speakers. Nevertheless, below are some of the noticeable errors encountered in the speech behaviour for Nigerian students in Adekunle Ajasin University.

Syntactic/Grammatical Errors
Syntax in the original Greek concept means “a setting out together” or “arrangement”. Therefore, in the linguistic concept, syntax deals with the structuring and ordering of component within a sentence. Every language has its own syntactical rule peculiar to it which may not be operational in other language. Nigerians students especially in Adekunle Ajasin seem to be ignorant of so many of these grammatical rules that are peculiar to the English language. Words ordering are characterized by interferences and idiolects. Some of these errors are listed below.
“ if I’m hard work” instead of “if I’m hardworking”
“they will like send you away, like shout on you like that and if you are going to bank, you want to collect money, as in like you queue. As in you stay there from morning till even if ATM… if you want to everything is just stressful.” Instead of “they will send you out, or shout at you. Even if you are going to bank to collect money, you will have to stay on the queue.”

Other once include:
“I am going for night vigil” instead of “I am going vigil”
“fetch my water back” instead of “refill my bucket ”
“I was cracking my brain” instead of “I’m racking my brain”
“me and oloyede” instead of “Oloyede and I”
Semantic Errors
George Yule defines semantics as the conversational meaning conveyed by the use of words and sentences of a language. (1985: 114). The speech behaviour of many Nigerian students is flavoured by the linguistic elements of their indigenous languages. Some of this overt errors are:
I might not eat with this academic stuff instead of “I might earn a living using my academic qualificaltion”
I am coming used mainly in a conversational context when the speaker means “I am going”
they prospone it instead of saying “they will postpone it.”

Possible Cause of these Errors
Without further ado, the overt reason that can possibly account for these errors is interference. Interference is therefore, the transference of the linguistic elements of the first language into the second language. This problem is generally encountered by the second language learner and user of the English language. More so, most of these errors (phonological, syntactical and semantically errors) are traceable to their competence in their second language.
Conclusion
We have established in this paper that the speech behaviour in Nigerian university especially in Adekunle Ajasin University as regard the English Language is relatively low in terms of proficiency, fluency and efficiently. Having identified some of these errors, evaluated them and also corrected them, we can therefore assert unequivocally, that these errors can be reduced drastically if Nigerian students especially those in the Humanities will consciously and deliberately learn and improve their efficient use of the English language.

Abstract
Naipaul has paralleled much of his individual experience with his observation of the contemporary world. His struggle and success as a writer coincide with worldwide changes after the collapse of imperial power and the tide of immigration during the second half of the twentieth century. Being a product of these social and cultural changes himself, Naipaul has played an influential role in redefining the meaning of Englishness and reforming the landscape of English literature by re-examining and rewriting the history of colonisation from the perspective of a Third-World individual. However, in this review of Naipaul’s A Way in the World, a summary shall be given and a lucid appraisal of its thematic preoccupation shall be considered.

INTRODUCTION
A Way in the World is a 1994 novel written by the 2001 Nobel Laureate, V. S. Naipaul. In this book, A Way in the World, V. S. Naipaul has been brilliantly alert to the gratifying details which hint at historic commotions which have transferred from the colonial experiences into the post-colonial Caribbean society. Through this book, Naipaul re-emphasizes the feeling of displacement, and cultural alienation. The first person point of view is the narrative technique adopted by Naipaul in this work to reverberate the reality that so many people in the Caribbean islands, with himself included, are not from where they think they are. Just as depicted in this book, Naipaul has shown obviously that there is no Trinidadian who can comprehensively affirm of his/her Amerindian root due to the reality of racial mixture of Africa and Asia which characterizes the socio-cultural framework of the country.

Mixing semi-autobiography, travel writing, documentaries, character analysis and fiction, A way in the world: a novel (1994) is a book of nine sectionalised meditations through which V.S. Naipaul arrives at a deeper understanding of his multicultural heritage and hybrid identity. The novel also celebrates Naipaul’s masterful skill of using different literary genres to illuminate “areas of darkness” surrounding him and to transmit his diasporic experience. ZHU Ying (2006: 98)

Naipaul includes several characters of historical importance, some under a pseudo identity and others directly referenced in pressing home his major themes in the novel. Foster Morris, for example is fashioned greatly after the similitude of Arthur Calder-Marshall, (whose documentary, Glory Dead (1939)), provides a detailed account of the political background to the 1930s oilfield riots in Trinidad. Such a striking character like Lebrun can be said to be modeled after the likeness of such historical figure like C. L. R. James, a Trinidadian who is internationally known as a thinker and a writer. However, Naipaul does not change the names of all of his loosely historical character: Sir Walter Raleigh and the Spanish adventurer Miranda remain Raleigh and Miranda. Henry Swanzy, the producer of Caribbean Voices Programme and an associate of Calder-Marshall, remains Henry Swanzy. On the whole it seems that only the characters whose lives he must manipulate in order to produce the effects he needs are given new names.

Unequivocally, it is an incontrovertible fact that this book is a faction, i.e. the juxtaposition fictional inventions and factual human experiences and realities. Nevertheless, a definition of literary classification is of paramount importance. The reason being that the book cannot be totally classified as a full novel compared to his other fictional works like Miguel Streets. Though upon publication he agreed to call it a novel, he himself asserts that the book is best called a Sequence i.e. a collection of several document sequentially ordered.

However, the displacing and alienating effects of a colonial past on today’s post-colonial peoples have been Naipaul’s leading theme that is so prevalent throughout this book. Via a combination of autobiographical experiences and fictional creations, he was able to create a perfect work that depicts alienation and search for identity.

A Brief Summary of A Way in the World (1994)

He begins the book with a prologue, “Prelude: an inheritance.” In this opening chapter of A way in the world, the narrator could not help having the “half-dream” of “knowing and not knowing” and a “shifting” sense of reality (Way: 4). Listening to stories about Leonard Side, the decorator of cakes and arranger of flowers, from the woman teacher who seemed to know him quite well but could not explain his idiosyncratic “feeling for beauty”, makes the narrator wonder whether Side himself had come to any understanding of himself and his ancestors (Way: 10). Interestingly, the narrator recreates an ancestry for Side through the association of his name with Syde, linking him to a Shia Muslim group in India or the dancing Lucknow, “the lewd men who painted their faces and tried to live like women” (Way: 10). The narrator therefore reveals how little one knows about one’s inheritance.

This idea is further developed in the second chapter, “History: a smell of fish glue”. During his short-term job in the Registrar-General’s Department in Trinidad before his departure to England, the narrator was told that “all the records of the British colony, since 1797, together with a copy of everything that had been printed in the colony” were kept in the department vault (Way: 41). The narrator’s vivid memory of “the smell of fish glue” with which these documents were bound implies a correction of his childhood feeling that the island was out of history due to “the light and the heat that had burnt away the history of the place” (Way: 74).

Acknowledging the strangeness within and around him, the narrator returns to his native Trinidad as an aspiring writer with a mission to revisit and rediscover his and the nation’s historical past. Although documents may “hunt up” the story of the land, the narrator points out that a “historical bird’s eye view” cannot really explain “the mystery” of what one has inherited (Way: 11). As shown in A way in the world, Naipaul has portrayed his characters – the disillusioned Columbus, the half-demented Raleigh, the dishonoured Miranda, the doomed Blair, as well as the omniscient narrator who resembles Naipaul himself – as unique individuals whose life or death, histories or mysteries constitute different ways in the world.

Chapter 3 of the novel, “New clothes: an unwritten story”, indicates how a “real” story can be written by asking the question “Who is this narrator? What can he be made to be?” (Way: 47). If the narrator were made a writer or a traveller, the story would have been identified as true to the author’s experience, but the invention of a story seemed to “falsify what [he] felt as a traveler” (Way: 46). Finally the author decides to create his narrator as a “carrier of mischief” and “revolutionary of the 1970s”, who seeks the help of Amerindians to overthrow the African government on the coast (Way: 48).

The narrator of “New clothes” is the author’s creation of a protagonist for failed attempts to understand people of an entirely different background in a changing situation. While the story remains unfinished and unwritten, the author, fortunately, could “move into and out of the narrator’s consciousness at will and narrate through him, withholding the illusion of control over his own story that comes with first-person narration” (Barnouw, 2003:136). In so doing, the author allows his readers to observe his process of shaping and depicting this English narrator, who is at the same time trying to transcend narrative limitations. Ricoeur’s perception of reenactment, derived from joint powers of documentary interpretation and imaginative construction, reveals that the re-enacted history is and is not what can be assumed to be a “real” past. In this unwritten story, Naipaul’s experiment with narrative strategy shows that discovery and invention are indispensable in representing a recent or a remote past.

Chapter 6, “A parcel of papers, a roll of tobacco, a tortoise: an unwritten story”, opens with the narrator’s wish to write “a play or a screen play, or a mixture of both” about Sir Walter Raleigh’s last expedition to find the gold mines of El Dorado (Way: 163). Even if the screenplay is unwritten, Naipaul’s reinterpretations of Raleigh’s mission filter through the ship surgeon who questions Raleigh on the truthfulness of his book, The discovery of the large, rich, and beautiful empire of Guiana (1595). The surgeon reminds Raleigh that when he writes about the Trinidad side of the Gulf, everything is correctly and clearly recorded, “real knowledge, real enquiry,” but on the Orinoco side, where the gold mines are supposed to be, he depicts “a strange land of diamond mountains and meadows and deer and birds” as if written by someone else (Way: 175).

In contrast, the surgeon reveals that the Spaniard chronicles everything, gets it attested and ships it back to Spain in duplicates and triplicates. Having a great deal of historical information and underscoring the inconsistencies in Raleigh’s account, the surgeon regards Raleigh’s version of his explorations in the Gulf as a “deliberate mixture of old-fashioned fantasy and modern truth” (Way: 175). Perhaps right in his judgment, the surgeon may never understand Raleigh’s actions, his motivations and fears, and his sense of the world shaped by personal experience. The question whether the surgeon will rationally and judgmentally be a suitable narrator to tell and pass down Raleigh’s story even though it is unwritten can rightly be asked. Apparently, the surgeon and Raleigh personify dissimilar attitudes toward the historical past. Whereas history means documentary evidence to the surgeon, it is a repository of personal stories to Raleigh. Above all, Naipaul seems to be more interested in exposing the complication of multiple perspectives on the historical past than in providing an ultimate solution to how history might be written.

In Chapter 8, “In the gulf of desolation: an unwritten story”, Naipaul portrays Francisco Miranda at the end of his life. This chapter once again begins with the narrator’s idea of doing a play or a film about the history of the Gulf as “a three-part work: Columbus in 1498, Raleigh in 1618, and Francisco Miranda, the Venezuelan revolutionary, in 1806” (Way: 245). Despite Miranda’s legendary fame, Naipaul perceives the apprehension, estrangement and disillusionment of a revolutionary, as well as his inability to find a way in the world. Through the first-person narrator, Naipaul remarks that the crucial reason why Miranda is not well known and his story is unwritten is because “on the day he was betrayed he was separated from his papers” (Way: 251). Therefore, “where Miranda should have been in historical accounts there was a void,” says the narrator, who tries to fill in the void by inventively rediscovering Miranda’s lost papers (Way: 350). As a result, Miranda’s anxieties and fears become known through the re-created epistolary discourse, which shows an integration of fictional and factual elements. Interestingly, Naipaul has rendered Raleigh’s and Miranda’s historical adventures in his major work on the history of the New World, The loss of El Dorado (1969). Nonetheless, taking a new angle a quarter of a century later in A way in the world, Naipaul repatterns the documentary material and rewrites a historical fiction about Raleigh and Miranda.

Rediscovering and re-plotting the same documentary facts differently in the former book subtitled as “history” and in the latter subtitled as “novel”, Naipaul illustrates Ricoeur’s idea of the Same, namely, the re-enactment of the historical past in the present. In so doing, Naipaul has questioned the generic boundaries between history and fiction, and transformed historical incompleteness and liminality by re-constructing and re-enacting personal stories within the history of the place.
Speaking through the narrator in the last Chapter “Home again”, Naipaul comments on Blair’s inability “to remake himself” because he was not a writer (Way: 373).

With the gift of writing, Naipaul tries to bridge “the gap separating the self and its other” and the chasm between himself as man and as writer (Ricoeur, 1984:17). Naipaul has paralleled much of his individual experience with his observation of the contemporary world. His struggle and success as a writer coincide with worldwide changes after the collapse of imperial power and the tide of immigration during the second half of the twentieth century. Being a product of these social and cultural changes himself, Naipaul has played an influential role in redefining the meaning of Englishness and reforming the landscape of English literature by re-examining and rewriting the history of colonisation from the perspective of a Third-World individual. Being an exile and ex-colonial in a post-war, postcolonial Europe has provided Naipaul with the momentum for a narrow sense, taking a distance means uncovering strangeness in the self, recognising an otherness of the historical past in relation to the present. In parallel, decentring suggests repudiating an unchanging view on self and challenging a conventional attitude toward history.

Thematic Preoccupation
A Way in the World is not just an entertainment literature, it is a book which encompasses the historical issues of enslavement, exile, colonization, poverty, racial segregation, and alienation.
Destitution and impoverishment.
In the first premise, it is overt to establish that one of the dominant themes in this book is that of poverty, impoverishment, destitution and hunger. Naipaul reveals in so many places the overreaching effects of defaulted colonial policies which engendered this societal evil copiously in this book.
Most of the people were Indians. Many of them have been would have been indentured immigrants from India who had served out their indentures on the sugar estates… they… have found themselves with nowhere to live. These people were without money, job, without anything like a family, … without any kind of representation. They are utterly destitute.(19)

Theme of Alienation
V. S. Naipaul reveals in this book that cultural alienation is tantamount to the situation where the humanity of the Blacks and the Indians are progressively eroded, and they are separated several miles from their cultural identity.
They were people who had been, as a fairy story, lifted up from pleasantry of India and set down thousands of miles away___ weeks and weeks of sailing___ in Trinidad in the colonial setting of Trinidad where rights were limited, you could have done anything with these people, they were tormented by the people of the town. (19)
He also commented through his narrator that “I understand why as a child I felt that history had been burnt away in the place where I was born” (110) All these are pointers to the fact that cultural alienation and rootlessness is a prevailing experience on the Caribbean island.

Racial discrimination
Without much ado, the theme of discrimination and segregation is obviously a paramount one as far as the literature of the Caribbean is concern. The Caribbean socio-political society is a highly stratified one with the White categorized as the supreme or aristocratic race while the Blacks are seen as the unfortunate race. All these characters (i.e. the White, Coloured, Mullato, Indians, Blacks etc.) where clearly represented in the book. The narrator himself is an Indian, Belbenoit is a coloured man (23), Blair is a black man (24) and Columbus is a white man. However, just as he hinted on page 25, privileges are allocated to everyone in Trinidad according to the colour of their skin. The Blacks and the Indians most especially are denied some certain privileges enjoyed by the Whites.
Speaking about Belbenoit for example, Naipaul wrote:
Though every kind of racial assumption is shown on his garrulous face, he felt he has been discouraged for racial reasons from aiming higher: at the time when he had entered the service, the best jobs were reserved for people from England… he was famous in the office for been an unhappy man. (24)
Belbenoit permanent countenance is however that of a general feeling of separation which was collectively felt by the Blacks and the Indians _the disadvantaged of the system.

References
NAIPAUL, V. S. 1994. A Way in the World
NAIPAUL, V.S. 1959. Miguel street. London: Deutsch.
NAIPAUL, V.S. 1969. The loss of El Dorado: a history. London: Deutsch.
NAIPAUL, V.S. 1979. A bend in the river. London: Deutsch.
NAIPAUL, V.S. 1984. Prologue to an autobiography. (In Naipaul, V.S. Finding the center: two narratives. New York: Knopf. p. 1-72.)
NAIPAUL, V.S. 1994. A way in the world: a novel. New York: Vintag Books.
Udofia, J. American Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

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THE SOCIO-POLITICAL RELEVANCE OF NIGERIAN MUSIC:A CASE STUDY OF SELECTED SONGS OFALEXANDER AJIFOLAJI (9ICE), BUKOLA ELEMIDE (ASA)AND BISADE OLOGUNDE (LAGBAJA)

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ABSTRACT

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

SECTION ONE

TYPES OF MUSIC

SECTION TWO

CHAPTER THREE: THE THEMATIC APPRAISAL OF 9ICE’S AND ASA’S SONGS

PETEPETE

THERE IS FIRE ON THE MOUNTAIN

CHAPTER FOUR: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF LAGBAJA’S SONGS

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER ONEGENERAL INTRODUCTION

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THE SOCIO-POLITICAL RELEVANCE OF NIGERIAN MUSIC:
A CASE STUDY OF SELECTED SONGS OF
ALEXANDER AJIFOLAJI (9ICE),
BUKOLA ELEMIDE (ASA)
AND BISADE OLOGUNDE (LAGBAJA)

CHAPTER ONE
GENERAL INTRODUCTION