text book journal pdf sis. noelle résumé en afrique traditionnelle, la femme est vue comme un être sans voix. elle est susceptible à toutes sortes d'exploitation et d'oppression. elle est dépersonnalisée et abandonnée. l'excision est un des sujet traités par les écrivaines africaines dans leurs œuvres et dont la femme est victime. parmi les auteurs africains qui condamnent les maux que subissent les femmes sont calixthe beyala dans tu t'appelleras tanga (t.t), mariama bâdans une si longue lettre. bugul ken dans riwan ou le chemin de sable parmi tant autres. c'est une pratique douloureuse qui traumatise psychologiquement et physiquement les victimes. c'est une pratique barbare et qui pose des dangers chez les femmes. cette étude vise à critiquer l'excision qui est une des pratiques qui rongent la société africaine. c'est une pratique dégradante et oppressive. calixthe beyala étant écrivaine, critique et cherche à fustiger certaines institutions patriarcales qui font obstacles à l'émancipation et à l'épanouissement de la femme africaine dont l'excision fait partie. cette étude s'appuiera sur la théorie de womaniste surtout celle de chikwenye okonjo ogunyemi pour qu'on puisse faire une analyse profonde du sujet en question. introduction depuis les années soixante, lies femmes étaient considérées comme des êtres de peu d'importance. cette affirmation exprime l'absence presque totale des femmes en littérature. de nos jours, on témoigne la naissance des œuvres des écrivaines comme manama ba, aminata sow fall et beaucoup d'autres. ces écrivaines élargissent le champ de la littérature africaine avec leur expérience littéraire. dans leurs œuvres le plus souvent, elles dévoilent et condamnent les vices infligées aux femmes par les hommes. la littérature féminine est née suite aux contradictions qui résultent de la structure fondamentale des stéréotypes attribués au caractère féminin. la littérature féminine connait un grand essor avec la parution des écrivaines comme mariama bâ, fatou keita, aminata sow fall, calixthe beyala et les autres en scène littéraire. quant à kesteloot, les œuvres féminines se distinguent des œuvres masculines surtout par son contenu et le message qu'ils transmettent. kesteloot (1992:482) dit: toutes (les romancières) restituent avec des talents divers les affres du manage, avec l'amour, la jalousie, la concurrence l'adultère, l'abandon, la stérilité, et puis les enfants, les tensions les croyances et pratiques traditionnelles, de la condition féminine, de la famille contraintes. ainsi, ces romancières africaines se sont lancées à l'aventure de l'écriture en adaptant leur production littéraire aux contextes sociaux. les écrivaines comme calixthe beyala mettent constamment en exergue la révolte de la femme face à un système phallocratique. la coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 01 ijah, gideon akase phd department of french nasarawa state university, keffi email : akaseijah@gmail.com/+2348068110716 et john ogidi acha department of modern languages & translation studies university of calabar email: achajohnogidi@gmail.com/+2347034897527 l'excision en afrique et ses conséquence: exemple de tu t'appelleras tanga de calixthe beyala femme est vue comme un être sans voix. elle n'a rien à dire. elle ne participe pas suffisamment aux affaires de sa société. elle est considérée comme inferieure à l'homme. elle est maltraitée dans sa société oui elle souffre de l'oppression qui parfois la conduit à sa mort prématurée. la femme traditionnelle est gardienne et détentrice de la coutume et de la tradition africaine. sa place est au foyer. elle assure de la procréation. elle est une victime de la société et de l'homme. l'excision en afrique presque toutes les cultures assignent a la femme une place plus ou moins inférieureà celle de l'homme, la femme est soumise et elle accepte sa condition en silence, assujettie, elle se dévoue pour son époux et son progéniture. elle se met au service de l'homme pour lui plaire. pour revendiquer les droits et la dignité de cette femme bafouée, les écrivaines féministes comme mariama bâ, simone de beauvoir, aminata sowfall, hélène cixous, calixthebeyala, alice walker et les autres commencent à parler en défense de la femme africaine, (femme opprimée et rejetée). l'excision féminine est une pratique qui se trouve dans la société africaine, une pratique où le clitoris de la se coupe et dont un bon nombre des écrivains condamnent. la contribution de ces écrivaines féministes cherche à identifier et mettre en valeurs, les attributs féminins. elles veulent dévoiler la réalité de la femme africaine. ces écrivaines analysent la condition féminine sans verser dans du plaidoyer. le témoignage de calixthebeyala sur la condition dégradante et oppressive de la femme africaine est évidemment clair. née à douala au cameroun en 1961, elle est une des femmes africaines qui se voient comme porte-paroles des femmes marginalisées. elle considère la littérature comme instrument de la lutte contre la subjugation des femmes africaines et de quelques pratiques intolérables contre le sexe féminin y comprend l'excision. sixième d'une famille de douze enfants, elle a été marquée par l'extrême pauvreté de son milieu. cette écrivaine célèbre est l'une des figures les plus controversées sur la scène littéraire africaine contemporaine. à travers ses œuvres, beyala montre et dépeint la femme silencieuse, soumise et obéissante. elle prêche à travers ses œuvres, la libération de la femme. pour illustrer donc la présente réflexion, nous nous sommes intéressés a tu t'appelleras tanga de calixthebeyala. dans tu t'appelleras tanga, l'auteure expose le maltraitèrent et l'exploitation de l'enfant noir. elle condamne la prostitution, l'excision, le viol, l'inceste et les autres vices dont la femme africaine est victime. calixthebeyala comme ses autres compatriotes luttent à travers leur écriture pour la libération de la femme opprimée. elle dit tout haut ce que les autres disent tout bas. elle met en lumière dans tu t'appelleras tanga, l'inutilité de la pratique de l'excision. pour elle, c'est une pratique barbare dont on doit s'écarter de nos jours dans nos différentes sociétés. puisque nous nous intéressons àanalyser les conséquences de l'excision dans tu t'appelleras tanga de beyala, ce travail se basera sur la théorie womaniste. on examinera la notion de l'excision chez des chercheurs et les conséquences de cette pratique dans le roman en cours d'études. enfin, il y aura une conclusion qui nous permettra de faire la synthèse de notre travail. clarification théorique. il nous sera nécessaire d'encadrer théoriquement notre étude pour avoir une analyse systématique du sujet. ainsi, cc travail académique sera encadré sur la théorie womaniste. cette théorie est née suite aux débats qui se déclenchent quand on pane du féminisme 02 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 particulièrement chez les africains. le womanisme est donc un néologisme inventé par alice walker pour se dissocier du féminisme de l'occident qui met accent sur l'individualisme. chez alice walker, le womanisme provient de la culture africaine, américaine et caraïbe anglophone qui vise à rechercher une nouvelle technologie pour communiquer suffisamment le féminisme des femmes noires, ainsi qu'une reconnaissance de la limitation du terme féminisme pour les noires (1983:28). le womanisme préconise l'inclusion des considérations raciales aux questions qui concerne le sexe. le womanisme africain met accent 1' sur l'autodéfinition de la femme et l'affirmation de soi. donc, une révolte contre la mutilation génitale féminine est une démarche womaniste. quant à chikwenye okonjo ogunyemi, le womanisme doit centrer sur la maternité. ainsi, le womanisme doit comprendre des questions raciales, sexuelles, nationales, économiques, culturelles et politiques (1983:63). elle appelle sa théorie le womanisme noir. en s'appuyant sur le womanisme de chikwenyeokonjoogunyemi, on parlera de l'excision ou de la mutilation génitale féminine parce que c'est un problème national et aussi un problème socioéconomique. cette théorie selon anih cité dans nwabueze et al, préconise son émancipation et cela ne peut se réaliser que par l'élimination des pratiques barbares qui contribuent à son oppression et à sa subjugation. le womanisme exige qu'on défend la femme et tout ce qui est féminine, voilà pourquoi l'excision de tanga qui représente le sort de beaucoup de femme est condamné dans tu t'appelleras tanga. la théorie s'oppose à toutes sortes de violence à l'égard des femmes ainsi que des hommes africains (2013:188). l'excision n'est pas seulement un problème sexuel mais aussi un problème national, politique et socioéconomique. donc, le womanisme de chikwenyeokonjoogunyemi considère l'indépendance et la liberté de la femme. l'excision dans tu t'appelleras tanga en littérature francophone, il y a plusieurs romans qui abordent la question de l'excision ou de la mutilation génitale. l'excision qui est aussi appelé la mutilation génitale est une pratique très ancienne. c'est un des thèmes traités dans la littérature africaine contemporaine. selon le petit robert, l'excision est “l'ablation rituelle du prépuce ou du clitoris et parfois des petits lèvres dans certaines sociétés” (2007:933). cette pratique est si vieille comme le monde. c'est une pratique qui ronge la société africaine. l'excision est un facteur de frustration et d'atteinte à la dignité de la femme. c'est par l'excision que celle-ci devient une femme accomplie, celle qui supporte la douleur. dans certaines traditions ou sociétés, on pane de rites d'excision et ici l'excision devient une cérémonie rituelle célèbre de la même manière que la circoncision. dans ce cas, ce rite est impose sur les femmes sous prétexte de réduire la promiscuité chez les filles. après ce rite, la fille en question est considérée comme une femme mûre. beaucoup d'écrivaines féministes critiquent les pratiques de l'excision et la subjugation des femmes par les hommes. ces écrivaines alors avaient assez de raisons pour lutter contre les méfaits des hommes et de la société sur les femmes notamment buchi emecheta, mariarna bi et calixthebeyala. lorsqu'on pane de l'excision, également appelée mutilations génitales féminines (mgf), on réfère l'ablation partielle ou totale des organes génitaux externes de la femme ou autre lésion des organes génitaux féminins pratiquées pour des raisons non médicales. l'excision du clitoris, qui est une mutilation génitale féminine (mgf), implique l'ablation de la partie externe prépondérante du clitoris (clitoridectomie) et de son capuchon. elle est parfois accompagnée de l'ablation des petites lèvres et de la suture des grandes lèvres. cette mutilation est illégale dans la plupart des pays du monde. de nombreuses organisations militent pour son abolition mondiale. l'excision présente plusieurs variantes qui différent par l'étendue de l'ablation et les coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 03 pratiques annexes. d'après certaines croyances, une femme excisée a la tendance de rester fidèle dans sa vie conjugale. cette femme excisée à moins d'inclination a l'excitation sexuelle et en conséquence moins de désir. le clitoris doit être coupé pour ne pas permettre aux jeunes flues de sortir de l'âge d'adolescence et de rentrer dans le cercle des adultes car il est considéré comme une partie impure du corps de la jeune fille. les jeunes filles et les femmes tu t'appelleras tanga deviennent victimes de la contradiction qui régissait la vie dans les bidonvilles. tanga est soumise l'excision car sa mère veut lui assurer du succès dans la conquête des hommes. la mère de tanga, elle-même, s'écrie après l'opération douloureuse. « elle (tanga), est devenue femme.... elle gardera tous les hommes » (1996:24). voilà une déclaration en contradiction' flagrante avec le but de l'excision. tanga vient d'une famille pauvre et immorale. son père l'a emmène chez sa maitresse et fait l'amour avec celle-là sous le regard de tanga. sa mère aussi, reste avec sa grand-mère qui habite avec son amant la vieille la mère s'allonge. quelquefois, je la suis, je colle ma tronche à la serrure. j'attends l'instant où le lit grince, où les cris montent. le lit pleure, mais aucun cri ne sort des lèvres de la vieille. il la possède très vite, tel on insecte, il la libère, il gratte son ventre qu'il a jusqu'aux cuisses (1996:72). l'excision est un marquage atroce de la condition féminine. c'est aussi one imposition de la condition de la société patriarcale dans son projet d'appropriation du corps féminin. cette mutilation génitale traumatise psychologiquement les pauvres jeunes filles et rendent leurs corps engourdis pour toujours. l'excision féminine est une tradition rituelle profondément ancrée dans les murs. cet acte en afrique représente actuellement pour les fillettes, avec leur manage, une cérémonie la plus importante de leur vie. cc n'est qu'après s'être soumise au rite de l'excision qu'elles deviennent des jeunes femmes et qu'elles sont pleinement acceptées et reconnues dans la communauté. les raisons de l'excision différente d'une région et d'une ethnie l'autre. les uns pensent que le clitoris peut empoissonner l'homme ou l'enfant à la naissance. il y en a ceux qui croient que le clitoris est un organe masculin et qu'il convient de couper afin que la fillette devienne une femme à part entière. certains hommes refusent d'épouser des femmes non excisées. ils croient que ces femmes peuvent se donner facilement à l'adultère. calixthebeyala et d'autres femmes refusent cet acte car les femmes excisées sont marquées le long de leur vie dans leur chair et dans leur esprit. il y a de nombreuses victimes qui ne savent pas que leurs problèmes physiques et psychiques sont directement liés à l'excision. l'excision de tanga est synonyme d'un déni de la féminité qui, à peine naissante mais déjà source d'exécration, est soustraite du corps de la femme afin de le priver de la connaissance et du droit au plaisir. de plus, cette excision dévoile la brutalité et la violence du geste de « l'arrachasse de clitoris » (1996:20) et s'inscrit comme un acte de viol do corps de in femme instrumentalisé et qui est, par le même fait, chosifié. ce rituel est d'ailleurs pratiqué par une femme qui n'est pas sans devenir complice de l'ordre patriarcal castrateur et, comme l'écrivait mariama ba, sait magnifiquement corrompre et morceler le destin d'une sœur. donc, cette pratique est contre la dignité de la femme. l'excision est donc une violation grave des droits des femmes et des filles. les conséquences de l'excision l'excision n'a aucun avantage pour la sante des victimes. elle est une mutilation avec un impact négatif sur les excisées. les conséquences de l'excision sont nombreuses et innumérables. elles sont aussi psychologiques et physiques. d'après toyi dans nwabueze obianuju, l'excision est tellement inhumaine dans la vie d'une femme que des associations 04 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 entières se sont levées pour condamner cette pratique (2013:133). cela veut dire qu'elle consiste en un facteur de frustration et d'atteinte à la dignité de la femme. dans tu t'appelleras tanga, tanga ne peut pas rester la même personne après l'acte d'excision. elle était trop perplexe et elle dit: je n'ai pu pleurer, je n'ai rien dit. j'héritais du sang entre mes jambes...seul me restait la loi de l'oublie (1996:24). elle était traumatisée psychologiquement palcet acte d'excision. sa féminité était dénie. elle ne pouvait pas contenir la douleur et le choc qui accompagnent l'excision. l'excision donc devient un facteur de frustration et d'atteinte à la dignité de la femme. la douleur, la blessure, la souffrance, l'agonie, la frustration, la dépression, la détresse et le traumatisme qui sont liés à la mutilation génitale féminine quelques fois sont le sujet dans les écritures féminines. dans ses commentaires sur tu t'appelleras tanga de calixthe beyala, chantal patterson dit que l'excision est née à l'époque où les nomades se déplaçaient avec leurs femmes. selon cette critique, les femmes étaient marquées par cette coutume pour les empêcher de se laisser aller à la jouissance sexuelle avec les envahisseurs barbares qui arrivent à l'époque et soumettaient les tribus aux razzias. chez patterson donc, c'était aussi pour garantir la pureté du sang de lignée que les femmes étaient marquées. en la détournant de sa vocation première, dit patterson, 1'afrique postcoloniale de l'œuvre de calixthe beyala transforme l'excision en un acte de viol et un rite chargé de violence (1987:52). les excisées sont tourmentées par les souvenirs obsédants de cette violence traumatisante. ces femmes sont souvent bouleversées par l'image du sang qui leurs rappelle les drames de leur excision. la mère de salimata dans les soleils des indépendances d'ahmadou kourouma explique la signification de l'excision ainsi...tu verras, ma fille. pendant un mois tu vivras en avec d'autres excisées et, au milieu des chants, on vous enseignera tous les tabous de la tribu. l'excision est la rupture, elle démarque, elle met fin aux années d'équivoque, d'impureté de la jeune fille et après, vient la vie de femme [1970:22). ici, l'excision joue un rôle socioculturel étant un rite de passage. donc, on pane du changement de statut car une fille excisée passe du statut de jeune flue et devient une femme. en tant que femme, elle est prête à assurer le rôle d'épouse. elle commence à prendre part à la vie de sa société. salimata qui est l'héroïne du roman, a même subi cette pratique déshumanisante. l'excision entraîne une douleur intense, accompagnée de peurs, d'angoisses et parfois d'un grave état de choc psychologique. par ailleurs, la vulve, les lèvres et le clitoris sont des parties du corps très vascularisées et innervées; l'excision s'accompagne donc de saignements et peut se traduire par une hémorragie parfois grave. pratiquée dans des conditions d'hygiène souvent précaires, elle est l'origine d'infections multiples, vulvaires, urinaires et gynécologiques, menant parfois à la stérilité. la diffusion des infections peut s'étendre et générer des septicémies qui, sans traitement adéquat, peuvent évoluer vers la mort. psychologiquement, la douleur, le choc et l'utilisation de la force physique par celles qui pratiquent l'intervention laissent de nombreuses petites flues, adolescentes et femmes traumatisées. il y a une plus grande probabilité de crainte des rapports sexuels, d'état de stress post traumatique, d'anxiété, de dépression et de pertes de mémoire chez les femmes excisées, une autre conséquence de l'excision c'est une complication obstétricale. dès l'accouchement, une femme infibulée et l'enfant qu'elle porte sont tous menaces de mort. malheureusement aussi, plusieurs mères avaient perdu leurs enfants à cause d'infections. les déchirures périnéales sont aussi une complication fréquente. la mutilation génitale féminine est aussi l'origine de coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 05 fistule vesico -vaginale qui consiste en un éclatement et la mort des tissus séparant la vessie ou le rectum du vagin. conclusion l'excision des enfants-filles et des lemmes est un des sujets qui soulèvent tant de problèmes en afrique. c'est une pratique barbare qui ne suit pas les normes médicales. les filles excisées souffrent des blessures corporelles, physiques et psychologiques. quelques fois, il mène à la mort à cause de l'hémorragie profuse. à cause de ces raisons, les écrivaines emploient leurs plumes pour lutter contre cette pratique barbare qui entraine des conditions dénigrantes et stigmates chez la femme africaine. cet acte mène parfois à la souffrance perpétul1e. beyala est le porte-parole des femmes africaines qui désirent s'affranchir de l'autorité et de l'influence castratrices et prône une libération de la femme qui passe essentiellement par une réappropriation de son corps par elle-même. chez elle, l'excision est une expérience de silence entourée de silences. l'histoire qui se construit entre les deux personnages principaux est faite de silence. (wikipedia). cette écrivaine brise tous les tabous qui concernent le corps féminin et sa sexualité. elle parle de la chair et la décrit dans sa réalité, sans rien cacher et sans honte. pour ce fait, elle emploie des mots vulgaires voire obscènes à certains moments. dans tu t'appelleras tanga, calixthebeyala en tant qu'écrivaine dévoile et condamne tous les maux sociaux de la société africaine post coloniale. elle expose la souffrance que les enfants endurent à la main d'une société patriarcale et le résultat d'une telle souffrance aux femmes et aux enfants. son héroïne tanga endure des violences physiques et psychologiques. elle est l'enfant-parent de ses parents et elle reste l'esclave de ses parents. beyala lance un appel aux femmes africaines de se révolter et de se réaliser contre toutes sortes de violence et l'oppression qu'elle endure chez les hommes dans une société patriarcale. références beyala, calixthe. tu t'appelleras tanga. paris: edition stock, 1996. dictionnaire petit robert. paris, 2007. kesteloot, lilyan. anthologie négro-africaine. histoire et textes de 1918à nos jours. paris: edicef, 1992. kourouma, a. les soleils des indépendances. paris: seuil. nwabueze, o. et omonzejie, e. (ed) (2013), 1970. french language in nigeria: essays in honour of uftan pacesetters. ben in city: university french teachers association of nigeria, 2014. ogunyemi, o. c.womanism: the dynamics of the contemporary black female novel in english. the nigerian novel by women chicago: university of chicago press, 1996. patterson, c. les mutilations sexuelles féminines: l'excision en questions. présence africaine, 1987. 06 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 page 1 page 2 page 3 page 4 page 5 page 6 jonal vol. 5 no. 4 new2.cdr music and the mass media in a digital age by dr. sunday n. nnamani 08063960225, 08091144141 sundaynnamani2010@yahoo.com dept of music, faculty of humanities, alex ekwueme federal university ndufu-alike ikwo, abakaliki, ebonyi state & rev. ikechi nwagu 08061111940. ikechi001@gmail.com dept of music, faculty of humanities, alex ekwueme federal university ndufu-alike ikwo, abakaliki, ebonyi state abstract he pace at which technology is evolving is ever increasing – and people are eager to embrace tit. the digital age has a wide scope. one may have heard of buzz and words like artificial intelligence (ai), automation, big data, insure tech, internet of things (iot) and cloud. these are some of the streams that come under the digital age. life in the digital age is truly information driven as data to access the internet is becoming more valuable than other things, hence an average person needs to access social media almost on a daily basis. for the last decade, phenomenal technological advances in digital technologies has enabled the internet to become an efficient medium for accessing music both by streaming or direct downloading, as well as by online acquisition of cds and cassettes(graham et al, 2002). social media platforms such as whatsapp, facebook, youtube, instagram, telegram, etc have emerged as agents of information dissemination around the globe. careful observation shows that music and mass media in the digital age has left the corridors of the traditional owners to the doorstep of the consumers. key words: internet, facebook, social media, streaming, download introduction over the years, music and mass media has continued to play related and complimentary roles in the society. both have been regarded as great medium of socialization, education, communication, good governance, character formation, information and religious experience. music and the mass media right from origin, has been growing side by side with technology, and such development had led to the constant improvement of both on a daily basis. the demands of the digital age have left both music and mass media with the option of meeting up with the current trend. therefore, in trying to meet up with the demands of the digital age, music and mass media have continued to improve their standards in all ramifications. they do this in order to enhance productivity because the relevance of music and mass media in the society is very high and cannot be over-estimated. therefore, the use of the internet and social media platforms in the production, distribution and consumption of music is highly necessary. definition of concepts music: as a creative and performing art, the definition of music may vary from one social and cultural context to another. according to idolor (2002), music is derived from the greek word “musicke” which originally meant the art of technique of all cultural endeavours. jagger in idolor 174 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 mailto:sundaynnamani2010@yahoo.com (2002) also remarked that “humanity denotes mankind and the characteristics that evolve in the interaction of human beings: music is generally defined as an organised sound, its concept varies from one society to another hence it is necessary to understand what sounds and what kind of behavior different societies regard as musical. sociologically, the concept of music is by the society and it is concerned with the organized ways in which people behave towards one another when they listen, produce, and reproduce those sounds which they perceive as music. ubani (2009) expressed that music is capable of transforming the society in a most logical, convenient and appropriate tool for disseminating and communicating information to the masses that assures retention and serves as a reminder. also, music may be defined as “a sacred art”. this is so because we use music in holy places of worship – churches, mosques, shrines and temples. also, music may be seen as “a succession of organized sounds which the ear may interpret as pleasant or pleasing or entertaining or enjoyable” (anuonye, 2017). also, okpala in iwu and anuonye (2009) posited that: music is a social process by which human beings relate to one another through transmission of information, ideas, emotions, thoughts, norms, concepts and feelings among themselves. music is the centre place of life which gives human life existence worth its value. being the heart of life, music functions like the centre of life in man… it is music that defines an individual group, people and society in general. it is present in man (from cradle to the grave) being omnipresent and ubiquitous. it permeates all human conditions. this means that its only through music (as a process of socialization) that human beings relate to themselves and interact with one another, share from one another's problems and enjoyments and organize their environment to make it conducive to living. oguoma (2009) opines that music is one language that is universal. poets interpret the world in verbal configuration, painters depict the world in colour, line and texture while music communicates in varying the vast array of human experiences. music is made of sounds, vibrations and silent moments, and it doesn't always have to be pleasant or pretty. it can be used to convey a whole range of experiences, environments and emotions. ( ).https://study.com mass media ubani (2009) defined mass media as “those contrivances artistically employed by communicators to bring about inter-personal relationships among people and between groups and persons on local, nations and international levels”. mass media refers to the technologies used as channels for a small group of people to communicate with a larger number of people. the concept was first addressed during the progressive era of the 1920s, as a response to new opportunities for elites to reach large audiences via the mass media of the time: newspapers, radio, and film. actually, the three forms of traditional mass media today are still the same: print (newspapers, books, magazines), broadcast (television, radio), and cinema (movies and documentaries). but in the 1920s, mass media referred not just to the number of people such communication could reach but rather to the uniform consumption, and anonymity of the audiences. uniformity and anonymity are characters which no longer fit the way people seek out what to consume, and manipulate information into their daily lives. those new media are referred to as “alternative media” or “mass self-communication”. the two best known types are commercial advertising and political campaigns. due to technological 175 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 https://study.com development and advancement, the traditional mass media comprising the print, broadcast and cinema are facing numerous challenges. however, new forms are being created and added day by day to fit into the digital age. the internet and social media have altered the nature of mass media thereby creating consumers who control, produce and even create media of their own, and by so doing, they can easily track consumer responses without much stress. digital age arrives with a set of big communication challenges for traditional mainstream media: new relations with audiences (interactivity), new languages (multimedia) and a new grammar (hypertext). but this media revolution not only changes the communication landscape for the usual players, most importantly, it opens the mass communication system to a wide range of new players. as far as enterprises, institutions, administrations, organizations, groups, families and individuals start their own online presence, they become “media” by their own, they also become “sources” for traditional media and in many cases, they produce strong “media criticism”. digital age the digital age, also referred to as the information age, saw the prevalent use of the internet probably shifting from traditional industry to an economy based on information and communication technologies. around the 1980s with the subsequent introduction of personal computers, individuals were provided with the ability to transfer information freely and quickly through the internet. it is very difficult to discuss the digital age without mentioning the information and communication technology (ict). abdullahi, h. (2013) argues that ict definition depends on the angle the individual looks at it. according to him, information and communication technology comprises the method and technical means of capturing, storing, processing, retrieving and transmitting both data and information borne by the data. information and communication technology is an interdisciplinary science primarily concerned with the collection, classification, manipulation, storage, retrieval and dissemination of information. furthermore, he informs that the advent of ict especially in these modern times has brought effective and efficient information generation, utilization and dissimilation, storage and retrieval. ict include among others, television, radio broadcasting, audio cassettes and audio cassettes recorders, video cassettes and video cassettes recorders, computers, satellite systems, multimedia approaches, audiovisual utilization, as well as the various services and applications associated with them. these include but not limited to video conferencing and multimedia utilization. the pace at which technology is evolving is ever increasing and people are eager to embrace it. the digital age has a wide scope too. it's likely that you have heard of buzz words like “artificial intelligence (ai), automation, big data, insure tech, internet of things (iot) and “cloud”. these are just some of the streams that come under the digital umbrella. according to abiodum (2017), the emergence of internet and digital technologies is a global experience that touches every industry. increasingly, internet-based technologies and its applications are progressively penetrating all areas of business, individual and social facet of everyday life. for every sector, digitalization changes the approach services and products are made, marketed, sold, distributed and how organizations manage competitions. furthermore, he stated thus “over the last decade, phenomenal technologies advances in digital technologies has enabled the internet to become an efficient medium for accessing music – both by streaming or downloading it directly, and by acquisition of cds and cassettes from online retailers (graham et al, 2002). the nigerian music industry has experienced many technological innovations ranging from cassette 176 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 recordings, audio cds recordings, massive video recordings and digital music. the industry is gradually transiting from over reliance on record companies to a situation where artists can have direct contact with the consumers to reduce bottlenecks and prices in the value chain of their music as well as maximizing profits. this is made possible as a result of the advent of the internet as an efficient medium for communication and marketing of music. nevertheless, the purpose of this work, music and the mass media in a digital age shall be discussed with regards to its production, distribution and consumption. production the digital age has continued to witness serious and constant shift from the traditional way of doing things to computerized form. one of the structures of the traditional music industry structure is music and song creation. musicians, lyricists, composers and recording artists with creativity and talents create music massively. olugbenga in margaret (2017) recorded the progress of recording studios in nigeria as follows: historical development: he records that; we can identify specific periods in the history of music recording in nigeria since its inception at the turn of the twentieth century from 1900 which involved mano analogue recording technique. it consisted of holding one or two microphones in the middle of a group of musicians after which it is then transcribed into a wax cylinder. another epoch, witnessed the multi-national recording companies monopolizing the entire music industry in nigeria and the recording technique was the multi-track stereo analogue recordings. finally, the digital age witnessed a total withdrawal of the multi-national recording companies, the emergence and proliferation of digital home studios, using multi-track analogue and the digital state of the arts recording technology. technology has always been the bedrock of the music industry, and the digital technology has transformed the music industry not only in the way music is consumed but also fundamentally in the way music is recorded and performed. today, low-cost high-quality recording, processing and mixing solutions have led to affordable studio time being available all over the nation. studios are no longer the expensive and hallowed domain of a small and exclusive clientele of signed artists. artists of all colours and hue are using various music websites to build fan base and to sell their music to the public. egonu (2009) opines that the use of computer in composition has actually improved the quality of the music we hear today as noted by gordon zaft (1996). he emphasized that; music composition has gone a long way into perfection with the advent of computer technology. today, people with little or no knowledge of music can come up with creative musical ideas. professional composers can have a variety of music played in little or no time with the aid of computer software thus enabling them listen to what their music sounds like without having to organize and orchestrate or been performed by a choir. scores/music sheets are even mass produced with neater and better presentations without the limitation of time and space. a number of artists and composers have during recent years implemented the context-focused model in the creative production of their musical works. rather than only making polished recordings for 177 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 the audience to experience and enjoy, they created services and practices that involve the audience in the creative process and allow the fans to do things with music; that is to say, encouraging the fans to upload sounds, images and videos of production. composers and song writers create songs, lyrics and arrangements that are performed live on stage, recorded and distributed to consumers or licensed for some other kind of use, for instance sheet music as background music for other media (advertising, television, radio, etc). furthermore, the role of media editors have been reduced also by worldwide publishing without editors but with a close peer review daily process and in most cases open to comments from readers in the nature of social web publishing. as a result of that, the agenda of relevant current affairs goes beyond the established media and now is shared with a wide variety of new sources most of them not media, including social web portals, mailing lists, e-bulletins, search engines, new groups, forum and weblogs with their respective feeds when available. ( )https://www.ecuaderno.com/culturasdigitales distribution this could also be referred to as a product of marketing which may include branding, information, distribution/dissemination and community building. major channels for branding and information dissemination are professional promoters, disk jockeys, djs/clubs, and media houses such as the television and radio stations. these channels publicize information about new releases and provide samples of music to the fans and consumers. music normally is stored in portable medium such as cds and audio cassettes, for sale and preservation. the channels also help to develop communities of music fans with similar tastes. according to jayeola and nwonye (2017), the compact disc read only memory (cd – rom) stores music data such as audio, video, audio – visual and literary documentation on every aspect of music. information contained in the cd-rom, which could be on any culture, is widely distributed for global consumption and can be decoded on the screen of the computer by even people from other world cultures. through the radio, television and the internet, these products are advertized, promoted and marketed for mass orientation and global patronage. thus producing, reproducing and distribution of music is rapidly becoming cheaper, making it possible for many small and independent record companies to enter the market. in a digital age, challenges like paper space for the printing of media materials and short time for broadcast media ceased to be the limit to content and now the time of the user in the new scarce resource. the vision of musicians and their fans and music lovers coming together without any limitations of time and space without any interference from meddling record companies is being realized virtually on the internet. quoting egonu (2009), he said, we know that “music for the people” is one thing that will without doubt continue to grow. music for all purposes, radio, public shows, advertisements, relaxation, ceremonial, tv, etc, is composed easily without stress and just in time. presently, there is different musical software available in the market which can aid in composition, sound synthesis, song arrangement, harmonization, and even performance of music piece itself. thegonu stressed further that in april 27 , 1996, the first virtual concert hall was launched. it consisted of the musicians of nova orchestra who gathered at the school of music and dance's hall at one end and dancers of the school at gittings dance theatre at the other end of the campus. the musicians of orchestra nova performed two pieces on their roland a-30 midi keyboard 178 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 https://www.ecuaderno.com/culturasdigitales controllers; audio and video from crowder hall were fed lives via network to gittings dance hall where the dancers performed to the live music. crowds in both halls could see and hear the entire performance on large lcd screens hanging from the ceilings. consumption nowadays, most musical artists and producers go beyond the traditional format of the song and create mobile applications that allow the users to play with music in different ways. according to blow (2009), the merger of audio technologies with computer technologies converted music into an information product. digital technologies such as mp3 have become the standard for digital music format. mp3 is a widely accepted format for music distribution over the internet and being an open standard (not a patented property of a company) and well received by many audio software developers. however, mp3 does not have a provision for a digital signature to identify or stop illegal music download and distribution worldwide which has allowed music consumers to freely download and distribute both legal and pirated music over the internet. music consumption in a digital age has become very cheap and affordable that music lovers can enjoy their desired music tract from the comfort of their homes provided there is an internet connection. among the three kinds of music fans, the vast majority of listeners are those who copy music illegally because it is more convenient than buying the originals. the sales of cds have continued to fall and paid-for downloads from services like apple's itunes have fallen short too where legal services offering free, unlimited streaming of music rather than downloads, are proliferating. the growth and development of technology in the digital age has also affected the mass media in the sense that information is now distributed in many directions and methods, and audiences can vary from one person to many thousands. mass self-communication can potentially reach a global audience but it is self generated in content, self-directed in its mission and typically focuses on self-related information. sociologist alvin toffler created the now-obsolete term of “prosumers” to describe users who are almost simultaneously consumers and producers – for example, reading and commenting on online content, or reading and replying to twitter post. interactions also now cross-media stream such as “social tv, where people use hash tags while watching a sports game or a television program in order to simultaneously read and converse with hundreds of other viewers on social media. the communication process in the actual scenario is user centered: users have the control to choose, to decide, to search, to define and configure, to subscribe or to unsubscribe, to comment and most importantly, to write, talk and film.”( ).https://www.ecuaderno.com/culturadigitales conclusion the digital age has not only affected music and the mass media but other aspects of human endeavour. social media platforms such as whatsapp, facebook, youtube, instagram, telegram, etc. are now agents of information dissemination that can reach anywhere internationally within the shortest possible times. music and mass media in the digital age has left the corridors of the so-called traditional owners to the door step of consumers giving the consumers rights of making decisions of their own without reliance on any individual or group. 179 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 https://www.ecuaderno.com/culturadigitales references abdullahi, h. (2013). the role of ict in teaching science education in schools (https:www.m.c serr.org>article>view. abiodum, o. a. (2017). impact of the internet and digital technologies on nigeria music industry. musical horizons in africa (essay and perspectives) a festschrift in honour of daniel chikpezie christian agu. anuonye, c. c. (2017). integrating information and communication technology in teaching music schools.alvan journal of music and humanities volume i, no iii. blow, c. m. (2009) swan songs,the new york times ( ).www.nytimes.com/2009 egonu, j. c. (2009). computers and music composition. alvan journal of music and humanities vol i no iii. graham g., buress a., hadakar, g (2002). the impact of the interest on the structure of thcomputer music on the supply-chain, being a paper presented at the 12 biennial th thconference for cultural economics in rotterdam, 13 15 june. gordon, z. (1996) in egonu, j. c. (2009) computers and music composition. alvan journal of music and humanities vol i no iii. idolor, e. (2002). music to the contemporary african. music in africa: facts and illusions: sterling-horden publishers (nig) ltd. jayeola, f. d. and nwonye gri (2017). globalizing nigeria music: emerging issues: journal of nigeria music education no 9. margret, a. f. (2017). the impact of technology on musical recording studio in nigeria. musical horizons in africa (essay and perspective). a festschrift in honour of daniel chikpezie christian agu. oguoma, p. (2009). music as a cultural melting pot: the nigerian experience in c. f. uboh & u. u. okonkwo (eds) imo state university press. okpala, h. n. (2009). song texts – a tool for global reconciliation. ansu journal of arts and humanities 2. (2) pp 199204. ubani, a. (2009). music, information communication, technology and national development. alvan journal of music and humanities. vol i, no iii. internet sources 1. https://study.com 2. https://www.ecuaderno.com/culturasdigitales 180 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 http://serr.org http://www.nytimes.com/2009 https://study.com https://study.com https://www.ecuaderno.com/culturasdigitales https://www.ecuaderno.com/culturasdigitales page 183 page 184 page 185 page 186 page 187 page 188 page 189 text book journal pdf sis. noelle abstract the introduction of the communication in french course by the nigerian universities commission (nuc) into the nigerian university system for it to be learnt as a general studies (gs) course has not come without the peculiar challenges and problems of starting something new. this study is a field report of what were encountered as the major problems and some novel solutions applied to make meaningful progress while teaching the course for two sessions at the university of africa, toru-orua, bayelsa state and as the ag. director of the institute of foreign languages and biomedical translations (ifl-bt). the challenges include: the problem of learning a new language, lack of motivation, lack of a language laboratory and textbooks, lack of sufficient lecture periods and lack of sufficient number of teachers to attend to the large classes for effective teaching. the study found out that improvements in the attendance and participation of students can be recorded if french language teachers can motivate the students and remain persistent in the task, instead of losing interest because the students themselves are not showing much interest. also, the use of call and response system for learning can minimise the absence of the language laboratory and leverage on the short period of time allotted for the course. this study is of the view that if these problems are attended to by the french language teachers and other relevant authorities, a lot of improvements could be recorded in the teaching and learning of the course in nigerian universities. keywords: teaching, communication in french, uat, ifl-bt, nigerian universities, motivation. introduction this paper is a field report of the challenges and problems experienced teaching the communication in french course at the university of africa, toru-orua, bayelsa state and observing the language lecturers as the ag. director of the institute of foreign languages and biomedical translations (ifl-bt) at the bayelsa medical university. in the last few years the teaching of french has been added to the list of gst courses by the nigerian universities commission. the fact that the french language is essential to nigerians as nigeria is surrounded by french speaking countries and the fact that french is an important language to the business world must have been important in arriving at the decision. according to an article written by the startupr hong kong, french is the official language of over 29 countries of the world, and it is the second-most widely spoken first language in the european union. so, if a nigerian student is to travel to european countries upon graduation, french is the second language needed after the english language and in some cases, the only language needed (cf. coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 01 marie therese teibowei (mbemt@yahoo.com) department of linguistics and nigerian languages, university of africa, toru-orua, bayelsa state. the problem of teaching communication in french in nigerian universities: a focus on uat and ifl-b idegbekwe & teilanyo, 2019). also, the colonial history of france has helped spread the language in the modern world in the same way as english. this has led to a situation in which there are more non-native french speakers than native speakers. so, there is a justification for the course as a gst course. in accordance with the nuc benchmark framework, the course communication in french is taught at the university of africa (uat) as a two semester compulsory course for all first year students.uat is not alone in embracing the teaching of the french course in nigeria as other universities such as (as listed by ezeodili & ezeafulukwe, 2016, p.3) imo state university, (imsu) owerri, chukwuemeka odumegwu ojukwu university, igbariam, michael okpara university of agriculture, umudike, federal university ndufu alukwu, ebonyi state (funai) abakaliki and other private universities in the country. the institute of foreign languages and biomedical translations(ifl-bt) offers foreign languages such as french, spanish, russian, chinese-mandarin, german, portuguese and english as a second language. being a new course as it were both to the students and the lecturers, there are bound to be teething problems which are discussed here. this is not the first study in this area. teibowei (2017) carried out a study on the problems of teaching and learning french grammar in bayelsa state. the study revealed that unqualified french language teachers, lack of retraining exercises for teachers, lack of standard textbooks and poor remuneration affect the teachers in teaching of the french grammar. also, learning of the french grammar is hindered because the rules are too many and confusing, the students lack good role models in the teachers, there is no motivation on the part of the students and there are no standard textbooks to consult for further insights. the study focused on the entire state with emphasis on the teaching of grammar. omoniyi (2012) focused on the socio-politico and pedagogical problems of language teaching in nigeria. the study devoted a section of the study of the french language and the arabic language in nigeria as foreign languages as a status. according to omoniyi (2012, p. 35), although french and arabic are elective subjects in the secondary school curriculum at both junior and senior levels. the government is hardly aware of the problems that are likely to affect the teaching of both languages in the nation's schools, knowing that they are foreign languages for which pupils will not readily find models to interact with on a daily basis. however, the nation has now established two special language villages, one for arabic in the north-east of the country, and another for french in the south-west, where students can, over periods ranging from six months to one whole year, experience full immersion in those two languages. this approach to the teaching of french and arabic, has the unexpected benefit of pointing at or highlighting what would appear to be a fundamental fallacy in the teaching of english based on the assumption that the language is a second rather than a foreign language in nigeria. he goes further to note in the study that as long as this assumption continues to hold sway, with the result of proficiency attained in it by teachers and necessarily by their pupils also, will persist in the nation's school system, and this will continue to pose a big problem to the nation's educational planners. 02 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 oyebole (2014) focused on some of the ordeals involved in learning a foreign language in nigeria with a focus on the french language. using the sociological approach to language study, oyebola's (2014) study is of the opinion that the biggest problem facing the teaching of the french language in nigeria is the lack seriousness of the nigerian government to adopt the french language as an official language side by side the english language as has been advocated by unesco and corroborated by the generous efforts of the french government in adopting some secondary schools and other programmes aimed at promoting the french language. at the end, oyebola suggests that for a language as complex as french, learners at all levels should be encouraged and motivated to learn the language in a conducive environment. also, the nigerian government should do all things possible to give the importance of learning the language adequate and wide publicity. the nigerian government should endeavour to subsidize french books and teaching materials; and make them available and accessible to learners of the language. it is also of necessity to equip language laboratories with various modern technological gadgets in order to aid learners' knowledge of how to pronounce the french sounds correctly. also, ogunbiyi (2012) focused on the problems associated with implementing the french language curriculum in secondary schools in lagos state, nigeria. the study identified shortage of qualified language teachers, inadequate teaching aids, lack of relevant text books, the problems of multi-lingualism, lack of well-equipped language laboratories and libraries, lack of interest on the part of the students and lack of motivation for both students and teachers alike as the major problems preventing the full scale implementation of the french curriculum in the state. at the end, the study concludes that: 'it is very important that nigeria should study french language for international mutual understanding and cooperation. it is also essential for socio-economic and technological development of both anglophone and the francophone neighbours. re-training of french teachers through inservice programmes would be necessary for the effective implementation of the curriculum. french language educationists should be invited to prepare textbooks for the students' integration of their learning experiences and their everyday activities' (ogunbiyi, 2012, p. 4). the introduction of the communication in french course by the nuc is a relatively new exercise. attention of researchers has not been focused on the challenges that came with it. perhaps, they have been busy in their own universities too trying to overcome. hence, there is a need to present the challenges here and the humble and novel ways in which the challenges were resolved or managed as the case may be. learning a new language altogether if there is any problem faced at the beginning of the teaching period, it is the fact that the lecturer needs to convince the students that they are learning a new language. this usually comes with an initial protest from some of the students especially students studying courses not related to language or art based courses. the protest usually comes from the science and social science students. learning a new foreign language could be taxing for an undergraduate who has always been taught the english language as the only foreign language and medium of expression in a formal environment. according to comben (2016) it takes a lot of guts, curiosity, time and effort to learn a language as an adult. in the opinion of carl (2019), learning a foreign language is one of the hardest things a brain can do. what makes a foreign language so difficult to learn is the effort the learner has to make to transfer between linguistically complex structures. coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 03 due to the above, the first sets of classes for all the students in the various departments are usually slow or having a slow start. this is because the basis of the french language is focused on for few weeks and laced with motivational speeches on why the subject should be learnt. for most persons, beginning a thing is usually difficult especially beginning from the very beginning. almost every language learning journey starts with the alphabet, which can be difficult for some people. however, after the first part of learning alphabets, then proceeding to learn greetings; the students' interest increases. in as much as starting is a challenge especially with the alphabet, there comes another one, such as greetings and everyday phrases in french. it has been observed that the interest of the students pick up at this point as shown in three evaluation areas which are represented in the table below using data from the science group: table 1: showing the improvements after the first few weeks of teaching gst french 04 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 while learning alphabet and numbers while learning greetings and common phrases average class attendance class concentration participation in class activities submission of assignments 42 low 11/42 19/42 79 high 73/79 67/79 source: the present study the three areas used as evaluation are arbitrary. however, it represents vividly the improvement made from overcoming the setbacks of the early beginning of learning the french language which is a new language to the students. it is also observed that many of them did not learn french in either the primary or secondary school days. their systems of communication on a large scale have been the use of english for formal speech events and the use of their various indigenous language for informal. this could go a long way in justifying the reasons why the alphabets of the new language seemed difficult. the low attendance to classes at the beginning could be for different reasons apart from the fact that they do not like the lectures. it could be that they do not enjoy the lectures and they stayed back; it could also be that as first year students, they do not understand fully how the university operates with the gst courses. however, it is observed that with the introduction of greetings, the number of students in class almost doubles and the students are kind of excited of learning new ways of greeting in another language which many of them said they have heard in movies or songs. they made fun out of it and the interest to learn new ones could be observed. there is the observed quickness to speak amongst the students at this stage especially when asked to repeat a greeting or a common expression in the language. this is very much different with the level of attentiveness at the beginning. what this means is that the motivational talks on the importance of learning such a language and the persistence on the part of the teacher not to give up could go a long way in helping the students gain interest with time and that there is a need to spice up classes with what students can enjoy and find joy in. lack of motivation attitude though it was stated earlier that the researcher needed to present series of talks on why the students need to learn french at the university level, it was observed that on a regular basis a negative shift in the kind of progress recorded in the table above. the usual feedback from them can be summarised as the course being an avenue for the university to stress them as nothing can be gained. one of the main obstacles in learning a foreign language is attitude. according to okoh (2013), the attitude of the language learner determines the altitude of the output. if one believes that the language is difficult and that, even if one works hard at it, one might not succeed; then one's brain will not try enough. most students say the french language is very difficult and complicated and full of rules and conjugation. in my assessment, this attitude has a way of affecting them as it reduces their efforts and learning and trying to achieve new things. again, this is followed this up with more inspirational talks. the main idea here to the solution is to direct or influence the students to think positive, have a positive attitude. it should not be misunderstood, no one is saying that it is easy, but they should try to always keep in mind that if they are persistent enough, there will be nothing they cannot achieve or do, same goes with language learning. the people speaking the language as a foreign language, how did they do it?' are they aliens? of course not; they try hard, they have a positive thinking, and they aren't afraid to give it a try.' when such a statement is put up, most students usually calm down and make attempts and various times to either pronounce the word or present the right verb conjugation task or any other task as the case maybe. the truth is it is not entirely true that learning a foreign language is tricky. it is a way of thinking, and above all, it is an attitude. lack of language laboratory and learning textbooks this is the challenge that has not been fully solved as the dynamics are not in hands of the researcher in many ways. the problem of having a good textbook or reading material for the course was partly solved as books that are readily available to the students were sourced out using books that are accessible in most bookshops in the state where uat is located. however, it is disappointing that only few students bought them. the issue of textbooks may not be associated with french alone other teachers also complain of students not buying textbooks relevant for the various courses. according to the unesco report for african countries for the year 2017, in many countries students at all levels either lack books altogether or are required to share them extensively with others. without textbooks, students can spend many of their school hours copying content from the board, which severely reduces time for engaged learning. the report went on to state that the cost of textbooks is a key barrier that prevents students at all levels from having unhindered access to the learning materials they need. also, it is noted in the report that although systematic data are lacking, and generally exist only for core textbooks, existing information shows that in many countries, students at all levels either lack textbooks altogether or are required to share them with their peers. this is not different from my experience teaching the communication in french course at uat. students waste more time following my dictation methods of note taking as there are no reference materials to fall back on. the second problem is the lack of a language laboratory in uat and in most nigerian coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 05 universities. the ifl-bt has also not gotten a language laboratory. lecturers have to improvise with practical lessons on you tube and whatsapp. even when they exist, their capacity either in the number of students the laboratory can take or the existing infrastructure is usually very limited. the case becomes futile when language based departments in the university do not have a standard language laboratory then one makes a case for a gst french course laboratory. according to alufohai and aziegbe (2016, p.56), the language laboratory gives every learner the freedom to learn at their own speed and it does not require the teacher to be present every time. using the lab, the teachers can render assistance to the students individually or collectively. the language laboratory is a very helping tool for practicing and assessing one's speech in a language. language laboratory is used in learning pronunciation and all other aspect of the phonetics of a language. how important a language laboratory is cannot be overstressed in the area of learning for the purposes of communication. the language laboratory, exist to help one use technology effectively to communicate. it is usually recommended in language teaching for a learner to hear the best samples of all spoken language in order to get the best sensibilities in the course of learning. this declaration is validated by david-wilson and thayalan (2007) who opined that language laboratory is required by any language learner to have a good command of the language for communication purposes, with clarity and accuracy being vital for effective and efficient communication. language laboratory among other facilities is very important in the effective implementation of the french language curriculum in nigeria (cf. adebayo 2007). this view was further stressed by mambo (2004) who described the language laboratory as one of the foundation of language instruction. thus, language laboratory is seen as an important instructional tool for language teaching. a language laboratory is an environment designed to enhance foreign language learners' skills. it is generally equipped with analogue and digital hardware and software (tape recorders, video cassette recorders and computers). language laboratory provides practice in listening comprehension speaking (listening and repeat), with the goal of reinforcing the grammar, vocabulary and function (grammatical structures) presented in class. the language laboratory is an audio or audio visual installation used as an aid in modern language teaching. as important as the instructional material is, it is not readily available for use. however, in order not to miss out completely in the area of sounds and pronunciation in the course of learning, the call and response system was introduced. this is possible when the class is calm and words are pronounced loudly, the students also do the same in response while the teacher listens to hear variations. if the teacher is not satisfied, he/she moves round and asks individuals to pronounce it. the problem with this is that if the teacher makes a mistake in the pronunciation, it is also learnt in that manner. insufficient number of lecturers and lecture hours using the information of the nuc benchmark, 2016, the communication in french course is a two unit course which means by the university system of time allocation, the course is allotted two hours of lecture periods in a week. this is grossly in adequate if a new language is to be learnt. one can argue that the communication in english course taught side by side is also given two hours; however english is a language most students are conversant with already before gaining admission into the university. the same cannot be said of the french language. with the two hours class a week, even the language laboratory might not be too useful to the students as there is not period for practical except it is divide into an hour each; this too has its 06 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 consequences and the time for theory lessons is greatly reduced. it is really difficult finding enough time to learn a new language like french. however, taking a trip to or living in the country where french is used would not be a bad idea either through excursions or field trips. french speaking countries are nigeria's neighbours; getting there with students may be possible with careful planning. related to the insufficiency in the lecture hours is the problem of insufficient teachers. for the period which this report covers, the researcher taught the course alone to entire university first year students numbering over 1,500 with carry over students especially in the second year. this is achieved by dividing the students into three groups using related faculties and departments; faculties of arts and education, social and management sciences and basic and applied sciences. . each group learns for two hours maximum a week. this could be made better if each group is at least assigned to one teacher in order to ensure smooth operations in the marking of assignments monitoring the development of the students. conclusion the study presents that improvements in the attendance and participation of students can be recorded if french language teachers can motivate the students and remain persistent in the task instead of losing interest because the students themselves are not showing much interest. also, the use of call and response system for learning can minimise the absence of the language laboratory in the course of teaching. the present study highlighted the problems of teaching the communication in french course at the university of africa, toru-orua, bayelsa state. the study presented the challenges to include: the problem of learning a new language, lack of motivation, the lack of a language laboratory and textbooks and the lack of sufficient lecture periods and the lack of sufficient number of teachers to attend to the large classes for effective teaching to be done. this study is of the view that if these problems are attended to by the french language teachers and other relevant authorities, a lot of improvements could be recorded in the teaching and learning of the course in nigerian universities. references adebayo, i.o (2007). french language teaching and productivity enhancement in nigeria: issues and challenges. retrieved from www.voicenet.com/disphoneloc.asp... alufohai, p. & aziegbe, m. (2016). the influence of language laboratory in the academic achievement of students in french language in edo state secondary school. european journal of language studies,3(2), 44-49. carl, a. (2019). difficulties of learning a second language. journal of language learning, 1 (1), 66-70. comben, c. (2016). the 5 biggest challenges to learning a language. retrieved from: https://www.daytranslations.com/blog/challenges-new-language/ david–wilson, d. & thayalan, v. (2007). significance of language laboratory in communication. karen's linguistic issues. retrieved from www.3telus.net/linguisticissues/lab coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 07 ezeodili, s. & ezeafulukwe, o. (2016). french language a basic g.s course for nnamdi azikiwe university students. mgbakoigba, journal of african studies, 6 (1), 1-7. idegbekwe, d. and teilanyo, d. (2019). remodelling the “use of english” course in nigeria with the esp model: a focus on an engineering faculty. international journal of e n g l i s h l a n g u a g e a n d l i t e r a t u re s t u d i e s , 8 ( 1 ) , 3 6 4 5 . d o i : 10.18488/journal.23.2019.81.36.45. mambo, e. (2004). language laboratories and the challenges supporting of communicative approaches in language instruction. journal of educational computing and design and online learning, 5, 23-31. nuc benchmark minimum academic standards for undergrdauates programmes in nigerian universities, april, 2016. ogunbiyi, o. (2012). implementation of the senior secondary school french curriculum in lagos state: problems and prospects. british journal of arts and social sciences,5(1),38-42. okoh, n. (2013). reversing the roles: esp expectations and misconceptions amongst nigerian students. being a paper presented at the 7th annual national worship/conference of the english language teachers association of nigeria (eltan). the english studies house, university of port harcourt, port harcourt, september, 2-6, 2013. omoniyi, a. (2012). socio-politico-pedagogical problems of language teaching in nigeria. english language teaching, 5(5), 31-36. http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/elt.v5n5p31. oyebola, o. (2014). a review of the ordeals of learning a foreign language in nigeria: french language in focus. international journal of languages, 3 (1), 161-166. startupr hong kong limited. (2020).10 most important business languages in global market. retrieved from https://medium.com/swlh/10-most-important-business-languages-in-global-market17b49b7cf2d2. teibowei, m. (2017). problems of teaching and learning french in the tertiary institutions in bayelsa state. journal of linguistics, language and culture, 4 (1), 5067. 08 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 page 1 page 2 page 3 page 4 page 5 page 6 page 7 page 8 jonal vol. 5 no. 4 new2.cdr the grammaticalisation of sị 'say' in igbo by 1 2christiana ngozi ikegwuonu, (phd) & martha chidimma egenti, (phd) 1 department of linguistics and igbo, faculty of arts, chukwuemeka odumegwu ojukwu university, igbariam campus, ngozichristyikegwuonu@yahoo.com 2department of linguistics, faculty of arts, nnamdi azikiwe university, awka, cm.egenti@unizik.edu.ng abstract lthough many works have been done in the verbs of the language but much work has not been adone in the language as regards to grammaticalization of the lexical words in the syntactic constructions. it is on this premise that this study sets out to investigate the grammaticalization of the verb sị'say' in the igbo language with the objectives of examining the various grammatical functions it can perform in the syntactic constructions, its grammatical relations and its distributions as well as finding out the processes that are involved in its grammaticalisation. the study employs the parameters of lehmann's (2015) aspects of grammaticalization as a theoretical framework in the analysis of the data. the data for this study were drawn from these literature texts chi ewere ehihie jie, emecheta and nkọlị by j.u.t nzeako, dimkpa taa akụ, ebubedike and ụwaezuoke by f. c ogbalu, ofunna, a chọwa isi ọchụ and onye chi ya akwatughị by c. e ọfọmata. furthermore, the data for this study were also drawn from daily conversations and discourses. the findings of the study reveal that grammaticalization of the verb sị 'say' is language internal phenomenon and it can undergo grammaticalization as a result of its varied semantic meaning changes and the different grammatical roles it plays in the syntactic structures as evidenced in the study. the study has demonstrated that sị is gradually ripping off its lexical features to perform different grammatical function such as complementizer and pronoun. phonological change is also observed in the tone of sị. it also has an agentive subject and a recipient as its subcategorization requirements. it obeys the atr rule that operates in the language. the tone marking convention adopted in this work is green and igwe (1963).the present study serves as a reference point in an attempt to further expand the frontier of research in grammaticalization as well as in igbo language scholarship in general. keywords: grammaticalisation, verb, syntagmatic variability, bondedness, paradigmatic. 1. introduction obviously, the lexicons of a language are constituted by the words of that language. they are fundamentally base, because they perform different grammatical functions in the syntactic structures of the languages, hence, they can be classified into different word classes. in the historical development of languages, there exists a phenomenon called linguistic change. during the developmental stages, a number of changes and innovations are taking place. these changes do not only affect the lexicons and the phonology of words in a language, it also affects the grammar of the language. in various languages of the world, a number of lexical verbs have undergone changes in use, forms, meanings and functions in the historical development as a result of grammaticalization. for instance, some verbs have undergone changes from lexemes to auxiliaries, complementizers and tense, while others encode temporal constituency of a situation. this implies that in grammaticalization, lexical 56 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 items can loss their meanings to grammatical functions. grammaticalization can be seen as the gradual historical development of function morphemes from content morphemes (fintel, 1995). in igbo, the verb sị means 'say' in english. it is always used in its expression manner; hence, it has expressive value. it is a simple monosyllabic root verb. it belongs to the class of verb which mmadike (2015:120) classifies as ''verbs of speaking''. the verb sị is typically, a verb of communication. mensah (2012:18) affirms that it always ''focuses on the communication of a message by the subject rather than illocutionary force''. he further adds that it has an agentive subject and a direct object or a recipient as its sub-categorization requirements. it should be noted that sị 'say' is the basic form in igbo language, but over a time in different contexts, it has undergone different semantic changes in the syntactic constructions to perform different grammatical functions such as conjunction, complementizer, introducer of embedded clauses. the paper is organised as follows: section one is the introduction, section two treats the concepts of grammaticalization, section three presents a brief overview of igbo verbs and studies on grammaticalization in igbo, section four is the methodology while section five forms the data analysis and section six is the conclusion 2. the concept of grammaticalisation: an overview historically, there were earlier studies on grammaticalization which were carried out at different phases by different scholars. such studies include condillac (1746), bopp (1816, 1833), schlege (1818), humboldt (1825), wüllner (1831), whitney (1875) and gabelentz (1901). of all these studies, the term 'grammaticalization' is credited to a french linguist meillet (1958) because he was the person who coined the word, published in 1912, to refer to ''attribution of grammatical character formerly autonomous word'' then, meillet was interested in identifying how new categories and system change arise. it was observed that many grammatical items originate as lexical wordsand over a time these tend to bleach. grammaticalization has gained popularity in linguistics since the seminal work by christian lehmann's thought on grammaticalisation which was first published in 1982, republished and expanded in 1995, 2002 and 2015. the concept of grammaticalisation has been variously defined by different scholars according to each individual's perspective. but whatever may be one's orientation concerning the term, the general consensus is that grammaticalisation is the process of language change whereby lexical items and constructions come in certain linguistic contexts to perform grammatical functions, and once grammaticalized, the lexical items continue to develop new grammatical functions. in other words, it is also the process of language by which words representing objects and actions (that is, nouns and verbs) become grammatical markers such as affixes, prepositions, tense, modals, and so on. this process tries to create new function words other than deriving them from existing bound inflectional constructions, instead, deriving them from content word. grammaticalization is linked with the following processes: semantic bleaching, morphological reduction, phonetic erosion and obligatorification. this implies that a number of semantic, syntactic and phonological processes interact in grammaticalisation of morpheme of whole constructions. for instance, the old english verb willan (to want, to wish) which has become the modern english auxiliary verb will expresses intension or simple futurity. the process by which the word leaves its word class and enters another is not sudden, but occurs by a gradual series of individual shift. the overlapping stages of grammaticalization form a chain which is generally called a cline. these shifts generally follow the same patterns in different languages. it is believed that the stages on the clines do not have a fixed position, but vary. note that the movement along the cline may be partial or complete. hopper and traugott (1993) illustrate the pattern of the cline of grammaticalization by various stages of form thus: 57 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 lehmann points that some of these parameters correlate positively, others negatively. as grammaticalisation increases, the parameters of cohesion increase as well, while parameters of weight and variability decrease. these six parameters are not processes but properties of signs. we shall not go into detail discussion of each of the above parameters. but one thing noteworthy is that the above six parameters of linguistic sign are criteria insofar as they can be used to order two functionally similar syntagms on a grammaticalization scale. they are parameters insofar as grammaticalization may be measured along each of them; it may be verified to degree they correlate. 3. brief overview of igbo verb as it obtains in other natural languages, verb plays significant roles in the grammar of many languages, and igbo language is not excluded. the verb category is the most prominent word class in the igbo language. this implies that the grammar of the language centres on the verb. nwachukwu (1983), mbah (2006; 2011) and mbagwu and eme (2007) affirm that the igbo language is a verb language. obiamalu and mbagwu (2014) emphasize that the category verb highly contributes to the derivation of words in the language, there does not seem to be any lexical category that contributes to the derivation of igbo verb. the igbo verb category has attracted the attention of many igbo scholars which made them to carry out various studies concerning the category and its classification in language over the years. the works of scholars such as emenanjo (1975a), (1975b), (1978), (2005) and (2015); nwachukwu (1983), (1984), uwalaka (1982), ubahakwe (1976) have built a foundation for treatment of the verb category in the igbo language. for instance, nwachukwu (1984) classifies the igbo verbs under the following: dynamic, stative and copula verbs. emenanjo (2005) attempts the classification of igbo verbs into five categories namely general complement verbs (gcvs), inherent complement verbs (icvs), bound complement verbs (bcvs), prepositional phrase compliment verbs (ppcvs) and ergative complement verbs (ecvs). in the study of the semantics of the igbo verbs, uwalaka (1988) in her analysis recognizes six classes of verbs namely: action verbs, verbs of occurrence, experiential verbs, verbs of quality, locative verbs, identificatory and equative verbs. almost all these classes have sub-classes.uwalaka (1988) studies verbs of speaking in igbo and categorises them as a sub-group of experimental verbs. she claims that only animate np can function as the subject of such a verb (uwalaka 1988:149). mmadike (2015) in the study of the verb of speaking claims that semantically verb of speaking constitutes a coherent class of verbs specifically used for verbal process in the human act of speaking. he further adds that there is usually a speaker who reports the speech of the sayer (the subject np) as direct or indirect. uchechukwu (2011:1-4) divides the structure of igbo verbs into the following: simple verbs, compound verb: [verb + verb] and [verb +suffix] and verbal complex: [verb + noun phrase] or [verb + prepositional phrase]. anyanwu and iloene (2004) identify some igbo verbs which lack semantics content or which are semantically opaque or indeterminate. they used two tests to identify imperativization and pronunciation. the verbs include: gba, kpọ, da and kwa. the verbs are liable to more than one interpretation expect they occur with an appropriate nominal element as in: 58 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 content word grammatical word clitic inflectional affix heine, claudi and hünnemeyer (1991) who support that grammaticalization has to do with a lexical item assuming a new grammatical meaning illustrate their contention using data from ewe, a language belonging to the kwa branch of the nigercongo family spoken in eastern ghana, southern togo and southern benin. 1a. me-ná ga kofi. isg-give money kofi. i gave kofi money. b. me-pie βɔtrúnákofi. isg-buy door give kofi. i bought a door and gave it to kofi or i bought a door for kofi. c. me-wɔdɔvévíénádódókpɔlá. isg-do work hard give exam def. i worked hard for the exam. from the data in (1), heine, claudi and hünnemeyer remark that the verbna'give' assumes a grammatical meaning of the prepositional notion for or to in certain contexts as exemplified in (1a and b) respectively. furthermore, cross linguistically, the verb go which is attested in different natural languages of the world is commonly used as an example to confirm how it develops from a lexical to a grammatical status to indicate future marker or future auxiliary verb in different languages. following this, uchechukwu (2012) illustrates his contention using the examples below. 2a. uche goes to school every monday. b. uche is going to school on monday. c. uche is going to read that book. from the examples, the verb go in sentence (2a) is a full verb, a motion or change of location verb. in (2b), it indicates future while in sentence (2c), it also indicates future meaning. in the data, it seems that the verb go does not involve any physical motion of going to the location of the book, but uche shall surely read it. from the data in (2),uchechukwu affirms that the same similar variations are obtained in the meaning of the igbo verb -ga 'go'. from his analysis, he concludes that the verb ga 'go' can develop from a full verb ga 'go' to future auxiliary marker 'shall/will' to indicate auxiliary gà 'must/might'. lehmann (2015: 132) proposes six parameters of grammaticalization as indicated in table 1: table 1: parameters of grammaticalization axis paradigmatic syntagmatic weight integrity structural scopes cohesion paradigmaticity bondedness variabi lity paradigmatic variability syntagmatic variability parameter 59 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 3.a. gba-ezègbàrà ‘‘eze b. kpọ-ezè kpọ̀rọ̀ ‘‘eze egwu m̀gba egbe ọsọ ọb̀àra ̀ danced wrestled shut a gun ran bleed ọkụ òkù anwụrụ̀ ụg̀a burnt (something) called (somebody) took some stuff played a kind of clapping game furthermore, udemmadu's (2015) carries out the study of the verb sị 'say' as a pronoun in the igbo language. in her discussion, she argues that si ̣ belongs to impersonal or indefinite pronoun. with data drawn from intuition as a native speaker and adopting the descriptive approach, the author found out that the verb can function as a pronoun in the igbo language and that it can take only the subject position in a sentence. the study concludes that since sị 'say' has all the qualities of a pronoun following from its syntactic position and grammatical function, and the fact that it cannot take the position just like other impersonal pronoun in the language, it can be categorised as an impersonal or indefinite pronoun. other empirical works adopting lehmann's (2015) framework are uchechukwu's (2008) study of the grammaticalization of prepositional markers in igbo using the igbo verb root nye 'give' and uchechukwu's (2011) discussion of grammaticalization of the copula verb nọ̀. while the former uses the verb root nye to illustrate the process of grammaticalization which according to him involves category change of the second verb in a compound verb structure from a v1 + v2 construction to a verb + suffix configuration exploring the literal and figurative uses of the verb. the study concludes that: the parameters of grammaticalization at both the syntagmatic and the paradigmatic levels, shows that there is a loss in the weight and variability of the structure -nyé, but a gain in cohesion. as the second component of a compound verb formation, -nyé loses in paradigmatic integrity and structural scope and can no longer function as a full verb in this context: instead, it becomes obligatory in the identified v2 context. in addition, its structural scope narrows to a vp instead of its clausal level structural scope as a main verb. however, these losses in weight and variability are counterbalanced by a gain in paradigmatic and syntagmatic cohesion. paradigmatically, there is a formal and semantic integration of nyéwithin a group of 'prepositional markers,' whose syntagmatic quality is bound to the identified v2 context for the expression of prepositional meanings. (uchechukwu, 2008:404) the later, uchechukwu (2011), concludes that the copula verb no ̣̀ is still undergoing the process of 60 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 grammaticalization, thus further investigation in this regard is required. the foregoing has presented an overview of grammaticalization and empirical works on igbo verbs. the subsequent section discusses grammaticalization of the verb si 'say' using lehmann's (2015) parameters. 4. methodology the data for the study come from both primary and secondary sources. the primary sources were made up of data largely drawn from recording of natural occurring speeches of the igbo native speakers during conversations, discourses and meetings. the researchers also added their intuitive knowledge for some data. for the secondary sources, insights were gained from these literature texts chi ewere ehihie jie, emecheta and nkọlị by j.u.t nzeako, dimkpa taa akụ, ebubedike and ụwaezuoke by f. c ọgbalụ, ofunna, a chọwa isi ọchụ and onye chi ya akwatughị by c. e ọfọmata to sieve out how the verb sị is employed in the texts to perform different grammatical functions respectively. furthermore, the data for this study were also drawn from daily conversations and discourses. also, materials from journal articles, textbooks and internal materials constitute the sources of the data for the study. the data collected were carefully analyzed using parameters of lehmann's (2015) aspects of grammaticalization as a theoretical framework. the tone marking convention adopted in this work is that of green and igwe (1963) where low [ ` ] (l), and downstep [ -] (ds) tones are marked, while high tone [ ́ ] (h) tone is left unmarked 5. data analysis 5.1 the grammaticalisation of the verb sị 'say' in this section, the literal usage of the verb sị 'say' is explained for a better understanding of the verb before discussing the parameters of grammaticalization. following igwe (1999), the verb si ̣ is glossed as say; tell; talk; talk spitefully about (an absent person); backbite; gossip. the following examples show the literal use of the verb and the additional meaning when it is suffixed to a verb root. (4) sị chioma bìa say chioma come 'tell chioma to come' (5) chioma si ̣ nà ọ gà-àbia echī chioma say comp pro fur-come tomorrow 'chioma said that she will come tomorrow' (6) agadīnwaanyị ̀ ahụ̀sị onyenekeya kà o bìliekà ha old woman that toldonyenekeyacomp pro risecompthey laa ngwa n̄gwā go quick quick 'the old woman told onyenekeya that he should rise so that they can go quickly'. 5.2.analysis of data using aspects of grammaticalization parameters in table 1 to show the process of change of the verb sị here, aspects of grammaticalization parameters will be used to analyse the data. lehmann (2015), states that the fundamental aspects of every linguistic operation are the paradigmatic and the syntagmatic aspects; i.e. the selection and combination of linguistic sign. using these parameters, the paradigmatic aspects of sị will be discussed, thereafter, the syntagmatic aspects will follow. 61 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 5.2.1. the paradigmatic aspects of sị the paradigmatic weight of a sign viewed paradigmatically is its integrity. it involves the processes of phonological attrition and desemanticisation (heine 1993; lehmann, 2002:114) or loss of semantic components/features. it is observed that in examples (4) (6) the verb si ̣ maintains its identity with regard to its meaning as say, tell, talk, told and a high tone. thus, semantic and phonological integrity are maintained in the sentences where it functions as a main verb and subordinating clause as in example (7). however, there is a semantic loss in integrity when there is a remarkable decrease in the semantic integrity and/or semantic reduction as in examples (8), (9) & (10) where it changes its meaning from 'say' to complementizer,supposing, let, thought, if, someone, and ask. (7) ọ ̀ jụ̀ọ ezindù sị, "òleē ihe i sī nà o mèrè?'' pro ask ezindu say, “what thing pro say comp pro do-rv? s/he asked ezindu saying, what did you said that s/he did? (8). ezènnànya kwuo sị nà ihe kpātārā ọn̄yā ezennanya speak comp that thing cause injury dị ̄ n̄'ūkwū, kpàtàrà imēkā yā be prep-leg, cause wounding/damaging it 'ezennanya said that what causes injury in the leg, causes its re-opening' (9) ò sị, “a sị nà m nwèrè nwa, ò so m̄ b ị a pro said “pro say that pro have child, pro follow procome n'ubī à” prep-farm det. s/he said, supposing/assuming i have a child, s/he would have followed me to this farm (10) ụmụ̄ kasìe ùgbu à nọ̀ kà nwambē nyụ̄rụ̄ ahụ̀, à pl kasie now stay like tortoise pollute-rv fart, pro sị sị kpùchie akā n̄'īmī say let cover hand prep-nose now kasie's children are staying like tortoise that farted, someone says let cover the nose with hands. in examples (8), (9) & (10) above, the meaning changes from 'say' to 'complementizer, 'supposing' and 'let' respectively. however, in examples (11-13) below, there is a reduction in the phonological integrity that is, from high to low and downstep tones. heine and reh (1984:21) call it phonological attrition which is described as the successive subtraction of phonological features. in thisinstance, there is a loss of a suprasegmental feature, which is a high tone to a downstep tone. (11) obìnnà yipùrù akpukpọukwū yā chịsa ǹ'àlà ebe a obinna remove-rv shoe pro kept prep-ground place det sị̄ hā ràhụ ǹ'èzi. told det sleep prep-outside 'obinna removed his shoes and kept them on the ground and told them to sleep outside' 62 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 (12) sị sị̄ ya bị̀a imp say pro come 'someone should tell him/her to come' (13) chioma sị̀rị̀ sị sị hā chère chioma say-rv comp say them wait 'chioma said that they should be told to wait' 5.2.2 the paradigmaticity of -sị it refers to the degree to which it enters a paradigm and is integrated into it and dependent on it. in other words, in paradigmatic cohesion, there is semantic integration of the members of a paradigm which can be linked to each other by paradigmatic relations with some semantic basis. there is homogeneity when sị is used with similar composition with other words. for instance, in examples (14-16) below: (14) sị gòtere m̄ n̄rī someone buy pro food 'someone should buy edible food for me' (15) sị yā bị̀a tell pro come 'tell him to come' (16) sị sị yā bị̀a imp say pro come 'someone should tell him/her to come' the homonymous nature of si ̣ makes it to function as a verb and a pronoun. observe also its grammatical role in examples (17) & (18) below: (17) ihe bụ̄ ụt̀ o ijè bùe jechaa sị ́ lọt̀ a thing be sweet journey be pro go-complete let come back 'the sweetness of a journey lies in going and coming back' (18) n'ime izù àto ahụ,̀ a sị ́ m̄ kwùo… prep week three that, pro if i speak… 'during that week, if i'm asked to speak… 5.2.3. the paradigmatic variability of si ̣ the paradigmatic variability refers to language user's freedom of choosing other signs as a whole in its place or omitting it entirely. that is to say, the extent to which the sign has become obligatory in the system. this grammaticalization process occurs when the use of linguistic structures becomes increasingly more obligatory. see examples (19) and (20) below: (19) o kwùrù nà ọ ̀ gaghị ̄ ābịā̄ pro speak-rv comp pro go-neg come 's/he said that s/he will not come' (20) ọ sị̄ nà ọ ̀ gaghị ̄ ābịā̄ pro speak-rv comp pro go-neg come 's/he said that s/he will not come' 63 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 it is observed that in example (19) si ̣ is omitted and the verb kwu 'speak' is used in its stead giving the meaning of said. in this case, the language user has the freedom to choose other verbs as in exemplified in (19) to take the place of the verb sị as used in example (20). 5.3. syntagmatic aspects of sị this involves the syntagmatic weight/structural scope of a linguistic sign, syntagmatic cohesion/bondedness and syntagmatic variability. the structural scope refers to the structural size of the construction it can help to form. the structural size decreases with increasing grammaticalization; while the bondedness refers to the closeness of a structure to another structure with which it bears a syntagmatic relation, the syntagmatic variability refers to the ease with which a sign can be shifted around with respect to those constituents with which it forms a construction. there is a reduction in this quality with increasing grammaticalization. all these parameters will be used to examine the verb sị. 5.3.1. the structural scope of sị si ̣has a full structural scope of a main verb at the syntagmatic level. however, it can function as a complementizer and introducer at the clausal level. for instance, in example (21) it has the whole sentence as its structural scope, while in example (22) it reduces its scope to function as an introducer. (21) ọ ̀ sịr̀ ị ̀ gịnị̄? pro say-rv what? 'what did s/he say'? (22) ọ sị̄, “nnà lèe, adị ̀ m ndụ̀” s/he say, “father see be pro alive” 's/he said, “father see, i am alive”' 5.3.2. the bondedness of sị the verb sị has close affinity with verbs of speaking such as kwu'talk', gwa'tell', ju'ask', e.t.c., hence it co-occurs with them. although, it is independent as a main verb, it is also structurally bonded as an introducer or complementizer in sentences. observe in the example below: (23) ọ gwàrà/kwùrù/jụ̀rụ̀ ya si… pro tell/speak/ask-rv him/her say 's/he told/spoke/asked him/her that…' 5.3.3. syntagmatic variability of sị with regard to variability, si can be possibly shifted around the constituents with which it forms construction. in comparing sentences (23) & (24), it is observed that sị has the freedom of functioning as the main verb as in example (25). (24) ọ sị̄ sị̄ gwa/jụ̀ọ yā pro say that tell/ask him/her 's/he said that we should tell/ask him/her' (25) sị yā jụ̀ọ yā tell him/her ask him/her 'tell him/her to ask him/her the foregoing shows that the structural scope decreases with increasing grammaticalization. there 64 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 seems to be a reduction in the quality of the verb being shifted around among constituents in a construction as it increases in grammaticalization. conclusion the study investigated the verb si ̣ in order to find out if it can undergo the process of grammaticalisation using the parameters of lehmann's (2015) aspects of grammaticalization. consequent upon the foregoing, it is observed that the verb understudy can undergo the process of grammaticalization obviously seen in the varied meaning changes and the grammatical role it plays in structures as shown in the study. this study has also demonstrated that si ̣ is gradually ripping off its lexical features to acquiring grammatical features such as pronoun which was confirmed by udemmadu (2015) and as complementiser which was affirmed by mmadike (2015), although not along the lines of grammaticalization. references anyanwu, n. o and iloene, m. i. (2004). “verb of planting and harvesting in igbo: the ngwa and obimo dialects example.” in ndimele, o. m. (ed). language and culture in nigeria. a festschrift for okonessien. aba/port harcourt: ninlan/m and j grand orbit communication, p.813-821. emenanjo, e.n. (1975a). aspects of the igbo verb. in ogbalu, f.c, and emenanjo (eds.). igbo language and culture. ibadan: cup. p. 160-173. emenanjo, e.n. (1975b). the igbo verbal. unpublished m.a dissertation, university of ibadan, ibadan. emenanjo, e.n. (1978). elements of modern igbo grammar: oxford university press. emenanjo, e.n. (2005). igbo verbs: transitivity or complementation. in ndimele, o.m (ed). trends in the study of language and linguistics in nigeria. a festschrift for p.a nwachkwu. port-harcourt: grand orbit communication and emhai press.p.479-498. fintel, k. (1995). the formal semantics of grammaticalization proceeding from workshop on language acquisition and language change. amherst ma: university of massachusset. amherst. heine, b and reh, m. (1993). grammaticalization and reanalysis on african languages. hamburg: h buske. heine, b, claudi, u and hünnemeyer, f. 1991. grammaticalization: a conceptual framework. chicago: university of chicago press. hopper, and traugott, e. (1993). grammaticalization. cambridge university press. igwe, g.f. (1999). igbo english dictionary. ibadan university press. lehmann,c. (2002). new reflection on grammaticalization and lexicalization. amsterdam/ philadelphia: john benjamin. publishers. rd lehamann,c. (2015). thought on grammaticalization (3 edition). berlin: language science. mbah, b.m. (2006). gb syntax structure. enugu: st john-afam publications. mbah, b.m. (2011). gb syntax: a minimalist theory and application to igbo. eungu: cidtap press. mbagwu, d.u and eme, c.a. (2007). the non-restricted –nye in igbo verb morphology. preorijah 2(2), p. 60-79. mensah, e.o. (2012). grammaticalization in nigerian pidgin.ikala revista de lenguaje y cultura, 17(2), p.167-179. http:www.sielo.php2 script=sci-arttex&pid= so12. retrieved on 18/10/2022. 65 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 meillet, a. 1958. l'évolution des forms grammaticales. scientiarivistainternazionale discienfica, vol. 12. p. 384-400. .https://amshistoricaunibo.it/diglib.php?inv=7 retrived on 13/02/2022. mmadike, b.i . (2015). igbo verbs of speaking. in uchechukwu (ed). a journal of igbo language and linguistics. nkpor:asusuamaka. nwachukwu, p.a .(1983). readings on igbo verb onitsha: african feb. nwachukwu, p.a. (1984). stative verbs in igbo syntax. journal of west african languages, xiv (2), 81-101. nzeakọ, t.j.u. 1973. nkoli.london: longman nigeria nzeako, j.u. t. 1980. emecheta. ibadan: caxton press. nzeako, j.u.t. 2005. chi ewereehihiejie. onistha: god's eagle publishers. obiamalu, g.o and mbagwu, d.u. 2014. semantax of v + nye complex in igbo. the journal of west african languages x l i(2), p.33-42. ọfọmata, c.e. (1997). a chọwaisiọchụ. enugu: formatpublishers. ọfọmata, c.e. (2000). onyechi ya akwatụghị. enugu: formatpublishers. ọfọmata, c.e. (2009). ofunna. enugu: format publishers. ogbalu, f. c. (1972). dimkpataaakụ. onitsha: varsity publishing company. ogbalu, f. c. (2008). ebubedike. onitsha: varsity publishing company. ndogbalu, c.f. (2008). ụwaezuoke.(2 edition). onitsha: varsity publishing company. ubahakwe, f. 1976. on the transitivity and intransitivity of igbo verbs. 1.1 p45 -56. uchechukwu, p. a. (2011). a corpus-based analysis of igbo and spanish copula verbs.awka: igbo language studies series 2. uchechukwu, c. 2008.the grammaticalization of prepositional markers in igbo: the example of the verb root -nyé'give'. https://benjamin.com/catalog/la.120.20uch retrieved on 20/11/2018. uchechukwu, c. (2011). reflections on “democratic choice” in the history of linguistics in nigeria. unizik journal of art and humanities (ujah) vol. 12 no 2, 2011. .http://dx doi.org/10.4314/ujah.v12i 2.4 udemmadu, t. n. (2015). sị as a pronoun in the igbo language. awkajournal of linguistics and languages (ajill), vol. 9: 19 -31. onitsha: bystevand publishers. uwalaka, m.a.a.n. (1982). igbo consecutivization revised. journal of the linguistics association of nigeria 1, 63-72 uwalaka, m.a.a.n. (1988). the igbo verb. a semnatic and syntatic analysis. wien: afro pub. 66 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 https://amshistoricaunibo.it/diglib.php?inv=7 https://benjamin.com/catalog/la.120.20uch http://dx page 65 page 66 page 67 page 68 page 69 page 70 page 71 page 72 page 73 page 74 page 75 jonal vol. 5 no. 4 new2.cdr a constrastive study of igbo and french speech sounds by mpamugo, emmanuel emenike general studies unit university of agriculture and environmental studies, umuagwo, imo state. empamugo4@gmail.com 07034937398 & nwaukoni, anthonia school of general studies (languages), delta state polytechnic, ogwashi-uku, delta state. anthonianwaukoni@yahoo.com 08035996873 abstract his paper is aimed at finding out the similarities and differences between the speech sounds of tthe languages under review and predict difficulties igbo learners of french and french learners of igbo may encounter and proffer solutions to these difficulties. this study's major interest is on the phonemic level of the phonology of igbo and french. based on this, the researchers compared the phonemes of both languages. this research work is based on the contrastive analysis theory of robert lado (1957). the findings of this study showed that both languages share similarities in sixteen (16) consonants and six (6) vowels, and differences in thirteen (13) consonants and twelve (12) vowels. although the /r/ and /w/ sounds exist in both languages, their places of articulation differ. following the assumptions of contrastive analysis, these differences are presumed to constitute learning difficulties. to avert these difficulties for the l2 learners of igbo and french, much emphasis need to be drawn on these stated areas of differences and properly handled by language teachers. keywords: language, phonology, phoneme, igbo, french, contrastive study. introduction language is an integral part of humans' relations. it plays a central role in human history. language has its root in sound. anozie (1999) defined language as sounds that humans make which brings forth meaning when organs of speech come together to interact in organized manner. mbah (2007) corroborates this as she opines that language is a systematic use of sounds and symbols to express one's feelings, thoughts, and for human interaction. language learning makes room for ease of interaction amongst people of different cultures and languages thereby promoting language growth. different languages find their way into alien cultures and environments. a situation of learning and adopting these languages for interaction always poses a threat due to the disparities between them in various levels of linguistic description. one of these levels where major differences are marked is the phonology level. igbo language is one of the languages spoken in nigeria. it is predominantly spoken by igbos found in the south-eastern part of nigeria. the igbo language is of the kwa language group in the nigercongo language family and has about thirty (30) million speakers. french language which takes its origin from the vulgar latin of the roman empire, is a romance language of the indo-european language family. it has about seventy-seven (77) million native speakers all over the world and functions as an official language in twenty-nine (29) countries of the world. coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 181 the interest of this study is to look at the similarities and differences that exits between the phonology of igbo and french with emphasis on their phonemic inventories using contrastive analysis method. contrastive analysis looks at the similarities and differences between a native language and a target language, to see where potential problems may arise. these problems could make it difficult for language learners to achieve success in their language learning endeavours. this study is intended to discuss and bring to bear the similarities and differences between the phonemes of igbo and french in order to assist learners and teachers, predicting problems they could encounter and proffering solutions to these problems for better language learning while eliminating interlanguage development in their target language. empirical review contrastive analysis works well in predicting and explaining the language learning process. it derives its hypotheses from comparison, which is done to yield similarities and differences of two languages especially a native and a target language, to ascertain the level of difficulty language learners may encounter. fries (1945), raised an assumption which states that the most effective materials in language learning and language teaching are those based upon a scientific description of the language to be learned carefully compared and contrasted with the parallel description of the language of the learners. lado (1957), opined that through contrastive analysis, it is possible to identify the areas of difficulty a particular foreign language will present for native speakers of another language by systematically comparing the two languages and cultures. from the above explanations, it is imperative to state that contrastive analysis x-rays a foreign and native language putting both side by side to ascertain the similarities and differences between the two making it easier for native learners to understand the concepts of the foreign language. firbas (1992) looks at contrastive analysis as a method that proves to be a useful heuristic tool capable of throwing valuable light on the characteristic features of the languages contrasted. these characteristic features of languages start off from the sounds, which is the phonology level. markey (1998) did a contrastive analysis of french and american english. she compared the phonemes of both languages focusing on the differences in consonant phonemes. she observed that six (6) consonant phonemes present in english are not in french. these consonant phonemes are: /θ ẟ h ŋ ʧ ʤ/. she opined that contrastive analysis predicts that french speakers will have problem pronouncing english words that contain these sounds. she further noted that words like think, that, help, sing, witch, hitch and jog will be difficult for french speakers because they are unaccustomed to these sounds, regardless of where the sounds are located in the word. she recommended that french learners of english should be taught the distinctive features of these unfamiliar sounds. n'gom (1997) through his research on the contrastive phonological analysis of french and mandinka, revealed that the french vowels /y ø œ œ̃ɔ ̃ ᾶ ə/ and consonants /g v z ʒ ʃ ɥ/ are not in mandinka and as such, mandinka speakers will have difficulty pronouncing words containing these sounds. he proposed that for mandinka learners of french, much emphasis should be laid on these unfamiliar sounds. eme and uba (2014) in their contrastive analysis of the phonology of igbo and yoruba presented that igbo has all the consonants of yoruba and additional ten (10) which are lacking in yoruba. these consonants are: /p kw gw v z ŋ ŋw ɲ ɣ ʧ/. for the vowels, they observed that igbo has eight oral vowels while yoruba has seven (7) oral vowels and five (5) nasal vowels. they further stated that the major difference in the vowel system of both languages is that yoruba has five (5) nasal vowels /ɪ ɛ a ɔ u/ which igbo lacks. also, the vowels /ɪ/ and /υ/ are phonemically present in igbo but absent in yoruba, while /ɛ/ is phonemically present in yoruba but absent in igbo. they predicted that with these differences, there will be pronunciation problems for igbo learners of coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 182 yoruba and yoruba learners of igbo. they proposed that to prevent these pronunciation errors, igbo learners of yoruba should be taught to produce and master those yoruba sounds they are not familiar with and the same should be done with yoruba learners of igbo concerning the igbo sounds they are not familiar with. umar (2015) did a contrastive analysis of hausa and igbo sound inventories. he presented that the consonant phonemes /ɓ ɗ gy ƙ ky ƙw ƙy ts 'y/ present in hausa are absent in igbo and also the consonant phonemes /gb ɣ kp ŋ ŋw ɲ p v/ present in igbo are absent in hausa. he observed that the vocalic diphthongs /ai au ui/ in hausa are absent in igbo and the vowels /ɪ ɔ υ/ present in igbo are absent in hausa. he recommended that the similarities and difference found in both languages should be used to create a linguistic family tree with the aim of aiding igbo learners of hausa and hausa learners of igbo for easy language acquisition. in this study, we will contrastively look at the phonemes of igbo and french, bringing out their similarities and differences and predicting likely problems igbo learners of french and french learners of igbo will encounter and suggest ways of preventing these problems. methodology this research work is based on the contrastive analysis method. this method is most suitable as it enabled the researchers to compare the speech sounds of both languages, paying special attention to the differences that exit in their sound pattern in line with the tenets of contrastive analysis. the researchers made use of already exiting and established works done separately on the phonology of each of the languages in review. for the speech sounds of igbo, this research work adopted ikekeọnwụ, ezikeojiakụ, ụbanị and ugọjị (1999), whose work shows that there are thirty-six phonemes in the igbo phonemic inventory comprising of twenty-eight consonants (28) and eight (8) vowels. for the speech sounds of french, this research work adopted carduner and hagiwara (1982), whose work shows that there are thirty-seven phonemes in the french phonemic inventory comprising of twenty-one (21) consonants and sixteen (16) vowels. igbo speech sounds the standard igbo has thirty-six (36) phonemes, which comprises of twenty-eight (28) consonants and eight (8) vowels. igbo consonants there are twenty-eight (28) phonemic consonants in igbo which are: /p b t d k g kp gb kw gw m n ɲŋ ŋw f v s z ʃɣɦʧʤ l r j w/. these consonants according to ikekeọnwụ, ezikeojiakụ, ụbanị and ugọjị (1999), are described using their places of articulation, manner of articulation and the state of the glottis. place of articulation describes the organs of speech that come together for the articulation of a sound. manner of articulation describes how the airstream used in the production of a consonant is manipulated during the production of the consonant. mbah and mbah (2010) stated that the manipulation of the airstream could be classified as complete closure, partial closure and open closure/approximation. the descriptions of these consonants and their word examples are shown below: plosives there are ten (10) plosives in the igbo consonant. these speech sounds are regarded as plosives due to the complete closure of the airstream and the explosion that comes afterwards while articulating them. these plosives are: /p b t d k g kp gb kw gw/. they occur only at word initial and medial positions, but do not occur at word final positions. (i) /p/ is a voiceless bilabial plosive. examples: /pɪa/ (pịa) 'press', /opi/ (opi) 'whistle', /apɪpɪa/ (apịpịa) 'cane' coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 183 (ii) /b/ is a voiced bilabial plosive. examples: /bɪa/ (bịa) 'come', /obe/ (obe) 'cross', /ɔbara/ (ọbara) 'blood' (iii) /t/: is a voiceless alveolar plosive.examples: /ta/ (ta) 'chew', /ute/ (ute) 'mat', /υtυtυ/ (ụtụtụ) 'morning' (iv) /d/ is a voiced alveolar plosive. examples: /de/ (de) 'write', /udo/ (udo) 'peace', /edide/ (edide) 'write up' (v) /k/: is a voiceless velar plosive. examples: /ke/ (ke) 'tie', /oke/ (oke) 'rat', /ikike/ (ikike) 'authority' (vi) /g/ is a voiced velar plosive. examples: /ga/ (ga) 'go', /oge/ (oge) 'time', /ogige/ (ogige) 'garden' (vii) /kp/: is a voiceless labio-velar plosive. examples: /kpe/ (kpe) 'pray', /okpu/ (okpu) 'cap', /okpukpere/ (okpukpere) 'religion' (viii) /gb/ is a voiced labio-velar plosive. examples: /gba/ (gba) 'run', /ogbe/ (ogbe) 'cluster', /ogbugbu/ (ogbugbu) 'killing' (ix) /kw/ is a voiceless labialized velar plosive. examples: /kwe/ (kwe) 'agree', /okwu/ (okwu) 'speech', /okwukwe/ (okwukwe) 'faith' (x) /gw/ is a voiced labialized velar plosive. examples: /gwa/ (gwa) 'tell', /igwe/ (igwe) 'iron', /ogwugwu/ (ogwugwu) 'deity' nasals there are five (5) nasals in the igbo consonant. these speech sounds are regarded as nasals due to the passage of air from the airstream through the nostril as there is complete closure of the velum while articulating them. these nasals are: /m nɲŋŋw/. they are all voiced. they occur only at word initial and medial positions except for /m/ which also occurs at word final position when it functions as a syllabic nasal. (i) /m/ is a voiced bilabial nasal. examples: /mpi/ (mpi) 'horn', /omume/ (omume) 'character', /ɔdυm/ (ọdụm) 'lion' (ii) /n/ is a voiced alveolar nasal. examples: /ncha/ (ncha) 'soap', /une/ (une) 'banana', /anυnυ/ (anụnụ) 'blue' (iii) /ɲ/ is a voiced palatal nasal. examples: /ɲe/ (nye) 'give', /aɲa/ (anya) 'eye', /ɪɲɪɲa/ (ịnyịnya) 'horse' (iv) /ŋ/ is a voiced velar nasal. examples: /ŋυ/ (ṅụ) 'drink', /aŋυ/ (aṅụ) 'bee', /ɔŋυ/ (ọṅụ) 'joy' (v) /ŋw/ is a voiced labialized velar nasal. examples: /ŋwe/ (nwe) 'own', /ɔŋwυ/ (ọnwụ) 'death', /ɔŋwυŋwa/ (ọnwụnwa) 'temptation' fricatives there are seven (7) fricatives in standard igbo consonant. these speech sounds are regarded as fricatives due to the partial closure of the airstream while articulating them. these fricatives are: /f v s z ʃ ɣ ɦ/. they occur only at word initial and medial positions except for /ʃ/ which occurs only at word medial position. (i) /f / is a voiceless labio-dental fricative. examples: /fe/ (fe) 'fly', /ofe/ (ofe) 'soup', /ofufe/ (ofufe) 'worship' (ii) /v/ is a voiced labio-dental fricative. examples: /vυ/ (vụ) 'fell', /ivo/ (ivo) 'name of a town', /vum/ (vum)'onomatopoeic sound' (iii) /s/ is a voiceless alveolar fricative. examples: /sa/ (sa) 'wash', /ose/ (ose) 'pepper', /osisi/ (osisi) 'tree' (iv) /z/ is a voiced alveolar fricative. examples: coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 184 /za/ (za) 'answer', /ozi/ (ozi) 'message', /azɪza/ (azịza) 'broom' (v) /ʃ/ is a voiceless post-alveolar fricative. examples: /aʃà/ (asha) 'weaver bird', /ɪʃa/ (ịsha) 'crayfish' (vi) /ɣ/ is a voiced velar fricative. examples: /ɣɔ/ (ghọ) 'pluck', /oɣe/ (oghe) 'open', /oɣiɣe/ (oghighe)'frying' (i) /ɦ/ is voiced glottal fricative.examples: /ɦa/ (ha) 'they', /aɦa/ (aha) 'name', /eɦiɦie/ (ehihie) 'afternoon' affricates there are only two (2) affricates in the standard igbo consonant. these speech sounds are regarded as affricates due to the complete closure of the airstream and gentle release afterwards while articulating them. these affricates are: /ʧ ʤ/. they occur only at word initial and medial positions. (i) /ʧ/ is a voiceless post-alveolar affricate. examples: /ʧe/ (che) 'wait', /oʧe/ (oche) 'chair', /eʧiʧe/ (echiche) 'thought' (ii) /ʤ/ is a voiced post-alveolar affricate. examples: /ʤe/ (je) 'go', /aʤa/ (aja) 'sand', /aʤυʤυ/ (ajụjụ) 'question' lateral there is only one (1) lateral in the standard igbo consonant. the articulation of this speech sound occurs when there is a closure of the nasal cavity and the opening of the oral cavity while the tip of the tongue makes contact with the alveolar. this lateral sound is /l/. it occurs only at word initial and medial positions. (i) /l/ is a voiced alveolar lateral. examples: /le/ (le) 'look', /olu/ (olu) 'neck', /olilo/ (olilo) 'assimilation' trill there is only one (1) trill in the standard igbo consonant. the articulation of this speech sound occurs when there is a closure of the nasal cavity and the opening of the oral cavity while the tip of the tongue makes contact with the soft palate. this trill sound is /r/. it occurs only at word initial and medial positions. (i) /r/ is a voiced alveolar trill. examples: /ri/ (ri) 'eat', /ara/ (ara) 'madness', /oriri/ (oriri) 'feast' approximant there are two (2) approximants in the standard igbo consonant. the articulation of these speech sounds occur when there is a closure of the nasal cavity and the opening of the oral cavity, while the front of the tongue makes contact with the hard palate. these approximant sounds are /j w/. they occur only at word initial and medial positions. (i) /j/ is a voiced palatal approximant. examples: /ja/ (ya) 'him/her', /oji/ (oyi) 'cold', /ojiji/ (oyiyi) 'resemblance' (ii) /w/ is a voiced labio-velar approximant. examples: /wa/ (wa) 'split', /iwe/ (iwe) 'anger', /were/ (were) 'take’ coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 185 igbo consonant chart manner of articulation b il a b ia l l a b io -d en ta l n a e ze a lv eo la r p o st -a lv eo la r p a la ta l v el a r l a b io -v el a r l a b ia li ze d v el a r g lo tt a l plosive p b t d k g kp gb kw gw nasal m n ɲ ŋ ŋw fricative f v s z ʃ ɣ ɦ affricate ʧ ʤ lateral l trill r approximant j w place of articulation fig. 1: igbo consonant chart (adapted from ikekeọnwụ, ezikeojiakụ, ụbanị and ugọjị 1999) igbo vowels there are eight (8) phonemic vowels in igbo. the vowels are /a e i ɪ o ɔ u υ/. they are all voiced. according to ikekeọnwụ, ezikeojiakụ, ụbanị and ugọjị (1999), the vowels are described using three basic terms which are: the height of the tongue in the part, the part of the tongue used in the production and the shape of the lips. they explained that the height of the tongue in the mouth during production is of four parts which are: close, close-mid, open-mid and open. the description of these vowels and examples of igbo words where they occur are shown below: (i) /a/ is an open front unrounded vowel. word examples: /aka/ (aka) 'hand', /aŋa/ (anya)'eyes', /akυ/ (akụ) 'wealth' (ii) /e/ is an open-mid front unronded vowel. word examples are: /elu/ (elu) 'up', /efere/ (efere)'plate', /eŋwe/ (enwe) 'monkey' (iii) /i/ is a close front unrounded vowel. word examples are: /ire/ (ire)'tongue', /iko/ (iko)'cup', /ikike/ (ikike) 'authority' (iv) /ɪ/ is a close-mid front unrounded vowel. word examples are: /ɪgυ/ (ịgụ) 'to read', /ahɪa/ (ahịa)'market', /ɪgba/ (ịgba) 'drum' (v) /o/ is an open-mid back rounded vowel. word examples are: /oʧe/ (oche)'chair', /oke/ (oke)'male', /oroma/ (oroma) 'orange' (vi) /ɔ/ is an open back rounded vowel. word examples: /ɔnυ/ (ọnụ)'mouth', /ɔrυ/ (ọrụ)'work', /ɔkυkɔ/ (ọkụkọ) 'chicken' (vii) /u/ is a close back rounded vowel. word examples are: /ube/ (ube)'pear', /udude/ (udude) 'earthworm', /udo/ (udo) 'peace' (viii) /υ/ is a close-mid back rounded vowel. word examples: /υlɔ/ (ụlọ)'house', /υtυtυ/ (ụtụtụ)'morning', /azυ/ (azụ) 'fish' coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 186 igbo vowel chart fig. 2: igbo vowel chart (adapted from ikekeọnwụ, ezikeojiakụ, ụbanị and ugọjị 1999) french speech sounds the standard french has thirty-seven (37) phonemes, which comprises of twenty-one (21) consonants and sixteen (16) vowels. french consonants there are twenty-one (21) phonemic consonants in french which are: /p b t d k g m n ɲ f v s z ʃ ʒ ʁ lr j ɥw/. these consonants according to carduner and hagiwara (1982), are described using the source of the airstream (whether from the lungs pulmonic or from other source non-pulmonic), the state of vibration of the vocal folds (whether vibrating voiced or not vibrating voiceless), the place of articulation in the vocal tract (whether bilabial, dental, labio-dental, alveolar, post-alveolar, palatal, velar, uvular or glottal) and the manner of articulation (whether stop/plosive, fricative, nasal or liquid). the descriptions of these consonants and their word examples are shown below: plosives there are six (6) plosives in the french consonant. these plosives are: /p b t d k g/. they occur at word initial, medial and final positions. (i) /p/ is a voiceless bilabial plosive. examples: /pəti/ (petit) 'small', /aprɛ/ (après) 'after', /tip/ (type) 'kind' (ii) /b/ is a voiced bilabial plosive. it occurs in word initial and medial positions, butdo not occur in word final positions. examples: /blã/ (blanc) 'white', /tabu/ (tabou) 'taboo', /tɔb̃ / (tombe) 'tomb' (iii) /t/: is a voiceless alveolar plosive. it occurs in word initial and medial positions, but do not occur in word final position.examples: /tabl/ (table) 'table', /bato/ (bateau) 'ship', /ɛst/ (est) 'is' (iv) /d/ is a voiced alveolar plosive. it occurs in word initial and medial positions, but do not coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 187 occur in word final position. examples: /dǿ/ (deux) 'two', /pedal/ (pédale) 'pedal', /gʁᾶd/ (grande) 'big' (v) /k/: is a voiceless velar plosive. it occurs at word initial and final positions, but do not occur at word final positions. examples: /ku/ (cou) 'neck', /sak/ (sac) 'bag', /boku/ (beaucoup) 'much' (vi) /g/ is a voiced velar plosive. examples: /gard/ (garde) 'gaurd', /bag/ (bague) 'ring', /vag/ (vague) 'wave' nasals there are three (3) nasals in the french consonant. these nasals are: /m nɲ/. they are all voiced. /m/ and /n/ occur at word initial, medial and final positions but /ɲ/ occurs only at word medial and final positions. (i) /m/ is a voiced bilabial nasal. examples: /mwa/ (moi) 'me', /ami/ (ami) 'friend', /mɛm/ (même) 'same' (ii) /n/ is a voiced alveolar nasal. examples: /ne/ (nez) 'neck', /pɛn/ (peine) 'sadness', /yn/ (une) 'a' (iii) /ɲ/ is a voiced palatal nasal. examples: /pwaɲɛ/ (poignet) 'wrist', /aɲo/ (agneau) 'lamb', /liɲ/ (ligne) 'line' fricatives there are seven (7) fricatives in the french consonant. these fricatives are: /f v s z ʃ ʒ ʁ/. they occur at word initial, medial and final positions. (i) /f / is a voiceless labio-dental fricative. examples: /fij/ (fille) 'girl', /ᾶfɛ/̃ (enfin) 'finally', /nœf/ (neuf) 'nine' (ii) /v/ is a voiced labio-dental fricative. examples: /vwatyʁ/ (voiture) 'car', /avɛk/ (avec) 'with', /aʁiv/ (arrive) 'arrived' (iii) /s/ is a voiceless alveolar fricative. examples: /stilo/ (stylo) 'pen', /klas/ (classe) 'class', /plas/ (place) 'square' (iv) /z/ is a voiced alveolar fricative. examples: /zebʁ/ (zèbre) 'zebra', /ɛz/ '(aise) 'easy', /kɛz̃ / (quinze) 'fifteen' (v) /ʃ/ is a voiceless post-alveolar fricative. examples: /ʃəmiz/ (chemise) 'shirt', /ʁəʃɛʁʃ/ (recherche) 'research', /ʃɛf/ (chef) 'chief' (vi) /ʒ/ is a voiced velar fricative. examples: /ʒãʁ/ (genre) 'gender', /aʒ/ (age) 'age', /deʒa/ (déjà) 'already' (vii) /ʁ/ is a voiceless velar fricative. examples: /tʁɛ/ (très) 'very', /mɛtʁ/ (mettre) ' to put', /seʁa/ (sera) 'will be' lateral there is only one (1) lateral in the french consonant. this lateral sound is /l/. it occurs at word initial, medial and final positions. (i) /l/ is a voiced alveolar lateral. examples: /livʁ/ (livre) 'book', /bɛl/ (belle) 'beautiful', /səlɥi/ (celui) 'the one' trill there is only one (1) trill in the french consonant. this trill sound is /r/. it occurs at word initial, medial and final positions. (i) /r/ is a voiced uvular trill. examples: /ri/ (rit) 'laugh', /pari/ (paris) 'paris', /vᾶdr/ (vendre) 'sale' approximant coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 188 there are three (3) approximants in the french consonant. these approximant sounds are /j ɥ w/. /j/ occurs at word initial, medial and final positions, while /w/ and /ɥ/ occur only at word initial and medial positions. (i) /j/ is a voiced palatal-spread approximant. examples: /jo/ (yeux) 'eyes', /djo/ (dieu) 'god', /fij/ (fille) 'daughter' (ii) /w/ is a voiced labio-velar approximant. examples: /wi/ (oui) 'yes', /wɛst/ (ouest) 'west', /netwaje/ (nettoyer) 'to clean' (iii) /ɥ/ is a voiced palatal-rounded approximant. examples: /ɥil/ (huile) 'oil', /nɥi/ (nuit) 'night', /lɥi/ (lui) 'him’ fig. 3: french consonant chart (adapted from carduner and hagiwara 1982) french vowels there are sixteen (16) phonemic vowels in french. these vowels are /i e ɛ ɛ ̃ a y ø œ œ ̃ u o ɔ ɔɑ̃ ᾶ ə/. they are all voiced. carduner and hagiwara (1982), described french vowels with reference to four criteria which are: the part of the tongue that is raised (front, center or back), the extent to which the tongue rises in the direction of the soft palate (high, high-mid, low-mid and low), the position of the velum (raised for oral vowels and lowered for nasal vowels) and the kind of opening made at the lips (rounded or spread). the description of these vowels and their examples in french words where they occur are shown below: (i) /i/ is a front high oral spread vowel. word examples: /il/ (il) 'he', /li/ (lit)'bed', /fij/ (fille) 'daughter' (ii) /e/ is a front high-mid oral spread vowel. word examples are: /ete/ (été) 'summer', /le/ (les)'the', /ekɔl/ (école) 'school' (iii) /ɛ/ is a front low-mid oral spread vowel. word examples are: /bɛl/ (belle) 'beautiful', /mɛtʁ/ (mettre) 'to put', /tɛt/ (tête) 'head' (iv) /ɛ/̃ is a front low-mid nasal spread vowel. word examples are: /pɛs̃ / (pince) 'clamp', /vɛ/̃ (vin) '', /vɛ/̃ (vingt) 'twenty' (v) /a/ is a front low oral spread vowel. word examples are: french consonant chart manner of articulation b il a b ia l l a b io -d en ta l n a e ze a lv eo la r p o st -a lv eo la r p a la ta l p a la ta l ro u n d ed v el a r u v u la r plosive pb t d k g nasal m n ɲ fricative f v s z ʃ ʒ ʁ lateral l trill r approximant j ɥ w place of articulation coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 189 /ma/ (ma)'my', /ami/ (ami)'friend', /ale/ (aller) 'to go' (vi) /y/ is a front high oral rounded vowel. word examples: /yn/ (une)'a', /sykʁ/ (sucre)'sugar', /vy/ (vu) 'seen' (vii) /ø/ is a front high-mid oral rounded vowel. word examples are: /nø/ (nœud) 'node', /pø/ (peu) 'little', /vø/ (veux) 'want' (viii) /œ/ is a front low-mid oral rounded vowel. word examples: /nœf/ (neuf) 'nine', /sœl/ (seul) 'only', /œj/ (œil) 'eye' (ix) /œ/̃ is a front low-mid nasal rounded vowel. word examples: /œ/̃ (un) 'a', /brœ/̃ (brun)'brown', /ʃakœ/̃ (chacun) 'each' (x) /u/ is a back high oral rounded vowel. word examples are: /tu/ (tout) 'everything', /du/ (doux)'soft', /u/ (où) 'where' (xi) /o/ is a back high-mid oral rounded vowel. word examples are: /bo/ (beau)'handsome', /fo/ (faux)'fake', /rato/ (rateau) 'rake' (xii) /ɔ/ is a back low-mid oral rounded vowel. word examples are: /sɔl/ (sol)'floor', /vɔg/ (vogue)'vogue', /ɔm/ (homme) 'man' (xiii) /ɔ/̃ is a back low-mid nasal rounded vowel. word examples are: /bɔ/̃ (bon)'good', /fɔ/̃ (fond)'bottom', /mɔd̃ / (monde) 'world' (xiv) /ɑ/ is a back low oral unrounded vowel. word examples: /pɑ/ (pɑs) 'not', /lɑ/ (lɑs) 'tired', /tɑ/ (tɑs) 'heap' (xv) /ᾶ/ is a back low-mid nasal unrounded vowel. word examples are: /bᾶ/ (banc)'bench', /gʁᾶd/ (grande) 'big', /dᾶ/ (dans) 'in' (xvi) /ə/ is a central vowel known as schwa. it is neither low nor high, neither front nor back, neither rounded nor spread. it is generally described as weak neutral sound in french and also regarded as 'e-muet' or 'muted e'. it is uttered in a position requiring minimum articulatory effort. word examples: /ʒə/ (je) 'i', /pəti/ (petit) 'little', /samədi/ (samedi) 'saturday' french vowel chart (adapted from carduner and hagiwara 1982) discussion the main focus of this study is to ascertain the similarities and differences between the speech sounds of igbo and french. as earlier defined, contrastive analysis (ca) looks at studying two different languages, which in this case, a native and a foreign language, to see where potential coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 190 problems may arise. having looked at the data presented above, the researchers observed that the similarities and differences between the speech sounds of the languages under review. the igbo phonemic inventory has thirty six (36) phonemes of which twenty eight (28) are consonants, while eight (8) are vowels. the french phonemic inventory has thirty seven phonemes of which twenty one (21) are consonants, while sixteen (16) are vowels. the igbo and french phonemic inventories have sixteen (16) consonants and six (6) vowels in common. the consonants igbo and french have in common are: the voiceless and voiced bilabial plosives /p b/, the voiceless and voiced alveolar plosives /t d/, the voiceless and voiced velar plosives /k g/, the voiced bilabial nasal /m/, the voiced alveolar nasal /n/, the voiced palatal nasal /ɲ/, the voiceless and voiced labiodental fricatives /f v/, the voiceless and voiced alveolar fricatives /s z/, the voiceless post-alveolar fricative /ʃ/, the voiced alveolar lateral /l/ and the voiced palatal approximant /j/. the consonants /r/ and /w/ exist in both languages but with a difference in place of articulation. in igbo, /r/ is realised as a voiced alveolar trill, whereas in french it is realised as a voiced uvular trill, having an allophone /ʁ/ which is realised as a voiceless velar fricative. in igbo, /w/ is realised as a voiced labio-velar approximant, whereas in french, it is realised as a voiced velar approximant. the vowels igbo and french have in common are: the high close/high vowel front /i/, the close-mid/high-mid front vowel /e/, the open/low front vowel /a/, the close-mid/high-mid back vowel /o/ and the close/high back vowel /u/. the back vowel /ɔ/ exists in both languages but it is realised differently. while in igbo, it is realised as an open back vowel, in french, it is realised as a low-mid back vowel. these phonemes which both languages have in common are likely not to pose a threat to learners of each of the languages as they will easily transfer the pronunciation they have from their mother tongue to the target language. the consonants in the igbo phonemic inventory that are not in french are: the voiceless and voiced labio-velar plosives /kp gb/, the voiceless and the voiced labialized-velar plosives /kw gw/, the voiced palatal and labialized-velar nasals /ɲ ŋw/, the voiced velar and voiceless glottal fricatives /ɣ ɦ/ and the voiceless and voiced post-alveolar affricates /ʧ ʤ/. also, the consonants in the french phonemic inventory that are not in igbo are: the voiced post-alveolar and voiceless velar fricatives /ʒ ʁ/ and the voiced palatal rounded approximant /ɥ/. the vowels that exist in igbo phonemic inventory but are not in french are: the front close down spread vowel /ɪ/ and the back close down rounded vowel /υ/. the vowels that exist in french that are not in igbo are: the front low-mid oral spread vowel /ɛ/, the front high oral rounded vowel /y/, the front high-mid oral rounded vowel /ø/, the front low-mid oral rounded vowel /œ/, the central vowel /ə/, the back low oral unrounded vowel /ɑ/, the front low-mid nasal spread vowel /ɛ/̃ , the front low-mid nasal rounded vowel /œ/̃ , the back low-mid nasal unrounded vowel /ᾶ/ and the back low-mid nasal rounded vowel /ɔ/̃ . it is imperative to note that nasal vowels are phonemic in french whereas in igbo, there is no such thing as nasal vowels. also, french front vowels are both spread and rounded whereas in igbo, all front vowels are spread. summary of findings having looked at the differences stated above, it is worthy to note that; 1. there is every tendency that igbo learners of french would have difficulty in the learning and pronunciation of words containing these phonemes that are lacking in their phonemic inventory, which will lead them to substituting these phonemes that they lack with the ones they have which are closely related in terms of articulation to the ones they lack and in the long run, learners will keep producing inaccurate words and stick to them. 2. french learners of igbo will also find it difficult learning and pronouncing words containing the phonemes which are not in their phonemic inventory. this difficulty may lead to lack of coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 191 interest in in the learning of the language as words containing these unfamiliar phonemes will always pose a threat to the learners. 3. teachers of both languages who are not familiar with the phonemic inventories of both languages and their sounding will equally have difficulty teaching these languages as they will give off inaccurate pronunciations. recommendations based on the findings of this study, the following recommendations are made: 1. teachers of foreign languages should as a matter importance acquire and start language teaching from the sound level, maintaining focus on their positions of occurrence in words while adopting repetition and articulatory phonetic transcription exercises while teaching to help learners master both familiar and unfamiliar sounds, by so doing, pronunciation errors will be prevented. 2. second language learners should lay more emphasis on learning of sounds and their correct articulations rather than words. the sound level is the foundation of language learning. the sounds which are not familiar, that is, sounds that are not existent in a learner's mother tongue should be given more attention. learners should expose and involve themselves in the articulatory processes involved in the production of these sounds till they are familiar with them. 3. the second language teaching and learning style which starts from conjugation of verbs as is the case of french and pronunciation of words as is the case of igbo, should be done away with as this style has overtime proven not to be productive. conclusion this research work has contrastively looked at the speech sounds of igbo and french with emphasis on their similarities and differences. as corder (1967) clearly stated, contrastive analysis is indispensable for the learner as a way to test his hypotheses about the nature of the language he is learning, for telling the teacher how far towards the goal the learner has progressed and what remains for him to learn, and for providing the researcher with evidence as to how language is learned and acquired as well as what strategies or procedures the learner is using. contrastive analysis has helped us in predicting and explaining difficulties igbo learners of french and french learners of igbo would encounter in learning their target language and what learners and teachers should do in order to overcome these difficulties. we are of the view that if our recommendations are adopted and used in language teaching and learning, difficulties encountered in second language learning will be eradicated. coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 192 references anozie, c.c. (1999). lingwistiiki sayensi asusu. fulladu. carduner, s. & hagiwara, m. p. (1982). d'accord la prononciation du francais internationale: acquisition et perfectionnement. john wiley & sons. corder, s. p. (1967). the signifcance of learners' errors. international review of applied linguistics in language teaching, 5(4), 161-170. eme, c. a. & uba, e. d. (2014). a contrastive study of the phonology of igbo and yoruba.unizikjournal of arts and humanities, .http://dx.doi.org//10.4314/ujah/v17i1.4 firbas, j. (1992). functional sentence perspective in written and spoken communication. cambridge university press. fries, c. c. (1945). teaching and learning english as a second language. university of michigan press. ikekeonwu, c. i., ezikeojiaku, p. a., ubani, a., & ugoji, j. (1999). fọnọlọjị na grama igbo. university press. lado, r. (1957). linguistics across cultures: applied linguistics for language teachers. university of michigan press. markey, a. (1998). a contrastive analysis of french and american english.m.athesis. department of linguistics, bryn mawr college, pennsylvania. mbah, e. e. (2007). elision in igbo language and literature in a developing country. african first publishers limited. mbah, b. m. & mbah, e. e. (2010). topics in phonetics and phonology: contributions from igbo. ap express limited. n'gom, f. (1997). contrastive phonlogical analysis of french and mandinka.m.athesis. department of linguistics, university of montana, missoula. umar, m. m. (2015). a contrastive analysis of hausa and igbo sound inventories. harsunanijeria journal of nigerian languages and folklore, 25(1), 157-162. coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 193 http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/ujah/v17i1.4 page 190 page 191 page 192 page 193 page 194 page 195 page 196 page 197 page 198 page 199 page 200 page 201 page 202 text book journal pdf sis. noelle coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 01 abstract this study is concerned with the various perspectives of society captured by maria ajima in her collection of poems titled poems of sanity (2000). the theoretical framework used is the sociological literary criticism. this approach to the study of literature is a conviction that literature is a social product wherein the people's thoughts and feelings are shaped by the cultural life of society. the research methodologies are semantic interpretation and inter stanzaic analysis to arrive at the relationship between the selected poems and contemporary society. the data constitute poems and stanzas which reflect socio-political and economic realities at content and aesthetic levels. this study is paramount to scholarship because it dwells on a new phase in nigerian poetry which is poetry by female poets. poetry written by women was hitherto sparse in relation to their male counterpart. this research dwells on the contemporary issues and functional artistry employed by the female poet reviewed. the findings are that themes by contemporary female poets are divergent and sociologically relevant in africa. this study concludes that ajima is a socially conscious poet who is involved with contemporary issues bedevilling africa. key words – social, realities, contemporary issues, maria ajima, poems of sanity. introduction african cultural impediments and the western sexism of the colonial system which prevented girls from attending missionary schools, delayed the arrival of women on the literary scene. beginning from the late 1960's there arose a generation of women whose desire was to introduce a female perspective to the way women were portrayed in literature. the earliest of these writings was flora nwapa's efuru (1967) which was the first novel written by a woman in anglophone africa. the first generation of nigerian female writers saw patriarchy as the major form of women oppression. many of them write to debunk the subordinate portrayal of women by male writers. these writers include buchi emecheta, flora nwapa, ifeoma okoye, zulu sofola, molara ogundipe – leslie, catherine acholonu and others. they portray women in positive light. the writings of these literary matriarchs were reactionary to the subservient portrayal of women by their male counterparts. catherine acholonu, a first generation nigerian female poet, rooted her themes on traditional values. other female poets in this generation are mabel segun and omolara ogundipe (doki, 14). in recent times, there has been a proliferation of female writers. one major factor that has brought the increase in female authors is the establishment of feminist presses like women writing africa which already has four volumes. the series is a collection of works by african priscilla ojochide ajodo humanities department st. joseph's college, vom, plateau state 08039674978 priscillaajodo@yahoo.com social realities in maria ajima's poems of sanity 02 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 female storytellers, performers and writers. closely related to this is the access to western publishing houses by african women living abroad who equally benefit from writing workshops and women's writing networks. many of these women are publishing in the united states, united kingdom and zimbabwe. there is a shift in focus in works of these contemporary nigerian female writers and poets from that of the earlier generation. these new writers portray the woman in realistic and broader terms. they do not negate patriarchy but create men and women who are economically, politically and socially conscious of the environment. they use their works to try to correct societal ills and discuss in details political and economic issues in contemporary times (bwai 321). for instance, maria ajima rather than fight patriarchy, focuses on the challenges and prospects of africa. she is termed as a socially conscious poet (aliyu – ibrahim, 10). socially conscious writers, poets and thinkers especially in africa are engaged with the interactions that exist between people, their culture and their physical environment. for the fictive writer in africa, art is essentially a comprehensive testimony and a pattern of existence in which africans have been involved. the relationship between art and society is rooted in africa's ancestry. these writers are engaged with the question of change in modern africa. issues of african cultural heritage and power form the concerns of their writings. through literature, they reconcile africa's past with the present. maria ajima is a poet who is engaged with the problems and possible solutions to the plethora of problems in the society. she is a former president of women writers of nigeria. she won the association of nigerian writers/spectrum prose prize with the unpublished novel the survivor. she has several collections of poems including poems of sanity (2000). the social realities she portrays in poems of sanity is a land of travails and in dire need of socio – political and economic transformations. this study is concerned with a critical assessment of these contemporary social realities. social realities in maria ajima's poems of sanity social realities in africa especially since her attainment of independence, has been series of socio political and economic challenges ranging from years of civil wars, military rule, bad governance, loss of freedom of speech, materialism, terrorism and others. as such african writers like ajima have helped to critically illuminate the fundamental ways in which these challenges and questions can be faced and answered. ajima's poems of sanity provides a perspective for understanding the problems in society. her poems are an aesthetic portrayal and interrogation of the traumatic experiences that characterize the lives of people and their existence in contemporary african society. “una too like katakata sef” (7), is a poem written in pidgin english as a commentary on the nation nigeria especially the hustles of her people. the poet says: … for this our obodo country if you no rush for something na so dem go de leave sha, make god help us! (7) nigeria is a country with a desire to get rich quick by many of its citizens. there is so much rush to get money and acquire properties regardless of the means which it is gotten. the poet refers to people who acquire money at any cost as “vultures” in the poem “fear” (56). coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 03 vulture is an animal of prey. vultures are like fraudsters and dupes. the category of people who dupe people, come in various guise as: businessmen, car – owners, goodwillers, do gooders, relations, colleagues, pastors, reverends, maimed, poor, needy, widowed, bereaved, sick, dumb, deaf, well – wishers, money spinners, all those you can think of (56). these aforementioned categories of people are referred to as “four one niners”; 419. 419 is the penal code of fraud in the nigerian criminal code. it is sometimes called advanced fee fraud. it is an illegal way of getting money from people through false pretence. their targets are usually gullible people. there are variants to these scams such as making promises for employment, lottery, financial gains or marital connections. the poet is puzzled on the multiplicity of vices in society and asks “why?” in the poem “why” (12). in this poem, the poet lists all other vices especially those that have kept the continent of africa technologically backward. “why” (12), is ajima's rhetorical poem that questions africa on her inability to equate her counterparts in technological advancement. the poet says: others zoom into space while we remain in the stone age murdering one another in the huts why … this cry must be endless (12), the “stone age” which africa has remained in is devoid of any inventions. things are still done in crude and primitive ways. an instance cited in the poem is that africa's buildings are “huts”. technologically advanced countries have conquered the earth and have zoomed into space to conquer other planets (12). one of the reasons the continent has remained perpetually backwards is that they keep “murdering one another” even in their state of squalor. there are several ways africans keep murdering one another which the poet interrogates with “why”. the poet asks “why” seven times for emphasis. the seven “why” in the poem can be interpreted as an interrogation of impeding policies and practices in africa. therefore, a critical analysis and interpretation of these seven rhetorical “why” can be re written as: why retrogressive traditional practices? why crimes against women? why child labour and trafficking? why nepotism? why corruption? why bad leadership? why xenophobia? the first “why” is the issue of retrogressive traditional practices which has kept the continent of africa stagnated. practices such as human sacrifices, early or forced marriages, 04 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 superstitions and domestic violence are some of these cultural inhibitions that have retarded the growth of the continent technologically, politically and economically. secondly, crimes against women in africa are issues of female genital mutilation, infibulations, rape, denying the girl – child access to education, wife battering, forced prostitution and preference for sons over daughters. the united nations defines violence against women as: … any act of gender based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion, or arbitrary deprivation of liberty whether occurring in public or in private life. one of africa's gender based crimes is the inequality that exists between men and women in the society. this inequality has prevented women from holding leadership roles in society. majority of the crimes against women are backed up by the tradition of patriarchy in the communities. the statistics of crimes against women in africa is high. crimes against women have over the decades prevented african women from competing favourably with women from other parts of the world. closely related to crimes against women is the issue of child labour and trafficking. this can be described as modern day slavery. it involves the habouring, recruiting and transporting of children for domestic use or adoption. according to the statistics by international labour organisation, about 1.2 million children are trafficked annually. by nigerian constitution, a child is a person less than eighteen years. as such, child labour is the employment of a child which restricts them from basic education and development. according to (agbo, 2017) “child labour is any work or task a child below the age of 18 years undertakes with a view of being rewarded in cash or in kind or for any other reason at all, and which deprives him of good health, good education and normal development.” some of the reasons for child labour are poverty, high rate of illiteracy, cultural factors and greed. child labour and trafficking are vices that have under-developed africa over decades. nepotism is another factor that has kept africa on the list of third world countries which accounts for the fourth “why”. nepotism means favouritism, that is, giving your relations and acquaintances privileges not on the basis of merits. there are two major types of nepotism: political and institutional nepotism. political nepotism is assigning a person to a political position based on kin or kith relationship while institutional nepotism is employing a person based on familial relationship. nepotism, as a bane of africa, has been practised by both male and female leaders. corruption intertwines with nepotism. bribery has been one of the major forms of corruption in africa. according to a report on 11th july 2019, by transparency international: corruption in african countries is hindering economic, political and social development. it is a major barrier to economic growth, good governance and basic freedoms, such as freedom of speech or citizens' right to hold governments to account. more than this, corruption affects the well-being of individuals, families and communities. corruption remains one of the major reasons many africans live in abject poverty. money laundering to foreign countries is also part of corruption. despite attempts by governments to coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 05 curb corruption, it has been on the increase and affects the educational, health, religious, social and political sectors of the society. most of the issues of corruption are products of bad leadership. in spite of the rich mineral resources in africa, poor leadership has brought the continent's united nations human development index ranking very low. the continent has been bedevilled by years of military rule, coups, high inflation rates, increased poverty rates, acts of violence, civil wars and lack of freedom of speech. the last of these interrogative “why” is xenophobia. it is one of the threats against the unity of africa. xenophobia is the fear of foreigners. south africa is at the centre of most xenophobic attacks against other african countries. immigrants into south africa have faced discrimination and violence since 1994. two major reasons given for these attacks are that migrants took all their available jobs and social amenities, also they claimed migrants were responsible for majority of the crimes in the country. the most recent of these xenophobic attacks was on 1st september 2019, called the johannesburg riots. there were massive riots and looting of shops especially shops owned by nigerians. simultaneously, there was a nation – wide strike by truck drivers protesting against the employment of foreign truck drivers. these xenophobic attacks, riots and looting of properties are detrimental to the unity of africa. thus, the poet asks: why xenophobia? the poem, “make your own utopia” (8), is a wake–up call to african brothers and sisters. utopia is a world where there is peace and harmony. it reiterates the issue of the conquest of outer space by the western world. ajima suggests that africans should work day and night, just like ants, to build a conducive society. the social reality in africa is that: “we sit and stare / we flock to their mecca” (9). africa is characterized by a lifestyle of mediocrity, lacadaxical attitudes, low productivity and a high dependence on western economy. it is better we “… create our mecca” rather than “… flock to their mecca” (9). the poem ends on an advisory note: do you remember? we had once been ants let us wake from our slumber for even if we forget our skin they do not forget (9). african past history is filled with heroic deeds, conquests, hard – work and nation building. some of these nation builders are princess inikpi of igala land, queen amina of zazzau, oba ovonramwen nogbaisi of benin, king jaja of opobo and shaka zulu of zulu land. these were warriors and leaders who fought for the unity and peace of africa, their fatherland. they were either exiled or killed in their fight for the territorial sanctity of their communities. these legends are meant to be foundations for the continuous growth of the continent. unfortunately, in contemporary times, the labours of our past heroes are going in vain. this poem calls on africans to retrace her steps thereby establishing her on the path to greatness. one of the ways africa can become great is by developing a maintenance culture, that is, continuing with projects or policies of past leaders. 06 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 “edifices” (62), is a lamentation on the various discontinued/abandoned projects, policies and edifices in nigeria. these edifices are littered in the northern, southern, eastern and western regions of nigeria. the poet persona laments: i have seen gargantuan edifices of pride behemoths copied without thought from colder climes around the globe, they litter all over ajaokuta, oku – ibokun, festac, ikeja and abuja it seems you believe in elephantine edifices they are of little use to anybody but the contractors (62). ajaokuta, oku – ibokun, festac, ikeja and abuja are located in the different geo–political zones of nigeria with abandoned projects. these ailing public enterprises include ajaokuta steel company limited, nigerian newspaper manufacturing company limited oku–ibokun, honeywell flour mills ikeja, may and baker (nig) limited ikeja, jos steel rolling mill limited, katsina steel rolling mill company limited, nigerian paper mills jebba and others. the initiative to build these technological projects was “copied without thought / from colder climes around the globe” (62). this is reference to mindless technological lifting from western worlds without the technological know–how to run and maintain them. the resultant effect is the collapse of these mills, factories or industries. another reason for the collapse of industries in nigeria is the constant change in government and not having any continuity agenda by succeeding governments. inability of nigerian successive governments to continue in the agenda and policies of their predecessors is discussed in the poem “hypo–theoretics” (63). “hypo” means when a situation is below or beneath standard while “theoretics” means being concerned with theories or hypotheses rather than with practical matters. therefore, the coinage “hypo–theoretics” means operating seriously below standard and having an obsession with theories rather than realities. the poet persona analyses that: when you speak of transitional hypo – theoretics men will come and men will go it is not so much the face, as the systems that need tinkering (63). the educational, economic and political systems in the nation need tinkering or repair. there is therefore need to make policies that will bring continuity in the society. majority of the public sectors in the country has been stalled because of non–progressive policies and coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 07 administrations. one of the government agencies negatively affected by changing policies is nepa (national electric power authority) now called phcn (power holding company of nigeria) due to privatisation of the electric company. “millipede” (67), is the poem which disapproves of the inefficiency of public sectors especially nepa. the poet persona asks: in this jet age how could you continue to crab along millipede pace? when others are in frenzy for the millennium? … oh, nepa, nepa what shall we do with thee? (67) electricity distribution in nigeria dates back to 1898 when the first generating power plant was installed in lagos. nepa had the monopoly of electric supply for several decades. despite the national and international financial investments in the corporation, power outages were its norm. this made the nigerian populace change its acronym nepa to never expect power always. during the tenure of president goodluck ebele jonathan, the corporation was thprivatized on 30 september, 2013. in its stead, an independent agency called the nigerian electricity regulatory commission (nerc) was formed. by this privatisation process, licenses were issued to other marketers for electricity generation at state or regional levels. it is expected that the diversification will bring efficient power supply to all parts of the country. the poem ends on a hopeful note: and i believe you will rise, and rise, out of these mottled ashes, like the sphinx, my beloved country! (67) in spite of the degradations in the public sectors, there is need for nigerian citizens to be patriotic to their country. the poet fondly calls the nation “my beloved country” (67). the theme of patriotism is discussed in the poem “me i love the anthem” (75). “me i love the anthem” (75), is a patriotic poem which applauds the nation's unity in diversity. nigeria is the: … only place on earth you will eat pounded yam with ogbono soup kwose with 'kamu grass cutter with egusi ewedu with amala … i just like my country (75). the people's foods and cultures make them unique among the nations of the earth. the nation's anthem is a call for the different ethnic groups and religions to arise to her 08 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 responsibilities of nation–building: “arise o compatriots, nigeria's call obey”. it is evident that “there is no other anthem / like it, anywhere else in the world” (76). the anthem speaks to the souls of its citizens. the nation is a “marriage” of different ethnic groups. ajima's poem titled “the dispossessed” (64) is a cry against the ethnic wars and tribal marginalisation that wants to tear this unity apart. the poet focuses on benue state which is one of the states in the middle belt of nigeria. the poet says no one should be tribalistic because “they never designed their birth place” (64). benue state has been bedevilled with years of fulani herders and indigenous farmers’ clashes which have rendered many clans and communities homeless. most of these people have become internally displaced persons (idp) on their land. the dispossessed are these idp's. the poet is of benue origin as such uses the collective pronoun “we” to refer to the plights of her people: but we the dispossessed insist that surely as the world goes round its axis on a point three hundred and sixty degrees that dial must go round us all for one head is as good as another awo hitherto knew this though he belonged to one of the “big three” (65). the “big three” are the three major languages in nigeria; hausa, yoruba and igbo, who have majorly been in the helm of nigeria's governance since independence in 1960. it is time for the dial of leadership to go round so that other ethnic groups can partake in top leadership positions particularly presidency. the three major tribes are not the only ones who have manpower and intelligence to contribute to the development of the country. “on the cool morning in the hills of mbayion” (47), is a picturesque poem on the beauty of the landscape of mbayion, a clan in gboko lga of benue state. other clans there are mbatiav, ipav, mbatierev and yandav. the beauty of the area is characterised by: the birds chirp away, chattering a refrain gossiping on what awaits the day you stride royally, unabashed seeping lightly into my skin and i draw my breath deeply (47). this excerpt talks on the unpolluted atmosphere of the place untapped without industrial pollution and false civilisation. mbayion is a microcosm of the african continent. the poet is of the opinion that wildness of africa is a symbol of the absence of false civilization. this issue is further discussed in the poem “i like you wild” (40). civilization and all its technological advancements have caused the world to gradually lose its ozone layer. 22nd april yearly is marked as world earth day to raise awareness on the importance of environmental protection. coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 09 the theme of the earth day 2020 is climate action. the first earth day was fifty years ago, april 22, 1970. the year 2020 edition is meant to mobilize nations and people to the challenges of climate change on the future of humanity and life-support systems. in spite of the challenges that africa has faced, the poet is optimistic that with proper re-orientation and a spirit of patriotism, the continent can be great again. the foundation for the greatness of africa has been laid by her past leaders. as such, there is need for continuity in order to achieve an egalitarian society. conclusion the social realities in ajima's collection of poems is a continent plagued by retrogressive traditional practices, crimes against women, child labour and trafficking, nepotism, corruption, bad leadership and xenophobia. other vices are tribal marginalisation and inter communal crises. the poet suggests that the dial of leadership should go round the different tribes of the nation as a way to end incessant crises. also, african leaders should imbibe the culture of continuity in nation–building policies to ensure social progress. in addition, the continent should join other parts of the world to preserve the earth by avoiding ozone depleting practices. therefore, ajima has used poetry as a channel for political and social transformation of africa. works cited adebanwo, wale. “the writer as social thinker”, journal of contemporary african studies, 2014, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02589001.2014.978556. april 17, 2020. agbo, maria charity. “the health and educational consequences of child labour in nigeria”, health science journal, 2017, https://www.hsj.gr/abstract/the-health-andeducationalconsequences-of-child-labour-in-nigeria-18408.html. april 5, 2020. ajima maria. poems of sanity. lagos: mace books publishers, 2000. aliyu ibrahim, foluke. “gender and social consciousness in maria ajima's poems of sanity”. gombe international conference on nigerian literature, nov 8th 12th, 2011. bwai, patricia nathan & dajang, innocent nasuk. “contemporary nigerian female writers: the liberty of writing and writing with liberty", essays in language and literature: a festschrift in honour of prof kanchana ugbabe. kaduna: prudent universal press &publishing co. ltd, 2016, pp. 319 – 332. "child labour in nigeria”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/child_labour_in_nigeria. april 9, 2020. “citizens speak out about corruption in africa”, transparency international: the global coalition against corruption.11 july 2019, h t t p s : / / w w w. t r a n s p a re n c y. o rg / e n / n e w s / c i t i z e n s s p e a k o u t a b o u t corruption-in-africa.may 5, 2020. 10 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 eliot, t. s. "the social function of poetry". on poetry and poets. london: oxford university press, 1987, pp. 15 25. jegede, toyin. "defining the poetics of new nigerian poetry". iba: essays on african literature in honour of oyin ogunba. ile – ife: obafemi awolowo university press ltd, 2003, pp. 151 160. maduakor, obi. “female voices in poetry: catherine acholonu and omolara ogundipe – leslie as poets”. nigerian female writers: a critical perspective. lagos: malthouse press limited, 1989, pp. 75 – 91. mojola, yemi. “the works of flora nwapa”. nigerian female writers: a critical perspective. lagos: malthouse press limited, 1989, pp. 19 – 29. murori, kajuju. “just like corruption, nepotism also strains africa's growth”, june 26th 2016, h t tp s : / /www.a f r i canexponen t . com/pos t /7434jus t l i ke -co r rup t ion nepotism-also-strains-africas-growth. may 5, 2020. nnolim, charles. issues in african literature. lagos: malthouse press limited, 2009. nwapa, flora. "women and creative writing in africa". african literature: an anthology of criticism and theory. oxford: blackwell publishing limited, 2007, pp. 526 532. ojaide, tanure. "new trends in modern african poetry". research in african literature. bloomington: indiana university press, vol 1, no 1, 1995, pp. 4 19. "power holding company of nigeria". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/power_holding_company_of_nigeria. april 17, 2020. “the epidemic of violence against women in africa” http://www.rainbo.org/the-epidemic-of-violence-against-women-in-africa. april 21, 2020 “xenophobia in south africa”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/xenophobia_in_south_.april 10, 2020. page 1 page 2 page 3 page 4 page 5 page 6 page 7 page 8 page 9 page 10 text book journal pdf sis. noelle 01 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 abstract the african continent is blessed with an array of assorted natural mineral resources. although, these have not been properly utilised and transformed to positively impact nor improve upon the lives and wellbeing of the people in particular and the continent in general. the european countries discovered these rich and abundant natural resource-base of the continent and spared no efforts in coercively courting her, thereby making her a'bride to behold' against all odds. one of the objectives of this papers that it has critically reviewed a wide range of literature and divulged the views put forward by the proponents and opponents of european imperialism in africa who have written in favour and against its merits and demerits, respectively. it also studied and disclosed that the huge deposits of cassiterite (tin ore), columbite and sundry minerals were the major attraction and essence for the british's conquest and subjugation of the jos-plateau people. the finding reveals that the british colonial government and their concerns got unfettered access to these natural mineral resources which they successfully explored and extracted for about sixty years without any reasonable challenge and resistance from the people. this led to the total exploration and exploitation of the labour-force of the jos-plateau people and their natural resources. these have left behind a devastated environment with the preponderance of abandoned tin mining ponds and sand dumps. the major sources of data are books and reputably published journals. the qualitative approach to the study and interpretation of data is used in this article. keywords: jos-plateau, imperialism, natural resources, europe, africa. introduction chinua achebe writes that an igbo proverb tells us that a man who does not know where the rain began to beat him cannot say where he dried his body. the rain that beat africa began four to five hundred years ago, from the 'discovery' of africa by europe, through the trans-atlantic slave trade, to the berlin conference of 1885 (achebe 2012:1). that controversial gathering of the world's leading european powers, statesmen and diplomats precipitated what we now call the scramble for africa, which created new boundaries that did violence to africa's ancient societies and resulted in tension-prone modern states. their knowledge of the vast african hinterland was slight. hitherto, europeans had known africa more as a coastline than a continent. their presence had been confined mainly to small, isolated enclaves on the coast used for trading purposes (meredith 2005: 1). britain was handed the area of west africa that daniel datok dalyop, phd department of history and international studies plateau state university, bokkos 07032097733 dandalyop2013@gmail.com european imperialism and africa's natural resources: the british on the jos-plateau, nigeria tin fields, 1902-1960 would later become nigeria, like a piece of chocolate cake at a birthday party (achebe 2012:1).the european interest in africa was inspired and motivated by dr david livingstone, a scottish explorer born in scotland in 1818. he believed that commerce and christianity were the twin solutions to africa's problems; hence he devoted his time, energy and resources to achieving these (maclennan 2018: 262). some sections of the opening remarks of the berlin conference general act state as follows: in the name of god almighty. wishing, in a spirit of good and mutual accord, to regulate the conditions most favourable to the development of trade and civilisation in certain regions of africa, and to assure all nations (european) the advantages of free navigation on the two chief rivers of africa (rivers congo and niger) flowing into the atlantic ocean (berlin conference general act 1884-1885:1). the pertinent question that arises from the above quotation is to what extent the majority and generality of the african people benefit from the development of trade and civilisation brought to the continent by the europeans? it is very obvious that the intension of the european countries was to explore and exploit the cheap, abundant and available labourforce in africa and the array of assorted natural resources. little wonder bill freund states that the imperial conquest of africa was undertaken to tap african natural resources in order to help resolve the economic problems of europe (freund 1984: 111). succinctly, the european imperial adventure in nigeria in particular and africa in general was essentially an enterprise in exploitation. the major thrust of this paper is to carry out a critical study of the british imperialism, taking into cognizance the proposing and opposing views of its merits and demerits, the conquest and subjugation of the jos-plateau people and the conduct of an era of intensive and expansive tin mining activities. conceptual definition of imperialism john galtung sees imperialism as a relationship based on dominance between two or more collectivises, especially between nations (galtung, 1971:81). he distinguishes five types of imperialism to include economic, political, military, communication and cultural imperialism (galtung, 1971:91). norman etherington sees imperialism as encompassing all those aggressive foreign strategies and policies which are strictly pursued because of their economic advantages, and not merely the act of the acquisition of physical colonies (etherington, 1982:386).gallagher and robinson defines imperialism as a sufficient political function of the process of integrating new regions into the expanding economy. its character is largely decided by the various and changing relationships between the political and economic elements of any particular region and time (gallagher and robinson, 1976: 59). the british imperialism culminated into colonialism which is simply defined as the system in which stronger countries (both economically and militarily) maintains foreign colonies for their economic exploitation (thornton, 1962:336). it is further defined as the seizure of a country or region by imperialists, accompanied by the subjection, brutal exploitation and sometimes annihilation of the local population (thornton, 1962:336). coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 02 03 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 issues and conundrum of the british imperialism the proponents and opponents in favour and against the benefits of european imperialism that accrued to africa are succinctly discussed in this section. the imperialist/modernisation theory looks at the pre-colonial, social and economic condition of africa which they said were characterised by inter-ethnic wars, unproductiveness, static, insecurity and lack of the innovation to accumulate wealth and invest. the proponents include scholars like peter duignan, alan mcphee and l.h. gann. they posit that immense benefits accrued to africa from the british imperialism. the injection of foreign direct investment (fdi) incorporated africa into the global capitalism which subsequently led to its development and modernisation (falola and aderinto 2010:55). they further argue that the introduction of quality education, western culture and lifestyle including infrastructures like tarred roads, electricity, medical clinics, hospitals, pipeborne water, railways, schools and other facilities which were non-existent in pre-colonial africa, are considered as empirical evidence of progress and the civilisation of africa and africans brought by the british colonial government and missionaries (falola and aderinto 2010:55). on the other side, scholars like bade onimode, claude ake, segun osoba and yusuf bala usman who belong to the marxist/dependency theory, brought up some arguments which counteracted and criticised the imperialists achievements put forward by the imperialist/modernisation theorists. to them, imperialism/colonialism was different phases of european capitalists' exploitation of africa. the trans-atlantic slave trade provided the european countries with the imperative human resources needed to industrialise and modernise their economies. while colonialism gave them direct and unfettered access to africa's natural resources which were used to sustain the achievements of the industrial revolution (falola and aderinto 2010:56). therefore, imperialism and colonialism are synonymous to brutality, arrogance, forced labour, theft, cruelty, conflicts, coerced proletarianisation, mystification, degraded masses and brainless elites. more so, they posited that the provision of socio-economic infrastructures i.e. tarred roads and railways were not meant for the benefit and improvement of the lives of the african/nigerian people, but an enhancement to facilitate the exploration and exploitation of the people and their natural resources (falola and aderinto 2010:56). in fact, kwasi kwarteng states that no other country in the modern world is more a creature of the british empire than nigeria. even the name 'nigeria' was a consciously invented one, first appearing in an article of the london times on 8 january 1897. flora shaw, a journalist and commentator on colonial affairs (later the wife of lord frederick lugard), suggested the name, which she thought would be a good name for the coercive and selfish fusion of the mohammedan (northern nigeria) and non-mohammedan (southern nigeria) states which had been officially brought together within the confines of the british rule and empire for their socio-economic benefits and administrative convenience (kwarteng 2011: 273). the british imperialism got a boost with the appointment of joseph chamberlain as the colonial secretary on 29 june 1895 (kubicek 1969:4). he was a powerful but not a charismatic figure (chamberlain 1984:155). as british colonial secretary, joseph chamberlain delivered a speech in the same year he was appointed and state as follows: to my mind the cause of bad trade, of want of employment, is clear. it is continual growth of our population at the same time that our trade and industry does not grow, we must find new markets for it. old markets are getting exhausted, some of them are being closed to us by hostile tariffs, and unless we can find new countries which will be free to take our goods you may be quite satisfied that lack of employment will continue to be one of the greatest social evils (chamberlain 1984:155-156). the above assertion by joseph chamberlain further emboldens and gives credence to the argument that british imperialism and search for colonies was motivated by socio-economic benefits and aggrandisement. however, he went on to advocate for the extension of the british empire and the treatment of the existing empire as an 'undeveloped estate,' which required both planning and investment (chamberlain 1984:156). chamberlin further remarked that the development of the british colonies was for the benefit of their population (british) and for the benefit of the greater population which was outside the colonies. this statement was a quasimoral objection against permitting the natural resources in the colonies i.e. africa, to be left unattended to if it could be explored and exploited for human uses (ross 2014:470). again, the pertinent question which arises from his assertion is that to what extent did the indigenous people of the colonies benefit from the exploration and exploitation of their natural resources when compared to the europeans i.e. the british people? it was during this period of british imperialism and economic expansion that they conquered and subjugated the people of the jos-plateau, nigeria and its mineral-rich land, which has huge deposits of tin ore, columbite and sundry minerals. this fact was earlier corroborated by michael crowder who states that the jos-plateau is very rich in tin ore and also produces columbite (crowder 1962:13). the imperial powers possessed superior economic and military strength. therefore, they exploited those whom they controlled and ruled, although they believed that they were doing them a lot of good by genuinely and benevolently expanding european development and civilisation (taylor 1976:197-198). walter rodney argues that the major purpose of european imperialism was for capitalist expansion. the presence of europeans in africa was to seek for opportunities to have total control of the abundant natural raw materials, seek for other profitable avenues for business investments and markets for the sale of their finished goods and products (rodney 1972:150). some of the abundant natural resources from africa included diamonds from sierra leone and congo, gold from ghana and south africa. equatorial africa was a major source of rubber and sudan was known for cotton production (hopskins 1967:101). while nigeria was known for the production of coal, groundnuts, cotton, tin, rubber, cocoa, palm kernel, very rich and arable farmlands among others. however, patrick o' brien argues that it is a wrong assumption that british and european imperialism and industrialisation were successful because they had relied on the spoils/benefits of mercantilism. it is inherently and completely implausible to assume that british imperialism and industrialisation proceeded and succeeded at the expense of african, latin american and asian economies (o'brien 1988:164). eileen sullivan posits that john mills and his co-liberals argue that britain did not obtain any special benefit from its control of trade monopoly in the colonies. instead, the relationship between britain and her colonies caused inefficiency and imbalance in the british economic system. a disproportionate coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 04 05 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 aggregate capital was sunk and invested in the colonial trade to the detriment of home (british) markets and international trade with other nations (sullivan 1983:600). the co-liberals further argues that huge amount of capital was involved in sending and maintaining british experts and administrators to the colonies. hence, this huge capital was automatically not available to be invested and the profits re-invested into the british economy (sullivan 1983:601). the large amount of capital that was used for the purpose of colonisation became a capital loss at the british economy, loss of employment opportunities and higher demand for workers and their salaries or wages in britain (sullivan 1983:602). mills and his co-liberals also states that the political and economic strength of a nation is not determined by the number of colonies under its control. therefore, britain did not obtain any remarkable political and economic advantage from its colonies. they concluded that the british colonies were a distinct type of liability, rather than an economic advantage to britain (sullivan 1983:602). cain and hopkins opine that when joseph chamberlain was appointed as the british colonial secretary in 1895, a firmer line of action was taken towards seeking for new areas and reserving the remaining areas of british interest (cain and hopkins 2002:331). british expedition on the jos plateau the jos-plateau has one of the most beautiful and serene scenery in nigeria. though located in a tropical region of the world, it has a near temperate climate. the scenic beauty of the josplateau was attested to by an author and researcher called leonard plotnicov in the early 1960s when he went there for the conduct of a research. plotnicov stated that the embracing atmosphere of the jos plateau leaves a lasting impression on the europeans as one of the healthiest places in west africa (plotnicov 1967:30). corroborating the statement of plotnicov, jonah madugu states that: the jos plateau as the name implies is what has been described as scenery of beauty that surpasses any other scenery in nigeria because of the undulating nature of the land and several magnetic masses of hills, which rises to the height of about 4,000 feet to 6,000 feet above sea level, respectively (madugu 1994:7). the jos plateau is located in the middle belt region of nigeria. it lies between latitudes 7 degree and 11 degree north and longitudes 7 degree and 25 degree east. it has an average height of 1,200 meters above sea level (ames 1934: 53). there are two climatic seasons in jos; the dry and wet seasons. the dry season is usually from november of one year to march of the next year. while the wet or rainy season commences from april to october of the same year. there is an annual rainfall of 6 inches, which results to around 1,500 millimetres (ames 1934: 53). there were very good reports by the earlier europeans who visited the jos plateau in the early 1900s. for example, c.g. lush, a renowned mining engineer who visited the jos plateau in 1909 stated as follows: “the jos plateau enjoyed an excellent climate which is very suitable for europeans, it has an abundance of water and is probably one of the richest tin deposit in the world” (freund 1981: 36-37). this was a good account and report which served as an impetus and a source of encouragement to the europeans who hitherto had their doubts and reservations about their safety and welfare. this is also because africa was stigmatised as a 'whiteman's grave' where diseases like malaria abound, and that the people were savages, wild and carnivorous. in the 1820s, clapperton saw crude straws of tin ore at the market in kano. it was however in the 1880s that an attempt was made by the british traders to locate the actual source of the metal (tin). furthermore, the existence of locally produced tin straws came to the attention of william wallace of the royal niger company (rnc) who had been sent to establish a trading post on the benue at lokoja in nigeria. however, by 1902, the source and location of the tin was proved to be the jos-plateau or berom land, as the case maybe. therefore, the colonial military outfit initially known as royal west african frontier force (rwaff) and later called the west african frontier force (waff) was deployed to play a major role in the conquest, subjugation and pacification of the perceived hostile people (morrison 1976: 44-45). the first act of government-company collusion was the brutal conquest of the jos-plateau and adjacent areas. the essence was to make them safe for the tin miners. the first person to be appointed and saddled with the onerous task of leading the investigation into the presence of tin on the jos-plateau was mr george r. nicolaus, a qualified mining engineer who studied in cornwall at the camborne school of mines. the succinct account of nicolaus' expedition as written by him state as follows: in march 1902 i was chosen to proceed to nigeria to endeavour to locate the deposits from which a small tonnage of pure tin metal (99.9%) in the form of thin straw shaped 15 inch stalks filtered through to the mediterranean and east african ports. my appointment was sponsored by sir george taubman goldie, lord scarborough, sir john kirk, chairman and directors of the former royal niger company, whose charter was cancelled by the british government. it was during these negotiations, late in 1900, that the niger company insisted on retaining the charter clause which gave them 50% gross of all nigerian mineral resources (nicolaus 1954). corroborating the account of george r. nicolaus, henry williams laws who came to the josplateau in 1903 stated during the 50th anniversary celebration of his first visit in 1953 organised by the nigerian chamber of mines thus: before attempting to describe the high jos-plateau as i found it i ought to give you some idea of the background to this venture. before 1900 the royal niger company had been buying small quantities of smelted tin in faggot form and of 90% purity which rumour said came from somewhere north of the benue river. with this in mind sir george taubman goldie, then governor of the company, on drawing up the terms with joseph chamberlain (british colonial secretary) for relinquishing the charter reserved a half share of the mineral rights over a large area lying to the north of and between the niger and benue rivers. by 1902 the origin of this mineral had been narrowed down to badiko in bauchi province. lord scarborough who was my chief for many years, decided it was time to look into this mineral business and invited george coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 06 07 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 nicolaus, a very old friend of mine from early australian days, to go to badiko in bauchi province and investigate the possibilities. with a strong escort he preceded to that place via zaria province, the maps at that time showing a large blank area marked “inhabited by savage cannibals” in a direct line from loko on the benue. he found that badiko was merely the market centre where the trade in cassiterite (tin) was handled by butchers. nicolaus then found that nearly all the black tin came from the delimi river (jos-plateau/berom land). making a camp there he made a quick dash along that river through naraguta hills to a point that afterwards proved to be pretty close to the northern margin of the plateau proper. he returned safely to london, and reported the gravels of the delimi to be rich in tin and well worth a wide mineral survey of the surrounding country (henry laws 1953). the arrival of henry williams laws opened a new vista in the history and fortune of the josplateau people. this is because he played a pivotal role in the conquest and subjugation of the jos-plateau people, especially the berom people. he had superior fire-power in the maxim gun compared to the spears, bows and arrows of the indigenous people. this set the basis for the commencement of an era of expansive and intensive tin mining activities on the josplateau. colonial tin mining activities on the jos plateau in 1899, after a long dialogue session and bargaining, the rnc sold out its charters and sovereignty rights to the british government. the activities of the rnc officially came to an end in 1900 when its political administration and activities were taken over by the british crown (hoskins 1967: 56). the take-over of rnc gave impetus to the popular saying that the 'flag' has followed 'trade' in british west africa (hoskins 1967: 56). it was agreed that the british colonial government would pay half of the royalties and rents it collected to the rnc for the next 99 years. however, the royalties were totally bought out from the rnc by the british colonial government in 1950. the compensation for the sale of its charter and the outright purchase of the royalties, the company received a total amount of over 3million pound sterling (freund 1982: 7). a succession of british government officials used diplomacy and coercion in the different parts of nigeria with the view to reducing the people's opposition and insurrection to the lowest minimum. as early as 1907, the acting high commissioner of the northern region of nigeria, william wallace (former staff of the royal niger company), wrote that tin mining was an important influence in the british policy of peaceful penetration and in the efforts to gain the confidence of the people and bring them under law and order (grace 1982: 187). by 1914, there was the successful amalgamation of the different parts, polities and regions into an entity called nigeria with britain as the paramount ruler (tamuno 2001: 393). therefore, it is pertinent to point out here that tin mining activities on the jos plateau preceded the official declaration and formation of the amalgam called nigeria. therefore, in 1910, the presence of speculative and productive capital on the jos-plateau tin fields encouraged the construction of a light railway (freund, w.m. 1981: 76). the railway became known as the bauchi light railway. this was because the british colonial government had erroneously grouped the jos-plateau (non mohammedan) area with bauchi (mohammedan) area to form the bauchi-plateau province. however, the railway was not connected to the town of bauchi. the rail line continued to progress until jos-plateau was linked to the port harcourt rail line in 1927 by standard gauge. when the rail line was finally closed down in 1957, some of the tracks and line-side apparatus as well as two locomotives and three carriages were donated to the jos museum to form the basis of a collection of artefacts connected with the development of the tin mining industry on the jos plateau (national museum 1982). in 1911, the governor of northern nigeria reported that the exploitation of the tin fields has already attained very important proportions. he said that by march, there were more than fifty companies and syndicates interested in the tin mining business, with a total investment of over 2.5 million pound sterling (grace 1982: 187). however, the governor was worried that the exaggerated hopes and over-capitalisation would harm the tin fields. the boom increased in 1912, when there were eighty two companies and syndicates (grace 1982: 187). by january 1912, the nigerian tin shares were the most actively traded stocks in the city of london (phimister 2008: 29). by 1913, one hundred and twenty tin mining companies had a paper investment of 6.8 million pound sterling in the nigerian tin venture. some two hundred multinational companies had invested the sum of 10 million pound sterling by 1914, the same year that the various regions were amalgamated to form the country called nigeria (freund 1981: 38). furthermore, by 1915, the speculative boom had subsided and the number of companies was down to sixty eight. the onset of the first world war (1914-1918) disrupted the tin mining activities. there was a short-lived recession during the first few months of the war, when some multinational companies' ceased operations and others cut down their input and output to a manageable level (grace 1982: 183). this similarly happened during the second world war (1939-1945). the multinational tin mining companies, british colonial government and their concerns recorded very huge amount of pound sterling as profits from their monopolistic control of the tin mining activities on the jos-plateau. this is attested to by melanie torrent who states that from 1860 to 1913, britain witnessed a rise in her overall assets outside europe from below 1,000 million pound sterling from the early 1870s to about 2,000 million pound sterling by 1900. this rise reached 4,000 million pound sterling by 1913. in fact, 44 per cent of the world's total foreign investment within this period was in the hands of the british (torrent 2012: 23-24). however, the jos-plateau people were side-lined and did not profit from the tin mining activities on their ancestral land. rather, they are left with abandoned tin mining ponds and other relics of the mining activities which are very visible till this moment. little wonder that the book titled 'british colonial theories' states that the british colonial government used its colonies as source of raw materials, markets and outlets for surplus capital among others (klaus 1963: 228-230). apart from the total exploitation of the natural resources on the jos-plateau, the people were coerced to become proletariats on the tin fields. the strategies adopted by the british colonial government to coerce the people to work on the tin fields are the seizure and confiscation of the people's land where it was declared as crown land, the destruction of the people's tin smelting furnaces, the introduction of exclusive prospecting license, the coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 08 09 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 introduction of the british currency and the imposition of heavy taxation (dalyop 2018).within this period, the jos-plateau area had the highest amount of colonial taxes. this was intentional and the essence was to cajole and coerce the people to go and work on the tin fields in order to earn the money needed for the payment of their taxes (dalyop 2019). it is pertinent to state that the colonial government conscripted and encouraged the influx of labourers into the jos-plateau tin fields. these have culminated into a serious settlerindigene crisis on the jos-plateau till this moment. writing in 1921, lord frederick lugard said that from the point of view of the administrator it was necessary to classify the people of tropical africa into three groups, according to their social organisation i.e. the primitive tribes, the advanced communities and the europeanised africans (burns 1972: 26-26). such a division connotes a recipe for segregation, conflict and crisis. conclusion the european exploitation of the african continent and its people has been dynamic and amoebic, taking different shapes and nomenclatures at different times. the major imperialistic and exploitative periods started from the slave trade, transformed to the so-called legitimate trade, then colonialism, neo-colonialism and currently globalisation. despite her enormous human and natural mineral resources, the african continent is still wallowing in abject poverty and penury. therefore, this paper concludes that the african leaders at all levels must think futuristically and harness the continent's humongous resources (both human and material) for the benefit of the people, despite the history of european exploitation and manipulation, instead of going 'cup-in-hand' soliciting for aids and loans that only entangles and further shackles the people. if the leaders fail in this regard, then the african continent will remain poverty-stricken, backward, a source of raw materials, market for finished products and subservient to the other continents. reference achebe, c. (2012). there was a country: a personal history of biafra. london: penguin books. ames, c.g. (1934). gazetteer of plateau province, jos native administration. london: frank cass and company. cain, p.j. & hopkins, a.g. (2002). british imperialism 1688-2000. harlow: pearson education. chamberlain, m.e. (1984). imperialism and social reform. in c.c. eldridg (ed.), british imperialism in the nineteenth century. hong kong: macmillan publishers. crowder, m. (1962). the story of nigeria. london: faber and faber. dalyop, d.d. (2018). a history of tin mining and coerced proletarianisation in berom land, northern nigeria, 1902-1960. sarjana. journal of the faculty of arts and social sciences, 33 (2), 43-58. https://ejournal.um.edu.my/index.php/sarjana. dalyop, d.d. (2019). taxation: a veritable instrument for the coerced proletarianisation of the berom people of northern nigeria, 1902-1960. sejarah. journal of the department of history,27(2), 1-16. https://ejournal.um.edu.my/index.php/sejarah. etherington, n. (1982). theories of imperialism in southern africa revisited. african affairs, 81 (324). falola, t. & aderinto, s. (2010). nigeria, nationalism and writing history. new york: university of rochester press. freund, b. (1981). capital and labour in nigerian tin mines. london: longman. freund, b. (1982). nigerian tin mining and imperialism: from the niger company to amalgamated tin mines of nigeria (atmn). african studies institute, university of the witwatersrand, south africa, august. freund, b. (1984). the making of contemporary africa, the development of african society since 1800. bloomington: indiana university press. freund, w.m. (1981). labour migration to the northern nigerian tin mines 1903-1945. the journal of african history, 22(1), 73-84. gallagher, j. & robinson, r. (1976). the imperialism of free trade. in imperialism. roger louis, w.m. (ed.), new york: franklin watts. galtung, j. (1971). a structural theory of imperialism. journal of peace research,8 (2), 81-117. general act (1884-1885) of the conference of berlin on the conquest and colonisation of africa by european powers. http://www.waado.org/colonial_rule/general_documents/berlin_act_1885 .html. accessed on 29th april, 2018. grace, j.j. (1982). tin mining on the jos plateau before 1920. in e. isichei (ed.).studies in the history of plateau state, nigeria. london: macmillan press. hopkins, h.l. (1967). european imperialism in africa. united states of america: henry holt and company. klaus, k.e. (1963). british colonial theories. london: frank cass and company. kubicek. r.v. (1969). the administration of imperialism: joseph chamberlain at the colonial office. tennessee: kingsport press. kwarteng, k. (2011). ghosts of empire. britain's legacies in the modern world. london: bloomsbury publishing. laws, h.w. (1953). reminiscences of colonel henry williams laws on his arrival at the plateau in 1903 during the 50th anniversary at yelwa club organised in 1953 by the nigerian chamber of mines, unpublished notes. maclennan, j. c. (2018). europa: how europe shaped the modern world. new york: pegasus books. madugu, j. (1994). the biography of dr. fom bot, the gbong gwom jos. jos-plateau nigeria: ehindero press. meredith, m. (2005). the state of africa: a history of the continent since independence. britain: simon and schuster. morrison, j.h. (1976). jos plateau societies: internal and external influences, 1800-1935. phd thesis, university of ibadan. coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 10 11 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 national museum. (1982).the history of tin mining in nigeria. unpublished manuscript, national museum, jos, nigeria. nicolaus, g.r. (1954). the first investigation to locate tin occurrence in northern nigeria by the niger company, 1902-3. unpublished notes written and signed by him in january. o'brien, p.k. (1988). the costs and benefits of british imperialism 1864-1914. past and present, (120), august. phimister, i. (2008). corners and company mongering: nigerian tin and the city of london, 1909-1912. the journal of imperial and commonwealth history, 28(2), 23-41.(doi: 10.1080/03086530008583088). plotnicov, l. (1967). strangers to the city. pittsburgh: university of pittsburgh press. rodney, w. (1972). how europe underdeveloped africa. london: bogle-l' overture publications. ross, c. (2014). the tin frontier: mining, empire and environment in southeast asia, 1830s1930s. environmental history, 19 (3), 36-48. doi: 10.1093/envhis/emu032. sullivan, e.p. (1983). liberalism and imperialism: john stuart mill's defence of the british empire. journal of the history of ideas,44(4), 599-617. tamuno t.n. (2001). british colonial administration in nigeria in the twentieth century. in o . ikeme (ed.),groundwork of nigerian history. ibadan, nigeria: heinemann educational books. taylor, a.j.p. (1976). the meanings of imperialism. in w.m. roger-louis (ed.), imperialism. new york: franklin watts. thornton, a.p. (1962). colonialism. international journal, 17 (4), 335-357. torrent, m. (2012). british decolonisation 1919-1984. the politics of power, liberation and influence. paris: presses universitaires de france. page 1 page 2 page 3 page 4 page 5 page 6 page 7 page 8 page 9 page 10 page 11 text book journal pdf sis. noelle 01 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 abstract this paper delves into examining the role of election tribunals in the consolidation of democracy in nigeria, using the 2007 gubernatorial election in edo state as a case study. it was an election, consequent upon which malpractices which hinge on, among other factors, 'godfatherism', were exposed and nullified. the study adopts the narrative and descriptive methods in analysing the various primary and secondary historical sources. it thus, examines how the 2007 gubernatorial election in edo state was conducted, beginning from the registration of voters, to the delivery of the tribunal verdict which sacked the acclaimed winner of the election, oserheimen osunbor of the peoples democratic party (pdp) and installed the supposed winner, adams oshiomhole of the action congress (ac) as governor of edo state. the paper submits that, for democracy to be established in nigeria, the importance of election tribunals cannot be over-emphasised. this is because, as observed, the election tribunal remains the last hope of the common man. to this end, it is of utmost necessity the election tribunal be granted practical independence of operation so that it could discharge its duties without fear or favour of any sort. keywords: nigeria, election, electioneering, diplomacy, tribunal. introduction electoral processes in nigeria date back to its pre-independence years when colonial authorities handed down to nigerian peoples quite a number of legal documents with which their political affairs were controlled. first among such was the clifford constitution of 1922 whose flaws led to the reviewing, rewriting and implementation of other constitutions all of which addressed the process through which the masses selected their representatives. on december 12, 1959, the parliamentary election which ushered nigeria into an era of political independence was conducted. voting was by the secret ballot and all registered adults in western and eastern nigeria voted. in the north, only registered adult males were allowed to vote. the elections were conducted by federal electoral commission headed by mr. r.e wraith, who was assisted by an executive secretary mr j. j. warren and commissioners alhaji muhammed bello for the north, mr. anthony aniagolu for the east, prof. oritsejolomi thomas; for the west, mr. m. a. shosilva for lagos, and mr k. a. de bohn for the southern cameroon(agbor et al., 2011). from the outcome of the 1959 parliamentary election, alhaji abubakar tafawa balewa of the npc emerged the country's first prime minister, while dr nnamdi azikiwe of the ncnc became nigeria's first indigenous president. upon assumption of office, the new administration set up a new electoral body named the federal electoral commission asenime, jude azuka (ph.d) department of history and international studies, delta state university, abraka. emailaseni2004@yahoo.com phone no: +2348037868324 election tribunal and electioneering in nigeria: the 2007 gubernatorial election in edo state-nigeria (fedeco) to conduct the 1964/65 elections (saka, 2009).the elections, irrespective of its credit as the first post-independence election in nigeria, played an unmistakable role towards the end of nigeria's first republic. the nigerian national alliance won a large majority in the election as the main opposition group, the united progressive grand alliance (upga) refused to take part. a supplementary election held in the eastern region in march 1965 led to the upga winning every seat. the widespread violence and level of electoral malpractices witnessed in the 1964/5 elections angered some section of the nigerian military who felt that the civilians were not ready for democratic rule (anikwe and kushie, 2011). eventually, nigeria's first post-independence democratic experiment came to a close as the country was plunged into an era of military rule. in 1978, during the regime of general olusegun obasanjo, nigeria began to tend towards another democratic experiment as he lifted the ban on political activities. before 1978, the federal military government of general murtala mohammed had instituted in 1975, a 50–member constitution drafting committee, headed by chief rotimi williams. as contained in the final draft of the new constitution, obasanjo's administration was given powers to inaugurate a new 24–member federal electoral commission (fedeco) headed by mr. richard avic (ayo, 2011). the elections were to be conducted for positions in the local councils, state assemblies, governorship, the federal house of representatives, the senate and the presidency. consequently, alhaji shehu shagari of the npn emerged nigeria's president-elect and was sworn in as president on october 1, 1979. however, at the expiration of the shehu shagari tenure in 1983, the federal electoral commission was again faced with the task of providing the nation with another general election. at the polls, all the political parties renominated their presidential candidates and the newly registered nigerian advanced party presented tunji braith waith as its presidential flag bearer thereby increasing the number of registered political parties from five in 1979 to six in 1983. the election was held on august 6, 1983 and the result was a victory for the incumbent president shehu shagari, who won 45% of the vote. the national party of nigeria also won majority seats at the parliamentary elections held later the same month (gbenro & ayodeji, 2010). in a spontaneous reaction to the official results released by the federal electoral commission (fedeco), mayhem was unleashed in the southwest region. the violence was organized in protest against perceived manipulation of the polls as the unity party of nigeria (upn) lost to npn at their strongholds of oyo and ondo states. heavy human and material losses were suffered by political opponents and the headquarters of fedeco in oyo and ondo states were torched. (ogbeidi, 2010:52) it was in the face of prevailing political instability, chaos and economic crisis that the military under the leadership of general muhammadu buhari sacked the second republic and took over power in 1983. it was not until the regime of general ibrahim badamasi babangida which began in 1985 that nigeria once again began to tend towards democratisation. general babangida decreed another constitution for nigeria on may 3, 1989. earlier in 1987, an electoral management body was established with the name national electoral commission (nec). however, the regime of gen. babangida failed to hand over power to the believed democratically elected government. in august 1993, pro-democracy groups such as the national democratic coalition (nadeco), coalition for democracy and human rights (cdhr) among others, pressured babangida to hand over power to an interim government under the leadership of chief ernest shonekan who resigned probably under pressure mounted on him by another military despot, general saniabacha in november 1993. however, he (abacha) died in office in 1998 ushering in the regime of gen. abdusalami abubakar. coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 02 03 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 gen. abubakar upon assumption of office introduced a new constitution for nigeria with a new electoral body -independent national electoral commission (inec). (moveh, 2012) the election was contested between three major political parties which included the alliance for democracy, all peoples party (app) and the peoples democratic party (pdp). (saka, 2009).when the result of the election was announced, olusegun obasanjo of the pdp emerged victorious as the second executive president of nigeria. abubakar handed over power to a democratically elected government. the 2003 elections were again conducted, and results declared as at when due. the landslide victory of the pdp especially at the states' level generated a lot of violent demonstrations and street protests calling for cancellation of election results (cdhr, 2001).this was because the elections were fraught with obvious cases of malpractices of all sorts and degree, fraud and violence. obianyo (2003) noted that reports of the various monitoring teams, national and international, also portrayed similar lapses and proven cases of irregularities and malpractices. for instance the european union election observer mission (eu-eom) reported that the results of the presidential/gubernatorial elections in eleven (11) states which included enugu, cross river, delta, benue, edo, katsina, kogi, nassarawa, imo, kaduna lack credibility. the irregularities observed ranged from stuffing of ballot boxes, forgery and falsification of result sheets, ballot box snatching and other forms of rigging. for instance, in bayelsa state, inec office in sagbama was burnt by angry youths, and other properties destroyed. in edo state, four lives were lost following electoral violence in the state. similarly, in akwa-ibom state, two persons were reported dead. in enugu state, office of the chairman of udi local government area (lga) was set ablaze for allegedly being used for ballot stuffing, while one person was shot dead in the process (vanguard, april 14, 2003). losers however sought redress in tribunals, but judging from past experiences, there was skepticism as to the extent the judiciary could exercise independence of action on the respective suits. already, most of the judgments by the various tribunals in most states upheld the result published by inec. in anambra and enugu states for instance, where the tribunal appeared to be impartial, inec declined compliance with the order of the tribunals that the election materials should be made available to the apga and anpp candidates for verification (vanguard, june 10, 2003). it is against this backdrop that the subsequent edo state gubernatorial election held in 2007, and the role of the election tribunal will be examined as to the malpractices on which the election umpire –inec stood to declare the pdp candidate winner against the wishes of the electorates which they expressed through voting. hence, verdict was passed, and the acclaimed winner was sacked while the ac candidate, who was the supposed winner, was installed. the 2007 gubernatorial election in edo state registration of voters under the auspices of the independent national electoral commission (inec) as was stipulated by nigeria's constitution, nigerians eligible to vote were to be registered before voting. thus on october 25, 2006, inec kicked off a computerized voters registration exercise in nigeria. direct data capture (ddc) machines were used for the first time in the country to register eligible electorates. however, quite a number of issues affected the credibility of the voters' registration exercise such as the problem of logistics and inadequacy of ddc machines. for instance, whereas a total of about 30,000 ddc machines were required for the registration exercise, only about 10,000 were reportedly available as at november 22, 2006 (luqman, 2009). eventually, several eligible voters could not be registered due to the slow pace of registration as a result of inadequate machines.(luqman, saka2009).this was observed in such communities as enwan in akoko-edo local government, (inec, the nigerian observer, 2007); ogba in orhionmwon local government (inec, vanguard, 2007), among others thus, dampening the enthusiasm of the people and resulting to low turnout. despite the criticisms that trailed the voters' registration exercise, prof. maurice iwu (the then chairman of the independent national electoral commission inec) on february 15, 2007, announced that 1,345,410 persons registered in edo state out of a total 61,567,036 registered voters in nigeria (daily trust, april 12, 2007).it was on this figure that the 2007 gubernatorial election in edo state was conducted on april 14 2007. conduct of election and declaration of results on april 14 2007, gubernatorial elections were held across the 36 states of the nigeria. in edo state, a total of twelve political parties fielded candidates for the election. these included the action congress (ac), alliance for democracy (ad), african democratic congress (adc), all nigerian peoples party (anpp), all progressive grand alliance (apga), better nigeria progressive party (bnpp), democratic people's party (dpp), fresh democratic party, national conscience party (ncp) and peoples democratic party (pdp). others are progressive peoples' alliance (ppa), peoples progressive party (ppp) and democratic people's alliance (dpa). (olaoye-osinkolu & o'neil, the nation, 2008) the edo state gubernatorial election held on saturday april 14, 2007 with an appreciable turnout of voters as polling stations remained open for voting from 8.00am to 3.00pm until every voter who is entitled to vote and who arrived at the polling station before 3.00pm voted in the eighteen local government areas of edo state (asowata et al., the weekend observer, 2007). however, in the course of the election, violence was recorded in many parts of the state resulting to wanton destruction of lives and properties. notable among these is the event at oba akenzua primary school, benin city, where three men lost their lives while trying to exercise their franchise (afolabi et al.,the nigerian observer, 2007) on sunday, april 15, 2007 when inec announced the results from 14 states out of which pdp had won 11, the result of edo state was declared inconclusive by mallam abubakar ahmadu, inec commissioner in the state. tension was however high around the inec headquarters at ikpoba hill, benin city where a large crowd of youths gathered demanding for the release of election results(osakue & obanor, 2007). on april 16, about 48 hours after the close of voting, the independent national electoral commission (inec) released the result of the election from 16 local government areas of the state while those of akoko edo and etsako central local government areas of the state were reportedly cancelled on the basis of irregularities. oserhemen osunbor of the people's democratic party was declared winner having scored a total of 329,740 votes as against 197,472 votes by the candidate of the action congress (a.c), adams oshiomhole (osakue & obanor, 2007). upon the announcement of the result, the people took to the streets in protest of the alleged irregularities in the compilation of election results by the independent national electoral commission and in the events that followed adams oshiomhole, the candidate of the action congress was arrested by security agents while leading the protests. though initially peaceful, protesters became volatile after the arrest of oshiomhole coupled with the police brutality where in one occasion three protesters were allegedly fired by mobile policemen (agbajor, 2007). however, adams oshiomhole was released the same day; he insisted that he would coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 04 05 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 continue to “fight for the mandate given to him by the people until justice is done” (johnson et al, 2007). in a related development, on april 17, 2007, election petition tribunal to handle election cases in the state was set up at the high court of justice, benin city (judgement read by justice umar faruk abdullahi (p.c.a) on tuesday, november 11, 2008). election petition and verdict in accordance to the 2006 electoral act which gives aggrieved parties in an election the right to file their complaints at a law court, adams aliyu oshiomhole alongside the action congress (ac) on may 14, 2007, filed a petition of 69 paragraphs at the national assembly, governorship and legislative houses election petition tribunal, edo state (wikileaks, august 29, 2007). the petitioner prayed the court to invalidate the result of elections held at esan west, esan central, esan north east, esan south east, and igueben, uhunmwede, ovia north east, etsako west, owan east, and owan west local government areas of edo state on basis of corrupt practices and widespread irregularities. he also prayed that the entire election which saw to the victory of osunbor as governor be cancelled. in response to the law suit, respondents of the petition which included the independent national electoral commission (inec) and its officers, prof. oserhemen osunbor and the people's democratic party (pdp) challenged the competence of the petition, praying the court to declare the petition “incompetent, inchoate, irregular, a nullity, invalid, incurably defective for non-compliance with the relevant mandatory provisions of the electoral act 2006 and the first schedule to the same electoral act 2006.” (adekoye, daily champion, august 29, 2012).in the legal proceedings that followed, the election tribunal rejected four procedural/jurisdictional objections raised by the pdp and inec (judgement read by justice umaru faruk abdullahi (p.c.a) on tuesday, november 11. 2008). votes were recounted following the orders of the tribunal while forensic analysts were invited to examine the voting materials used for the election (wikileaks. november 13, 2012). after considering the several evidences on deck, the election petitions tribunal upheld oshiomhole's petition demanding osunbor's removal from office as governor. deducting 200,723 votes from pdp's initial score of 329,740 and 30,895 from ac's initial score in the final election result figures as approved by the tribunal, a total of 200,723 previously counted in favour of the pdp were invalidated while for the action congress, a total of 30,895 votes were declared invalid. the score of 197,472, the figures were left at 129,017 and 166,577 for the pdp and ac respectively. consequently, the tribunal declared the erstwhile labour leader, adams oshiomhole winner of the april governorship polls thereby nullifying the certificate of return earlier issued to the pdp gubernatorial candidate, oserhemen osunbor (usigbe et al., vanguard, november 12, 2008). rejecting the verdict of the tribunal, oserhemen osunbor, the people's democratic party (pdp) as well as the independent national electoral commission (inec) proceeded to the court of appeal which is the apex court for gubernatorial elections matters, where the procedures on which the tribunal delivered its judgement was queried. for over six months, the appeal court considered the suit and on november 11, 2008 delivered her judgement upholding the findings of the election tribunal with respect to massive fraud (ebegbulem & enogholase, vanguard, november 13, 2008). under the leadership of justice umaru faruk abdullahi, the appellate court unanimously declared adams oshiomhole winner of april 14, 2007 governorship election. the court ordered inec to immediately withdraw the certificate of return already issued to osunbor and hand it over to oshiomhole (arubi, 2008:10). accordingly, on november 12, 2008, at the 30,000 capacity ogbemudia stadium, benin city, adams eric aliyu oshiomhole was sworn in as governor of edo state by the state chief judge, justice michael edokpayi. the victory and swearing-in of comrade adams oshiomhole was greeted with wild jubilation as thousands of people poured into the streets in celebration of the court verdict. the verdict was lauded by many eminent nigerians. the cdhr on its part declared that the judgement was clearly an indication that democracy is achievable in nigeria. impact of the election tribunal verdict the judgement of the edo state gubernatorial election petition tribunal which returned comrade adams oshiomhole of the action congress as the duly elected governor of edo state was left with wide implications not only on the directly affected (edo) state but as well as nigeria at large. it is therefore against this backdrop that i would examine the different areas in which the judgment has affected the society. such areas as be examined in this section include the impact of the judgement on nigeria's political culture as well as the impact of the judgement on the judiciary. the impact of the tribunal verdict on nigeria's democratization process would as well be assessed. impact of the judgement on nigeria's political culture political culture as would be taken in this study, has to do with the orientation of the citizens of a nation toward politics, and their perceptions of political legitimacy and the traditions of political practice. as regards the tradition of political practice in nigeria, it becomes pertinent to discuss the twin issue of money politics and 'godfatherism' in nigeria. in an interview granted to the bbc on 10 november, 2003, jibrin ibrahim defined 'political godfathers' as “men who have the power personally to determine who gets nominated and who wins [an election] in a state.” (albert, 2005:82). in a different approach, chimaroke nnamani, (former governor of enugu state) explains the concept of 'political godfatherism' by giving his experience with his own political godfather, jim nwobodo. in his words, “the political godfather is simply a self-seeking individual out there to use the government for his own purposes” (the source, 2003). otite & umukoro (2005) point out that the nigerian political terrain is bedevilled by certain intractable problems which are caused mostly by political godfathers. notable among such problems include ballot box snatching, hiring of political thugs as well as dissemination of falsehood. in some cases, even the government media is so manipulated to reflect the wills of these godfathers. the effect of this situation is that faith and confidence in the country's electoral system is diminished thereby leading to an increasing political apathy. omodia (2012) in cognizance with the linkage between election irregularities and political apathy noted that the poor nature of electoral process in the past both at intra and inter party levels of political contest through imposition of party candidates, ballot box snatching, stuffing, manipulation of electoral results at collation centres among other electoral ills, are a major contributor to the increasing political apathy among nigerians. the history of democratization in nigeria would not be complete without the examination of certain monolithic characters that emerged as determinants of nigeria's political atmosphere. they sit at the top of politics and governance to determine who gets what, irrespective of the wishes of the people. coincidentally, anthony anenih, one of such figures that have dominated nigerian politics as a 'monumental' godfather hails from edo state (ogbonmwan, 2005). anenih had begun to build for himself, a political empire in the build-up to the 1983 general elections when he edged out the late anthony enahoro from the npn state chairmanship. thereafter, anenih led the npn to sponsor ogbemudia for the governorship coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 06 07 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 race in the state as against ambrose alli. ogbemudia's victory at the polls marked the beginning of anenih's 'godfatherism' in the state where he was deemed the political oracle which all contestants who wished to win, especially those from edo state had to consult (ogbonmwan, 2005). his grip on edo state politics was made possible by his influence on his political godsons who have found their way into the corridors of power and are bound to carry out the orders of their godfather. in one celebrated instance during the first term of adams oshiomhole, in 2009, the budget of the edo state government was said to have been decided in the living room of anenih's abuja residence where pdp house of assembly members loyal to anenih tinkered with the budget in such a way that at the end, the governor was forced to sign a budget which reflected the will of the godfathers and was not in the best interest of the masses (oliomogbe and alemma-ozioruva, guardian, september 1, 2012). earlier in 2003 at the eve of the 2003 general elections, anenih had declared that there was no vacancy in edo state government house and had stated authoritatively that the then governor lucky igbinedion was bound to be re-elected at polls. consequent upon the foregoing, a good number of politicians who had “sharpened their political knives to have a shot at the governorship race, had quietly faded from the scene for igbinedion to serve his second term. (the nation july 11, 2007).anenih's influence on politics in edo state is well represented in the statement by the senator representing edo central senatorial district, odion ugbesia, (one of anenih's 'godsons'). to him, if you as ask odion ugbesia to draw god, because i have never seen god, by the time i finish it, you will probably find the face of anenih in it, you will find the hands of anenih and you find the legs of anenih. this is a man who has done so much for me. every day i pray to god to help me in my life, and once and every time anenih comes and help me. he made me a commissioner; made me a minister, made me a minister again, he helped me build a house (ogbonmwan, 2005:4). this exemplifies to what extent budding politicians revere these godfathers who are somewhat deified as they take on the position of kingmakers in the political society. however, political godfathers came crashing from their exalted positions as kingmakers in edo state as comrade adams oshiomhole emerged victorious without the aid of godfathers. the impact of this situation on nigeria's political climate is that the victory of oshiomhole signified the beginning to an end of the old political order where leaders were installed by godfathers rather than the will of the people. it also brought to an end in edo state 'money politics' which had been a clog in the wheel of nigeria's democratisation. it was noted that prior to the election, the pdp hired some personnel to buy voter's cards at stipulated prices (o. edekpayi, personal communication, july 3, 2012). more so, it was also speculated that on the day of the election party agents were seen all around the corners persuading people to vote for pdp with juicy offers ranging from cash to jewelleries and even phones (c. osawaru, personal communication, july 7, 2012). in spite of such election malpractices, the pdp still lost out to ac. political participation also rose from about 35% to 39.1% in the 2012 general elections in the state (inec, september 1, 2012).the point being made is that the verdict of the edo state election petition tribunal has shown to the common man that their votes and participation in the entire electoral process are not in vain. as such, with or without fear of election rigging, people have begun to develop confidence in the entire electoral process, hoping that even when election results are manipulated, the courts would remain the last hope of the common man. impact of the verdict on nigeria's judiciary the judiciary is one of the three arms of government which concerns itself with the interpretation of the law. the other two – the legislative and the executive arms of government make and implement the laws respectively. the nigerian judiciary like several other sectors in the country has been subject to criticisms. unfortunately, a large proportion of such criticisms are founded on loss of confidence on the country's judiciary given a history of manipulated verdicts. as was noted by emeka ngige: “the judiciary is at its lowest ebb in terms of respect, in terms of acceptance and in terms of ability to inspire the common man” (igbitande, 2012:1). however, the tribunal verdict which installed oshiomhole as the duly elected governor of edo state was lauded by several nigerians as a mark of the restoration of the judiciary's cardinal position as the final hope of the common man. peter okocha, a former gubernatorial aspirant in delta state hails the judgement as a 'historic victory' for the judiciary (vanguard november 12, 2008). similarly, asiwaju bola tinubu, a former governor of lagos state commended the judiciary for the judgement, stating that it had become apparent that the judiciary “is up to the task of reforming our country's battered image on election malpractices.” he added that the oshiomhole victory was a “great tonic” for those who had been despondent on the court cases over the 2007 elections (tinubu, vanguard, november 12, 2008:10). in furtherance thereof, the committee for the defence of human rights (cdhr) as well as the niger delta peace organisation (ndpo) lauded the verdict of the court, stating that the judgment signalled a victory for the rule of law. in a related development, the governor of jigawa state, sule lamido reacted to the judgement by enjoining all parties to respect the judgement of the court as it was reflective of the wishes of the masses. (arubi, vanguard, november 12, 2008:10). impact of the verdict on nigeria's democratisation process nigeria ever since the attainment of independence in 1960 has had its successive governments involved in conscious efforts targeted at leading the country towards the attainment of “true democracy”. nonetheless, such efforts have been repeatedly hindered by the spate of electoral malpractice as several contestants have emerged as winners in elections even without securing the people's support. describing the victory of adams oshiomhole at the election petitions tribunal, pat utomi, former presidential aspirant, said that it was not only a victory for the action congress but was an exceptional victory for democracy in nigeria (akoni, vanguard november 12, 2008:10). in a separate statement, the nigerian labour congress (nlc) described the verdict as a “victory for democracy and our country” (komolafe, vanguard, november 12, 2008). on his own part, governor theodore orji of abia state described the judgement as a development “that is good for nigeria's fledgling democracy” (okoli, vanguard, november 12, 2008). conclusion drawing from the findings of this study, it becomes safe to conclude that as exemplified by the events of the 2007 gubernatorial election in edo state, election tribunals are highly instrumental in the consolidation of democracy in nigeria. thus, democracy has to do with the government of the people by the people and for the people and not one impeded by election malpractices. it could therefore be stated that election tribunals which tend to be the only ground upon which election results could be re-examined, play an invaluable role in the sustenance of democracy. in addition, with regards to whether election tribunals have the capacity to deter electoral fraud, the point must be stressed that as long as election tribunal verdicts reflect the wishes of the masses as was the case in edo state, politicians would gradually begin to identify the futility of any attempt to manipulate election results. in general, one major contribution this study has made to the overall body of knowledge is the discovery of the role of election tribunals in the consolidation of democracy in nigeria. it has become a reference point as to how it promotes democracy, raises the electorate’s hope and renders military coups d'etat almost impossible. coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 08 09 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 references adekoye, v. 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(2008). vanguard, november 12. coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 10 page 1 page 2 page 3 page 4 page 5 page 6 page 7 page 8 page 9 page 10 text book journal pdf sis. noelle abstract the african woman remains a multiplicity of identities. in ventilating her image, akachi adimora-ezeigbo has been consistent in her portrayal of the african woman, her roles, placement and the gender bias within cultural and social systems that have been asphyxiating for the woman in her narratives. adimora-ezeigbo sets out to reconfigure womanhood in house of symbols by creating sheroes: unconventional women in umuga society. these formidable and dynamic female characters are admired for their resilience, courage and unrivalled accomplishments in the narrative. this paper adopts adimora-ezeigbo's snailsense ideology in investigating the author's strategy in reconfiguring womanhood in house of symbols. to achieve this objective, the paper examines the lives, experiences and achievements of the author's major female characters. the paper reveals that adimoraezeigbo's subversive stance against patriarchy in house of symbols is strategic. she projects an empowered female protagonist, vibrant female characters and moves away from silencing antagonistic patriarchal forces to projecting a rather significant image of the african woman that achieves the agenda of reconfiguring womanhood within the context of an evolving traditional african society. the paper concludes that, the african woman must be proactive in adopting strategic alternatives for achieving selfactualisation and rejuvenation. key words: shero, snail-sense, womanhood, gender-bias, african feminism. introduction feminists have attempted to reorder our society in diverse ways, subverting systems which are arguably perceived to overtly enhance and emphasise male supremacy over the women folk. attempting to reorder and subvert this order with new alternatives are perhaps efforts at righting and writing perceived wrongs against the female gender in literature and other spheres of endeavour. also feminists in africa, it would seem, have made several attempts to devise and propagate suitable alternatives to the seemingly prevailing system of male dominance in the continent over the years considering the seemingly intemperate and disruptive perspectives adopted by western feminist, and imbibed by some african women and feminist to the chagrin of many african men and women alike. ezenwa-ohaeto however points that feminism as a movement is operational both nationally and internationally and irrespective of the difference in ideologies, western feminist and african feminist “share a common point of convergence in the models they project: cultural rebirth as it concerns patriarchal practices” (61). coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 01 1 2joy i. nwiyi (phd) and ene ann edache department of english and modern languages federal university of lafia, nasarawa state, nigeria joymips@gmail.com snail-sense sheroes: reconfiguring womanhood in akachi adimora-ezeigbo's house of symbols 02 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 perhaps, if we must take advantage of the wins and positive potential of the feminist movement, consideration should always be given to the context of the african woman's struggle and her identity as a woman in africa; a context complicated by traditional, cultural and social practices that form and determine significantly the holistic identity of the woman. thus, western modes and strands of feminism remain potential tools that have generated and are still capable of generating suspicion in modern times considering the african woman's reality, worldview, culture and unique experiences (mary kolawole, 7). according to josephine akhire, “feminism in africa has been a boiling pot of diverse discourses and courses of action” and conveys more significance than a mere opposite of western feminism (7). noami nkealah however states that “the definition and use of the term feminism in african literature poses a number of problems for african women writers and critics, many of whom tend to deny any affiliation to the feminist movement, even though their writings espouse feminist aspirations. their detachment perhaps accrues from the misconceptions that surround the concept of feminism. feminism is often interpreted as being anti-male, anti-culture and anti-religion in its theoretical framework” (133). it would be difficult it seems, to refute entirely that western feminism among other factors has not been responsible for the growth and development of women's resistance to patriarchy and the systems that have encouraged male supremacy. considering the complexities that shroud the african woman's existence in modern times, ada azodo posits that african feminism as a movement caters for the unique needs of the women in the continent of africa. she states that african feminism as a political movement does not only raise the issues of sex and gender but also goes ahead to question race and the presentations and perspectives from which the african woman is seen and read (202). african feminism according to naomi nkealah therefore “strives to create a new, liberal, productive and self-reliant african woman within the heterogeneous cultures of africa. feminism in africa ultimately aims at modifying culture as it affects women in different societies” (133). this suggests that this social movement and framework caters distinctively for the african woman, and takes cognizance of the peculiarities of her identity and experiences. also important to this framework is the need to accommodate the variants and strands of feminisms on the continent that strive to attend to the peculiarities of the african woman in her society given the possibility of cultural and social disruption that come with europe's eurocentric feminism. this framework emphasises the importance of female roles, self and bodies in african societies. it also advocates the inclusion and accommodation of the male folk in the gender discourse in african to ensure that they are stakeholders in improving the lot of women on the continent. over the years, the african woman has endured a generic representation of her image and self against the backdrop of feminism. it is against this standpoint that obiageli okolocha interrogates the nature and concept of heroism in traditional nigerian society. okolocha's essay highlights the fact that, the rather typical representation of nigerian women overlooks a significant reality that attests to the existence of powerful women and female figures within the trado-cultural sphere of nigeria, for example. the scholar insists that female power within this context usually lies in, and is activated by “the performance of duty to the society, a fact that feminist arguments often ignore” (96). also, azodo argues that male and female roles in pre-colonial african communities were complementary, and that since the advent of colonization, the african woman has had to grapple with her fall from a position of power and self-sovereignty to becoming man's helper” (201); a stance oyeronke oyewumi seems to corroborate when she states that the colonial situation produced “a hierarchy of four, not two, categories. beginning at the top, these were: men (european), women (european), native (african men), and other (african women). native women occupied the residual and unspecified category of the other” (122). this has remained the lingering determinant of the african woman's status in every space of being even in modern times. adimora-ezeigbo's narratives and imaginative presentation of african women in both traditional and modernising society project her stance on gender discourse (bias, marginalisation, wars and inclusion) in africa. her representation of women in pre-colonial and the modernising igbo society have been a deliberate attempt at repositioning and reconfiguring the woman's image; drawing impetus from historical times and traditional society where women's roles were accorded due relevance. thus in her narrative, the woman strives to tell us her story, highlighting her relevance in traditional and modern society in spite of male dominance and antagonism. also, we find a representation and construction of unconventional women in adimora-ezeigbo's narrative. we posit that these women are sheroes: a concept which seems to capture the intention and deliberate effort of adimoraezeibgo in reconfiguring the image of women in social, traditional, economic and religious dimensions of existence. according to the merriam-webster's dictionary, sherois a word that has been in existence since 1839. the word which is a blend of “she” and “hero”, means “a woman regarded as a hero” (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shero), could be used to describe unconventional women in society who are so admired for their quality, courage and unrivalled accomplishments. while heroine could be a suitable synonym, the word, shero seems to derive its relevance and significance from gender discourse and perhaps the deliberate attempt at asserting the female gender; also, with the intent of emphasising and highlighting woman and her unrivalled achievements in society. the implication of this seems to outweigh “heroine” as a word in this context. our purpose is therefore to show essentially, the dismantling of patriarchy and western feminist's contraptions that seem to deny the african woman and her achievements prominence. snail-sense feminism as a theoretical anchor snail-sense feminism is adimora-ezeigbo's contribution to the gender discourse, african feminism and diverse attempts at its theorisation. while adimora-ezeigbo does not necessarily refer to herself as a feminist, she acknowledges that she is very passionate and concerned about the treatment and empowerment of women. according to the author and scholar, in an interview with ecomium, snail-sense feminism is: a variant of the womanist principle that does not promote aggression in women and in their relationship with men. it seeks to promote a kind of balance in women's lives and their relationship with men but at the same time, demands that women have an independent mind and do what they want to do but not to the detriment of other people around them. i call it snail sense because a snail moves over very rough edges and thorns without getting hurt because it has their lubricating tongue coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 03 04 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 that allows it to do that. i believe a woman should be like that. in igbo, we say, ire oma ka eju ji aga n ogwu. in a society, a woman should be able to tolerate others, work with others and maintain a very humble attitude towards others but at the same time be herself (http://encomium.ng/professor-akachi-ezeigbo-talks-about-herworks/). adimora-ezeigbo proposes an accommodating strategy through which women would manoeuvre, survive and excel above male dominance as a result of principles and attitudes which are self-enhancing, protective and devoid of overt conflict even in the face of stiff patriarchal confrontation. so, we find adimora-ezeigbo's protagonist and female characters represented as sheroes strategising, surviving and succeeding against all patriarchal odds. the african woman remains a multiplicity of identities. in ventilating her image, adimoraezeigbo has been consistent in her portrayal of the african woman, her roles, placement and the gender bias within cultural and social systems that have been asphyxiating for the woman in her narratives. adimora-ezeigbo sets out to reconfigure womanhood in house of symbols by creating sheroes: unconventional women in umuga society. these formidable and dynamic female characters are admired for their resilience, courage and unrivalled accomplishments in the narrative. this paper adopts adimora-ezeigbo's snail-sense ideology in investigating the author's strategy in reconfiguring womanhood in house of symbols. to achieve this objective, the paper examines the lives, experiences and achievements of the author's major female characters. the significance of snaile-sense feminism as a critical model lies in its proposition of accommodation and tolerance as a reaction to the challenge of patriarchy, while emphasising the independence and ingenuity of the woman. the characters and characterisation in house of symbols are therefore premised on this conciliatory strategy that adimora-ezeigbo proposes. sheroes: reconfiguring womanhood in house of symbols the second in akachi adimora-ezeigbo's trilogy(the last of the strong ones, house of symbols and children of the eagle), house of symbols is the story of the eaglewoman's life and experiences in post-colonial umuga where the people have accepted the ways and practices of the colonial masters owing to the success of colonial intrusion and influence. eaglewoman also known as ugonwayi is the granddaughter of ejimnaka, the matriarch of umuga, who resisted british colonial rule alongside her husband, obiatu in the last of the strong ones. this trilogy reconstructs history and life in uga, adimora-ezeigbo's indigenous home in eastern nigeria in pre-colonial times up until modern times in the 21st century. the narrative captures the changed socio-cultural atmosphere of umuga, a fictional community in pre-colonial eastern nigeria where women are perhaps presented as just being themselves and not necessarily asserting themselves from a background defined by traditional myths about the person and ability of the african woman. devoid of the intolerance perceived as a defining pattern of overt feminist narratives, adimora-ezeigbo's female characters are patterned after an evolving traditional society in which traditional beliefs and powers are questioned covertly. this is achieved through her reconfiguration and representation of these traditional and religious sheroes as custodians of the very essence of traditional and social life in this igbo community. the possibilities she highlights in these characters such as eaglewoman, okwudiba and the prophetess, ezenwanyi seem to subvert the perceived roles that attest to gender marginalisation and male dominance. these women thwart portrayals and notions of dominant patriarchal structures even in traditional society. expectedly, these women seem to defy the stereotypes and image of traditional african women, some of which still hold sway in modern times. nevertheless, these female characters remain unassuming and fair in their relationship with others. it is significant that while they strive to remain independent, they tolerate their male partners and successfully negotiate the cultural balance for their meaningful existence. eaglewoman, the protagonist of the novel, is faced with a rather difficult decision. at two years, nnenne, who is believed to be a reincarnation of her grandmother, ejimnaka cannot walk. as a christian, she finds it difficult to accept the call of ezenwayi, who summons her and the child. she makes up her mind with osai (josiah okwara), her husband's intervention to visit the prophetess as part of her quest to unravel the mystery behind nnenne's state. she does not visit the prophetess alone; she goes with osai who supports her till the solution to their daughter's state is found. this visit reveals to eaglewoman and her husband significant aspects of their tradition, culture and modern life. during this visit, ezenwanyi demands that the couple take the child to see okwudiba, the old woman who “was the greatest storyteller and historian of umuga before the white people's culture and religion cast their shadow over umuga…” (house of symbols 37). okwudiba is not only a wordsmith but a historian and custodian of the people's indigenous heritage. her knowledge of the past is unrivalled by men and women alike. this also seems to be her motivation for holding tenaciously to the trado-cultural practices of the pre-colonial umuga community even when most of the people including her son, joel and his wife, regina desert them. in fact, okwudiba is astonished at the people of umuga for embracing christianity, a religion brought by the people who killed their forefathers, and took some away into slavery. she swears to have nothing to do with christianity and western ways of living, which is responsible for the distortion of the peace, culture, and tradition of umuga. she refuses to call her son and daughter-in-law by their christian names but is sensible not hurt her immediate family by causing conflict or tension to assert her position and displeasure with western ways. in fact, when okwudiba dies, joel affirms, “even though we are church people, we will give her the full funeral rites she deserves as a great daughter of umuga and a renowned amaala. just the way she would want it” (house of symbols 105). okwudiba is ejimnaka's inseparable friend in life and death. transition to death remains impossible till she receives the reincarnated form of her friend in nnenne. this visit immediately restores nnenne's legs and eventually eases okwudibia, one of adimoraezeigbo's shero's passages to the world of her ancestors. ezenwayi, the female seer is another force to reckon with. she summons and receives guests from far and wide; and from all works of life. people travel from distant lands seeking her trade, knowledge and spiritual expertise. ezenwayi successfully establishes spiritual relevance, integrity and success in her hybrid spiritual trade and thus, her patronage remains unlimited. she describes her work in umuga thus: i stand in the middle of these two religions, building bridges. only bridges can save the world from itself. from disconnection and coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 05 06 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 destruction. two religions co-exist here without ease. my destiny is to bridge them, pull them together and nurture something new which draws strength from both” (house of symbols 49). through this visit, ezenwayi's unique role as a medium between the dead and living, and a bridge between umuga tradition and western ways is revealed. thus, we hear from ezenwanyi that chukwu is man and woman, father and mother; whereas divinity in christianity is represented as masculine and traditional umuga religious allegiance lies with the woman of the lake. also, ezenwanyi's house of symbols where she consults as a seer is crammed with feminine and masculine symbols; she believes that chukwu, almighty god is a good combination of mother and father (house of symbols 52). these metaphoric attempts at tolerance do not only heighten the significance and spiritual relevance of women in the traditional african society as it were, but project's adimora-ezeigbo's stance: balance in the lingering gender war and discourse through this tolerance and accommodation. as a mother of four, ezenwayi enjoyed the support and help of her husband until he died. she is a powerful woman no doubt, but she is able to contain the influence her access to insight from the world beyond confers on her. she does a good job of taking care of her family and minding her trade as a prophetess. for over a year, she patiently summoned eaglewoman with a message from the world beyond without getting offended at her indifference. ezenwayi gives eaglewoman her personal statement thus, “the work may be tasking as you say, but it is not a burden. it is my destiny. i have a call: it is a work that i do with humility and with joy” (house of symbols 44). here again, adimore-ezeigbo's ideology is highlighted. we find resilient ezenwayi being both successful and humble as she brings succour to her clients, garners spiritual power and fulfils her destiny without seemingly upsetting people and sociocultural norms. the novel which primarily narrates the experiences of eaglewoman, projects a changing traditional society with practises and perspectives that trouble women's fulfilment. for instance, eaglewoman is betrothed at eight years old to a man she knows nothing about and does not like. through this, adimora-ezeigbo however highlights the significance of the bride-price in the igbo society and it's implication on the woman. the bride-price is usually money and/or property given by the bridegroom to the family of his bride to legalise the marriage traditionally. if for any reason the marriage is terminated, the family of the bride is expected to return the bride-price to the groom. if this is not done, the woman remains an 'unused property' of the bride-groom. the bride-price could be paid in advance to the family of a betrothed wife and as such, the betrothed girl or woman is considered a wife of the intending groom already. thus, aziagba is destabilised when her daughter, eaglewoman refuses to marry the man, to whom she is betrothed. she meets another man, josiah as she grows older and breaks her engagement to nathaniel okeke; an act which makes eaglewoman and her mother objects of scorn and mockery in umuga. while she considers the severity and cultural implication of what this broken engagement entails, aziagba laments, “who will pay back the bride price and who will restore the gifts okeke showered on my child?” (house of symbols 7). she objects to her daughter marrying another man because, nathaniel okeke, has spent enormous material resources on her. traditionally speaking, those materials are said to be a cord, binding the would-be couple. eaglewoman resists her own commodification and insists that josiah (osai), the man she loves and intends to marry must “cut the cord”. he does this by paying back everything given by nathaniel okeke to eaglewoman in cash and kind, before officially getting married to her. even though eaglewoman successfully marries josiah, she lives with these memories and nathaniel okeke's occasional harassment of her family. her marriage to osai notwithstanding is not without its challenges: bareness for five years after marriage, having a daughter lame in the leg, the death of her son few months after birth and osai's near-death illness. she however surmounts all of these. eaglewoman manages a large extended family with the children of poor relations, friends, men, women and admirers looking up to her for guidance and livelihood. they join her in the work in her bakery as apprentices and labourers which have not only brought her fame but the envy of rivals who wonder at her success and seemingly easy life. even when soronje, her friend becomes a self-impose rival out of envy, eaglewoman treats her with kindness. she applies wisdom and caution in relating with her. eaglewoman is a conscientious business woman, politician and philanthropist who assist the people of atagu and umuga in solving their problems. she assists diribe in getting medical attention at the hospital at iyenu, where the growth in his scrotum is surgically remove. also, ezekeke agu receives free loaves of bread from eaglewoman's bakery. the workers who are involved in the smooth running of her business and household also enjoy her kindness. eaglewoman displays snail-sense in her home as seen in her relationship with her husband and domestic staff. even though she makes more money from her strings of businesses and has a good reputation among her people, she does not lord it over her husband, osai. the author creates a protagonist whose husband does not feel threatened by her success. the support osai offers makes their relationship a complementary one. eaglewoman's personality and confidence find expression in her family life, business and relationship with osai, her husband. she is not only loving and respectful to him and the entire household but assertive in her thoughts and actions. this is how she gets things done. eaglewoman breaks her childhood-engagement; a norm respected in her society and is rewarded with the man of her dreams, osai. when she marries him, she however makes it clear that she is his companion and not a chattel to be maltreated. eaglewoman wants to be herself. osai however hits her on two occasions as a result of his jealous rage. on the first occasion, she returns a day later from a wedding in onitsha and her explanations do not assuage this jealous rage. eaglewoman does not react. the second time osai hits his wife in the feat of jealousy; it is because of the visit of eaglewoman's old schoolmate. even though she explains the young man's visit, osai hits her to assert himself and ownership over her in a rather crude manner. eaglewoman reacts swiftly unlike the first time and inflicts injury on his shoulder with the grinding stone she has been working with. she also reminds him: osai, this is not what we agreed, is it? all i ask of you is to be given some space to be myself. is that asking too much? trust is part of it: trust is love's closest companion. i will not be a beast whose back receives blows without a murmur… (house of symbols 205). eaglewoman seems to assert herself physically and verbally to retain her sense and place of freedom and respect as a woman in her husband's house. osai's shoulder and ego are wounded. as he sits dazed from this injury inflicted by his wife, he seems to console himself with realities coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 07 08 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 that stem from his cultural background and enforce his seemingly superior position as the man. in his pensive state, osai reasons that he owns and married eaglewoman and not the other way round; that he still has the ability to pummel her with blows to teach her place as a woman. nevertheless, osai is ashamed and becomes a changed man because of this incident as “he learnt to love without seeming to possess the object of his love since, as he told himself, that is the only path to peace in a relationship such as a marriage” (house of symbols 207). eaglewoman is remorseful and nurses her husband after the incident to health while he lives with the guilt of his action. their relationship becomes better with mutual understanding and respect achieved. adimora-ezeigbo's feminist posture accounts for the response and reactions between osai and eaglewoman and how this incident is resolved. while the author does not seem to propose aggression towards the malefolk, with eaglewoman's action and plea for space to be herself, she tries to establish a balance between self-assertion, independence and tolerance for mutual respect to be achieved. this accommodating strategy seems to remain a consistent feature of african feminism irrespective of its variant. the narrative also confirms the determination of the author to highlight women as instruments of change. she projects the place of women in governance in modern african society through eaglewoman who displays her ability to function beyond the traditionally assigned roles of wife and mother to serve the public in a political office. eaglewoman registers as an ncnc (the national council of nigeria and the cameroons) member and despite the opposition, she is able to draw membership and influence the success of her party at the polls. her political strategy is appealing. she pays visits to significant members of the electorate, her immediate community and campaigns significantly with kind words, good reason and gifts at the grassroots. she does not employ violent or divisive means to win the heart of men and women alike. the author seems to subtly suggest that women may be the answer to the many questions surrounding governance that remain unanswered in the continent. ima emmanuel observes that it is invigorating to find adimora-ezeigbo projecting her female characters as articulate, proactive and intelligent leaders; this coupled with the intimate and affectionate tone through which she foregrounds these women in complementary relationship with their male counterparts account for her success as a writer (272). conclusion adimora-ezeigbo reconfigures the image of womanhood in house of symbols by projecting a world controlled by men but predominantly defined by women. the implication we find, is, the implementation of subtle possibilities associated with perhaps subverting fixed traditional female roles of wife/mother. in achieving this purpose, she presents us with sheroes, women who are resilient and diligent at their task. she progresses in her subversive stance as she projects an empowered protagonist, eaglewoman and vibrant female characters: okwudiba, the wordsmith and the prophetess, ezenwanyi in this narrative. through these characters, the writer moves from silencing and confronting antagonistic patriarchal forces to reinventinga rather significant image of the african woman. the african woman is potentially independent and is so not to the detriment of others around her. akachi-ezeigbo thus creates a balance within the context of an evolving african society. the paper concludes that, the african woman should be proactive in adopting strategic alternatives for achieving selfactualisation and rejuvenation. works cited adimora-ezeigbo, akachi. “professor akachi ezeigbo talks about her works”. encomium magazine, 31 dec. 2015, http://encomium.ng/professor-akachi-ezeigbo-talks-aboutiher-works/ accessed 15 aug. 2019. akachi. house of symbols. lantern books, 2005. ahkire, josephine. “african feminism in context: reflections on house of symbols the legitimation battles, victories house of symbols and reversals”. feminist africa 19 pan-africanism and feminism, 2014, pp.7-23. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/5a8d/13c5173333c27283f330f746a9b57581d5cb.pdf ?_ga=2.194841581.1188023871.1590865919-108423250.1572668242. accessed 2 aug. 2016. azodo, ada uzoamaka. “issues in african feminism: a syllabus.” women's studies quarterly, vol. 25, no. 3/4, 1997, pp. 201–207. jstor, www.jstor.org/stable/40003384. accessed 14 sept. 2019. emmanuel, ima usen. “the last of the strong ones: author: akachi adimora-ezeigbo (1947-)”.masterpieces of african literature, vol. 1, edited by ebele eko. lagos: a mace books\sunbird african media. 2014. pp. 266-272. ezenwa-ohaeto, ngozi. “fighting patriarchy in nigerian cultures through children's literature”.studies in literature and language, 10(6), 2015, pp. 59-66.doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.3968/7217accessed 15 aug. 2019. kolawole, mary. womanism and african consciousness. african world press. 1997. nkealah, naomi. “conceptualizing feminism(s) in africa: the challenges facing african women writers and critics”. english academy review. vol. 23, no. 1, 2007, pp. 133– 141. https://doi.org/10.1080/10131750608540431. accessed 15 aug. 2019. okolocha, h. oby. “heroism as social responsibility: decoding the mystique of “iyaloja” and the power of duty in wole soyinka's death and the king's horseman”. journal of the literary society of nigeria, issue 7, june. pp. 96-115. 2015. oyewumi, oyeronke. the invention of women: making an african sense of western gender discourses. minnesota university press. 1997. “shero”. merriam-webster.com. merriam-webster, 2019. web. accessed 15 august 2019. coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 09 page 1 page 2 page 3 page 4 page 5 page 6 page 7 page 8 page 9 jonal vol. 5 no. 4 new2.cdr language and human communication in a digital age: effects on interpersonal relationships on the nigerian youths by nwadike, mmanwanyi pet linguistics and communication studies university of port harcourt, rivers state abstract echnology in a digital age, characterized by human-computer interactions, has dramatically ttransformed the world in various ways, enhancing rapid flow in the way we communicate with one another. digital technology has significantly influenced language in some ways (such as, new vocabularies and styles). language is a powerful instrument in bringing people together and at the same time it can be used to create enmity in relationships if not well used. by transforming language, the digital technology also transforms communication positively. with the advancement of the digital era, there has been a noticeable contrast in the way humans communicate. this study examines human communication in a digital age and the effects on the nigerian youths. this study portrays the nigerian youths as those within the ages of 18-29. the object of this paper is to show how electronic technology has played significant roles in human communication. the paper adopted a descriptive approach in the analysis. the data for this study is from secondary source which consists of observations and views by different authors. we noted that electronic technology as a major instrument of communication has positive as well as negative effects on the nigerian youths. we recommend more of face-to-face interactions especially in the family level so as to promote family bonding. the youths should minimize the use of electronic devices for only important and relevant issues. finally, we also recommend a check on immoral and unethical activities by the youths online. ethical principle should be maintained. keywords: language, human communication, electronic technology, digital communication, electronic devices, digital age. introduction it is of utmost importance to understand the role language plays in the lives of human beings. language is a human behaviour as well as a window to the human mind. language is the most essential tool for the creation of relationships and familiarities as well as bonding. by bonding, we mean the establishment of a relationship or link with someone based on shared feelings, interests or experiences. a society without language is bound to be rife with anarchy and confusion (ajileye, 2007). the use of electronic technology in recent times has transformed our society in different and interesting ways as well as facilitates the rapid flow of information in the way we communicate and interact with one another. as technology continues to penetrate all aspects of human lives and transform the social order, it has impacted on language and human communication significantly, both positively and negatively. positively, electronic technology has made human communication a lot easier, people can interact and communicate from their comfort zones (living rooms, work places, business areas etc.) and get feedbacks immediately. no longer the age when one will have to travel from one place to another just to have a conversation or discussion with a family member, 166 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 colleague or friend or sit and write a letter, stress to locate a post office so as to send the information across to the receiver. sometimes, the letter gets missing on transit or takes ages to get to the receiver and in some cases, the information gets expired before getting to the receiver. electronic technology has elevated the level of human communication to a great extent that communication is now very easy and stress free. all you need is to have a phone and internet access which is also cheap to afford according to one's level. business transactions has become easy, even interviews for employment as well as educational paper presentations are now carried out from the comfort of ones' home or area. on the other hand, electronic technology has affected human relationships negatively too, in the sense that this digital way of communication has created a gap in the human interpersonal relationships. face-to-face interaction which facilitates human bonding is gone, especially among the younger adults. the consequence of this is that the interface between person and machine has drastically reduced the desire for physical presence. for when people interact face-to-face, they share emotions and feelings of one another. they observe facial expression, pains and joys of the other person/s. aside the gap created by not having a face-to-face interaction due to too much time spent online, cyber connection also infringe on our social functioning. according to (yamamoto et al, 2015), negative comments can hurt others' feelings and aggravate conflict. it is easier, however, to heal the relationship face-to-face than online. it is difficult to identify the source of conflict when tone of voice, body language, and facial expressions are missing (hsu, 2009). for instance, an utterance that is meant to be a joke can be misinterpreted as an offensive remark. this could result in other parties taking comments out of context and being upset. but if the discussion is face-to-face, both parties will be able to see the difference between joke and serious utterance through the body language or voice. hence, with the invention of electronic technology, bonding between friends and relatives is fast diminishing in our society. according to warschauer et al, 2010, the digital revolution has transformed language by triggering an explosion of new vocabularies, genres and styles and by reshaping literacy practices. by developing a mode of communication where writing approximates speaking, instant messaging (im) and texting have facilitated the production of new words and styles that bridge the interactive nature of speech and the documental capacity of writing. with increasing numbers of electronic technologies and penetration of the internet around the world, localization of the technology and the content it carries into the many languages people speak is becoming an area for discussion. localization, simply, includes translation and cultural adaptation of user interfaces and software applications, as well as creation and translation of internet content in diverse languages. it is essential in making information and communication technology more accessible to the populations of the poorer countries, increasing its relevance to their lives, needs, and aspirations, and ultimately in bridging the 'digital divide' (osborn, 2021). (gardeazabal, 2011) opines that language can be an instrument to unify people and also be used to separate people. language in this discourse is being viewed from the social perspective. in this piece, we therefore explore language and human beings, human communication in a digital age with views on the effects on interpersonal relationships among the younger adults. this will help to ascertain our assumption that, the use of electronic technology as a major means of communication in this digital age has created a big gap in interpersonal relationships (especially face -to-face interactions) between peoplefamilies, colleagues, friends, business associates, etc. this has contributed immensely in the breaking of bonds in our relationships alongside other factors. 167 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 objective the objective of this research paper therefore, is to show how electronic technology has played and continues to play a significant role in creating gap in human communication and interpersonal relationships among the youths in the digital age, with the view to suggesting the way forward to reduce such gaps so as to facilitate bonding. to do this, the paper will also examine human communication in the digital age with regards to the youth which is the bedrock of the larger society. statement of the problem in the past, scholars of communication have been concerned about the apparent changes in the lives of our youths with regards to the innovation and evolution of electronic technologies in our society. while examining this trend, some scholars elaborated a number of reasons for changing communication patterns among the youths which include: westernization, socialization, isolation of the children from home. these changes in communication patterns were associated with technological development. the new communication protocol is less oral based; instead relying heavily on messages that are constructed and sent in form of symbols, signs and texts to computer/phone screens. hence youths rely less on oral forms of communication that require them to communicate face-to-face. considering this change in communication, there is a growing concern with regards to the effects of these technological communications among our youths. does the digital literacy which is facilitated by the new communication culture encourage interpersonal relationship among our youths or pulls them apart? this separateness against togetherness discourse is not new, but his paper contributes to this discourse by observing patterns in the context of the nigerian youths. the nigerian youth in nigeria, youths include citizens of the federal republic of nigeria aged 18–29 years according to the (new youth policy, 2019). on the other hand, the african youth charter recognizes youth as people between 15 and 35 of age. nigeria is the most populous country in africa with one of the largest populations of youth in the world, comprising 211,400,708 members. the federal ministry of youth development is responsible for youth affairs with the aim "to empower nigerian youth to become self-reliant and socially responsible, focusing on enterprise development, vocational skills & training, youth voice, employment, and education. the ministry is responsible for the national youth policy, youth development programs, funding youth activities, youth participation, and to manage the national youth services corps and the citizenship and leadership training centre. literature review: conceptual review language in human beings different people define language differently depending on the context of use and the situation surrounding its use. language is a tool for effective communication and transfer of information among people. for communication to be effective and complete, the sender is required to encode the information using adequate linguistic tools. according to (essien, 2003), language is a system of structured arbitrary vocal symbols by means of which human beings make meaning and communicate with each other in a given community. for (prasad, 2009) language is defined as a system of conventional, spoken or written symbols by means of which human beings as members of a social group and participants in its culture, communicate. here, we hold that language is simply a means of communication/interaction. human communication in a digital age both language and communication are viewed as two distinct terms. yet, both of them are related linguistically and they work side by side each other. hence, we need to look at both concepts 168 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 'language and communication' individually so as to understand the difference between them. the main purpose of a language is, for easy communication. hence, without language, it is impossible to create an effective communication. simply put, language is a medium that helps in the sending of thoughts and feelings of two individuals and it allows us to express our feelings and thoughts using sounds, symbols, written or spoken words, posture, gestures or signs, etc. thus, we can continue communication through language. communication on the other hand, is a process of exchanging ideas, thoughts, and information from one person to another verbally or nonverbally. communication requires some basic simple steps such as, the sender, encoding process, message, channel, the receiver, decoding process, and feedback. every step of this process of communication is vital and ignoring any of these steps, will collapse communication. feedback is one of the major areas of communication process. without feedback, there is no effective communication. communication can be classified into verbal, nonverbal, written/text, listening/audio and visuals such as charts, graphs, etc. human communication has deep evolutionary roots, characterized by its inherently cooperative nature. and it emerges, changes and continues to evolve in contexts of use: usage is the driver of language change. while this is a natural process, new technology is advancing the range and means available for interpersonal interaction, extending the envelope of the human communication potential. this is both fascinating and exciting, (the guardian news, 2015) human communication according to (daramola, 2012) is defined as the social interaction that occurs between persons through the exchange of messages. through communication, humans establish relationships and companionship. hence, communication is central to human existence and serves as the channel through which humans interact with one another. according to (devito, 2009), human communication strengthens the feelings of togetherness among people through mutual understanding. it involves all the collective activities used in the sharing of ideas, facts and data from one person to the next. interpersonal communication can occur within a social group or in the business area. according to (onyeator et al, 2019), the foundation of interpersonal interaction is often traced to the family the basic unit of human life comprising people who interact in small groups. interpersonal communication in the family context involves face to face interactions among parents, children and other blood relatives. this facilitates bonding through the use of gestures, eye contact, touching etc. but for the purpose of this study, we will look at the effects of interpersonal communication from the perspective of the nigerian youths. interpersonal communication is therefore a symbolic process through which individuals maintain close relationships by observance. by observing, they use facial expressions, eye contact, body language and posture as well as gestures to communicate with others. according to (spape et al, 2014), social psychologists are of the opinion that the physical presence of people during interaction influences message perception, cognition, decision making and action. they argue that such human features enhance the communication experience. the digital age the digital age, also known as the information age, is defined as the time period starting in the 1970s with the introduction of the personal computer with subsequent technology introduced providing the ability to transfer information freely and quickly. 'digital' describes electronic technology that generates, stores, and processes data. it is obvious that humans now interact and share their feelings and emotions mostly via electronic communication media. consequently, the use of telephones, 169 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 mobile phones, smart phones, the internet and other digital technology has taken over face-to-face conversations to a large extent. according to (global information society watch, 2014), nearly all forms of interaction among humans are communicative acts that are digitally enabled, observable and recordable by others. in other words, technology has taken over almost every aspect of human life, resulting in a reliance on them to communicate with one another. in this recent time and age, the physical presence of humans is increasingly hampered by electronic/communication devices which have altered not just the communication process, but human behaviour as well. the effect of this communication revolution on personal communication among the youths in particular and the society in general is of utmost concern to this study. generally speaking, language is a means of communication among people. but the communication that is of utmost concern in this study is linked to the language of technology, innovation, and rapid growth (digital age/information era). in recent time, social media and digital communication platforms, such as watsapp, facebook, instagram, google chat, email etc. have replaced the use of face-to-face interactions, hand gestures, facial expressions, intonation etc. naturally, language is dynamic and continues to change in contexts of use. new technology is advancing the means available for interpersonal interaction. this is both fascinating and fun, especially for the young generation. the effects of digital technology on human communication one of the major gifts of electronic technology is the optimization of communication systems in the form of mobile devices and internet. the mobile devices brought about a drastic change to human interaction. the evolution of all electronic technological systems has altered human behaviors and interactions in both positive and negative ways. positive effects of electronic technology among the nigerian youths in the digital age i. faster human communication. the availability of electronic devices and easy access to internet has made it possible for people especially for loved-ones to be in close contact irrespective of their location on earth. distance is no longer a barrier for people to stay closer to their loved ones when they are physically far apart, using technological means like facebook messenger calls, skype, telegram calls and whatsapp calls. with the use of video call, people can watch or see the person they are communicating with, this gives a sense of closeness. ii. easy and effective learning digital technology has also been incorporated into the learning environment (classroom) over time, to facilitate learning among the younger people, as well as engage students in the learning process and also to make academic instruction more meaningful. students now make use of electronic devises to solve educational works and researches on their own. with the availability of the internet facilities, students are able to access educational materials and learning systems on their own without interacting with anyone. this has reduced the burden of buying all textbooks or paying for trainings amidst less money. most skills are now made available via youtube. all one need do is to activate the internet device and learn as much as possible; skills such as production of cleaning products, cooking, baking etc. iii. swift business transactions today, digital technology enables one to keep contact information in a mobile device. most people tend to transact their businesses through digital technologies. ability to contact and reach vendors quickly helps to facilitate the development of any business operation. even at midnight, one can 170 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 order products online from the comfort of his home. for instance, d-light pure daily wash, a company that produces and sells cleaning products in nigeria, all you need do is to order a product online (whatsapp, facebook and instagram) or call the customer care lines with the use of electronic device and get the products delivered to your location swiftly. digital technologies have bridged the gap on the risk of being on transit all the time in the bid to meet up with some business meetings or transactions. business tycoons can now sit at the comfort of their homes and transact multi-million-dollar businesses. also, technology has made it easier for business people who must travel, to get to their destination in a very short time with the use of flights. gone are the days when people spend the whole day on transit. with the invention of technology, in few minutes/hours, one has reached his destination. employment interviews as well as client interviews are being carried out from a distance just with the help of technological devices. digital technology also helps in the work places. many a times, companies organize seminars online, carry out visual meetings online via zoom etc. this can only be possible with the invention of electronic devices. negative effects of electronic technology in the digital age i. infringes on interpersonal relationships and social skills aside the positive values of digital technology connecting people digitally, its evolution has created a gap in the human interpersonal relationship as well as physical bonding. first and foremost, people tend to bond when they communicate face-to-face. emotions are formed as human beings tend to see and feel each other's pains and fears. in the past, the young people are taught how to maintain eye contact during communication, make use of facial expressions and adjust their tone according to the reaction of the listener. in some cases, even when people are physically close, they are often far apart due to their inability to keep their mobile devices away. people are physically together but detached from each other due to the engagements with their electronic device, such as mobile phones. some young adults even carry along their phones to the dining table and their eyes glued to the screen while meal is been served. the importance of face-to-face interaction cannot be overemphasized. most times in business, customers tend to trust vendors only when they engage in face-to-face interactions. hence, physical contact is power in business. ii. digital technology triggers health challenges as the saying goes, too much of everything is bad. excessive use of digital devices can be detrimental to the health of young adults in particular and the old people in general. too much viewing on the screen can cause serious eye damage. sitting at a place a long period of time can cause obesity etc. all work and no play, makes john a dull boy. with time, accumulated unhealthy habits will manifest as serious health issues. furthermore, most of the younger people tend to be occupied with watsapp chatting, face booking etc. till late at night thereby forfeiting quality rest. normally, human beings need about 6-8hours of sleep and when this is not obtainable due to over usage of digital devices into the night, such individuals suffer some physical and psychological issues. iii. increase in social vices the advent of digital technology has given rise to increase in social vices. lately, it is no longer news that the younger people are being driven by the quest to get rich quick syndrome and as such, they indulge in so many bad things such as internet fraud, which are facilitated by the use of mobile devices. electronic technology causes a lot of distractions, money illusion, lack of interest in academic achievements through hard work etc. for instance, the so-called yahoo-yahoo group of people or yahoo plus people are able to perpetuate their dealings with the use of digital technologies. 171 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 also, most kidnapping cases are been carried out with the use of mobile devices. the kidnappers use mobile phones to get information and track their preys. cyberbullying and hate speech are not left out on the internet vices. more so, it gives access to irrelevant information, the desire to acquire the communication devices breeds so many societal vices especially on the girls. summary and conclusion the paper investigates language and human communication in a digital age, examining its effects from the perspective of the nigerian youths. the paper explores the effect of technology communication on the young adults and found that there are both positive and negative effects. no doubt that the advent of digital technology is becoming more prominent by the day and this has made human communication a lot easier and faster. the world at large has gained a lot positively, with the invention of digital technologies, ranging from acquiring great knowledge and skills to being responsible individuals. but, the negative effects of the digital technology on human communication and interpersonal relationship in the youths remain a concern to humanity and this should not be overlooked. and if not put in check, these negative effects can lead to lack of bonding especially with family members, social isolation, increase in social vices infringement of ethical principles, as well as trigger some serious health issues. hence, there should be a check and awareness on the use of these electronic devices. finally, the paper proves that although language itself undergoes changes with time, the use of electronic devices facilitates the process of these changes. recommendations i. encourage face-to-face interaction in as much as electronic communication creates easy avenue for communicators, it is important to indulge more on face-to-face interaction especially at the family level. note that the family is the bedrock of a bigger society. face-to-face interaction gives room to emotional and psychological bonding. the younger adults should be encouraged to maintain physical interpersonal relationships especially in the families by making out time to visit and share some family issues together. for instance, parents of a millionaire son feel lonely and sick even with a fat bank account just because their son hardly visits. any day their son pays a visit, their loneliness and sickness vanish. that is the power of face-to-face meeting and interaction ii. encourage less time on irrelevant issues on electronic technologies awareness should be created, and the youths should be enlightened on how to regulate and discipline themselves on the use of digital technology. some of them get glued to their mobile devices the whole day chatting away on irrelevant things. some just watch pornography, play irrelevant games, indulge in forgery, deceitful activities, plan and execute kidnapping etc. the end result could be terrible health challenges. hence, they should be encouraged to reduce as much as possible, the time they spend using digital technologies and channel such time in other more creative and productive activities so as to enjoy a better life in good health. iii. checkmate immoral and unethical activities online additionally, no doubt that technology has facilitated human communication in numerous ways, but their communicative behaviours should be governed by ethical rules. special facilities should be put in place to checkmate the activities of unethical communicators. communication technologies should be used in a moral and ethical way. 172 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 references ajileye, g. (2007) language and communication in human relations, in ajileye, g. (ed) in humanities and human society. owerri, taurus publications. daramola, i. (2012). introduction to mass communication. lagos: rothan press. darvin, r. (2016) language and identity in the digital age. the routledge handbook (ist ed.) routledge. devito, j. (2009). the interpersonal communication book. boston: pearson education. essien, o. e. (2003). a grammar of the ibibio language. ibadan: university press. gardeazabal, javier. (2011). “linguistic polarization and conflict in the basque country.” public choice.149 (3/4): 405-425. hsu, t. (2009). flaming issues in online courses. international journal of learning, 15(10),65-70 onyeator, i. & n, okpara (2019) human communication in a digital age: perspectives on interpersonal communication in the family. new media & mass communication. 78, 35-45 osborn, d. (2021) african languages in a digital age: challenges and opportunities for indigenous language computing. publishers: hsrc press, idrs international development research centre. prasad, t. (2009). a course in linguistics. new delhi: phi learning private limited. spape, m., & n. ravaja (2014). social psychology of the digital age: the interpersonal neuroscience of mediated communication. social computing and social media, 1, 494-505. wardynski, d.j. (2019) what are the effects of technology on human interaction. brainspire. warschauer, m. & t. matuchniak (2010). 'new technology and digital worlds: analyzing evidence of equity in access, use and outcomes', review of research in education, 34(1): 179–225. yamamoto, j. & s. ananou (2015). humanity in digital age: cognitive, social, emotional, and ethical implications. volume 6, issue 1, 1 18 www.the guardian.com. the guardian news website of the year (2015). 173 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 page 175 page 176 page 177 page 178 page 179 page 180 page 181 page 182 text book journal pdf sis. noelle coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 01 ujubonu juliet okide, ph.d. department of linguistics, african and asian studies university of lagos, akoka, yaba, lagos tel: 08034004320, 08023024067 email: ujuokide@yahoo.co.uk abstract with the advent of the feminist movement in the contemporary west and its ripples across the world, it appears as if that marks the beginning of all women's enlightenment and struggles for equality with men. but this is not true, for prior to it or simultaneously, women in some other supposed male-dominated climes had already been involved in such struggles. indeed, igbo women's experience makes a viable case for this claim – as they have always had their indigenous feminist ways of persuading their menfolk for recognition, respect, and empowerment. this is why leadership of their communities used to feature gender-inclusive governance, especially prior to colonialism. it is also the reason for the women's resistance of the colonial system of governance, which sought to disempower, subjugate, and oppress them. this essay is motivated by a desire and need to disabuse the contemporary thought that, western feminist movement stimulated the feminist tendencies to overwhelm the world and, particularly, igbo society. it seeks to deploy expository method of literary discourses to render a thesis within the theoretical framework of feminism, which avers that igbo women have always considered themselves to be equal with their men even in matters of communal governance. and they play vital roles to that end. the essay concludes that, it is the feminist approach to life that provides the basis for women's continued empowerment in society as they are also considered by their men to be elemental in decision and policy-making processes. keywords: feminism, women struggles, women empowerment, igbo women, igbo society. introduction in the contemporary world, most women seem to unite over one cause, namely, resistance to men's domination in society. this is evident in women's private and public lives. it can be seen in the home where wives now refuse to be left behind as children's primary care givers while their husbands go off to work since they nowadays agitate for their husbands to participate in domestic chores. one can find it in heterosexual social gatherings where women who hitherto never used to participate in discussions now participate. it also features in heterosexual groups, organisations or associations where women-members who used to be denied of leadership roles and benefits now clamour for and are awarded leadership positions, responsibilities and benefits. the resistance expresses both a presumption and actual confessions from women that they had endured for a long time various forms of social, economic and political inequality, suppression and subjugation by men, which they now decide to end or, at least, curb. igbo feminist consciousness originated from western feminism: debunking the falsehood intellectually, the women's decision to stem or curb the men's domination by agitating for equal rights of the sexes is called 'feminism,' it holds the theoretical view that men and women ought to and should be treated equally socially, politically, and economically (hooks, 2000). from the intellectual conceptualisation, it is clear that feminism is associated with socio-political and economic activism. that is why it is also conceived as a “political, cultural, or economic movement aimed at establishing equal rights and legal protection for women” (gwanet, 2020). hooks explains this more technically by averring that it is a movement that “aims at ending sexism, sexist exploitation and oppression”. with this, therefore, “feminism involves political and sociological theories and philosophies concerned with issues of gender difference, as well as a movement that advocates gender equality for women and campaigns for women's rights and interests” (gwanet, 2020:1). according to tomaselli (2018), feminist movement and tendencies in society are often historically traced to literary works and socio-political activities of western crusaders, with its motherhood generally credited to the briton, mary wollstonecraft (1759-1797). this is because wollstonecraft's most important literature, vindication of the rights of women (1792), and her other works which, together, analyse the oppressed condition of women in modern society are believed to be the original recurrent theme that sparked feminist radicalism. but simone de beauvoir (1908-1986) disagrees with this. according to gwanet (2020:1), de beauvoir wrote that “the first time we see a woman take up her pen in defence of her sex” was the italian, christine de pizan (1364 to 1430), who wrote epitre au dieu d'amour (epistle to the god of love) in the 15th century. this means that de beauvoir recognises de pizan rather than wollstonecraft as the mother of the feminist movement. yet, rampton (2015), – a specialist in early medieval social history and women's activities and roles – also disagrees with de beauvoir and traces the motherhood to individuals who lived and struggled for women's rights even earlier. according to her, the roots of feminism lies either in ancient greece with sappho (610-570 bce), or the medieval world with hildegard of bingen (1098-1179). it was after the two activists that rampton says christine de pizan emerged. then, after the three, rampton mentions olympes de gouge (1748-1793), as having emerged before mary wollstonecraft. and following wollstonecraft, according to rampton, was jane austen (1775-1817), who is rarely mentioned by history as being one of the foremothers of the women's movement. since the individuals credited with the motherhood by both de beauvoir and rampton are rarely accorded the honour by the general history of feminism, we celebrate wollstonecraft as the mother which the history honours. but beyond wollstonecraft and apart from jane austen, other western european and north american feminist leaders abound. there were heinrich cornelius agrippa (1486-1535), and modesta di pozzo di forzi (1555–1592), who worked in the 16th century (gwanet, 2020). there were also marie le jars de gournay (15651645), anne bradstreet (1612-1672), and francois poullain de la barre (1618-1672), who wrote catalytic pieces during the 17th century (gwanet, 2020). with a deviation from literature to speech-making, there was sojourner truth (1797-1883), whose 1851 extemporaneous speech on racial inequalities, which was titled “ain't i a woman?” addressed american feminists at the ohio women's rights convention and a feminist movement in north america. there were also activists like betty freidan (1921-2006), and simone de beauvoir who contributed immensely to the gender-equality consciousness now inundating the world. 02 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 however, all these do not disclose in any way that african nations and, particularly, igbo people, had any trace of feminist tendencies or practised and experienced such socio-political activism early enough in history. indeed, the sort of history that informs the above celebration of the west also records, according to rampton (2015), that the first feminist gathering in the world, which was solely devoted to agitating for women's rights, was held in the seneca falls, new york, the united states of america in 1848. and the organisers of the gathering were elizabeth cady stanton (1815-1902), (a new yorker and mother of four children) and lucretia mott (1793-1880), (the quaker abolitionist). such history also avers that it was only since the truth's 1851 speech that women of other races began to propose alternative feminisms (gwanet, 2020). then the feminist trend is recorded by gwanet (2020), to have accelerated in the 1960s due to the civil rights movement in the united states and the collapse of european colonialism in africa, the caribbean, parts of latin america, and southeast asia. it was, therefore, since that time that women in former european colonies and the third world, started to propose for “post-colonial” and “third world” feminisms (gwanet, 2020). this means that, according to this kind of history, feminist consciousness and socio-political activism began in igbo nation only in the 1960s – after nigeria's independence. yet, alternative historical evidence shows that such a claim is false, for feminist consciousness had been part of igbo women's culture long before the time. this essay is motivated by our knowledge of this falsehood and intention to decry it and expose the truth. before the exposition, though, we find it expedient to delineate western features of women's struggles that constitute or characterise feminist activism. this is discussed, albeit briefly, with reference to the three 'waves' that western feminist history is classified, and the understanding is applied to rationalise our claim of igbo women having engaged in the struggle prior to nigeria's independence. also, as a way of charting the theoretical framework of this essay, we distinguish various kinds of feminism to aptly contextualise our position. this is because feminism has classes or character-distinctions that make this essay unconcerned with all of them, even though their general thrust is plausibly covered by its view. a brief history of western feminist 'waves' scholarly periodisation of feminist activisms in history divides the movement into three main phases and aims, with each technically referred to as a 'wave.' each 'wave' is distinguished from others by the quality of inequalities wrestled and the historical time frame that the struggle took place. thus, according to drucker (2018), and other historians of western feminism, the first wave took place in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and promoted equal contract and property rights for women while, opposing possessive ownership of married women by their husbands. by the late 19th century, feminist activism added to that struggle another concern of denial. this was enfranchisement, for they had been disenfranchised before then. hence, women sought to be awarded the right to vote in general elections as they are also human beings, with intelligence and dignity. in united states of america, therefore, first-wave feminism ended with the passage of the 19th amendment to the us constitution in 1919 which grants women voting rights. the second wave started in the 1960s and was concerned with ideas and actions associated with campaigns for the legal and social rights of women (gwanet, 2020). it went by the slogan “the personal is political,” identified women's cultural and political inequalities as inextricably linked and encouraged women to understand how their personal lives reflected sexist power structures (drucker, 2018). betty friedan was a key player in second-wave coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 03 feminism, for in her 1963 book, the feminine mystique, she criticised the idea that women could find fulfilment only through childrearing and homemaking (drucker, 2018). furthermore, drucker (2018:1) avers that friedan's new york times obituary “ignited the contemporary women's movement in 1963 and as a result, permanently transformed the social fabric of the united states and countries around the world” and “is widely regarded as one of the most influential nonfiction books of the 20th century.” indeed, friedan hypothesises that women are victims of false beliefs requiring them to find identity in their lives through husbands and children (drucker, 2018). “this causes women to lose their own identities in that of their family” (drucker, 2018:1). the third wave began in the 1990s and is concerned with a continuation of, and a reaction to the perceived failures of second wave (gwanet, 2020). it began in the early 1990s and sought to challenge the definitions of feminity that grew out of the ideas of the second wave, arguing that the second wave over-emphasized experiences of upper-middle-class white women (drucker, 2018). “the third-wave sees women's lives as intersectional, demonstrating how race, ethnicity, class, religion, gender, and nationality are all significant factors when discussing feminism. it examines issues related to women's lives on an international basis” (drucker, 2018:1). theoretical framework: towards igbo-kind of feminism in struggling against men's oppression, domination, suppression, discrimination, and subjugation in virtually all facets of life, women and their apologists have had to approach the situations differently. this underpins the reason for availability of various kinds of feminism, with varying objectives, nuances and perspectives. in that regard, castle (2004), avers that there are cultural feminism, eco-feminism, libertarian feminism, material feminism, moderate feminism, gender feminism, separatist feminism, amazon feminism, and radical feminism. cultural feminism is the theory that seeks to overcome sexism by celebrating women's special qualities, women's ways, and women's experiences, often believing that the “woman's way” is the better way. eco-feminism (castle, 2004: 2), on the other hand, “is the theory which emphasises the basic principle that patriarchal philosophies are harmful to women, children, and other living things.” this is because the theory believes that patriarchy emphasises the need to dominate and control women. libertarian feminism, which is based on individualism, minimum government or anarcho-capitalist philosophies, focuses on individual autonomy, rights, liberty, independence and diversity. individualist feminism also encompasses men and focuses on barriers that both men and women face due to their gender. material feminism is a movement that focuses on liberating women by improving their material condition. the movement revolves around taking the “burden” off women regarding housework, cooking, and other traditional female domestic jobs. moderate feminism, “is populated mostly by younger women or women who perceive that they have not directly experienced discrimination. they often believe that the ideals of the feminist movement are no longer viable, and therefore question the need for further efforts” (castle, 2004: 2). moderate feminists, therefore, view feminism as overbearing and too overt and, although they participate in espousing feminist ideas, they do not accept or want to be labelled as 'feminists'. gender feminism, which is otherwise known as the national 04 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 organisation for women (n.o.w.) feminism, is the theory that states that equality of men and women rests on women being granted some special privileges while men cease to be the central issue or 'barrier' in feminism. castle (2004: pp. 2-3), says that “n.o.w feminism encompasses only women and fights to offer special privileges to women with the intent of making women equal to men.” there is yet separatist feminism which is often depicted as a group of lesbians. these are feminists who advocate separation from men; sometimes total, sometimes partial. the core idea underpinning this movement is that “separating” from men (by various means), is perceived as that which enables women to see themselves in a different context. many feminists, whether they separatists or not, think that this is a necessary “first step” of personal growth. however, they do not necessarily endorse permanent separation. amazon feminism focuses on physical equality and is opposed to gender role stereotypes and discrimination against women based on assumptions that women are supposed to be, look, or behave as if they are passive, weak and physically helpless. this movement rejects the idea that certain human characteristics or interests are inherently masculine (or feminine) and upholds and explores a vision of heroic womanhood. “amazon feminists tend to view that all women are as physically capable as all men” (castle 2004:3). radical feminism is the breeding ground for many of the popularly feminist ideas. even though currently its ideas are no longer as universally accepted as they used to be and, it no longer serves to solely define the term “feminism.” it used to be the cutting-edge feminist theory between 1967 and 1975. this is because the movement views the oppression of women as the most fundamental form of oppression – one that cuts across boundaries of race, culture, and economic class. hence, its main intent is on social change (change of rather revolutionary proportions). radical feminism questions why women must adopt certain roles based on their biology, just as it questions why men adopt certain other roles based on gender. it attempts to draw lines between biologically determined behaviour and culturally determined behavior in order to free both men and women as much as possible from their previous narrow gender roles. from castle's insight, we submit that it is the joint views of radical, amazon and ecofeminisms that this essay is particularly concerned with. that is because the views represent the sort of crusade against men's oppression of women that the essay seeks to expose its primordial existence among igbo women right from recorded history. despite that, the essay specifically views igbo kind of feminism as 'womanism.' this is because womanism, though is a feminist ideology, it is slightly different from the mainstream feminist theories described above – especially in objective and approach to activism – for while it (womanism) is not only concerned with oppressions from sexism but also racism and classism. feminism is only concerned with oppression from sexism (odoemene, 2008). since oppression based on sexism predominates the west, western feminist crusaders thought and still think that it is the only oppression for women to struggle against. but in africa and, particularly, igbo society, the struggle is slightly different. black women experience a different and more intense kind of oppression expressed as racism and classism (odoemene, 2008). since most of them are married from another clime, they are usually regarded as strangers by both their immediate in-laws and in-law community. that is racism. also, since igbo men seem to arrogate to themselves a class in society which women are culturally and ritually subordinated, not because they (women) are not as rational as men coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 05 (like mainstream feminism would wish to rationalise), but because women are just not men, the men practise classism. hence, women are denied certain rights due to both their strangeness in marriage and non-belongingness to men's class. womanism, therefore, “brings a racialised and often class-located experience to the gender experience suggested by western feminism which includes an active opposition of separatist ideologies in gender relations” (odoemene, 2008:5). furthermore, it …seeks to improve the relationship between the sexes by constantly putting the menfolk in perspective in the scheme of things. in other words, it includes the word 'man', recognizing that black men are an integral part of black women's lives as their children, lovers, and family members. gender complementarity, instead of distancing and altercation, has been one of the strongest and central foci of womanism theory. womanist refrains from bitterness in her confrontation and relationship with men. in this arrangement, womanism seeks to identify with the african man who is considered a partner in progress and in the struggle for social and political freedom and development. it accommodates and seeks male support rather than negate men, since they are central to women's lives, not just merely as husbands (odoemene. 2008:5). chidam'modzi adds, “womanism prizes and praises the positive aspects of what was seen as the 'female character' or 'feminism personality' – womanhood, wifehood or motherhood: the promotion and preservation of the pride of being a female human being” (1995:46). thus, it seeks to revalidate undervalued female attributes. as a term, womanism was adapted from the notable work of the pulitzer prize winning author, alice walker, whose 'in search of our mother's garden: womanist prose', used the word to describe the perspectives and experiences of “women of colour”. beyond walker, one of the scholars who most clearly articulated womanist consciousness was maggie lena walker (1867-1934). igbo women's womanist activism and its empowering effect in history while keeping in mind the general meaning of feminism, its entailments of western waves, the kinds of western feminist activism that identify with igbo women's kind of struggles as well as their womanist denotation, we move to expose how feminist consciousness had been part of igbo women's socio-political culture before nigeria's independence and how that formed the basis for the women's empowerment, even in the colonial society. to achieve that purpose, we establish for a fact that the historical igbo culture recounted in this essay is principally that of the pre-colonial times (i.e. between the years 1800 and 1900) and colonial times (i.e. between the years 1900 and 1960). following this, we observe that in the pre-colonial igbo society, men and women shared socio-political authority and power (although in differing degrees) (chuku, 2009). indeed, at the time, igbo socio-political society was as matriarchal as it was patriarchal. leadership positions existed in each community, managing different groups of people which oversaw vital purposes that contributed to general advancement, security, peace and unity of the community (van allen, 1972). apart from men's groups, there were women's groups 06 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 (market women group, titled women association, spiritual women group, farmers, dancers, etc.) which, held meetings and dialogues among women, just as men's groups did. their meetings were focused on the establishment and operation of just institutions, protection of the dignity of women and men, welfare of their members and the good of everyone. women's groups had as one of their constituents, the umuada or umuokpu (as it was called in some places) which, comprised daughters of lineages. there was a general leader of women who, of course, was a woman and managing women affairs. there was also a leader of youths, who could be either a male or a female and managing youth affairs; a leader of farmers who could be either a male or a female; council chiefs comprising both genders who served as advisers to the village head, etc. title system played a very crucial role in the pre-colonial igbo political system. it signified wealth and power and was open to both men and women. among western igbo, for instance, when a woman distinguished herself in conduct, and ability, measured in wealth, she was conferred with the title of omu which offered a monarchical authority of leading women (chuku, 2005). just as men, status was achieved and not ascribed to igbo women. van allen (1972), avers that a woman's status was determined more by her achievements than by her husband's achievements. women who symbolised nnobi concept of womanhood, which is derived from the worship of goddesses were, for instance, given the title of agba ekwe (amadiume, 1987). these women, seen as earthly representatives of the goddess idemili, controlled the women's council (amadiume, 2002). acting as something like a queen, the women had the most central political relevance in all nnobi and held the vetoing right in the village and general town assembly (amadiume, 1987). this title was one of the most prestigious ones a woman could earn and gave agba ekwe women significant power, especially in the women's council. yet, the main political body was the village assembly where any adult, including titled individuals, who had anything to say on a matter under discussion was given the chance to speak, insofar as others considered the speech worth listening to (van allen, 1972). women used to speak, especially on matters that directly concerned them (van allen, 1972). and their views were always considered critical and relevant because they offered special insights arising from their spiritual, market, trade and maternal roles (nzegwu, 1995). for igbo women, social justices raised powerful images of creating equal opportunities, rectifying the wrong and restitution. all of these indicate that political power in igbo society was diffused (van allen, 1972). both men and women, elders and youths (insofar as they were adults), participated in various leadership positions to manage the affairs of their communities. in some parts of the society, women were in control of inheritance rights of landed and other immovable property. women, particularly, wielded a lot of political powers and influences (chuku, 2005). and the base of that power lay in their gatherings (van allen, 1972). in spite of this, women's exercise of power and influence was never meant for competing with men, for rather than compete with men, women's organisations or gatherings acted as parallel authority structures that function within the arenas that were perceived as a female province (chuku, 2005). to buttress this point, uchem (2001:2), avers, “women were not marginalized in traditional igbo society…because of their relatively high socio-economic status.” although they were culturally and ritually subordinated, they were neither powerless coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 07 nor marginalised. men's acceptance of their judgement and rules offered powerful checks and balances to the society (nzegwu, 1995). any discrimination, especially against a woman by a man or even a fellow woman, was frowned at where it was pronounced. women used to exhibit high degrees of interest in such matters, whether they were invited into them (the matters) or not. one way in which igbo women wielded power recognisable by their men was, through the display of collective anger. amadiume (1987), avers that women's collective anger used to be feared and avoided by men. this is because, although women had their interpersonal and intra-organisational problems, they were united against discriminations from the menfolk and men knew that confronting one igbo woman meant confronting their organisations. hence, they were anxious to avoid that. this does not mean that the men were timid and passive. it is just that igbo traditions valued female assertiveness, collectivity and independence. igbo men were accustomed to their women being in positions of power and influence and had developed respect for their administrative skills. another way was through the idea of “sitting on” a man. according to nzegwu (1995), in pre-colonial igbo society, any trouble-making man who discriminated against or devalued a woman, risked being “sat on” or shunned by women. van allen (1972), explains that a man could be “sat on” for mistreating his wife, violating women's market rules or letting his cows eat women's crops. the “sitting on” took various forms. sometimes, women could besiege a man in his house and sing vulgar and obscene songs that taunted his manliness. at other times, they could physically assault the man by collectively beating him in public and making his main female victim (who is one of them), to literally sit on him – as a way of disgracing him and showing him weak before the woman that he once mistreated and thought to be weak. still, they could destroy a man's prized possessions or chant war songs, dance around him with the intention of making his life miserable until he met the women's demand. when these happened, other men hardly attempted to rescue the man involved because they feared they could extend the calamity to themselves too. they considered that such a man brought the wrath on himself as he ought to have known the women's traditional rules better as a member of the community and, thus, avoided it (nzegwu, 1995). being part of a society where women's power and significance were a fact of life, igbo men accepted women's judgement and abided by their rules without shame (nzegwu, 1995). these then were some of the feminist/womanist strategies indigenously generated by the women before their contact with the west and, applied for fights against any form of mistreatment deemed as discrimination from men. and the strategies worked for them as they (the strategies) made them (the women) feel assured of their views being heard and adequately factored into policy decisions (nzegwu, 1995). hence, pre-colonial igbo society was structured and based on gender equality and social non-discrimination (unlike any society that the europeans had ever seen). it was colonialism that brought about serious alterations in igbo indigenous political system, a lot of which negatively impacted on women. it eroded or, at best, drastically minimised the power, status and authority that they enjoyed in pre-colonial times. it diminished their dominant roles in village politics, village religious life and notions of lineage. the europeans arrived in igbo territory to find a political system that was at variance with the system that they were familiar with in their countries. coming from a rigidly 08 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 patrilineal socio-political system (kies, 2013), they found in igbo society a matrilineal system that was difficult to understand and administer for the optimum realisation of their colonisation purposes. the idea that a female could hold and wield political authority and power, equal to or surpassing that of male officials (as obtained in igboland), was strange, nauseating and unacceptable to the colonialists (farrar, 1997). matrilineal society, to europeans, manifests chaos and disorder (matera, 2011). it is a culture that creates a world that is completely upside down, where women were ruthless petty dictators (farrar, 1997). hence, to set to their tasks successfully, they had to proscribe such culture and change it to the patrilineal society that they understood. to achieve that, the british imposed on the people their western concept of state, education, family and gender roles (chuku, 2009). they started a socio-economic order that favoured men. this was because, for them, masculine leadership establishes moral order in the world (matera, 2011). hence, in igbo world of the time: men and boys were trained in skills needed to manage newly introduced technologies and also were employed in the native courts, the transport industry, in the mines, the christian missions and expatriate trading centres. women's access to western education – the gateway to modern employment – was limited … (to) domestic science training for girls (while) leadership and technical instructions (was) for boys. access to the newly introduced british money also favoured men more than women through the male-dominated cash crop economy and the colonial gendered employment policy that discriminated against women. colonial economic policy favoured men in access to land, extension services, high-yielding palm seedlings, fertilisers, demonstration farms, oil presses, kernel crackers, pioneer oil mills, cassava graters, loans, and other innovations and new technologies that put men in a position to dominate the export and local economies of the region (chuku, 2009:89). this completely scuttled the existing political culture of diffused authority, fluid and informal leadership, gender-shared rights of enforcement, and a fairly stable balance of male and female powers in igboland. women were pushed to the informal and petty sector of the colonial economy (chuku, 2005). with southern nigeria declared a protectorate in 1900 and the british gaining firm control of the territory, igbo society was divided into native court areas through native courts proclamation no. 9. this did not only completely violate the autonomous political way of governance once enjoyed in each village by fussing many independent villages into one and different court areas, it also turned out to be unfair to the women and their participation in politics as only men were recruited for the role of “native administrators” or warrant chiefs (wcs) (agu, 1989; kies, 2013). also, all consultation of women prior to political decisions was abolished through the native ordinances act of 1901 and, the function (i.e. consultations and decisions) vested only on the native courts (chuku, 2009). women were oppressed in the arbitrary rule of the wcs as they (the wcs) wilfully disrespected customs and traditions that protected the women. the wcs, for instance, forcefully took women for marriage without following due customary processes. they paid no coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 09 attention to existing women's right to reject a suitor. they wilfully harvested women's farm products and carted away their domestic animals (onwuteaka, 1965). in fact, uchem (2001:31), summarises that all the traditional structures which formerly protected women were undermined by colonialism and western christianity such that they (the women) no longer had a collective political bargaining power for defending themselves. hence, right from the 1920s, having endured several years of socio-political relegation, oppression, suppression and subjugation arising from the british sexist political system and with low prices of agricultural produce arising from the global economic depression of the time, igbo women could not bear an additional threat of direct tax imposition on them, particularly, in 1929. accordingly, on november 23, 1929, they staged a massive protest that lasted for a month to collectively resist the tax regime, oppressions of the wcindirect rule system and low prices of agricultural produces. it should be noted that prior to the 1929 riot, there were some other protests that women staged against the british system of rule. these included, for instance, “the 1916 demonstrations over colonial control of market places, the 1925 nwaobiala movement for societal order and preservation of igbo heritage, and the 1929 water rate demonstrations” (chuku, 2009, p. 89). and “sitting on” a man, along with boycotts and strikes, used to be the women's main weapons and effective tools for restoring normalcy (van allen, 1972). even though the colonial authorities usually responded harshly to the uprisings, the women never gave up (chuku, 2009). consequently, the british were eventually forced to start factoring in women's interests and representation in governance. the local administrative system had to be reorganized to appoint women among them (chuku, 2009). women could also participate in selecting new chiefs that would head the local administration (chuku, 2009). the first known igbo woman to be appointed in the local administration, for instance, was madam okwei (1872-1943), who was made to be a member of the onitsha native court in 1912 (chuku, 2009). others were appointed in different court areas. and the trend of empowering the women and recognising them politically due to their womanist struggles continued until nigeria's independence in 1960. even the independence would not have been as successful as it was without women's active individual and collective participation in the decolonisation years (i.e. between 1940s and 1950s). conclusion this essay was motivated by a desire and need to disabuse the thought that feminist consciousness and women's socio-political activism began in igbo nation only from the 1960s – after nigeria's independence – and, thus, that western feminist movement which is bandied to have commenced before that time contributed in stimulating the igbo women's enlightenment and struggle for equality with their men. it deployed the expository method of literary discourses to disclose that such thinking is false, for historical evidence shows that igbo women had been involved in similar struggles either before western feminist consciousness or simultaneous to it. womanism had been part of igbo women's culture long before nigeria's independence. igbo women had always been equals with their men even in matters of communal governance until colonialism came to marginalise them. the marginalisation was also strongly resisted by the women until they were politically recognised, included and re-empowered by the colonialists. 10 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 references a m a d i u m e , i . ( 2 0 0 2 ) . b o d i e s , c h o i c e s , g l o b a l i z i n g n e o c o l o n i a l enchantments: african matriarchs and mammy water. meridians, 2(2), 41-66. amadiume, i. (1987). male daughters, female husbands: gender and sex in an african society. london: zed press. castle, a. (2004). feminist theory: examining branches of feminism. retrieved from https://www.amazoncastle.com/feminism/ecocult.shtml. chidam'modzi, h. f. (1995). addressing african feminism. journal of humanities, 8 (9), 115. chuku, g. (2009). igbo women and political participation in nigeria, 1800s-2005.the international journal of african historical studies,42(1), 81-103. chuku, g. (2005). igbo women and economic transformation in south eastern nigeria, 19001960. new york & london: rout ledge. drucker, s. a. (2018). betty freidan: the three waves of feminism.ohio humanities. retrieved from https://www.ohiohumanities.org/betty-friedan-the-three-waves-offeminism/ farrar, t. 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(1995). recovering igbo traditions: a case for indigenous women's organisations in development. in martha c. nussbaum and jonathan glover (eds.), women, culture and development: a study of human capabilities(pp. 445-464). oxford: clarendon. odoemene, a (2008). (re)venturing into the public sphere: historical sociology of 'august meeting' among igbo women in nigeria. codesria. retrieved from www.codesria.org onwuteaka, v. c. (1965). the aba riot of 1929 and its relation to the system of indirect rule. the nigerian journal of economic and social studies, 7(3), 273-282. rampton, m. (2015). four waves of feminism. pacific magazine. oregon: pacific university. retrieved from https://www.pacificu.edu/magazine/four-waves-feminism tomaselli, s. (2018). mary wollstonecraft. in edward n. zalta (ed.), the stanford e n c y c l o p e d i a o f p h i l o s o p h y . r e t r i e v e d f r o m https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2018/entries/wollstonecraft/ uchem, r. n. (2001). overcoming women's subordination in igbo african culture and in the catholic church: envisioning an inclusive theology with reference to women. florida: universal publishers. van allen, j. (1972). sitting on a man: colonialism and the lost political institutions of igbo women. canadian journal of african studies, 6(2), 165-181. coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 11 page 1 page 2 page 3 page 4 page 5 page 6 page 7 page 8 page 9 page 10 page 11 text book journal pdf sis. noelle abstract workers have always resisted exploitation and oppression foisted on them by economic systems such as capitalism. this study evaluates the effort of women at liberating themselves from such exploitation. women as workers and the feminine gender engage in some forms of activism with the primary aim of freeing themselves from capitalism repression of the bourgeois class and the clutches of the patriarchal and societal inhibition, subjugation, oppression and dominance. in pursuance of feminist ethos, some novelists have presented the resistance of the working class against the superstructure of economic dominance and subjugation showcasing women in the lead. this paper looks at how women bond together in collectivism to drive activism with resounding success. using marxist literary theory, it interrogates women collective activism in sembene ousmane's god's bits of wood and tanure ojaide's the activist. it relies on the interpretive method to evaluate the effectiveness of women activism. the work is significant because of the erroneous belief that only the men can drive a change. the outcome is that now women are united in activism, they record a measure of success that affects the society more than the men. key words: exploitation, activism, strike, class, protest, oppression. introduction women have been resisting oppression and subjugation under patriarchy in particular and society in general. over the years, they have been agitating for equality between men and women. their belief is that men always take advantage of them in all areas of life. mary l. wenth worth in what is patriarchy and why is it the most powerful force in the world today? gives a definition of patriarchy that is relevant to our discussion. according to her, “patriarchy is a worldwide system that predates recorded history. it is the most powerful force in the world today; trumping other ideologies of political system or religious beliefs…it is rooted in subjugating women.” (2) it should be understood that patriarchal cultures uphold the privileges of men based on gender, social structures, religious practices and legal codes. the movement that challenges male domination and advances gender equality in the society is known as feminism. some african feminist writers identify patriarchy as the cause of the problems of women. writers such as nawal el-saadawi of egypt, maraima ba of senegal, flora nwapa and buchi emecheta of nigeria all show patriarchal structures underlining the several problems women face in the society. what women need to free themselves from men's oppression is solidarity and unification. however, since woman lives in the society, she is exposed to other forms of oppression besides gender oppression. in the world, there are cases coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 01 john ode iyanya department of english nasarawa state university jonniode@gmail.com the efficacy of women activism in sembene ousmane's god's bits of wood and tanure ojaide's the activist of exploitation, marginalisation, oppression, subjugation, discrimination, prejudice and stereotype that people try to resist. capitalism couches significantly some of these forms of oppression. marxist ideology stems from the rejection of capitalism and imperialism. if women are involved in this oppression, it is double; first as women and second as citizens. women however, are able to join hands in fighting against oppression of colonialism, capitalism and imperialism. activism couched on marxism people and groups use various methods to register their disapproval of or resistance to anything or situation they found not to be in their interest. such methods can be called protest, demonstration or activism. activism is a common word that people often use in describing such an action. activism refers to a policy or action of using vigorous campaign to effect political or social change. there are several words that are sometimes used as synonyms of activism and these include: fanaticism, zealotry, fundamentalism, radicalism, dogmatism, chauvinism just to mention but a few. activism most often is carried out in form of movements or organisation especially when it concerns masses or class or group of people. scholars have divergent opinions of activism. charles tilly defines activism in complexity and social movements: multitudes at the edge of chaos as “displays and campaigns by which ordinary people make collective claims on others” (23) while sidney tarrow observes that it is a collective challenge to the authorities, other group or cultural codes by people with common purpose and solidarity (21). defining activism from its origin, j. a. cuddon states that: “aktivismus means active political commitment or engagement among and by intellectuals” (17). in terms of its philosophy, he argues that activism is closely associated with expressionism and as far as literature is concerned. to sum it up, the word activism is used synonymously with protest or dissent, but activism can take a wide range of processes like writing letters, media announcements, campaign, street matches and even strikes. an activists' organisation may operate as a pressure group, a socio-political organisation, and any mobilised group of individuals who operate within a political or geographical domain. the goal of the group is also local and that is to bring change to a society or members of a society who are by any means marginalised, oppressed or denied of their rights. therefore, activists do protest against racism, gender discrimination, ethnic marginalisation, capitalism and colonialism. accordingly, women activism in african literature is by the ongoing, a socio-political and economic protest. these protests historically had at one time or the other, been involved in fighting colonialism, capitalism, gender discrimination and racism. in literature, women activists are presented as agents of positive change in different african texts. they reveal the positivity of the women's nature, their capability and strength, as well as the intellectual ability and solidarity of the women in several efforts to save humanity. an aspect of marxism that captures women issues in this regard succinctly is marxist feminism. it is crucial in interrogating the activities of women as they strive to free themselves from all manners of oppression. although karl marx fails to specifically mention women in his theories, marxist feminists are able to establish a hiatus where the exploitation of women has been identified, and is given attention. according to ngugi wa thiong'o “among the 02 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 proletariats are the women, who are mostly referred to as the 'women workers'” (108). marxism which is the theoretical framework for this study is a method of socio-economic analysis of class relations and societal conflict using a materialist interpretation of historical development and a dialectical view of social transformation. also, marxism refers to a series of struggles between classes; that is, between the oppressed and the oppressing which is historical materialism. at the same time, it goes further to underscore the fact that the oppression on the basis of class also affects gender in which case; women are subjected to a lower level than men which is examined under marxist feminist theory. marxist literary criticism can include an assessment of the political tendency of a literary work, the oppression of gender and analyse the class construct demonstrated in the literature. marxist feminist according to wilfred guerin et al says there is a connection between class and gender. marxist feminists argue that working men are rewarded because they produce tradable goods and women's works are not valued because women do not produce tradable goods. this gives the men power and control over women (185). chinyere nwagbara corroborates the argument with her declaration that: a key aspect of all forms of marxist and socialist feminism is the belief that women's situation can only be understood within a socio-economic praxis, and the social context and structure have to change to make women's lives more meaningful.” (15) she anchors her opinion on valerie bryson's argument that: “women's double burden should not be resolved by collective housework and child care, but by increasing their opportunity for parttime and flexible working arrangements.” (185) nwagbara implies that the condition of women is better appreciated based on the combination of social and economic factors in which the women are always at the disadvantage. if any meaningful change is to be achieved to better the lot of the women especially in bearing the brunt of domestic chores and work; there must be a structural change. assisting the woman in housework and child minding will not be sufficient; rather, the advocacy is for giving the women flexibility in their working condition. this step if taken would be a relief of the double burden placed on women. armed with the foregoing, it is pertinent at this point to discuss the novels in turn. the efficacy of women activism in tanure ojaide's the activist the devastation meted out to the ecosystem in the niger delta where oil prospecting companies in collaboration with the indigenous government have engaged in reckless oil exploration that desecrates the land and brings hardship on the people is captured poignantly in the novel, the activist. many organizations and groups such as the university students, the area boys, and the village elders in the novel take various actions which involve protest, consultation, delegation but all the efforts yield minimal result. these efforts are largely championed by men represented by the activist and omagbemi. their move is instructive because the predators are themselves men so, ordinarily, it is believed that the males have learnt the rope to make and mar a given situation. some of the actions of the men involve bunkering in an attempt to subvert the destructive and oppressive activities of the foreign and local imperialists but these actions are in themselves lethal in repository outcomes. in the activist, the people demonstrate against capitalism that breeds environmental exploitation. vices such as pipeline vandalism, blowouts owing to gas flares and pollution rule. the petroleum company activities lead to diminished yield of palm trees. a case like a blowout in roko village is certainly as a result of carelessness or callousness on the company's coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 03 part, yet no effort is made to cater for the refugee population of roko village. the oil company sends professor tobore ede to pacify the restless students, but he turns around and accuses the villagers of burning down their village in a bid to extort money from bell oil company. the students discover that professor ede was speaking for the capitalist oppressors, in order to justify his affiliation with the company for selfish reasons. therefore, the students' riot against this evil but the activist, few other male lecturers and some students are detained. it takes ebi, the activist's wife and the wives of the other detained lecturers to demand for the release of their husbands and children, and the inspector released them. women act on behalf of the men. this incidence ends the cycle of picking a university staff as a community development officer, which is a major reformation of the society. the change is brought about by the revolutionary women activism which the community needed. it is worthy of note that there is a demonstration against the general exploitation of the environment because it is tantamount to the exploitation of women for nature itself is seen as female as it produces. the effect of the destructive activities by the local masters of which the populace complain in the novel bother on conception, birthing malformed babies, mothers being forced to kill their children than allow them suffer malformation, and the men becoming sexually weak. in a lamentable tone, women in a meeting co-hosted by mrs taylor and mrs ebi speak in turn starting with a sixty-one year old woman, umuto who explains: i don't know what is happening elsewhere, but in oginigbo area the women are finding it difficult to conceive... i am titi; i come from gbaregolor….our pregnant women are delivering so many malformed babies...i come from ekpan and my name is matije…many of our men are now sick. newly married young women complain openly about the weakness of their men... i am maomi. i am from ajagbodudu. our young girls often are now menstruating...many women now reach their menopause before forty in the same area where women used to conceive even when over fifty.... our mothers didn't complain of any burning inside their bodies... where did those flushes hide before oil came into our lives?(238 240) apparently all their problems centre on the destruction of the environment by the discovery of oil in the area. the environment cannot be devoid of the life it sustains, its pollution leads to the death of the children of the land. the so called compensation paid for destroying farms, is a pittance which becomes almost nothing before it gets to them. apart from the destructive activities of the multinationals in collaboration with the local imperialists, the tenets of capitalism are put to maximum use in the exploitation of women as a labour force. the text demonstrates how in bell oil company, many delta women are recruited to do the menial jobs like janitors, vacuum cleaning and hover cleaning. graduates are employed as tea girls in offices, the oil companies underpay men and women employed to produce chicken and eggs poultry farms established. again, the foreign expatriate sleeps with their women by luring them with money. these vices are what the women want to put a stop to. all they were asking for is "the profiteers to spend a fraction of their wealth to restore the environment" (243). the women formed an association called, women of the delta forum (wodefor). they devise different strategies. according to mrs timi taylor, its 04 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 president; “what will compel the oil companies and the military government to act remained a secret they would keep till they wielded the weapon. let the oil bosses continue to take women for granted! they would be surprised at the power that women could wield when driven to the wall". (244) all the women come to the realisation that they have to do something for their plans to succeed. they took responsibility leaving the men out of the plan. as part of women activism, ojaide portrays mrs taylor as a very charismatic leader, who travels all over the niger delta talking to the women's groups about the planned nude protest "there was no scarcity of women to volunteer for such a noble cause. ebi made arrangements for buses to bring in the potential women protesters to a point." (268) the women collectively plan a nude protest. before this, they threw their weight behind supporting the idea of sending a delegation to the united nations and mobilising opinion in foreign countries to curtail the excesses of the oil companies. the women also showed belief in their gods' backing; they invoked the egba god of revenge and restitution. speaking on behalf of the other women, mrs taylor explicates: “the god of restitution is on our side. it is only a matter of time and we'll get back what's being taken away from us”. (254) mr pritchard, the senior manager contemptuously blames the nude protest on the backwardness of the african people, "when will these people leave behind their voodoo beliefs?... old habits die hard...all the schooling and christianising of many decades have done little to change the people and their ways" (268). the women leader held a meeting and agreed to show their naked strength against the tyrants. they would do this in a most dramatic way by seizing a flow station and an oil-loading facility and then stripping there in protest. only women who have reached their menopause would take part, according to the plan. this was in keeping with [the] traditional practice of cursing the oppressor. (269). there is unity of purpose as demonstrated in the actions of the women which signifies a possible positive outcome of any action taken against their oppressors. there is no hesitation but a swift and easy mobilization of women volunteers for the nude protest. all this shows the strength of collective activism and cooperation from women. it is clear that women are emerging having been groomed by the new and the older women. within a few minutes of the cnn news report on the nude protest, bell oil sends firefighters to go and stop the burning river that had blazed for twelve days. this shows the women's effort yielded positive results although belated. although the nude protest is aborted by the security personnel who arrest the protesters, its effect on the bell oil company and the federal military government is unmistakable. thereafter, the women hold a meeting to ensure everybody safely returns from the protest. wodefor executive members are all present to underscore their unity and the importance of the occasion. mrs ebi emasheyi being the secretary of wodefor gives the opening statement: only those who ordered and carried out our violation know what they deserve. god and our ancestors are not asleep, they were witnesses! let those who assaulted us coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 05 know the crime they have committed...we cannot sit and watch our land made unliveable by outsiders. we will continue to fight to hand over the land, waters, and air of our birth to our children in a liveable state (273). the women are resolved and willing to do and sacrifice even their pride and dignity for their children and the future of their god-given heritage. after the nude protest, mr van hoort is said to have caught a heart attack and died a week later. the head of the federal military government, general mustapha dongo ali was also reported dead under some strange circumstances. this shows that the women's planned protest is successful. it is fulfilled supernaturally; they have the backing of the gods of the land. they brought down tyrants that their men failed to bring down. the two tyrants that tormented the niger delta were gone. new leaders were elected for the fmg (federal military government) and bell oil. a development agency is set up to tackle the perennial problems of the niger delta. the effectiveness of participation in strike by women in sembene ousmane's god's bits of wood the efficacy of women collective activism is evident in sembene ousmane's god's bits of wood. the activism in focus seeks to redress exploitation of the working class. it is a common knowledge that the primary function of a trade union is to create and wield power which can be used to bring the management to terms within the legal framework and processes of the country. equally, it bargains collectively with necessary bodies about these terms. strike is one tool that workers use to get their demands met when bargain and negotiation fail. sembene ousmane creates the men as the initiators and leaders of a strike who then mobilise the women to join in a collaborative effort. it is important to note here that the strikers ousmane captures are not just blacks, they constitute the majority of the working class, they are also the sons and daughters of the original owners of the land, sons and daughters of the soil, the exploited. marxist aesthetics holds that “in a realistic novel the content is socially conditioned and issues from historical circumstances…the social responsibility of literature is a force of social change and liberation” (7). all the major demands of the strikers are clearly expressed in the women's march from thies to dakar to express their dissatisfaction with the confrontation of the police who burn the houses of the protesting workers leading to the death of women and children. god's bits of wood goes beyond the scope of women activism, as it also captures the role of the author, sembene ousmane as a marxist. his expression of the marxist spirit and the ideology of class struggle are evident in all the parts of his novel, which graphically examines the relationship between the bourgeoisie and proletariat. it is a struggle between those who control the means of production and the exploited working class. the strike would not have degenerated into a full blown movement for national emancipation from white supremacy, but for the failure of the french government management whose colonial group on the colony is blind to the humanity of the workers and legitimacy of their agitations. the main reason for the strike is that the workers felt marginalized as they do most of the work, yet earn very little: “we are being robbed. our wages are so low that there are no longer any differences between ourselves and animals. years ago the men of thies went on strike, and that was only settled by deaths, by deaths on our side. and now it begins again” (8). the effect of the marginalisation, 06 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 exploitation and oppression on the workers and by extension, the women transcends physical disturbance to emotional upheaval. the narration reveals that: “the night no longer brought them rest. at the moment the eyes of the body closes, the eyes of the mind were opened. on the threshold of every dwelling place, people listened fearfully to the distant rhythm of the dance. in the darkness that enclosed the city the deep-toned drumming seemed now to come from everywhere at once, twisting and turning through the heads of those to whom sleep would not come” (12). from the forgoing, it is clear that the situation of the workers is debilitating; so, there is the need to urgently attend to it. marxism rejects capitalism as an evil system. whileit denounces the stratification between the strong and the weak, it advocates for the classless society where economic, social and political power is equally distributed. marxist feminism advocates for the involvement of women in the creation of a sexless society where women also participate in the takeover of power economically, socially and politically. the biggest strength of the marxist feminists is their consciousness and willingness to cooperate with the opposite sex. so, the women have a common interest with the whole working class. in a capitalist senegalese society of the novel, there exist two class stratifications, the ruling class and the working class. dejean and other members of management represent the ruling class; the bourgeoisie, the exploiters, people with a common interest to maximize profit at the expense of the proletariat; the working class. dejean accuses lahhib of insulting france, the nation they represent “a great nation”, and a great people”, it is apparent that lahhib's retort which is instantaneous, did not just see dejean and his people as a nation, but a representation of a class. “you do not represent a nation or a people here, you represent a class” (182). the workers embark on a strike to press home their demands. although the men start the strike in god’s bits of wood, they are unable to sustain the impetus. many men have already given up on the situation of the strike. sounkare even loses his life as a consequence of hunger, loneliness and worry. he would not join the other men, even the rice he has had finished. the last statement he was recorded to have made is "i am abandoned... like an old dog who is no longer worth his keep" (132). however, the women are determined to bring a change through their activism. they bond together and never felt lonely even when their last food is almost out. dieynaba tells maimouna "there is only enough left to eat for one night-two pounds of rice for twelve of god's bits of wood" (132), but they persevere. sounkare runs to the women at some point when he is tired of being alone before he curses the strike, curses his friend, bakayoko and finally gives up. the women never give up. they make huge sacrifices by selling their belongings, which include virtually everything they hadthings of value; they sold until they lacked buyers. they went as far as selling their head clothes and waistcloths which symbolised their virginity and pride of their entire family, just to survive. they sacrificed all they could. even such degree of hurt to their pride and dignity no longer seemed of great importance than just any means to survive. their houses were empty to the extent that they sought something of value from the litters; but they are determined. all they had left was each other. "on days when there was a meal, the women would gather in a circle around the elders, and then their talk would go on far into the night" (137). this is an epitome of togetherness, team spirit and a coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 07 positive bonding that sustains the embers of resistance, stamina and refusal to succumb to all defeating mechanisms employed by the oppressive regime and its agents against the women as workers and then as women. the role of the women is of great significance in that the men are happy and fulfilled that the women are helping out. lahhib even congratulates himself to have enlists penda's help. she keeps the women in line, she forces the men to respect her. she goes to the union office daily to help out with the work. maimouna once told her: “you don't seem to like men very much, yet you are helping out with the strike, you don't even know why”. (140) women do not need to have a reason to help, it is natural to carry responsibilities, the modern day woman is equal to a man, she commands respect like penda, and she knows what she has to do and does not hesitate to do it. it is a great lesson for men. they can achieve so much with women than being without them. evidence abound that the women are more resolute, determined and focused on carrying the strike through unlike the men that saunter. for instance, in bamako, a man is picked up for going back to work and disguising himself as police. the strikers immediately hold his trail. interestingly, up till the last male strike-breaker as recorded in the narrative, there is no female caught for strike breaking. even old niakoro knows the strength of a woman. although her voice is not heard, she knows her role as a woman is important: “i took care of your grandfather, your father and your little father too” (100). she speaks to adjibidji just before fa keita is arrested. women make enormous sacrifices undauntedly to achieve a result. this is evident as “old niakoro hurled herself at the man, but a violent blow of his elbow directly over her heart left her stunned and breathless. she fell back against the wall, gasping, gasping, her eyes opened wide in terror.” (104) this violent treatment of old niakoro results in her instant death, which comes as a shock to the women and they immediately seek vengeance for her death. part of the consequence of the strike is to ban the women from using the train, making them walk long distances to their destinations. rather than being cowed, it marks the beginning of the women's voice to be heard in public. many of them did. tiemoko encouraged hadi dia to speak without fear or shame. sira goes up to speak, and in the narrative, she speaks swiftly and confidently against the betrayers and traitors in their midst: “he stopped the train and made us get off… eight women alone, right in the middle of the bush! i tell you he is nothing but the slave of the toubabs! tiemoko is right; he should be hanged in the market place!' (92) she also passes a verdict on the culprits, which is eventually executed. the women's agitation became something much more than a movement of collective agitation, it leads to the emergence of a new kind of women, men, and children. vital to this research is the women's effort to sustain their families during the strike demands desperate measures such as theft, forcefully taking food on credit, buying items fraudulently. this is in total aberration of dejean's claim that they represent france, they actually represent a class of people who are ruling class, controlling the means of production and distribution, lead the french colonies and wield as much power as exhibited in the novel. this accounts partially for why the women are bothered about the inequity and injustices. a very important feature of the theme of class struggle is the growing consciousness of the oppressed class. therefore, their gradual awareness and understanding of their state of existence spur them for the collective activism seen in the women's approach to the strike. the 08 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 women are determined to bring a change through their activism. many men had already given up on the situation of the strike unlike the women who were still together and never felt lonely even when their last food was almost out. the strike in which there is a large scale involvement of women shows that there is power in collective activism. conclusion problems in the society are most often tackled by the men. the study reveals that the inclusion of women in resolving the issues is not only ingenious but leads to huge success. with the active and leading role of women, which is reflective of reality, god's bits of wood and the activist, in spite of the different periods in which they were written, are more similar than it would seem at first glance. the two novels provide for female participation in history. the two writers portray more success in women activism and subtly advocate the inclusion of women in decision making in the society. works cited bryson, valerie. feminist political theory: an introduction. london: the macmillan press ltd, 1992. cuddon, j.a. dictionary of literary terms and literary theory. 3rd ed. new york: blackwell ltd, 1991. guerin, wilfred. et al. hand book of critical theory. new york: oxford university press, 1992. ngugi wa thiong'o. wresting with the devil: a prison memoir. vintage, uk: 2018. nwagbara , chinyere . soyinka 's feminis t aes thet ics . ibadan: rasmed publications limited, 2015. ojaide, tanure. the activist lagos: farafina publishers, 2006. print. ousmane, sembene. god's bits of wood london: heinemann educational books ltd. 1962. tarrow, sidney. social problems of social movements. new york: free press, 2002. tilly, charles. complexity and social movements: multitudes at the edge of c h a o s . n e w york: routledge publishers, 2006. wentworth, l mary. what is patriarchy and why is it the most powerful force in the world today? discovering america: a political journey, massachusetts: lightening source inc, 2004. coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 09 page 1 page 2 page 3 page 4 page 5 page 6 page 7 page 8 page 9 jonal vol. 5 no. 4 new2.cdr safeguarding the citadel: social disillusionment and the moral question(s) in ikechukwu asika's cord of life by obi, gladys nwakaego department of english chukwuemeka odumegwu ojukwu university igbariam campus, anambra state nwakaegoobi@yahoo.com 08035522897 abstract riters, undoubtedly, use their pen to create awareness on all that is happening in their wsociety to the general public. a writer is, therefore, an educator, a diviner, a seer, moulder, a spokesman as well as a preacher. as a preacher, a writer writes to criticize and moralise the evil vices in the society. hence, his aim is to correct these ills via his writings. research has shown that there is a gross reduction in the moral standard or values with which the youth especially the students operate in our universities today. this work shows that the moral standard in our society has deteriorated to the point that our students no longer care about the consequences of living a nonconformity life style. the gut with which they display these clandestine behaviours is one to be questioned using ikechukwu asika's cord of life. this paper is critically examined through moralistic theory. the work serves as an insight to all the mayhem being carried out in our universities today as well as the aftermaths of such behaviour. keywords: moral, awareness, students, consequence, society introduction in recent time, writers basically convey their message(s) through their writings. it could be either they want to inform, educate, interpret, instruct and preach the general public on the issues of national, social, political and moral concern. unethical behaviour among our students in our present day varsities is quite perturbing to the parents and society at large. for this and more playwright largely feels that it is within his power to cause a change in his society. hence, the social significance of a dramatist can never be over emphasized since all he has in mind is ambition to cause his audience to react appropriately to the social, economical, political and moral issues in his society. if the words of ama aidoo is anything to go by the crux of a dramatist borders on social responsibility. in an interview she had with maxine mcgregon in october 1967, at the havard international seminar in the united state, she said: “i cannot see myself as a writer, writing about lovers in accra because you see; there are so many other problems... i feel a responsibility and feel that it is the same type of responsibility i think black people all over feel” (19). rather than practice art for art sake knowing full well how drama stimulates – dramatists thought of being socially responsible to speak and to frown at clandestine behaviours of our today's youth – through their work of art. it is pertinent to point out that so many other unethical practices and social problems of social and moral concern such as cultism, kidnapping, abduction, drug abuse, corruption, rape, and underage abortion are very common among our students and they are portrayed basically, to call attention for correction. asika ikechukwu's cord of life is a call among many others that has portrayed the above mentioned attitudes as actions leading to a decline in the progress of the society at large and the individual involved in particular. when a student leaves what he/she goes to school to do (his/her goals) and 160 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 then engages in other negative activities or unvalued lifestyles that are detrimental to himself and people around him, of course, such student constitute a definite pointer of outright failure both to himself/herself and the society he/she belongs to. this work, therefore, projects playwright as a realist for he does not write outside what is happening in the society which he populates. certainly, literature is a mirror of totality of life in its reality. duranty sees “realism as incestuous child of materialism that has a lot to answer concerning public morality” (asoo, 2006). public morality here is not different from social values, norms, etc. society tends to align itself with systematic way of living, a conformity living. when one individual misbehaves, he/she is out rightly judged by the already existing standard of laws and regulations. our african society, specifically nigeria society has code of conduct which everyone irrespective of age, status, class, race conform to. it is very disheartening that our students in most of the universities have gone wired in their behaviours. they no longer listen to the advice of their parents or elders, neither do they think before taking certain awkward actions. they are also not doing what their parents did. instead they have recreated and generated their own actions of negativity. they leave one to marvel at the gut with which they display all these unimaginable atrocities which are disappointing and disillusioned to the people. the question now is: is there really a standard moral code in the society these days? and the answer is yes. yes, while most people follow society's law they are abide by certain social mores which are governed by morals. while morals tend to be driven by personal belief and values, there are certainly some common morals that most people agree on such as: one should always tell the truth, one should not kill fellow human being, underage abortion should not be encouraged, abduction, kidnapping, child trafficking, immoral sexualities and so on, these are typically africa values. it is unfortunate that today's youth especially our students have shun our values and now do all source of evil things. go to our schools today, the students kill; they practice cultism and are involved in drug abuse; they kidnap, abduct, smoke, sleep with their opposite sex in one roof, and so on. what a pitiable situation we find our student in? theoretical framework the theoretical framework used in this work is moralistic theory. a moralist is a person who behaves in a morally commendable way. and of course, moral theory is a theory of how we determine right and wrong conduct. also, moral theory provides the framework upon which we think and discuss in a reasoned way, and so evaluate, specific moral issues. morality has to do with matters of taste, personal preferences, or subject attitude and opinion. muraino and ugwumba state that: “it is believed that morality socially upholds principles, concepts, ideals and actions, rules and regulations that culture deems reasonable, correct and appropriate and under which members of community are tied” (muraino and ugwumba 2014). also, mark timmons opines that; a moral theory is a set of statement used to systematise and codify our judgments concerning standards of conduct or behaviour” (timmon 2002). so, moral theory provides us with an account of what we should do (i.e duties or obligation) what is good worthy of pursuit (i.e moral values) what is fair or just, and how we should live our lives. it is therefore, the interest of this playwright asika ikechukwu that our student all over the nation should abide by the societal moral standard values and save the society from aching from their recently clandestine behaviours. for the youths they said are the leaders of tomorrow. students and their unsatisfactory acts in ikechukwu asika's cord of life playwrights specifically, have a unique way of molding their cast to enact and imitate situations in their environment via their work of art. societal moral/values have recently deteriorated to a pitiable 161 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 and worrisome level. our youths are no longer disciplined. they have shunned the pleasing past life of decency and have embraced the “new normal” modern life which they tagged “jet age” where they stage all source of atrocities. ikechukwu asika's play cord of life is one among many plays that depicts the level of moral decadence in our varsities. to think that students feel indifference as to the result of their clandestine behaviour and its aftermath poses a great worry to the members of the society. asika ikechukwu did not miss words in portraying to the public the terrible life style of most of our contemporary students in our present day varsities. asika's cord of life tells the story of a once decent village girl, nnedimma who was admired by all for her beauty, intelligent, moral decency but upon her entering into the university become a different story all together, a sorrowful one at that. the playwright's striking description of her early personality states that: her name is nnedimma, beautiful like goddess, tall as okeosisi from awgbu clan, fair like queen apunanwu of okigwe town, slender like nwanyioma… she blossomed into perfect beauty. her journey through her early education was with beauty, elegance and pride. our hopes were high as we borrowed, and gathered all we had to send her to a university since education now rules the world (7) what a remarkable description. her story unfortunately, changes when she gets admission into the university and gets associated to (bad company), wrong peer and so does her name for she now bears natasha…. this is typical of most of our students, some students are not known with their real name. if one goes to the universities today, one will be hearing some funny names like: starboy, greencity, blackstar, macky, sundot, diehard, etc. the playwright stresses that upon entering to the university; natasha forgets her goal and focus of interest and then starts to pursue shadows that lead to her destruction. to start with, all the “miss” awards in the campus were given to her as the playwright succinctly puts it: mc: she is bomboclat dance hall queen; her steps are unrivalled, unmatched and unequalled! i am talking about the former miss fresher of the campus, the former miss valentine eastern region. the former miss campus queen of this university and current miss hot legs international. ladies and gentleman give it up for best, the most beautiful, the fairest one of them all, miss natasha williams! (13). here is a typical example and life style of what we witness in our varsities today. our students in most cases forget why their parents send them to school to do while clamouring for a quick and immediate fame among themselves. natasha is a gut. she lives with her lover poker man in the same roof. lust, lost and forgotten, she involves herself in all sorts of evil activities; poker man being the master planner as well as a bad influence. in most varsities, most of our young female students squat with their male counterparts in the name of being lovers. such thing should not be encouraged because they only end up being married than the married couple. it is not also a new thing that some bear names different from the ones their parents give them. natasha is of course no different from such group of students. the playwright also pictures some fake students that exist and operate in our modern day universities. the writer actually wants to brings to fore that some of the students are not registered student, some face one type of personal problem of lack of seriousness, while some have overstayed their “congratulations” of being a student in the university. he pictures this group of students in the character of poker man as he says: poker man: … your words always melt the man in me. you know i should have graduated some years back but a voice kept telling me to wait. i never knew i was 162 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 waiting for you. those boring days are over, my love. this is poker man. forget your classes, assignments, exams. you have me, you have everything. you know poker man, you know everybody. i am the only exam you should bother about, the only quiz you have to do and the only attendance you need to achieve (15) poker man is a typical fake student found anywhere around varsities across the nation. his statement that: “he should have graduated some years back but a voice kept telling me to wait” (15) is a clear evidence that his studentship is an illusion. he is in the school to trap other real students and make them go down with him or rather drop out of school like him. th poker man piloted “the flight that crashed them”. having aborted 4 pregnancy for him (poker thman), the 5 was born and was sold off to doctor ekeh, according to poker man's arrangement. it was a deal and a signed business between doctor ekeh and natasha as well as poker man, the lover being in the picture through it all and the playwright puts it thus: doctor eke: are you done signing the papers? natasha: yes, the agreement is sealed (hands over the signed document to the doctor). doctore ekeh: (takes time to survey the document till he is satisfied). yes, that is okay. i hope you know and should remember that with this signed agreement you will not lay claim to this child ever again it belongs to us now. hope you understand that dear?... (fishes out a cheque). here is a cheque four 1.5 million naira as agreed (2526). what an act of wickedness? imagine a mother selling off her own blood, her child! a sheer wickedness. this is decay in morality. our youths have sold off their conscience. they do not think about the future. there is this adage that says “who knows the head that will be crown a king”. no, this is not part of their thoughts. they are not in line with their ancestor's that propagated the saying. they are actually living their future now. to think that the young man, poker man, who double as the lover and father of the sold infant engineered everything and followed it up through till the end. his involves as the finally receiver of the cheque is pictured in this manner as the playwright. says: natasha: (beams with smiles as she collects the cheque and inspects it for confirmation). thank you doctor thank you, you are an honourable man (hands the cheque to poker man who has been silent waiting for the moment (26). the playwright pictures these groups of youths who in their bid for selfish interest encourage immorality, underage abortion, prostitution, drug abuse, murder, child trafficking and so on. nwabunwanne is the name of the child natasha and her dubious lover sold off. ochiora becomes his foster mother. nwabunwanne is being taken care of until upon the death of the foster parents who adopted him as their son. before her (ochiora) death, she traced natasha and poker man and handed their child over to them with some huge about of money for his upkeep and education. though they collected the money, yet they still abandoned their son to his fate. because he has no one else to care for him, he suffered a great deal. eventually towards the end of the play, nwabunwanne succeeded by providence and also by hardworking, having suffering for so long. after kidnapping and receiving of ransom and attempting to murder white man, mr dennison, natasha and poker man were napped by the police. here, the playwright wants to let us know that no evil goes unpunished. they were caught up by law for all the crimes they committed. as the playwright captures it: police man: do not make any attempt to move or i will shoot. you all are under arrest for kidnapping one mr dennison and attempt on his life among series of other charges connected to you. in your best interest, i advise you to remain silent or 163 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 anything you say or do will be used against you in the court of law (police handcuff them and lead them away). (85). the life we live will come back staring at us, no doubt. the youths should know that too. alas! nwabunwanne becomes the judge to decide their case at the court of law. having been trained by hardship and circumstance of life to be straightforward and honest, he was straight and honest to his call (duty). here, the playwright displays his inequity as a great and upright judge; hence no one is really above the law, not when the person actually committed the said crime. his parent (natasha and poker man) were made to face the penalty of the crime they committed. he did what many will fear to do. pronouncing judgment to his parent as the law demands asand the playwright says: nwabunwanne: … here is my judgment mrs. natasha and mr. clifford idris and other co-defendants, i have evaluated all the evidence proffered against you and defenses proffered by the defense, i found you guilty of all thirteen counts against you, prima facie case having been and ingredients on offences established by prosecution. the court found that your actions contravened the provision of section 312, 321, 324, 361, 364, and 419 of the criminal code act. you are distinctively sentenced to 14 years imprisonment on charges of abduction, 7 years imprisonment on charges of obtaining by force pretense, 10 years for kidnapping and terms of life imprisonment for the attempted murder of mr. dennison of global oil company. the sentence shall run concurrently. it is in finding that you were involved in most nefarious acts perpetuated in this city in the past. this should serve as lesson to your likes in the society. (96). here the playwright unequivocally depicts that what one sow one reaps. it is also on record that in the course of their serving punishment, his father poker man dies and his mother falls sick. hence, their attitudes as students do not bring honour to their parent or to the public rather it brings a high level of disillusionment to all and sundry. conclusion the message ikechukwu asika's cord of life is passing across is to advise the students against the unworthy, unhealthy and unacceptable way of behaviours and at the same time warn them on possible repercussion of such negative attitude. it is worth to point out that there is always a payback time, that is, whatever one planted, one shall definitely harvest. you cannot plant wicked and harvest peace, hence, wickedness begets destruction. this is the case of the playwright two major characters: natasha and poker man. they were serve their own 'dish' prepared with their own hands. good a thing the playwright pin points also that there is dignity in hardworking for their son nwabunwanne is handsomely rewarded for being honest, upright and hardworking. this is a call to awaken the consciousness of our students to desist from any negative action that will impaired their growth and that of their society in order to avoid had i know. 164 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 works cited asika, ikechukwu. (2018). cord of life. anambra state; onitsha: first class publishers. asoo, ferdinand. ( 2006). the african novel and the realist tradition. makurdi: aboki publishers. brekus, catherine a. gilpin, w clark. (2011). american christianities; a history of dominance anddiversity. university of north: caroline press. p.50 dennis duderden and cospos piterse eds. (1975) african writers talking: a collection of interviews. london: heineman. mark timmons. (2007). disputed moral issues: a reader. oxford university press. muriano, m. b. ugwumba, u.e (2014). moral misconduct among students of higher institution in nigeria. a case study of elected higher institution in imo state, nigeria. owerri: oasis publishers. 165 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 page 169 page 170 page 171 page 172 page 173 page 174 text book journal pdf sis. noelle coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 01 abstract this work is “communicating femaleness in communalism” human beings made up of males and females live together in our communities and communicate to be understood. communication lends itself to essentially two modes, that is, the linguistic and paralinguistic modes. through these two modes, maleness and femaleness are communicated. the notion of maleness or femaleness is due to ideas and practices attached to them in these communities. femaleness is communicated in subordination to maleness. communicating femaleness in subordination to maleness is a problem because it portrays the females as entities who cannot function effectively without support from the males. the aim of this study therefore, is to find out how femaleness is communicated in our communities against the backdrop of maleness that showcases subordination of the females. survey design is adopted for the study while, karl marx's class distinction theory is used for data analysis. a total of three plays; ome ihe jide ofo (oijq), nke m ji ka (nmjk), and nwata rie awo (nra), were used for data analysis. the study discovered that femaleness is communicated in communalism in subordination to maleness through morphological process, female names and naming and female related figures of thoughts. the study recommends that femaleness should be fairly and on the strength of the female be communicated and not in subordination to maleness as shown in their names and naming. keywords: female, femaleness, communalism, communication. introduction the notion that men and women come from different planets, with each having its own culture has in recent time been discussed and argued. gray (1992:108), avers, “most common relationship problems between men and women are a result of fundamental psychological differences between the sexes which the author exemplified by means of its eponymous metaphor: that men and women are from distinct planets-men from mars and women from venus”. he goes on to say that each sex is acclimated to its own planet's society and customs, but not to those of the other. all the same, fact remains that men and women grow up in the same planet-earth and, interact on daily basis. in looking at linguistics communication differences between men and women, one has to be very careful. it is a wrong assumption that all men communicate in the same manner. same is the case with women. there are some notable differences in the linguistic communication patterns of the males and the females. for women, talk is the essence of relationships. consistent with this primary goal, women's speech tends to display identifiable features that foster connections, support, closeness, and understanding. for men, talk essence is to exert control, preserve independence, give advice, and enhance status (labov, 1972). nsolibe, obiageli theresa ph.d department of linguistics/igbo, chukwuemeka odumegwu ojukwu, university igbariam campus email address: ot.nsolibe@coou.edu.ng telephone nos: 08035795591, 09014029075 communicating femaleness in communalism: a study of three selected plays 02 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 equality between people is generally important in women's communication (aries, 1987). to achieve symmetry, women often match experiences to indicate “you're not alone in how you feel.” typical ways to communicate equality would be saying, “i've done the same thing many times,” “i've felt the same way,” or “something like that happened to me too and i felt like you do” (hall & langellier, 1988). rather than a rigid you-tell-your-ideas-then-i'lltell-mine sequence, women's speech more characteristically follows an interactive pattern in which different voices weave together to create conversations. but men, like to monopolise conversation to show control and exercise power. he is likely to say, “i did it my own way”, i've never felt that way” or “it has never happened to me.” also important in women's speech is showing support for others. to demonstrate support, women often express understanding and sympathy with a friend's situation or feelings. men lack these qualities. they are impatient and unsympathetic to show manliness and not weakness. to demonstrate understanding and support, women may use “oh, you must feel terrible,” “i really hear what you are saying,” or “i think you did the right thing” as communicative clues that we understand and support how another feels. related to these first two features is women's typical attention to the relationship level of communication (wood, 1993a, 1993b; wood & inman, 1993). you will recall that the relationship level of talk focuses on feelings and the relationship between communications rather than on the content of messages. in conversations between women, it is common to hear a number of questions that probe for better understanding of feelings and perceptions surrounding the subject of talk (beck, 1988, pp. 104; tannen, 1990b). “tell me more about what happened,” “how did you feel when it occurred?” “do you think it was deliberate?” “how does this fit into the overall relationship?” are probes that help a listener understand a speaker's perspective. the content of talk is dealt with, but usually not without serious attention to the feelings involved. another feature of women's speech style is conversational “maintenance work” (beck, 1988; fishman, 1978). this involves efforts to sustain conversation by inviting others to speak and by prompting them to elaborate their experiences. women, for instance, ask a number of questions that initiate topics for others: “how was your day?” “tell me about your meeting,” “did anything interesting happen on your trip?” communication of this sort opens the conversational door to others and maintains interaction. men do not have this quality for he will see such questions as waste of time because the day has come and gone. even when he is asked such questions, his answer may kill the conversation. his answer to “how was your day?” may be “well, like others” when such answer is given, it shows lack of interest. women usually respond in some fashion to what others say and this is inclusivity. it is also another women's speech style which is responsiveness (beck, 1988; tannen, 1990a, 1990b; (wood, 1993a). a woman might say “tell me more” or “that's interesting”; perhaps she will nod and use eye contact to signal she is engaged; perhaps she will ask a question such as “can you explain what you mean?” responsiveness reflects learned tendencies to care about others and to make them feel valued and included (kemper, 1984; lakoff, 1975). it affirms another person and encourages elaboration by showing interest in what was said. another women's style of speech is that it is personal and concrete (campbell, 1973; hall & langellier, 1988; tannen, 1990b). typical of women's conversation are details, personal disclosures, anecdotes and concrete reasoning. these features cultivate a personal tone in women's communication, and they facilitate feelings of closeness by connecting communicator's lives. men don't divulge anything personal about themselves in conversation. they feel exposed if this is done. women's communication also has the quality of tentativeness. they may express this in a number of ways. sometimes, they use verbal hedges such as “i kind of feel you may be overreacting.” in other situations, they qualify statements by saying “i'm probably not the best judge of this, but…” talk can be made provisional by tagging a question onto a statement in a way that invites another to respond: “that was a pretty good movie, wasn't it?” “we should get out this weekend, don't you think?” tentative communication leaves open the door for others to respond and express their opinion. there has been controversy about tentativeness in women's speech. lakoff (1975), who first noted that women use more hedges, qualifiers, and tag questions than men, claimed these represent lack of confidence and uncertainty. calling women's speech powerless, lakoff argued that it reflects women's socialization into subordinate roles and self-esteem. since lakoff's work, however, other scholars (bate, 1988; wood & lenze, 1991b) have suggested different explanations of women's tentative style of speaking. spender (1984a), in particular, points out that lakoff's judgements of the inferiority of women's speech were based on using male speech as the standard, which does not recognize the distinctive validity of different speech communities. rather than reflecting powerlessness, the use of hedges, qualifiers, and tag questions may express women's desires to keep conversation open and to include others. men on the other hand, use such speech styles as to exert control, preserve independence, give advice, and enhance status. for them, conversation is an arena for proving oneself and negotiating prestige (tannen, 1990b). to establish their own status and value, men often speak to exhibit knowledge, skills, or ability. equally typical, is the tendency to avoid disclosing personal information that might make a man appear weak or vulnerable (derlega & chaiken, 1976; lewis & mccarthy, 1988; saurer & eisler, 1990). for instance, if someone expresses concern about a relationship with a boyfriend, a man might say “the way you should handle that is…,” “don't let him get to you,” or “you ought to just tell him…” this illustrates the tendency to give advice that tannen reports is common in men's speech. on relationship level of communication, giving advice does two things. first, it focuses on instrumental activity-what another should do or beand does not acknowledge feelings. second, it expresses superiority and maintains control. it says “i would know how to handle that.” the message may be perceived as implying the speaker is superior to the other person. between men, advice giving seems understood as a give-and-take, but it may be interpreted as unfeeling and condescending by women whose rules for communication differ. another feature of men's speech style is instrumentalitythe use of speech to accomplish instrumental objectives. men are socialised to do things, achieve goals (bellinger & gleason, 1982). in conversation, this is often expressed through problem-solving efforts that focus on getting information, discovering facts, and suggesting solutions. the above speech styles of men and women stated above show that there are marked differences between each sexes' speech style. female and femaleness the word 'female' is from the latin word 'femela' meaning the familiar form of femina meaning “woman”. in the 14th century, the english spelling of 'femele' was altered so that the word paralleled the spelling of 'male' (sparks, 1976: 27). the female is “an individual of sex that bears young” or “that produces ova or eggs” while the male is “the sex that produces small, typically mobile gametes especially spermatozoa, which a female may be fertilised with” (anderson 1983:16). the female can be defined by physical appearance, by chromosome constitution or by gender identification and roles (william, 2018: 19). i see a female as one coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 03 04 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 who has the god given role, to bear children, run a home and be subjective to her husband. in support of the definition of female according to gender identification, marx and engels (1977:21) say, “sometime in pre-history, women and men were equal. engels (1977) assumes that the division of labour between men (as breadwinner) and women (as domesticated wives and mothers) had always existed for they play different roles. the reason, he said, for women staying at home may be contextual. the woman may be in neo-natal after child birth or may be nursing a child or may be cooking for the family, while the man in the context is outside the home looking for what to sustain the family with. defining femaleness according to physical appearance shows females as having physical features differentiating them from males. females have heart-shaped faces against males' square faces; males have adam's apple while females don't have; males are hairy while females are not; females have vagina and ovaries while males have penis and testes as sex organs. females are curvy in shape while males are muscular (natalie, 2012:12). another way of defining femaleness is through chromosome constitution. chromosome involves threadlike molecules that carry hereditary information for everything from height to eye colour (szalay, 2018). females have two “xx” chromosomes which are constant while, males have two chromosomes also, but theirs is “xy”. the sex of a baby depends on the male chromosome released to fuse with the “x” chromosome released by the female. if he releases “x” chromosome, the baby will be female, but if he releases “y” chromosome, the baby will be a male. femaleness is the fact or quality of being female, while, maleness is the fact or quality of being male. maleness or femaleness vary from culture to culture and is defined socially. in some societies, males play roles that differ from those of the females because, each have ideas and practices attached to them. they include--separation of the work place from the domestic space which, was accompanied by the notion that woman is suited to separate spheres and, that a woman's place was in the home and, the man's place outside; cultural practices like dietary preferences. for instance, in igbo society in the past, a child should not eat egg, a woman should not eat gizzard and chicken vent; religious and spiritual practices; childcare practices; and medical treatment practices (davidoff and hall, 1987). however, males and females should play different but complementary roles in order to promote the well-being of the family in particular and the society at large (nwankwo, 2020: 44). in support of this view, chukwukere (1995), contends that modernization has weakened bonds and emancipated the african woman in particular and women in general, giving them some powers, choices and some initiatives. taiwo and akin-aina (1999), see the idea of maleness and femaleness as social differences that have wide variation within and between cultures, which can change over time. communalism communalism is a pervasive phenomenon in the public life of people living in communities (krishna, 1985:1). according to shaheen (2017, 11): “if a person is deprived of his or her rights or privileges, just on the basis of his or her community, this is communalism.” he continues by saying that communalism as an ideology may be perceived as: (a) a total commitment to a set of beliefs, (b) far from rationality, (c) committing of self to the community alone (d) unwillingness to accept other belief patterns and faiths, (e) closing of self and being highly emotional to it, to the extent of crossing the bounds of law at times. contrary to shaheem's belief, book chin (2010), avers that communalism is a system that integrates communal ownership and federations of highly localized independent communities. in other words, males and females belonging to individual community partake in whatever that is going on in the community including how they communicate maleness and femaleness. morgan (1972) says that the term 'communalism' was first used by the british colonists to describe the situation of colonies like india and malaysia, where religious minority existed alongside a religious majority. the colonial use of the word gave it a negative connotation of bigotry, divisiveness and parochialism, thus helping to justify the colonial civilisation mission. place of this study is africa (igbo) and as such we need to define communalism as africa sees and lives it. according to ikuenobe (2006, 39), “african communalism refers to the traditional way rural areas of africa have been functioning in the past.” he says that african communalism is a moral doctrine that also values human dignity, rights, and responsibilities. the features of african communal societies in the past are the existence of classes, which are social stratification, trust, security, communion and the fact that strong family and kinship ties form the basis of social life. but today there exist sharp class distinction, lack of trust, insecurity, lack of communion and strong family kinship ties as basis for social life (onwubiko. 1991:13). groups of individuals making up communities consist of males and females who co-exist and communicate to produce communal bonding. they have different ways of communicating femaleness and maleness. for better understanding of how femaleness is communicated in communalism, we need to understand what communication is. communication schmitz (2012), says that communication is the act of giving, receiving or exchanging information, ideas and opinions so that the message is completely understood by both parties. contributing, applebaum (1975) avers that communication is the imparting, conveying, sending or exchanging of ideas or knowledge by speech, writing or signs. all human beings communicate in order to be understood and their intentions and desires known and met. supporting this notion, mac-bride (1981, 127) says, “communication maintains and animates life and it is the motor and expression of social activity, cultural activity and civilization. it leads people from instincts to inspiration through variegated processes and systems of enquiry, command and control. it creates a common pool of ideas, strengthens the feeling of togetherness through exchange of messages and translates through exchange, reflecting every emotion and need from the humblest tasks of human survival to supreme manifestation of creativity or destruction.” communication is also the sending and the receiving of messages, which is essential to all social life and cultural systems, so much so that, it is often taken in anthropological theory to be paradigm of all cultures and all social organisation (seymour-smith, 1986). according to seymour-smith (1986), communication exists in two modes-the symbolic and the substantive. symbolic mode is the verbal mode and it involves words in spoken or written language while the substantive mode involves nonverbal communication with concrete materials and substances. female communication patterns in communalism are both linguistically and paralinguistically. linguistic mode of communication implies a systemic means of communication by the use of sounds or conventional symbols. para-linguistic or nonverbal communication involves nonverbal speech sounds or conventional symbols. for expression to be paralinguistic, it must be culturally determined, nonverbal and an integral part of conversational transaction and is also consciously controlled (weitz, 1974: 56). femaleness and even maleness have their various ways of being communicated vis-a-vis their differences in terms of subject matter expressed through morphological processes, names and naming and related figures of thought, and this is tagged gender communication. we are going to look at how coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 05 06 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 femaleness is communicated linguistically in communalism using some selected texts for illustration. in the process of communication, males and females, children and adults are involved. olaoye (1998:183) says, “one communicates in line with the specific, social and cultural identity one acquires in the process of socialization and is able to respond to such an identity''. speech community as a specific geographical entity where particular communications take place as different from other entities comprises both male and female members. various gender studies have shown that men and women play different roles in society which implies that their information and communication needs are different though, synergistic in effect (southerner, 1991, sigot, 1995). similarly, the style of communication within a given community is affected by the gender factor among things like age, occupation etc. this lends credence to the idea that maleness and femaleness are communicated using different styles. in the socialization process (while in conversation), women see the world as a community to concentrate on their connections as negotiations for closeness in which individuals try seeking and giving confirmation, support, and to reach a consensus (tannen, 1993). in harlow's (1967) view, he says that there are both communication successes and failure and a lot of factors are responsible for them. such factors include social class, age and gender. relating to social balance of power is a speech style characteristic of females where certain speech acts is used. according to zimin (1981), the amount of speech produced in communication which shaw and sadler (1965), posit, is influenced by the nature of the speech task which, may be as a result of the cultural, social, and political realities of a male-dominant society. the african mode of communication involves the use of oral art forms like myths, proverbs, song, and folktales. achebe (1976), supports this when he points out that the african mode of communication with particular reference to igbo, is such that since the igbo do not construct a rigid and closely argued system of thought to explain the universe and the place of man in it, preferring the metaphor of myth and poetry, anyone seeking an insight into their world must seek it along their own way. some of these ways include the folktales, proverbs, proper names, rituals and festivals and, he favours men against women in his choice of words in these ways. women aware of their lowly position in the society, develop expressions (verbal and non-verbal) for defining separate subordinated selves. igbo women for example, verbalize their separateness with the expression, ‘xwa xmxnwaanyi’ (the world of women or women's world) and a term that signifies separation from the main stream, which is the male world (okafor, 2002). in most cases, african women communicate their world views through oral art forms like proverbs, folktales, songs, poetry etc. oral art form indeed encodes separateness, not on the horizontal level of equivalence but on the vertical gradation in which women occupy the lower level, as well as the spherical in which they occupy the margins. nnaemeka (1996) in ikeokwu (2013, 27), accuses achebe of using language as a means of objectifying and demeaning women, while elevating men. according to him, a look at things fall apart and arrow of god sees women…being scolded and beaten before they disappear behind the huts. all the above discussions showcase the fact that there exist different ways of communicating femaleness from those of the male gender. theoretical framework based on the projection that femaleness is communicated in subordination to maleness through morphological processes, female names and naming, and female related figures of thought, we see that femaleness is mediated through the features of language, cultural system, and ideologies. according to gender communicative theories of lakoff's (1975) 'dominance', men use language to keep women in control and in a subordinate position. women's use of nonassertive pattern of language supports male dominance and control of power. for instance, a man might say commandingly, let's leave this place, but a woman will ask it suggestively, shall we leave this place. lakoff (1975), concludes that women use hedges more often than men. women do this because they are afraid of being seen as behaving in a masculine way, by being assertive and saying things directly. communication style as the basis of linguistic analysis becomes here a process that describes how femaleness is communicated in communalism. styles of communicating femaleness in communalism show that women are seen as subordinate to men, sex who cannot stand on their own and function effectively. this shows class distinction. to investigate this female subordination, karl marx's class distinction theory is required. marxian class theory asserts that, an individual's position within a class hierarchy is determined by their role in the production process, and argues that any political and ideological consciousness is determined by class position. a class is those who share common interest (in this case language), are conscious of those interests, and engage in collective action which advances those interests. within marxian class theory, the structure of the production process forms the basis of class construction. to marx, a class is a group with intrinsic tendencies and interests that differ from those of other groups within society, the basis of a fundamental antagonism between such groups. for instance, it is for the females' best interest to use language equally to describe maleness and femaleness in communalism and not using language to describe femaleness in subordination to maleness thereby creating antagonism within the two groups—males and females. karl marx's class distinction theory (c.f 1988) is about the role of class struggle and class conflict. in this work, class distinction is between the males and the females (upper classmales and lower class-females). he is of the view that society operates as an organic system. he believes in its analysis on insatiability of the society through dissension due to inherent contradiction in class society. it is sometimes regarded as an aspect of conflict theory of the society because it tries to assert and actualize self as women are trying to do. communicating femaleness in communalism: a study of three selected plays communicating femaleness in communalism is looked at under the morphological device existing in them, female names and naming, and female figures of thought. the mode of expression through which femaleness is communicated in communalism is dealt with both in individual and group perspectives. for proper understanding, femaleness communication should be treated alongside that of maleness as illustrated below. the morphological speech patterns morphological speech patterns communicating femaleness are linguistic elements that bring about change in the meaning of people's speech through the presence of certain syllables or words showing femaleness. it involves the analysis and description of the structure of speech portraying female in a given language's morphemes. other linguistic units such as root words, affixes, parts of speech, tone/intonation or implied context of femaleness are analysed as opposed to those speech patterns portraying maleness. in igbo language, we have the fusional/agglutinative type of morphological speech pattern that use bound morphemes as against some languages that use analytic type of morphological speech pattern. in the plays under study, there are morphological entries to mark femaleness such as coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 07 08 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 'nye/nyi'(nwunye/nwaany[) wife/woman, and 'nne ' -mother as opposed to 'ke/ko'(nwoke/nwoko)in ome ihe jide qfq (oijq) to express motherhood 'nne g[' your mother 'nne anyi' our mother (oijq 13,15). in nwata rie awq (nra), we have 'nne obiqma' obiqma's mother nra (34) 'nne anyi' our mother (34), 'nne' mother (35), 'nne' here is also used to mark motherhood. there are places 'nne' is used to mark femaleness for things not human. for instance, in nra, we have 'nne ewu' female goat (16). but we don't have 'nna ewu' male goat rather, 'mkpi'. this is an example of subjugating women. nothing stops it from being called 'nna ewu' goat is an animal termed to be stupid and men see women as not intelligent. calling 'she goat' nne ewu is to bring home the fact that they see women as those whose thinking and acting ability is below that of the men. 'nne' also occur in associative construction with 'ada', 'nwa' or its plural 'xmx'. for instance, 'adanne'mother's first daughter. oijq (3 & 62), 'nwanne' my sister/brother, nra (16 & 18). 'adanne' in nke m ji ka(nmjk), (11,18 & 43). using 'nne' in associative construction with 'qkpara'-first son to show maleness like in qkpara nne, we have two words instead of one as is the case in fussional/agglutinative language.t his is a case of departure from the rule of the language structure and subordinating the female, showing that she cannot stand on her own. nne' can also co-occur with other morphemes or words apart from 'ada' and 'nwa' or its plural from. for instance, 'ikwu' 'ochie' and 'qkpara' like in: 'ikwunne' mother's relative, oijq (1 & 34), 'nneochie' grandmother (nmjk:40 & 50), 'qkparanne'-mother's first son, nmjk (11 & 18). in writing these words of illustration, they all show fusional morphemes in communicating femaleness. in communicating maleness, we have them same as those of the females-ikwunna' father's relative, 'nnaochie' grandfather, but differs in 'qkpara nna' –father's first son. this is also a cases departure from the language structure rule and also communicating femaleness in subordination to maleness. apart from the female markers mentioned above used in communicating femaleness in communalism, there are other female markers such as. ' vdaa/daada' respectable name for female elder as opposed to 'dee/deede' respectable name for male elder. it is found in nmjk: (12). ' v‘oriakx’ respectable name given to all married women as opposed to ‘maazi’ for all married men. oijq (18). the name 'oriaku' meaning 'one who enjoys her husband's wealth', shows that a woman's name reflects her husband's superior position in her life. v‘lqqlq’ an address name given to a king's wife as opposed to 'eze/igwe' given to king. nmjk (4&6), oijq: (45). the man's title here signifies that he is mighty and the woman's title shows that she is under the man as she cannot be ‘lqqlq’ unless married to the king. veze/igwe' given to king. nmjk (4 & 6), oijq: (45). female names and naming a name is a word by which a person, place or thing is identified. although all cultures use names, naming varies greatly from people to people to communicate maleness and femaleness. traditional african given names often reflect the circumstances at the time of birth like the day (1970:295), says, “in igbo language and, indeed, most african languages, names and concepts are integrated with other cultural practices and customs”. in some igbo towns, such as nnokwa, ogidi etc., names describe the order in which siblings are born. that is why the igbo people have such female names like 'adaobi' 'the first daughter of the family', 'adanna' the first daughter of the father, 'qbianuju' a daughter who comes into a family in the midst of many other siblings. these female names communicate femaleness. we do not have 'qkparaobi' as first son of the family, 'qkparanna' as one word showing the first son of the father, rather we have 'qkpara nna', two words and not as names. we do not have 'qkparanuju' a son who comes into a family in the midst of many other siblings. some of these names communicating femaleness in communalism portray females as subordinated to males. proper names looking at the names given to female characters in the text under study and their style of naming to communicate femaleness, we see that the names are identified in terms of their husbands' or fathers' as in ome ihe jide qfq (oijq) where the name 'ochediye' means husband's seat. this exhibits degradation of the female because, she is referred to as chair the husband seats on. in nwata rie awq (nra), the name 'obiqma' means 'good heart' shown in the bearer's disposition towards the husband 'awqrq' despite his maltreatment of her. femaleness is communicated here as someone who is foolish and can take any insult meted out on her. in nke m ji ka (nmjk), we have the name 'ihuakx' 'face of wealth'. the wealth of course, is for the father who sees the female child as one who when she gets married, brings in wealth into the family. femaleness communicated her shows that the female child is not a permanent member of the family of her birth as the male child, and also a source of wealth. addresses portraying femaleness female address names are the names used to address the females as well as communicate femaleness, especially in both the immediate and extended families to show love, recognition, respect, displeasure and/or intimacy. in the three texts under study, there are some of these addresses communicating femaleness and what they portray. thus: nra 'nne' (34), is used in a sarcastic manner as an address name. ekemma called obiqma “nne” when she is advising her to settle down with anene, her last suitor and, stop being so selective or she will get into trouble. 'nne' is used here to communicate that women are inconsistent, which is a slight to women. in nmjk (12), 'adanne m' is used as an address name by eze onyekwere to address his sister showing love and respect. 'adanne di m' (13) this is used by ugochi to the husband's sister to show recognition and respect. 'qkpara nne ugochi' in used to address ugochi, eze onyekwere's wife's elder brother by eze onyekwere's elder sister to show anger. his sister rejecting what eze onyekwere said; says that, it is ugochi's brother that will die. eze onyekwere's elder sister's speech is a curse. in all the places where 'nne' is used above for illustrations, they are bound morphemes except where it is referring to a male, as in 'qkpara nne ugochi' where it did not follow the rule of agglutination/fusion. there are also some female derogatory names used to communicate femaleness in the texts under study. for instance, in oijq (14) &nmjk (42), we have 'oke nwaanyi' mighty wife/ her majesty. in oijq, ochediye, nkwonta's mother, is making a mockery of xbaji's intending wife, adak?, who, if the intending husband, ubaji, is made the king, will automatically become the queen. ochediye is mocking adak? because, she has no intention of allowing xbaji to be made the king, not to talk of adak? becoming the queen. here, despite the fact that the name 'oke nwaany?' is used derogatorily showing that she should not act like a man. 'oke' is communicating femaleness but, the words are two still as if it is communicating maleness. this time it did not follow the usual style because the female is given the quality of a male. this exhibits female insult. in nmjk, eze onyekwere addresses his wife, ugochi like that because, she came back to his house after the abomination of going to the whiteman's coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 09 10 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 church to be baptized, in nra (19), duru is telling obidike, awqrq's father that their king wants him, obidike, to tell the son, awqrq, to come and wrestle with akatoosi from amaudele to save them from disgrace. akataoosi challenging them calls them 'ibiliachi' meaning useless women because he feels that none of the men can challenge him. 'ibiliachi' is a woman of the age of menopause, and regarded as a man, and as of no use as a woman as she has passed the age of child bearing. it is used in this context as showing the uselessness of the people of amangwu. 'ibiliachi' is used to communicate femaleness showing women's uselessness once they attain the age of menopause. this is an insult to females and, it is a way of showing that men are ageless who continue to function till they die. female honorific names female honorific names refer to the names that communicate femaleness designating females' titles, or marital status, or other qualifications acquired through cultural or social processes. honorific address is divided into two-the non-conferred type and the conferred type. the non-conferred honorific female addresses are those addresses socially conferred on the female sex to communicate femaleness by virtue of their being females. they abound in some of the texts under study. for instance, in nra (38), 'oriakx m'my wife, meaning one who enjoys my wealth. the name is used here to communicate the fact that he, the man, provides for the woman and that the woman cannot fend for herself. nmjk (12). 'daa(da) qgqqma' auntie qgqqma. daada is used here to show respect which if not shown, will ignite the woman's anger. it also communicates the fact that women are easily angered and that they attach importance to being respected. (54), 'nne any[' (ihuakx) our mother (ihuakx). 'nne any[' is used here to show seniority and respect. itcommunicates femaleness as people who likes their seniority to respected by those under them (other females she is senior to and children). we also have conferred honorific addresses communicating femaleness in the texts under study. conferred honorific female addresses have social or religious or political insignia attached to them depending on the body that did the conferment. such addresses are 'lqqlq eze' address for the king's wife conferred socially in oijq (14), nmjk (23). the titles are dependent on the males/husbands of the bearers. this is so because a woman cannot be 'lqqlq eze' without being married to the king and this shows subordination. female related figures of thought a figure of thought is a figurative expression that depends for its effect less on the choice arrangement of words than on the meaning(s) conveyed. the method of presentation is different from what a person might consider 'ordinary'. a figure of thought usually makes some connections to a person's sense of logic or emotion and often implies more than what is actually said. it forces the listener or reader to draw on his own experience and culture for meaning. such figures of thought include metaphor, humor and euphemism. they are found in the texts under study communicating femaleness. female related metaphor metaphor is a speech device that compares two objects or things without using the word 'like' or 'as'. for instance, shakespeare's 'as you like it' has this famous metaphor; 'all the world's a stage. and all the men and women merely players. they have their exits and entries.' the 'world' is metaphorically called 'stage'. literally, the world is not a stage but shakespeare makes the comparison to convey an understanding about the mechanics of the world and the lives of the people within it. structurally, metaphor works on the principle of meaning and transfer based on two parts – tenor and vehicle referents. there are examples of female linguistic metaphors in the texts under study that communicate femaleness. in nra (38), (i) nna m ukwu, okwu a abxkwagh[ ihe a ga-a rxwara qgqdq. 'my master, this issue is not what we have to worry about so much'. 'qgqdq' here symbolizes femaleness. 'qgqdq' is 'wrapper' and females ties wrapper. 'ruwaraqgqdq' in the context used here communicates femaleness as something that is not very important, something that can be ignored. females are seen here as sex that are not important. in other words, men are important while women are not. oijq (10), (ii) q bx eziokwu na q bx di gi ma, [ ma na q bx okaeze ji xlq. 'it is true that he is your husband, but, you know that he is the great pillar that holds the house/kindred.' 'di' here refers to a woman's husband. 'di' is used to communicate femaleness in the sense that it shows the woman as under the man. nmjk (57). (iii) ala xmxeleme, leenx qj[ taa, onye anqkwala n'qdx ibe ya, leekwanx ka agha si n'ihu si n'azx naaba[a. 'the land of xmueleme take and eat kola, let none usurp another's place. look at war looming in front and at the back'. 'ala' here symbolizes femaleness because 'ala' which is land is looked at as 'mother of all'. the words used as metaphor may be objects that mark femaleness or concept referents that show femaleness. ala is used here to communicate femaleness, showing motherhood and that mothers protect their own children. women's position in our society which is the domestic sphere, is portrayed in the areas of providing for the family and community at large protection, succor, advice, relaxation, nurture, care, love is shown in the metaphors above. for instance, the example from nra (38), shows care because xduehi, okwukqgx's wife is calming her husband down because of their daughter's misbehaviour and he is threatening to deal with her. duru nnanyelugo in oijq (10) is warning ochediye to stop crying when chief qdxenyi died. he knows that chief oduenyi was her husband all the same, she should avoid making news of his death public by crying and drawing peoples' attention. the death of a king has duration of time that will elapse because it is made known to the public. 'di' is used to communicate femaleness because 'di'husband marries the wife and the wife is under him. in nmjk (58), eze onyekwere offering prayer with kola nut is asking their mother land, xmxeleme to take kola. he is also complaining about the problem in their land brought about by the whiteman, asking the mother land that war is looming, that she should know what to do to save her children. 'land' here meaning mother, communicating femaleness is portrayed in this context as having the power to protect her children and that she should do so. the italicized words above show that the metaphors in them express femaleness. for instance, the 'qgqdq' in nra (38), 'di' in oijq (10), and 'ala' in nmjk (57) are all metaphors communicating femaleness. female related humour partridge (2006), says that humour refers to the ability or the result of this ability to perceive and express a sense of the clever or amusing. it can also be described as a message whose incongruity has the ability to evoke laughter. it appeals to knowledge, which is assumed to be self-evidently true. in igbo literature, humour is commonly referred to as 'njak[r['“light-hearted talks”, “laughter generated talks” or “free talks”. it has been identified as fluid or as individual jokes. humour is reinforced by the context of the user. there are female based humours communicating femaleness in the texts under study. for instance, in nra (38), (i) q d[ ha bx oturu mma, ha turu, q d[gh[ ha mma, ha tupu. 'if it pleases the impostors, let them be, but if not let them retrace their steps' this is a proverbial humour. uduehi while trying to calm down her husband, used this humour. uduehi uses this joke when their daughter obioma runs away from their house to aworo's house for him to marry her. in coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 11 12 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 nmjk (41), (ii) onye nwe ala! ezigbo qlxu–di-ya. be onye ka q ga-anq na-alx di ya' 'land owner! great husband of her husband. in whose house will she be marrying her husband?' this is how eze onyekwere calls lydia, the name the missionaries give his wife ugochi when they baptized her. ogooma reacting jokingly while her brother is telling her what happened asks the question. in oijq (42), (iii) aha m bx nkwq, any[ bido na nkwq, any[ emechaa n' orie n'ihi na aha g[ bx orie' my name is nkwq, if we start on nkwq, we will finish on orie because your name is orie'. this humour is expressed when nkwqnta wooing orie, jokes with the fact that both of them bear igbo market day names. nkwonta says that he is the man and that their marital activities will start on nkwq (his name) and then will be finalized on orie (her name) as she is the woman. there is the idea here of placing the woman in the last showing lower position. humour (i) is made by female speaker to male audience and about male and female referents, (ii) is from female speaker to male audience and about female referent, and (iii) is made by male speaker to female audience and about male and female referents. humours (i) and (ii) are about feminine events, while (iii) is about an idea concerning both male and female. however, the referents and the verbs contained in the humours explicate the meaning embedded in them. the italicized words in (i) and (ii) 'oturu' impostors, and 'onye nwe ala' suggest activities that communicate femaleness while, (iii) 'gi bu orie' suggests idea that communicate femaleness. female related euphemism certain words or expressions are better not said the way they are in many societies for decency sake and or for the sake of traditional belief. this is because such societies see them as being unacceptable, obscenities or taboos and as such replace them with the acceptable ones. such replaced term is euphemism. euphemism is a word or expression used in place of one that may be found offensive or suggest something unpleasant (burridge 2012). some euphemisms are amusing, while others are bland, inoffensive and often misleading terms for things they wish to downplay. such euphemisms communicating femaleness abound in the texts under study. in nra (51), (i), onye chqrq imewe nwunye nna ya ihe mewe ya, ma ya as[la na o bu qkx ga ya n'azx. 'whoever wants to have sex with his father's wife should go ahead and do it and not with the flimsy excuse that she passed behind him with light. “imewe” here replaces the term 'ira' which is the igbo name for 'having sex'. 'imewe nwunye nna ya' means having sex with the father's wife. in the context it is saying that aworo, should summon the courage to divorce his wife and not to pretend she poisoned his food. in oijq (27), (ii) o nweela ebe [ na-aga? are you betrothed? this is used to refer to the fact that before proposing to a girl up to marriageable age, you have to find out if she is engaged to be married to someone. nkwqnta asks orie this question when he wants to propose marriage to her. in nmjk (72), (iii) ka anyi na-eri na enye afq. q bxrx na m agbagh[ ebe ahx ha na-anq eme nta eme imo qkx, ha b[a napx m ihe m jiri bxrx nwoke. 'let us be having sex and be on the watch out for pregnancy. if i don't burn down that place they stay and commit atrocities, let them come and take from me what makes me a man'. 'na-eri na-enye afq' symbolizes “illegal sex' again, 'ihe m jiri bxrx nwoke' means 'penis' which in igbo is called 'amu'. for decency’s sake, most often, igbo names for private parts of the body are substituted with other decent words because they are seen as being indecent. eze onyekwere uses this statement to show his anger on how the missionaries are interfering in the affairs of his family. the missionaries rescued ugochi's twin sons thrown into the evil forest to cleanse the land desecrated by their birth. giving birth to twins is an abomination at the time. the missionaries are again keeping ugochi, his wife and, his children who runs to them for safety. the italicized words/phrasal in the cited euphemisms (i) 'imewe' having sex, (iii) 'na-eri naenyo af?' be having sex and be on the watch out for pregnancy suggest objects and activities communicating femaleness. 'imewe' here suggests the activity of having sex and it is the female that receives the action. 'na-eri na-enyo afo' also suggests the same as 'imewe' earlier mentioned 'ihe m jiri buru nwoke' signifies the object used in carrying out the activity on the female. the italicized phrasal in (ii), '[ na-aga' betrothed suggests idea communicating femaleness. it is the female that leaves the father's house for marriage sake. summary and conclusion this study looks at and clearly shows how femaleness is communicated in our patriarchal society. morphologically, it involves speech language morphemes and other linguistic units such as root words. we have the fusional type of morphological speech pattern that use bound morphemes. we also have free morphemes. they can be roots having affixes attached to them as shown in the analysis. these morphological elements often show femaleness, names and naming concepts, and addresses. femaleness is also expressed using figures of thought like metaphor, humor and euphemism as we have seen in the analyses. in conclusion, from the study of the theory of discourse using the marxist approach, communicating femaleness in communalism, we see that in communicating femaleness, females are not always fairly communicated to but they inadvertently protest to be heard and understood with caution. language which is the tool for human expression has in no small measure helped in communicating femaleness in our everyday life. this is explicated in the various ways we make sense of ourselves by other people. references achebe, c. 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(1993). in a different mode: recognizing male modes of closeness. journal of applied communication research. zimin, f (1981). sex & politeness: factors in first and second language use. international journal of sociology of language, 13, 75-102. coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 15 page 1 page 2 page 3 page 4 page 5 page 6 page 7 page 8 page 9 page 10 page 11 page 12 page 13 page 14 page 15 text book journal pdf sis. noelle 01 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 obinta, remijius friday phd department of history obafemi awolowo university ile-ife, nigeria rfobinta@oauife.edu.ng +234813 847 3517 problems of sustainable forest management in nigeria since the colonial times: a historical analysis abstract this paper argued that certain gaps existed between the colonial governments' responses to, and handling of forest management challenges and that of the post-independence governments in nigeria. it held further that these gaps negatively impacted on the effective forest resources management in the post-independence years. the paper consulted both relevant primary and secondary data. primary data were retrieved from the national archives, ibadan while secondary sources were obtained from relevant existing literature on the problems of forest management in nigeria. the paper was anchored on the dependency theory approach wherein the african colonial dependencies were adapted to serves the interests of the metropolitan economies in europe over and above the colonies themselves. it found that forestry and forest reservation, as practised today, was established by the colonial authorities in nigeria. it further found that the colonial forest services were strictly guided by policies, practices, laws and regulations that combined to ensure the sustainability of the forest resources management. it also uncovered that the nigerian government, at independence, inherited a well consolidated forest service. it found as well that the nigerian government, soon after independence, gradually but steadily abandoned many of those factors that had allowed for sustainable forest management in colonial nigeria. another finding was that some new challenges emerged in the post-independence period to further menace sustainable forest management. the paper concluded that the threat to the sustainability of forest resources management in nigeria in the recent times resulted from the failure of the nigerian governments to harness the factors that enabled sustainable forest management under colonial government and their failure to tackle the new challenges that faced forest management in recent times. keywords: forest, resources, sustainable, colonial, post-colonial nigeria. introduction the apprehension today about the sustainability of forest resources in the face of excessive logging and deforestation without sufficient reforestation was not a new one. that was exactly the same concern that had predisposed the british colonial authorities in nigeria to introduce modern forestry and constitute government forest reserves to guarantee sustainability. back in the 1880s and 1890s in the lagos colonial territory and its hinterland (i.e. yorubaland), mahogany was about the only timber species selectively demanded by the european buyers of raw logs (timber of yorubaland, 1891). this was due to lack of information on other types of timber available in nigerian forests as at then. coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 02 there was the indiscriminate harvesting of woods as fuel for the charcoal-powered locomotive engines of the newly introduced railways (crowder, 1976). there was the widespread clearing of forests for the cultivation of cocoa newly introduced to nigeria about the 1890s. there was also the search for and tapping of wild rubber trees in the forests for sale to the european buyers at the coast (omosini, 1979). finally, there was the clearing of new forests annually for the shifting cultivation of other arable crops as practised in the precolonial times. all of these factors just identified put so much strain on the forests that made government control imperative. this paper, therefore, traced the history of the efforts of the successive governments (from the colonial to the post-colonial) in managing forest resources in the face of these challenges. historical background to forestry in nigeria: alfred moloney as pioneer of modern forestry in the lagos colony and protectorate alfred moloney, upon becoming the governor of lagos colony and protectorate in 1886, took certain administrative steps (between 1889 and 1891) that later led to the establishment of modern forestry in the colony (omosini, 1975). it should be remarked here that before 1886, nigeria was administered as part of the gold coast, with a lieutenant governor responsible to accra. the first step he took as governor to manage forest challenges was the creation of the forestry department in 1889. he also endeavoured to create sufficient awareness in britain about the abundant availability of numerous species of valuable timber resources in his colonial territory and the profitability of britain investing in such an enterprise. by the same token, he also hinted at the availability of wild rubber resources in the territory as well as the viability of introducing another variety of rubber from india which was already thriving there. at this period, both timber and coagulate latex (any fluid from tree convertible to rubber) were in high demand in britain to meet furniture and vulcanising needs respectively. moloney had been corresponding with london on the feasibility of forestry and timber trade in yorubaland as far back as 1884, two years before his appointment as governor of lagos colony and protectorate. he sent correspondence to the kew gardens, london in form of feasibility study report emphasizing the fertility of the soil of yorubaland, not only for arable farming, but also for timber cultivation. he even attached an appendage to the letter on iroko wood (chlorophora excelsa) and how it thrived naturally and abundantly in yorubaland (timber of yorubaland, 1891). moloney's ultimate objective was to persuade britain to give its support and approval to his proposal to commence timber trade in yorubaland and to organise forestry to ensure a permanent supply of the commodities in this trade. the word 'yorubaland' above referred to lagos colony and protectorate which was the nucleus of what later became nigeria. he was, himself, persuaded that once his home government became convinced about the feasibility and profitability of such a commercial venture, his dream of forestry and timber trade in the lagos colony would come true (omosini, 1975). as a follow up on his earlier memorandum to london on the rich forest of yorubaland, he sent a dispatch again to the royal gardens, kew, in 1890. the purpose of that dispatch was to persuade the director of the royal gardens to accept his proposal and assist, with his good offices, in convincing relevant parties in britain that were capable of making the proposal to sail through. if that happened, he had hoped, it would lead to the commencement of timber trade in the lagos colony and protectorate as well as the introduction of forestry laws to secure such trade on a permanent basis. 03 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 in his bid to further convince the colonial office in london, through the royal gardens, kew, moloney attached to his letter, a circular which he had issued in the lagos colony and protectorate on the feasibility of timber trade. in it he had drawn attention to the timber of yorubaland, which he described as valuable and requested the samples of these timbers be secured, examined and reported upon by experts in britain for their feasibility and marketability. he also gave information on the availability of a large number of varieties of such timbers in the immediate hinterland of the lagos colony and the grand network of inland waterways to aid their evacuation. he informed further that all that was needed for a thriving commerce in these timbers to commence in europe was the acquisition of a more complete knowledge of their commercial values and the best condition for shipping them to europe. modern forestry and forest reservation that resulted from the awareness creation served to commodify the forests and their resources which were natural resources not conceived as such by the indigenous people (segall, 2006). forest management in nigeria under colonial rule, 1900-1960 the pioneering efforts of alfred moloney did pay off shortly after he had left the lagos colony and protectorate on transfer. the british colonial office in london soon began to show more favourable dispositions towards the establishment of modern forest management system in their nigerian colonial dependency. forestry department was created in the country in 1889 (unwin, 1918). after much bilateral engagements and dialogues between the colonial governor and african chiefs (in this case, the olubadan-and-council) the first forest reserve in nigeria, mamu forest reserve, ibadan, was created in 1899 (forestry ordinance of nigeria, 1916). the following year, 1900, the second forest reserve, olokemeji forest reserve, abeokuta was created. from this time forward, forest reserves were created in many places across nigeria by the colonial governments. once these reserves were created, the immediate concern of the colonial administrators consisted in adopting the best possible strategies for managing these reserves sustainably. some of the methods adopted to manage the colonial forest services were discussed in this section. once a few forest reserves were constituted in the lagos colony and protectorate, the colonial government came up with methods and techniques which, in their view, would assure the sustainability of both the forest reserves and the numerous resources that they harboured. even though many of these forests already had large stocks of assorted indigenous timber resources before they were reserved, the sheer rate of annual timber harvesting warranted planned methods of regeneration. there were two ways to this namely, natural regeneration and artificial regeneration. natural regeneration consisted in allowing the forest trees to regrow by themselves over many years after the cutting of the trees. this method obviously could not match the rate of annual harvest by mostly expatriate timber extraction companies to whom the governments gave annual harvesting concessions in exchange for the payment of royalties. the second type of regeneration was known as artificial regeneration. this referred to the different ways of manually replanting the clear-felled spaces inside the forest reserves with indigenous and exotic tree seedlings. the indigenous trees were those already growing wildly by themselves before the coming of the europeans. the exotic species, on the other hand, were those mostly fast-growing timber species introduced from other countries into nigerian forests by the colonial government. the purpose of these new species was to increase the number of merchantable timbers in european wood markets. the chief goal of the colonial coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 04 government was to establish a steady source of timber to meet the furniture needs of europe. to this end, raw logs of assorted timber were regularly exported from lagos and wellmaintained forest reserves were needed to help assure uninterrupted supplies of these essential commodities. the government forestry departments played leading roles in forest management and regeneration. they maintained constant tree nursery beds from where tree seedlings were given to timber contractors to replace the mature timbers they felled. it was so organised that only trees of the same species replaced each other. an iroko tree seedling could not replace obeche and so on. this was a regeneration policy aimed at preventing species extinction of any given timber type. also, by putting the responsibility of replanting harvested forest trees on the timber contractors, the colonial administrators were able to lighten the burdens of doing it on the various forestry departments. the departments only needed to provide the appropriate seedlings and monitor the correct planting of same. another effective forest regeneration method was the taungya farming system. the taungya system was a form of government-community partnership in forest regeneration (hellermann, 2007). it was an arrangement whereby the government allocated portions or open spaces inside forest reserves, from where timber had just been harvested, to farmers upon request. such applicants were expected to plant only food crops on such farmlands in addition to forest tree seedlings allocated to them by the forestry departments. the goal was that the farmers should enjoy farming on such fertile lands for the estimated space of five to six years during which the canopies of the planted trees would have covered enough to discourage further farming. once this happened, such farmers were expected to apply for fresh clearfelled space inside the reserve for a repeat of the above process. the taungya farming system did benefit the people and the government in two different ways. it helped the government to ensure timely regeneration of the forest reserves without bearing the costs of doing so. it also helped to provide steady portions of fertile arable lands to farmers where they could grow food crops on a rotational basis. the use of the forest action plan was about the most effective method that helped the nigerian colonial government to manage their forest reserves sustainably (obinta, 2016). the forest action plan was a document prepared annually by the forestry department strictly according to which all timber harvesting would be undertaken in a given forest reserve. it was an offence to carry out any form of harvest of trees without recourse to this document. this document stipulated the size and girth of trees that could be cut, the replanting of the exact tree seedlings to replace the ones felled as well as the annual allowable cut. the annual allowable cut was the number of timbers that could possibly be cut from a given forest reserve beyond which any further harvest was considered an offence. with the forest action plan, it was possible to undertake purposive harvesting (amgbasim, 2012). purposive harvesting was a method of clearing a large portion of already mature forest timber at once so as to make allowance for replanting of new ones. this type of large scale replanting was also known as plantation forestry and was considered necessary to make up for the high rate of annual timber harvesting (roche, 1977). strict observance the above measures in the management of their forest reserves was the secret of success of the nigerian colonial forest services. forest; management in colonial and post-colonial nigeria compared tracing the missing link in sound and sustainable forest management in nigeria would warrant 05 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 a comparative discussion of the forest management objectives and policy thrusts of the colonial forest service and that of the post-colonial government. to begin with, the overriding colonial forest policy was that no forest management plan would ever work without first bringing the affected forest under reservation. the colonial authorities took this position based on their conclusion that the traditional land tenure system of shifting cultivation and annual burning of forests for cultivation was inimical to sustainable forest conservation. this was the philosophy behind the colonial forest conservation policy of reserving, at least, twenty-five per cent of the total land areas in nigeria as forest reserves. this reservation benchmark was, however, not achieved as at 1960. only about ten per cent of the forests were reserved at independence. the findings of this paper included that whereas nearly all the forest reserves in nigeria were constituted and managed by the colonial administration, the post-colonial government only managed these reserves (olatubosun, 2009). the colonial government adopted a dual forest management system whereby the government managed forest reserves at the provincial level while the native administration managed their own forests at the local level. this came from their belief in shared forest management with the land owners (wyatt-smith, 1996). this enabled the indigenous land owners to participate in forest governance and the benefit-sharing. this dual management style was abolished by the nigerian government shortly after independence. this made them forfeit the benefits of government-people participatory forest management (elliot, 2002). in the same vein, colonial authorities recognised indigenous land ownership of the reserved forest lands and paid the owners royalties annually. post-colonial government, on the contrary, abrogated the indigenous ownership of forest lands and also ceased to pay them annual forest royalties (azeez et al, 2011). it vested the land ownership on the respective state governors on behalf of the people. moreover, the colonial government managed their forests with carefully designed working plans that spelt out annual forest exploitation scheme that balance exploitation against regeneration. forest departments in post-independence period had neglected the use of working plans in the management of their reserves. a study found that even as at 2011, the various forest departments had no working or management plans to manage the forests with (fayenuwo et al, 2011). it also found that even the almost obsolete forestry policies and laws were only on paper and were rarely applied or enforced. the forest reserves were, therefore, at the mercy of forest poachers and other illegal forest users. more importantly, the colonial forestry departments were actively and directly involved in the regeneration of exploited forest reserves. they carried out researches on scientific forest management as well as develop and manage nurseries from where forest tree seedlings were distributed for regeneration purposes. this aspect of colonial forest management was found to be seriously lacking in the post-independence forestry departments. the ready excuse had been a shortage of staff. however, this study found a lack of political will by the government to manage the forests sustainably to be more responsible. the emphasis was more on maximising revenue from the forests and minimising expenditure on same (olaseni et al, 2004). what was more, the monies realised from the forest reserves were not made available to the forestry department but lodged in the state coffers from where it was deployed to also serve other purposes with only meagre sums left to manage the forests. this inability of the post-independence forest departments to function effectively was accounted for by the fact that they were not adequately empowered by governments to perform coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 06 optimally. under the colonial forest service, the forestry department was completely autonomous with the chief conservator of forests as its national manager answerable only to the head of state. the department was fully in charge of its revenue and expenditure. however, in the post-colonial nigerian forest management, forestry department was never autonomous. it was, for a very long time subsumed under the ministry of agriculture and natural resources. it was only recently reassigned under the ministry of environment. in either case, chief conservator or director of forests (as the officer was recently designated) was answerable to the minister of either agriculture of environment. the autonomy needed for effective administration was, therefore, denied to a sector as important as forestry and natural resources. there was, nevertheless, an exception of ogun state where there was an autonomous ministry of forestry. this inadequate empowerment of the forestry department, both administratively and in its fiscal operations were among the causal factors for its noticeable low performance after independence. the heavy deforestation that this poorly controlled logging gave rise to put the wildlife at risk (lewis, 2009). it also threatened the entire forest ecosystem in the remaining forests in the country (morris, 2010). furthermore, the loss of forest cover equally occasioned the disappearance of many non-timber forest products that fetched much revenue in the past (oriola: 2009, 13). there was also the challenge of overreliance on fuel wood by the rural poor as their major source of energy with its harmful effects on sustainable forest management (enger and smith: 2013, 9). the study, finally, uncovered an entirely new challenge to the management of the forest reserves that was unknown during the colonial period. this had to do with armed security challenges in the forest reserves. forest marauders were found to be very desperate and often illegally armed with dangerous firearms while inside the reserves. the forest guards, who were neither trained to use firearms nor equipped with same, were expected to arrest these armed forest thieves and bring them to town for prosecution. the forest poachers also mostly outnumbered the forest guards who were sometimes numbered from one to four covering a forest beat (vassan, 2002). the various state governments in nigeria, as at present, have had no answer to the armed security challenge in the reserves. many forest administrators often advised the unarmed forest guards under their respective areas to observe their personal safety precautions while in the jungles with these dangerous timber dealers. forestry officers in the ogun state ministry of forestry, for instance, usually applied for and obtained armed police escorts whenever they had reasons to inspect their forest reserves. this made the forest policing system to be seriously impotent and often predisposed the forest guards to accept bribe offers from timber contractors and look away from their forest crimes. failure to address this important matter impacted negatively on forest management given the central roles of the forest guards as the watchmen over forest resources (vassan, 2002). this caused the government to lose revenue and made taking accurate forest inventory almost impossible. conclusion this paper had examined and discussed the subject of forest resources management in nigeria beginning from the colonial times. it found that the present concern for the sustainability of forest resources was very similar to the worry of the colonial authorities that led to the conservation of forest reserves in the early colonial period. it equally uncovered that colonial forest managers operated an inclusive dual forest management system which incorporated the local people in it while the post-independence government did not. it also found that colonial 07 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 forest managers acknowledged indigenous land titles and paid landlords annual forest royalties while post-independence government abolished royalty payment and vested all powers related to lands on the governors of the respective states. the paper further discovered that such colonial forest management techniques as the use of forest action plans, provision of tree seedlings, departmental supervision of forest regeneration and taungya planting were either not applied or very poorly applied. it found that nigerian government, after independence, concentrated more on forest revenue generation and less on regeneration of cleared forests. it found, finally, that nigerian government, after independence, did not respond promptly and appropriately to the armed security challenges threatening the protection of forest resources. it concluded that the threat to the sustainability of forest resources management in nigeria in the recent times resulted, in part, from the failure or inability of the nigerian governments to adequately harness the factors that collectively enabled sustainable forest management under the colonial government as well as their failure to tackle the new armed security challenge that faced forest management in recent times. references angbasim, j.t. (2012). traditional beliefs and practices of forest conservation among the tarok and eggon people of central nigeria. journal of african environmental ethics and values,2, 107. azeez, i.o., popoola, l.,& ikponmwonba, o.s. (2011). community participation and sustainable forest management in edo state, nigeria. african journal of sustainable development,1 (1), 129-154. crowder, m. (1976). west africa under colonial rule.london: hutchinson & co. elliot, j.a., (2002). towards sustainable rural resource management in sub-saharan africa. geography, 87(3), 200. enger, e.d., & smith. b.f. (2013).environmental science. new york: mcgraw-hill companies. fayenuwo, g.a., popoola, l., & azeez, i.o., (2011). status of forest reserves and forestmanagement capabilities in south western nigeria. in l. popoola, k ogunsanwo, & f. idumah, (eds.), forestry in the context of the millennium development thgoals. proceeding of the 34 annual conference of the forestry association of nigeria, osogbo, osun state, nigeria. 5-10 december, 575. forestry ordinance of nigeria. (2016). national archives, ibadan. 19. hellermann, (2007). things fall apart? management, environment and taungya farming in edo state, nigeria, africa. journal of international african institute,77 (3), 376-378. lewis, o.t. (2009), biodiversity change in ecosystem in tropical forests. basic and applied ecology, 10, 97-102. morris, r.j. (2010). anthropogenic impact on tropical forest biodiversity: a network structure and ecosystem functioning perspective. philosophical transactions of the royal society b: biological sciences, 350, 3709-3718. obinta, r.f. (2016). a historical study of forestry and forest resources management in the south-west nigeria, 1886-1994. unpublished phd thesis, obafemi awolowo university, ile-ife, 183. coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 08 olaseni, o. agbeja. b.o., & adeyoju. s. k. (2004). dynamics of forest revenue collection and forest development in ondo state, nigeria. food, agriculture and environment, 2, 365. olatubosun, a. (2010). legal regime for sustainable forest management in nigeria, iucn academy of environmental law e-journal issue 1, 1-9. omosini, o. (1975). alfred moloney and his strategies for economic development in lagos colony and hinterland, 1886-1891. journal of the historical society of nigeria,7(4). 658. omosini, o. (1978). background to forestry legislation in lagos colony and protectorate 1897-1902. journal of the historical society of nigeria, 9 (3), 48. omosini, o. (1979). rubber export trade in ibadan, 1893-1904: colonial innovation or rubber economy. journal of the historical society of nigeria, 10 (1). oriola, e.o. (2009., forestry for sustainable development in nigeria. international journal of african studies, 1(13), 21-30. roche, l. (1977). forestry and the community. commonwealth forestry review, 56(4), 311. segall, c. (2006). the forestry crisis as a crisis of the rule of law. stanford law review,5, 15391562. timber of yoruba-land, (1891).bulletin of miscellaneous information. (royal gardens, kew), 1891(50), 40. unwin, j. (1918). the forests and forest department of nigeria. journal of the royal african society, 18, (69), 26. vasan, s. (2002). ethnography of the forest guard: contrasting discourses, conflicting roles and policy implications. economic and political weekly37(40), 41254133. wyatt-smith, (1996). sharing forest management. commonwealth forestry review,75(4), 265-266. page 1 page 2 page 3 page 4 page 5 page 6 page 7 page 8 jonal vol. 5 no. 4 new2.cdr the humour theory approach: simplifying the teaching and learning of the english grammar in a digital age in nigerian colleges of education by 1donatus chijioke nwabunze department of english and literary studies, nwafo orizu college of education, nsugbe phone: 08038530288; email: dnwabunze@gmail.com & 2eucharia ngozi nwosu department of english and literary studies, nwafo orizu college of education, nsugbe phone: 08037936348; email: eukaynwosu@gmail.com abstract nglish functions as a second language (els) in nigeria. in the area of grammar especially, evarious methods are applied in teaching the language to facilitate learning. but however method is adopted; experience has shown that students of nigerian colleges of education, as second language learners, find it problematic and tedious to learn the grammar of the language. this is the focus this paper – applying the technique of humour to alleviate the problem of teaching and learning the grammar of english in a second language environment. the study is hinged on two humour theoretical frameworks, namely; affiliative and aggressive humour theories. two research questions guided the study. as methodology, two control and experimental groups were created by the researchers to examine possible merits or demerits of applying affiliative or aggressive humour in teaching any topic in the grammar of english. the findings demonstrate that injecting humour (depending on the type), as part of classroom activities can facilitate or hinder students' mastery of grammar lessons. in conclusion, the paper, among others, recommends that teachers of english as a second language should make teaching and learning the grammar of english a fun by employing various suitable humour techniques. key words: affiliative humour, aggressive humour, english grammar, and digital age. introduction grammar of english simply refers to the linguistic rules governing the appropriate use of the language. these include the rules of tense, concord, inflection, parts of speech, punctuation and so on. for effective use of the language by second language learners, there is need for the mastery of the rules governing the use of the language. it is for this reason that the principal objective of teaching and learning the language in a second language environment is to produce near-native competent speakers of the language. this can only be attained through formal and structured teaching and learning processes. but it is argued in quarters that formal teaching and rigorous study of grammar of english has no bearing on the development of communication skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing by second language learners. this view argues that that the skills for using a language can be acquired, not necessarily by rigorous study of its grammatical rules, but by actual use of the language in practical communication events. this view tilts towards the trial and error theory of second language learning. still, for some others, an approach which blends the above two views is the most effective way for acquiring communicative competence in english as a second language. the above perspectives are traditional methods. but however, good the traditional methods may 49 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 prove to be in teaching the grammar of english as a second language, the present paper differs from the traditional views by arguing that injecting humour in teaching the grammar of english is a more effective approach in teaching and learning it in a second language environment. the focus of this paper is thus, on how best to apply the technique of humour for effective teaching of english grammar in a second language environment where the learners find it problematic to master the rules of the language. learning the grammatical rules of english is often boring to second language learners, especially when taught by a stuck in the mud teacher. to a second language learner of english whose main objective is the acquisition of communicative competence in the language, the teacher needs ingenuity in classroom management to dexterously guide the learner in mastering grammar rules without harping on learner errors. one of the approaches to attain success in this is through the strategic use of humours. in nigeria, learners' native linguistic backgrounds differ from english. on account of this, for a successful delivery of english grammar lesson in today's digital age in the country, the teacher should also assume the role of a story teller, without necessarily being a comedian. playing on the learners' sense of humour, teachers should be skilful in using games and exercises to facilitate their teaching. in a strategic and orchestrated manner, the teacher should spice up their english grammar classes with humours for easy and smooth flow of class activities. when suitably chosen and properly handled, humour, especially affiliative (associative) model, is a handy teaching aid (martel et al, 2003). it has social bonding effect that makes the teacher and their students to work as a team. to serve its purpose, it requires an innovatively resourceful teacher to select a humour appropriate for each lesson objective and learning needs of their students. summarily, therefore to simplify the teaching and learning of the english grammar in a digital age in a second language environment, like nigerian colleges of education, the teacher should apply positive humours that boost and massage the ego; and avoid negative and body-shaming types which offend and debase people. this study is significant in many ways. as an empirical study, it would make a valuable addition to the existing body of linguistic literature on second language teaching and learning. two, the outcome of the study would be of much help to teachers of english in nigeria, and other climes where the language is taught as a second language. again, language planners and curriculum designers would be exposed to the positive effects of humour on teaching the grammar of english as second language. furthermore, the outcome of the study would highlight the catalytic role of humour in enhancing the second language learners' proficiency in english. it is for these reasons that the purpose of this study, is specifically to demonstrate the effectiveness of humour in teaching the english grammar when suitably applied in nigeria's digital world of today. the students of the department of english, nwafo orizu college of education, nsugbe, formed the research population of this study as learners of english as a second language. through purposive random sampling method, a sample population of 50 students was selected from the one hundred level students of the nce programme, as representative population. the design of the research is quantitative in nature. the researchers applied affiliative and aggressive humour approaches to teach english tenses to two separate groups of students for a period of two weeks. one of the researchers took the experimental group while the other one taught the control group. the topic was on tenses of english. at the end of the two weeks, a written assessment test was given to the two groups. the students were given a narrative essay in which they were required to demonstrate their narrative skill of past events by using correct tenses. at the end of the exercise, the scores of the experimental and control groups were compared to determine how their performances differed on account of the use of different variants of humour on the two groups. theoretical framework this research is hinged on two theories, namely; affiliative humour and aggressive humour 50 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 theories. these are two out of the four wellbeing-related humour styles propounded by two personality psychologists – rod a. martin and patricia puhlik-doris in their 2003 “development of the humour styles questionnaire.” affiliative humour theory is also known as positive or associative humour theory. it aims at making others merry by joking with friends, making fun of oneself, or just telling one odd and funny story or the other. according to makewa, role and genga (2011), teachers apply affiliative humour to enhance their teaching efficiency. it has bonding effect – it creates friendly and relaxed classroom environment, and builds rapport between teachers and students. on the contrary, aggressive humour is an unfriendly humour which ridicules and disparages others. it comes in form of sarcasm, mockery and other body-shaming jokes that tend to embarrass and debase others. this type of humour makes the classroom environment unfriendly. it distances and alienates the teacher from his students. it is for this reason that scholars differentiate between appropriate and inappropriate humour in referring to the positive and negative types of humour observed in classroom settings (wanzer et al, 2006). on account of this, it is advisable that, for lesson objective to be attained, the types of humour applied “should be constructive, understandable by all learners and be relevant to the content and/or be compatible to the learning environment,” (chabeli, 2008, p. 58). these two theories are relevant to this study, because the kind of humour employed by the teacher in teaching grammar of english in today's digital age in nigeria can either enhance or hinder the attainment of lesson objectives. the theories will help to account for why the experimental group performed well, while the performance of the control group was abysmal. review of relevant literature th prior to the 20 century several theories have been adduced to explain the philosophical, mathematical, sociological, anthropological, psychological as well as linguistic functions of humour (dynel, 2009). however, despite the avalanche of such theories of humour in several fields thof learning, it was only in the 20 century that studies began to discover its pedagogical usefulness in educational settings (fadel & al-bargi, 2018). through these studies it was discovered that humour: enhances instructional effectiveness (englert, 2010); lowers student anxiety and makes for relaxed classroom environment (neuliep, 1991); causes higher student motivation (mccrosky, richmond &bennett, 2006), and; improves student learning (neuliep, 1991). according to research findings, within the context of the classroom, humour significantly facilitates second language teaching and learning by promoting and harnessing classroom dynamism and interaction. for instance, pomerantz and bell (2011), maintain that humorous interaction creates room for students to actively participate in classroom activities; and that strategic use of humour positively affects learner's cognitive processing and second language learning. furthermore, many researchers have shown that teacher's resourceful incorporation of humour into english as a second language (l ) teaching has positive results on learning (hayat, shooshtari & shakeri, 2011; stroud, 2 2013). humour has as well been claimed to be “…influential as a way of establishing friendships,” (abdulmajeed & hameed, 2017, p. 42). ross (2005) describes it as “something that makes a person laugh or smile,” (p.1). for the classroom purposes, scholars categorize humour into two types. martin et al (2003) suggested a model of affiliative and aggressive types of humour. the former is positive, associative, and integrative, while the latter is negative, pejorative and disintegrative. through jokes, affiliative humour entertains people. with jokes, according to makewa, role and genga (2011) teachers enhance their teaching skills. use of comics also facilitates rapport building between the teacher and their students. on the other hand, aggressive humour, in form of derogatory and body-shaming jokes, negatively creates rancour between the teacher and their students. this situation makes learning difficult since it discourages students from active involvement in class 51 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 activities. this, according to some scholars, goes to show that, depending on context, there are appropriate and inappropriate humours, (wanzer et al, 2006). in other words, while some humours are suitable in certain contexts, they are unsuitable in others. in all the above empirical studies, there is a yawning gap which needs to be filled. the gap is that, to the best of our knowledge, none of the above studies said anything on the use of humour in the teaching and learning of the grammar of the english language in a second language environment like, like the college of education setting in nigeria. this is the gap this current study intends to fill. research questions this research was guided by two research questions. 1. to what extent can affiliative humour enhance the teaching and learning of the english grammar in today's digital age in nigeria? 2. to what degree can aggress humour hinder the teaching and learning of the english grammar in today's digital age in nigeria? research method using convenience random sampling technique, the researchers selected fifty students from the 100 level nce students of the department of english, nwafo orizu college of education, nsugbe, anambra state, nigeria. the selected fifty students, serving as sample population, were divided into two groups of twenty-five each, without gender bias. one group served as a control group, while the other one was used as an experimental group. these students were grossly deficient in the rules of the grammar of the english, especially the tenses of irregular verbs. being their teachers, the researchers had earlier discovered that the students have foundational problems of not being well groomed in the morphological rules governing the formation english tenses, and their essence in communication. they wallowed in inter-language errors without seeing the need for them to improve on their communicative efficiency through adequate mastery and proper application of the english tenses. these discoveries were repeated after series of performance tests before this experiment. the researchers also tried all known methods of second language teaching without encouraging results. the efforts of the researchers started posting some positive results when they had a hunch to innovatively tackle the problem by teaching tenses with personality-enhancing anecdotes, hilarious jokes and short comics. the affiliative humour approach was applied on the experimental group of 25 students by one of the researchers. the linguistic devices of humour employed included irony, riddles, jokes, metaphor, euphemism, ambiguity and pun. these devices included giving and explaining practical examples on how to use various tenses in sentences, with the students fully engaged in various comic, humorous, funny, incongruous linguistic activities that easily elicit genuine social laughter. this was done in several ways. some were asked to tell folktales involving the tortoise as a trickster character. some were asked to give account of the funniest comedies they had watched. the third sub-group of the experimental group was asked to narrate story about an imaginary novelty football match between the catholic men organization (cmo) and catholic women organization (cwo) of any parish they had watched. the narratives were specifically chosen to highlight the use of the past tense to narrate past events. they were rendered in both oral and written modes. the oral aspects were done severally before the written version which was done once. during the oral presentations, which were student-centred, the teacher (one of the researchers), with smiling face, drilled the students and jocularly corrected their spoken errors instantly in a very convivial and playful manner. the written version was also done in the same friendly and camaraderie atmosphere. the control group, as explained earlier, was taken by the second researcher of this study. the group, 52 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 25 in number, was also divided into three sub-groups. they were given the same narrative topics as the experimental group. the teaching they received did not go beyond normal traditional methods of teaching. the encounter was more or less teacher-centred without any touch of humour. with stern face, the students' spoken learner-errors were corrected amidst insults and name calling. they were body-shamed with negative humours that deflated their egos. the written version was conducted in a core traditional way which some scholars describe as “sit-down-bring-out-your-exercise-books” method (abdulmajeed & hammeed, 2017, p. 45). they were not accorded any self-respect, neither was there any room for them to participate as team members. below is the table outlining the result of the above exercise. the above table displays the scores of the written test of both the experimental and the control groups. the results show that 23 students out of 25 in the experimental group scored 50% and above, while just three out of the 25 students in the control group scored 50% and above. on the other hand two out of 25 students in the experimental group scored below 50%, whereas 22 out of the 25 students in the control group scored below 50%. interpretation of results by interpreting the results of the above experiment, we will simultaneously attempt to provide answers to the two research questions which guided this research. the first interpretation of the results of the experiment in the above table is that the students of the experimental group performed significantly better than those in the control group. this outcome provides answer to the first research question which seeks to know the extent to which affiliative humour can enhance the teaching and learning of the english grammar in today's digital age in nigeria. the results indicate that affiliative humour can enhance the teaching and learning of the grammar of english in nigeria. the second interpretation of the results as contained in the above table indicates that the students in the control group performed abysmally. aggressive humour was applied in teaching the group. the implication here is that, in answer to research question two, aggressive humour greatly hinders the successful teaching and learning of the grammar of english as a second language in nigeria. conclusion from in the interpretation of the results of the experiment of this research and the answers to the research questions, it can be inferred that affiliative humour creates friendly and convivial learning environment that can yield positive results. by providing friendly and convivial learning environment, affiliative humour helps to lower the anxiety level, eradicate fear and relieve boredom in the classroom. this helps to make the process of teaching and learning the grammar of english in a second language environment lively and interesting. it allows for learners' active participation in the classroom activities. this invariably enhances the information retention and recall capacity of the learners because they are allowed to do things on their own under the guidance of the teacher. again, what the above results demonstrate is that keeping students in happy learning mood in the classroom through affiliative humours motivates them to develop positive attitude towards learning the grammar of the english language. such jovial environment also encourages them to practise speaking the language among themselves without fear of committing errors, and without the usual research findings and discussion groups scores above 50% scores below 50% experimental group 23 2 control group 3 22 53 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 hesitation which characterizes the process of learning how to speak the language. the dullness of the classroom is eliminated as the students laugh at their own mistakes in practising the language. the encouraging performance of the experimental group in this research has demonstrated the essential place of affiliative humour in teaching the grammar of english in nigeria. the approach is a kind of breakaway from the inflexibility of the traditional methods. it shifts attention from the teacher and makes class activities learner-centred. this is unlike the traditional method which inhibits students' creativity, demoralises and dulls their interest and appetite, and hinders development of language skills. furthermore, affiliative humour approach provides a robust learning environment where students and teachers work as a team in the teaching-learning process. team work between teachers and students is possible because, affiliative humour, in addition to endearing students to their teachers, also makes them happy; a mood which facilitates the teacher's job, and enhances students' learning. finally, our experience in this research shows that successful application of appropriate humour in teaching the grammar of english depends on the creative ingenuity of the teacher. since every english language lesson period is not solely meant for grammar, the teacher of english should devise resourceful and innovative ways to involve grammar in every area of english lesson. by this the researchers are not suggesting that this is the best and easiest method to teach grammar of english. nonetheless, the result of the research has proved that it is a very effective approach in teaching the grammar of the language. this type of approach also tasks the creativity and resourcefulness of the teacher of english as a second language recommendations teaching and learning the grammar of english in nigeria is not an easy task. this is because as a second language (l ) in the country, the learners already have acquired their native languages before 2 coming to learn english. the social environment of the learners does not also encourage the use of the language in everyday communication. thus, teaching the grammar of the language in nigeria is a boring exercise due to various linguistic and extra-linguistic factors. it is for the above reason that in teaching, the teacher should assume many metaphorical roles. apart from being surrogate parents and other things, teachers should always regard the classroom as a forge with various pieces of human metals to be crafted and forged into various shapes and forms for diverse social functions. the teacher should be aware that the classroom is characterized by intragroup dynamics since it is composed of people with diverse backgrounds, different learning needs and problems. as a group bonded in common purpose of acquiring knowledge, students learn through the process of interaction with the teacher and among themselves. on account of this, and based on the findings of this research, the following recommendations are made to simplify the teaching and learning of english in today's digital age in nigeria. i. teachers of the grammar english as a second language in today's digital age in nigeria should be innovative and resourceful so as to devise various comic ways to make class activities lively and interesting. ii. teachers of the grammar english as second language should make classroom activities learner-centred by creating a convivial atmosphere where teachers and students work as a team through the application of ego massaging humours. iii. teachers of english as a second language should make teaching and learning the grammar of english to be a fun by employing various humour techniques. iv. in the classroom, teachers of english as a second language should apply affiliative humours which have bonding effects, and avoid aggressive humours which disparage and estrange students from their teachers. references 54 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 abdukmajeed, r. k. & hameed, s. k. 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(2023). “a sage and a guru walk into a bar: wisdom and humor styles.” international journal of applied positive psychology. doi:10.1007/s41042-023-00090-w 55 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 https://doi.org/10.1515/humor-2014-0029 http://www.teachingenglish.org.ukboyle https://doi.org/10/1021/la0504098 page 58 page 59 page 60 page 61 page 62 page 63 page 64 text book journal pdf sis. noelle 01 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 abstract when a woman is married in umunze, a town in igboland, she is expected to be given a nickname by other women in the extended family. they call one another by these names in events such as cultural dance and meetings organised by these women. therefore, this study examines a sociolinguistic study of nicknaming among women in umunze. it aims to ascertain the meaning of these names as well as their cultural implications. it looked into the patriarchal nature of the nicknames and the symbolical elements prevalent in the nicknames. the framework hinges on feminist linguistic sex difference theory. the researcher is a native speaker thereby uses her knowledge about the dialect in collecting data for this study. the findings are: nicknames among umunze women are given based on the personalities of the two people involved-newly married and the husband. the reasons behind the nicknames are for unity, closeness and communal living which exist among umunze women. the cultural implication is to uphold the culture of umunze people as well as to bring the women together as one being that they come from different backgrounds. some names are derogatory while others extol. symbols are used to make the bearers of the names to think deeply and act accordingly or effect a change where possible. keywords: sociolinguistic, nicknaming, women, umunze, igboland. introduction names are given to an individual in order to identify such a person. it could be naming a child, nicknaming among women or men, naming among dancing groups and naming among title holders. in whichever way to look at it, names are given based on agreement. one may decide to take a pet name or any other name one chooses to answer but when it involves a larger community, there must be a consensus. in umunze, when a woman is married to a particular family, after the traditional marriage rite known as the 'igbankwunwanyi' has been performed, the woman is expected to be given a nickname by other women in the extended family. the nicknames are given to show the communal living that exists among the women and to draw the attention of the newly married to the happenings in the compound, being that they come from different families and backgrounds. nicknaming among umunze women is done based on the personality of the woman, family background as well as other factors such as the personality of the husband and the events surrounding the marriage. this study explores nicknaming among umunze women, the reasons behind those names, their cultural implications, patriarchal nature of the nicknames and their symbols. eze, patricia e. kaduna state university, kaduna patwillyeze@gmail.com 07037765252 sociolinguistic study of nicknaming among women in umunze igbo a brief history of the umunze people umunze is the headquarters of orumba south local government area in anambra state. umunze is one of the dialects of igbo spoken in the eastern part of nigeria. igbo language is one of the major languages in nigeria. the language belongs to the niger-congo group of kwa language family. umunze people are the descendants of nze. the seven villages that make up umunze people are nsogwu, ugwunano, lomu, ubaha, ururo, ozara and amuda. other neighbouring towns around umunze are isulo, ajalli, ufuma, nawfija, ezira, umuchu, ihite, owere-ezukalla, eziagu, umuchukwu, ogbunka and isuochi. they are known for their farming and trading. kingship in umunze is not hereditary but moves from one village to another. conceptual framework language is a major cultural phenomenon in human society and therefore an important regulator of individual consciousness and social interaction. as a cultural phenomenon, language is used in naming ceremonies, marriage rites, wrestling and dancing competitions. wale (2008) in emezue (2011:7) has this to say, “language is human vocal noise or the arbitrary graphic representation of this noise or used systematically and conventionally by members of a speech community for purposes of communication”. two core words in this definition are systematically and conventionally. here, language is not spoken haphazardly; rather the words spoken by an individual or community are spoken based on the agreement made by those people about the topic of discourse. it implies that one cannot come up with any word by oneself; rather there will be a consensus by which people come together to make an agreement concerning such topic of discourse. in this regard, names and nicknaming are not left out in such communal consensus. name is a word or phrase that refers to a specific person, place, thing or group of things. naming is a phenomenon that man cannot do without. name is a mark of identity in which one is known. not only man is named but also animals and non-living things are named. there are a lot of factors that influence naming a person. these factors include circumstances surrounding the birth of a child, the position a child is occupying in the family, political, religious and social. but nicknaming among umunze women is different from child's naming in that the personalities of the husband and the wife involved are taken into consideration. according to hornby in ajileye and ajileye (2012:195), “a nickname is a name given in addition to, or altered from, or used instead of the real name''. it implies that a nickname is another name added to the real name of a person. it is a name that is different from your real name but it is what your family and friends call you when they are talking to you or about you. bechar-israel (1995) states that a nickname is a name we receive in addition to our legal name [which is] usually given to us by the people surrounding us. the issue of naming cannot be over-emphasized because you are your name and your name is you. we cannot but say that our nicknames make us loud, the tones and voices people use most time in calling people's nicknames are high and loud. the idea of naming makes you to fit in the society; nonetheless, there is nobody without a name. in the same vein, ogunwale (2016), remarked that the idea of naming is onomastic, and is contextualised within the premise of its social and cultural ideologies. in nicknaming, the socio-cultural background of an individual needs to be taken into cognisance. in other words, different people around the globe have expunge different ways of naming. the same name differs based on our cultures. a coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 02 03 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 name given to a child in a particular situation in one culture may be different from the one given to another child in that particular situation in a different culture. saeed (2007:27) asserts, “names after all are labels for people, places, etc and often seem to have little other meaning''. when we ask of the meaning of chimamanda ngozi adichie, it is quite unreasonable to ask such a question but rather to talk about the individual. it is worthy to note that context is important in the use of names. saeed (2007) advocates names are definite in that they carry the speakers' assumptions that their audience can identify the referent. it implies that when one makes reference to a definite person, one assumes that one can identify the person made reference to. deciding what to call something according to barbara (2008) can constitute a claim about it. for example, people who sell clothing through catalogues or over the internet make highly strategic choices of names for the colours of items, since buyers can only see them in pictures. hudson (2003: 122) sees personal names as: “the clearest linguistic markers of social relations. each person has a number of different names by which they may be addressed, including first and family names, and possibly a title''. this study aims at examining the title names given to women by other women in the families they are married to, so as to make them become part of them, being brought in from different family backgrounds. mbonu (2010:10), differentiates between given names and taken names in igbo tradition. he continues, “given names represent a family story while taken names express a person's current history''. in the same vein, ezeanya (1994:9) avers, “a person receives a new name to indicate a change in his rank or in his appointment to a new post''. when a young girl of a marriageable age marries in umunze, she has changed her position as well as rank; a new name is given to her in order to make her acceptable and honourable. title names given to women as the case here cannot be divorced from the sociocultural affinity. it depends on where the woman is coming from, her personality and where she is settling. naturally, when a woman is newly married, there is an issue of acceptability which most women face in their husbands' place. with the title names given by other women, the newly married is drawn a bit closer to other women in her new home. thomas (2017) does not go out of his way when he remarks that in the formation of a name; most african cultures do not forget their roots, lineage, future and destiny. also, a title name may be given by the women based on some persons who have achieved prominence as well as on historical figures. basically, they have seen those fits on the newly married before they will give such names to her. scholars that have written on names and nicknaming include ajileye & ajileye (2012) on “pragma-sociolinguistic features of yoruba nicknames”. they examined the stylistic significant characteristics of nicknames with a view to identifying the manner of construction, expression and perception which they exhibit using a pragma-sociolinguistic model. the paper finds out that these nicknames demonstrate particular characteristic strategies of naming which implicate certain layers of meanings which include primary, secondary and tertiary. also, yoruba nicknames are not semantically distinguishable but also have distinction and elegance in their forms and functions. their study added more light in the semantic differences on yoruba nicknames as well as their forms and functions. however, there are gaps between this current study and theirs in that this present study attempts to analyse the cultural implications behind umunze women's nicknames. it focuses on the patriarchal nature of the nicknames as well as their symbolic elements. but ajileye and ajileye's works focused in identifying the manner of construction, expression and perception found in yoruba nicknames. ibukun and omotosho (2014) analysed a study on a “sociosemiotic study of nicknaming among undergraduates in a nigerian university”. they attempted to identify the patterns of nicknaming and see how nicknames function as a sociosemiotic signification system for identity reformation and reinvention among students of the university of ibadan. the study finds out the use of irony as a common tool for reinventing the identity of others especially where the nicknames are given as derogatory labels to redesign the identities of the concerned personalities. this current study differs from theirs in the sense that it investigates a sociolinguistic study of nicknaming among umunze women. it looks at the rationale behind the nicknames as well as their cultural implications, patriarchal nature of the nicknames and their symbols. so, reviewing ibukun and omotosho's works has shown that some people use nicknames to project themselves especially where the nicknames were the creations of the individual concerned. anyachonkeya (2014) analysed “naming in igbo land: a linguistic and cultural study”. the paper examines naming among omuma people of oru east local government area of imo in order to ascertain the relationship that exists in their naming with the rest of ndi igbo of nigeria and ndi igbo in the diaspora. the study investigates naming under the following subheadings: religious, social, historical, linguistic and philosophical. it finds out that sentential naming is customary of the igbo people in general. she asserts that naming has religious, social, linguistic and philosophic colouring. the study shows that names children bear are reflection of their parents' thoughts and life's travail. also, names given to children are the whims of their parents. onumajuru (2016) conducted a study on “semantic and pragmatic analysis of igbo names”. the paper investigates the semantic and pragmatic contents of personal names and naming in the igbo language and culture. the study examines the structure of igbo names and analyses their semantic and pragmatic contents. the findings show that igbo names structurally fall into three categories: lexical, phrasal and sentential. she posits that for ndi igbo, a name is not just a tag of identity or personal label but a story and an expression of the events and circumstances surrounding the birth of the child as well as the parents' life experiences and world view. also, okagbue et al (2017) analysed a study on “personal name in igbo culture: a data set on randomly selected personal names and their statistical analysis”. they investigated a simple random sampling of some selected igbo personal names. the alphabets were presented in their written form. the study shows the statistical analysis of the distribution of the following: characters for each name, consonants, vowels, initial letters, terminal letters and total or word length and comparative ranking of frequency of occurrence. it is observed that the 5 vowels are ranked first to fifth and the consonants are ranked after. initial and terminal letters constitute a major component of the study of words, nouns, proper nouns and personal names. this present study is different from anyachonkeya, onumajuru and okagbue et al works in that it centres on a sociolinguistic study of nicknaming among umunze women which is not the focus of the various scholars' works reviewed. anyachonkeya, onumajuru and okagbue et al works, deal on personal names while this present work deals on nicknames given to women by other women in the extended family. their works are relevant to this study for they delve into the linguistics, structural and statistical analysis of igbo personal names respectively which give an insight into this present work. coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 04 05 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 nicknaming in igbo land in the olden days, nickname is common among men and women in igbo land either for their achievement, wealth, non-achievement, handsomeness or strength. then, a winner in a wrestling competition is given a name such as 'azueruala' (back that does not touch ground) and 'dike' (strong man); a man who has a barn full of yam is nicknamed 'ezeji' (king of yam), and in terms of wealth, the person is called 'akajiaku' (hand that holds wealth), 'omeego' (always bringing money) and 'omenyiri' (someone who can do more than required). supporting this, phillip (1990), advocates that male nicknames relate typically toconnotestrength, hardness and maturity while female nicknames connotemore of beauty, pleasantness, kindness and goodness. other times, nicknames can be acquired or transferred from one person to another, such nicknames include; 'omekannaya' (one that behaves like his father) and 'oyirinnaya' (one that resembles his father). according to the study conducted by de klerk and bosch (1996) on nicknames as sex-role stereotypes, it shows that males were more likely to have nicknames than females, especially in single-sex schools. sometimes, their names can be shortened to become their business nicknames such as 'williams' to 'willcon', 'obinna' to 'obibenz' and 'john' to 'jonnitex'. female nicknames are mostly given by friends and family members because of their goodness, kindness, support, beauty and personality etc. differentiating nicknaming among male and female, deklerk and bosch (1996), argue that male nicknames were more likely than female nicknames to be used by their peer group members, males were more likely to coin nicknames than females, parents and family members were more likely to coin female nicknames. in terms of the woman's beauty, such nicknames include; 'anyanwuututu' which means 'morning sun' and 'apun'anwu' which means someone that should not go under the sun' because of her beauty. in terms of support, we have, 'ada di oramma' which means 'a daughter that is good for everybody' and 'nneora' which means the 'mother of everybody'. nicknames influence the perceptions of users; this is because of the semantic values evident in some nicknames (holland 1990; alford 1987). there is the tendency that the bearers of those nicknames behave like their names. therefore, such nicknames have consequences of influencing the character of their bearers hereby making them to act the same. de klerk and bosch (1996), concur with holland and alford when they say that bearers too may well accept their appellations as somehow indicative of the kind of person they are, the nickname functioning as a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy. but in recent time, nickname is no longer in vogue due to the influence of religion. it is a practice condemned by the christian faithful, that it is worldly and against the faith. for this reason, most people that have nicknames abhor it, saying that it is barbaric. although, some individuals still answer their nicknames, majority do not. it is pertinent to note that in nicknaming, the bearer is aware of the situation unlike in child's naming where he/she is not aware. the child is named based on the events surrounding his/her birth; as well as it could be political, religious or traditional occurrences. nicknames are chosen by the individual involved or they could be chosen by friends, peer groups or family members. also ibukun and omotosho (2014) remarked that nickname could originate from the recognition of a person's physical characteristics or verbal relationships or association of ideas. theoretical basis the theoretical framework for this study hinges on sex difference theory of feminist linguistics henceforth fl. fl is established on the basis that men and women use language differently. cameron (1992), identifies two main motives fl studies sex difference which are, firstly the positive one is the quest for an authentic female language, whether this is taken to reflect some deep-seated cognitive difference or the existence in many societies of a female subculture. secondly, the negative one is to identify the sexual power dynamic in language use, the conventions and behaviours through which speech reflects and perpetuates gender inequality. according to litosseliti (2006:23), “fl aims to theorise gender-related linguistic phenomena and language use, and to explicitly link these gender inequality or discrimination on the assumption that linguistic change is an important part of social change”. by sex difference we mean the social difference between men and women. litosseliti (2006), views sex difference theory between women and men's language as traceable to the two sexes having different world experiences, and women's language is not just as different, but positively valued. from different studies conducted by scholars, fishman (1990), believes that women ask a lot of question while wareing (1999), believes that women are less-assertive in language use. in conclusion, women being different from men in language use are not the cause of sexism but the effect of sexism. therefore, not hiring women to a particular social practice brings about the effect over time produces the differences, which are then used to justify the original discrimination. in other words, depriving women working in a particular social practice becomes the norm and with time, it justifies the claim. in view of the above, the sex difference feminist theory is relevant in the analysis of this study following the propositions made that nicknames are additional names taken by women apart from their original names by people surrounding them and men and women are socially different. it then implies that the nicknames taken by umunze women whether they are relating to their husbands or personalities or family background do not matter to them. rather, the nicknames denote the manner the women behave different from the men socially and linguistically. the nicknames are needful in order for the women to function effectively in their domains. the women are more interested in fulfilling their marital vows than in thinking about the men's dominance over them. methodology the study uses interview method and personal intuition in the collection of data. the researcher interviewed twenty women between ages 25 to 70 so as to ascertain the reasons behind their names and their cultural implications. the rationale for the selection is to aid culture continuity, hence, old women are the custodians of culture while the young women are the recipients. also, the researcher being a native speaker uses her knowledge about the language in the interpretation of data. data presentation and analysis the names were analysed based on the names given relating to their husbands, on the women's personalities and the family background of the women. names given relating to their husbands table 1 represents the nicknames given to the women relating to their husbands. the references to their husbands denote the patriarchal nature of the nicknames. on the domination coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 06 07 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 of women by the men, udofot (2009) in aremu (2016), remarked that females are made to accept the male political, social, economic and linguistic dominance over the women folk in our society. we cannot but say that the antecedents of gender differentials are influenced by the cultural beliefs of the people, social, the biological and psychological forms of the women. on the contrary, ijah (2016), argues that in the traditional society, human activities were limited and as such, the divisions of functions on gender basis did not attract any disillusionment or dissatisfaction. the men and the women accepted the traditional stereotypes without question. even the traditional igbo society overprotected the women. nevertheless, the nicknames by umnze women do not initiate rebellion rather submission as indicated by the women. the nicknames are represented below; table `1: names given in relation to one's husband s/n nicknames meaning 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. oyiridiye omasiridiye osodieme ? l??manaecheak?diye obidiye anyanw??t?t?diye oyoyo?madiyejiejemba oladiye odoziak?diye ihu?madijieme?nu one who resembles her husband. someone that is liked by her husband. someone that follows her husband to carry out responsibilities. beautiful house that protects her husband's wealth. heart of her husband. morning sun of her husband. beautiful thing the husband uses to go to a distant land. husband's ring. one who manages her husband's wealth favoured one her husband boasts of. 11. 12. 13. 14. 16. ak??madinyere ? ganaechendo ugogbeediye ugochinyerediye ? nwadijiah??zo favoured wealth from the husband. one protected by her master/husband. husband's mirror. eagle god has given to her husband moon that her husband uses to see. in the above table, the prevalent issue in the nicknames is the references to the women's husbands which is not a matter of concern to them after all they accepted new names on account of their husbands. also, the references to their husbands are conceived as complementary rather than domination by the men in conjunction with the biblical counsel which admonishes the women to call their husbands 'lord' (1 peter 3:6).awoyemi (2012), explains that the place of the african woman in her society cannot be contested so also is her contribution in complementing the effort of the man. this is to say that men and women aspire to their different roles in the maintenance and survival of the community. therefore, making references to their husbands do not make them less human rather extol them. the implied meanings of the nicknames are as follows: coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 08 datum 1: oyiridiye means one who resembles her husband. it could be a physical resemblance or character wise. in terms of physical resemblance, they will look like children of the same parents. as well, it could be a resemblance in terms of attitude and character. in other words, she is a woman who will be at peace with her husband because she acts and behaves like him. she respects and esteems her husband like no other person. datum 2: omasiridiye means someone that is liked by her husband. she is the best liked by her husband. she is liked by her husband more than every other person in the family. she knows how to manage as well as soothe her husband. no one could have done better than her in handling her husband. datum 3: osodieme means someone that follows her husband to carry out responsibilities. it indicates that the woman is industrious, virtuous and hardworking. she teams up with her husband to tackle the issues at home. she is a diligent woman who wants to partner with her husband in solving family challenges. datum 4 uloomanaecheak?diye means beautiful house that protects her husband's wealth. a woman who is a home maker, she has come to make her home a comfortable place to be, both for her husband, children and every member of the family. she is not extravagant in her spending rather manages her home and prevents lack. datum 5: obidiye means heart of her husband. it shows someone that will indeed understand and partner with her husband. she knows the needs of her husband and supports him, in complement with an adage that says united we stand and divided we fall. datum 9: odoziakudiye means one who manages her husband's wealth. the woman does not spend the resources of her husband extravagantly rather she spends judiciously. datum 12: ? ganaechendo means one protected by her husband. the husband is seen as a covering or protector over his wife. he is to defend and protect his woman from family turbulence. he is to esteem her before his people in order for them to respect her. datum 14: ugochinyerediye means eagle god has given to her husband. she is a gift from god to her husband. she is a blessing to him. she has strength like an eagle to subdue evil ones and will take her husband to places. she is beautiful, strong and sensitive to issues. she is also sophisticated. 'ugo' (eagle) is a symbol of strength and good vision. eagle is not seen often, so the woman is a rare gem. datum 15: ? nwadijiah??zo means moon that her husband uses to see. this shows that her coming into her husband's life has brought in breakthrough, success, and excellence to the husband. the nicknames below on table 2 are based on the personalities of the women. they signify excellence of personal or social traits among the women. despite all these qualities, the women are humble rather than pompous and haughty. such names include: coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 09 table `2: nicknames based on the personality of the woman s/n nicknames meaning 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. ikukujos ugobechigbuoakwa rek?du ?m?nway? abubaugoonyetutaonyee osisiiwu ? n??g?t? akwaji ?ji oke akwa obere nkachifu igund? ngwamma wind from jos the best among all the women women's recorder. eagle's feather that whosoever picks becomes happy. forbidden tree. sweet tendril of pumpkin that springs forth expensive wrapper (george) small handkerchief fresh palm frond beauty paraphernalia 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. ugomba egbeoyibo ? gboo vuu ndioma ? loelu acharaugo eagle from a distant land foreign gun car or canoe that carries good people storey building beautiful eagle some of the nicknames are derogatory such as in figs. 20 and 23 which signify 'controversial' and 'short' women respectively. although the referents may be close to these names but would not want to be reminded of them. examples of nicknames that extol are: fig. 16, 'ikukujos' which means 'wind from jos', fig. 22, 'akwaji?jiokeakwa' (expensive wrapper-george), fig. 25, 'ngwamma' (beauty paraphernalia), fig. 27, 'egbeoyibo' (foreign gun) and fig. 30, “acharaugo' (beautiful eagle) etc. it is worthy to note that the personalities of these women do not make them rebel rather supportive as well as complement their husbands. achebe (1958), paints a vivid picture of the igbo traditional gender stereotypes, a miniature of africa and how through informal education fathers groom their boys to grow up as men, bold, courageous, audacious and fearless. the women on the other hand, groom their girls to become soft, subservient, weak and gentle. as noted by achebe, some of these qualities are possessed and seen in umunze women. hence, the qualities make the women to submit and not rebel. the explicit meanings of the nicknames are seen below: datum 16: ikukujos means wind from jos. the significant thing about the weather condition at jos is cooler compared to weather in other middle belt states. although jos is not situated in the far north, the cold weather condition there penetrates inside the body. when wind blows, it lifts things around, so the woman has come to move the family forward. it then implies that an extraordinary person has entered as well as to bring a positive change into the family. wind is an agent of change. datum 17: ugobechigbuoakwa means the best among all the women. this shows a beautiful, good-looking and elegant woman. when a woman marries a responsible man who takes care of her, her beauty will glow and attract others. she is the most beautiful among other women because her husband is taking very gosd care of her. datum 18: rek?d??m?nwanyi means women's recorder. she is the spokesperson for the women. this is because she can store what has been said or done in a meeting and recall or produce it back when needed. she is an entertainer just as radio does. radio does not stop nor get exhausted, so she goes on and on without getting drained. datum 19 ab?baugoonyet?taonyee means eagle's feather that whosoever picks becomes happy. it signifies someone that is precious, valuable, rare and worth a lot of money. it is rare to see an eagle much less of picking the feather. she is a woman that is special and also a rare gem. datum 20 osisiiwu means forbidden tree. a woman that is tough, proud, and difficult to toy with. she is an arrogant woman who feels superior to other persons. she proves difficult to deal with. datum 21: onuugut? means sweet tendril of pumpkin that springs forth. the tip or mouth of a pumpkin leaf is sweet and tender; therefore it needs a slight or gentle touch; as such, the woman married into that particular family is fragile and tender. so, she needs attention and to be guided by her husband not to digress. she is beautiful and needs to come out in order to showcase her beauty. datum 23: oberenkachifu means a petite but strong person. the woman is small in stature but is strong and resilient. datum 24: igund? means fresh palm frond. in umunze, fresh palm frond is beneficial in that it is used to make thatches, shield our barns and acts as a protective covering in our farms and compound etc. therefore, she is seen as an industrious and hardworking woman who will be a shield and a protector to her husband's family. datum 26: ugomba means eagle from a distant land. she is a special woman, who thinks and acts clearly. she is a rare gem, someone from afar that brings good tidings, so she is unique. she has brought good tidings to her husband. coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 10 11 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 datum 27: egbeoyibo means foreign gun. gun is a symbol of defence and protection while 'oyibo' denotes an alien or non-native person. the nickname implies a sophisticated woman. datum 28: ? gb?obundi?ma means car or canoe that carries good people. as car or canoe is used to convey people or goods from one place to the other and when it does, there is much joy and excitement with moving around, meeting with the right people, more so coming home with good reports. so, the woman is going to take her husband to places. therefore, the woman has brought a change to the family. car or canoe is a symbol of change and good tidings. datum 29: ? l?elu means storey building. the woman is tall and huge. therefore, her extremely large stature accrues her prominence and respect among other women. she is her husband's backbone. datum 30: acharaugo means beautiful eagle. she is pretty and gorgeous with so much strength and vitality to support her husband. there are also nicknames based on the background of the women. no individual is devoid of his/her root, so making reference to one's root is not a wrong assertion; rather, it motivates one for future events. the family background of the women considered in these nicknames either rich or poor background is to re-awaken them to forge ahead. nevertheless, the conclusion of the matter is that the women have changed their title names. below are some of such nicknames based on a woman's background: table 3: nicknames based on a woman's background s/n nicknames meaning 31 32 33 orikeze egooyibo egoigwe one who eats like kings english money iron money the nicknames above do not change the personalities of these women. the women are married to support their husbands, whether from rich or poor background. ijah (2016), remarked that days are gone when women are regarded only as “oriaku” meaning a consumer of their husbands' wealth. today, they are seen as “oriaku”, odoziaku” and “okpataaku”, that is, consumer of wealth, keeper and moderator of wealth and a maker of wealth respectively. that is what a newly married should strive hard to achieve when she comes into the family. the analysis of the nicknames is as follows: datum 31: orikeze means one who eats like kings. it signifies a woman who has come to enjoy her husband's affluence. in other words, her new home is better than the former place. just like the life of a king, he has everything at his beck and call. a woman who is married into a wealthy family will have everything at her disposal, and thus will now eat like a king. eze (king) is a symbol of surplus and abundance. datum 32: egooyibo means english money. it shows someone who has been living in affluence before marriage. she has brought an extraordinary favour to her husband in conjunction with the biblical counsel that says “whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the lord” (proverb 18:22). datum 33 egoigwe means iron money. this shows one who comes from a place of affluence. she is a woman of substance. in view of the above, umunze women need to take their destinies in their hands no matter their family background, with the co-operation of their husband to overcome the lowly demeanour. consequently, these nicknames are to create a conducive environment for a friendly relationship among the women in order to co-exist and support their families. symbolism in nicknames a lot of symbols are used in the nicknaming among umunze women. the issue of the signifier and the signified is arbitrary; that is the named is based on the consensus of a particular speech community. wales (2001:379) opines, “a symbol is a sign, whether visual or verbal, which stands for something else within a speech community''. abram and harpham (2012:258) affirm that, “in symbol, the relation between the signifying item and what it signifies is not a natural one, but entirely a matter of social convention”. the symbols make reference to inanimate objects which include; fig. 21, 'on??g?' (sweet tendril of pumpkin) which signifies tenderness, fig.4, '?l?' (house) in 'ul??manaecheak?diye' (beautiful house that protects her husband's wealth) which symbolises safety of his belongings. it implies one that is a homemaker as well as protector of the wealth of her husband. in fig.6 'anyanw??t?t?' (morning sun) and fig. 15 '? nwa' (moon) symbolise brightness, fig. 6 and fig 15 show women that have come to shine forth in their husbands’ homes. fig. 8 'ola' (ring) symbolises beauty which indicates a woman that is the beauty of her husband. fig. 20, 'osisi' (tree) symbolises strong and independent which means a strong woman. also, 'igu' (palm frond), palm frond in umunze is used for a lot of purposes such as making of thatches, shelter and broom. therefore, the woman will help to develop and increase her husband. 'ugo' (eagle) is known for its strength, vigour, and good vision. eagle is hardly seen. nicknames in fig.14 'ugochinyerediye' (eagle god has given to her husband), fig 19 'ab?b?ugoonyet?taonyee' (eagle's feather that whosoever picks becomes happy) and 'acharaugo' (beautiful eagle) show women with strength, vigour, think deeply and a rare gem. 'eze' symbolises honour, abundance and surplus, fig.31'orikeze' means a woman who has come to enjoy where there is abundance. 'oyibo' (foreign) means something that is not of african origin and highly developed, as in fig.27 'egbeoyibo' (foreign gun) and in fig 32 'ego oyibo' (english money). they are not ordinary women. nicknames in a patriarchal society the patriarchal nature of the nigerian society demands that men rule and women take instructions. women are to subject themselves to their husbands, therefore whatever they are should be to their husbands. the issue of nicknaming is not left out in this practice. in view of coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 12 this, salami (2003) in olaitan and omobolanle (2015:179), opines that, “the societies in most parts of the world see women as second class citizens as such their portrayal in most works of literary art are seen in the negative perspective''. aremu (2016) affirms that there are many linguistic studies on nigerian languages and nigerian english which have shown that there is often a covert and/or overt linguistic violence against women in the society. in fact, women are made to accept the male dominance over them without mincing words, if you do otherwise, the women will see you as an outcast. this is portrayed in some of the nicknames that make references to the women's husbands, to show that the women are whatever they chose to be for their husbands; indicating that males dominate the society. after all, the men brought the women into their families. there are disparities in umunze, although they bear these names, the women are brought to complement and support their husbands. the rationale behind the nickname is for co-existence among the women in the family. .such names include 'oladiye' (husband's ring), 'osodieme' (someone that follows her husband to carry out responsibilities) and 'omasiridiye' (someone that is liked by her husband). however, some names eulogise the women and their latent qualities are extolled. such nicknames include; 'ab?b?ugoonyetutaonyee' (eagle's feather that whoever picks becomes happy). it shows someone that is special and precious whom the husband will be chosen as wife and be happy, 'egooyibo' (english money) means an extraordinary and a sophisticated person. she has brought wealth to the family; wealth they say is transferable. some names are derogatory, such as 'oberenkachifu' (small handkerchief) which implies someone that is short as well as small. 'orikeze' (one who eats like kings) means someone who has come to enjoy in the husband's house. it then implies that she is coming from a low background which she needs not to be reminded. umunze women have accepted their fate and are submissive to their husbands. conclusion apart from the personal names given to the women during their birth, umunze women are given nicknames by other women in the place they are married to, in order to show the communal living that exists among the women. not only to show the unity and togetherness among the women but also to show the acceptance of the newly married into their fold thereby crushing to some extent the spirit of unacceptability that displays itself in most homes. the personality of the newly married, her family background as well as where she is married to play an important role in the nicknaming among umunze women. references are made to animate things such as 'ugo' (eagle), 'eze' (king) and 'di' (husband) and inanimate things such as 'ugbo' (car), 'osisi' (tree) and 'ulo' (house) in the naming. a lot of symbols are used such as 'ugo' (eagle) and 'ulo' (house) which signify strength and safety respectively. for the patriarchal nature of our society, umunze women affirmed to the different social roles between men and women, so the issue of rebellion does not arise, hence the cordial relationship between the wives and their husbands. most of the nicknames are descriptive in nature. nicknames on the other hand are an addition to our names. 13 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 references abrams, m. h.& harpham, g.g. 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(2001). a dictionary of stylistics. malaysia: pearson education. page 1 page 2 page 3 page 4 page 5 page 6 page 7 page 8 page 9 page 10 page 11 page 12 page 13 page 14 page 15 jonal vol. 5 no. 4 new2.cdr social vices: an inhibitor to sustainable youth's economic and social inclusion in nigeria by 1 2osuji anthony o. &nwachukwuathanasius 1&2 department of social sciences, federal polytechnic nekede, owerri nigeria & 3 uzoma kelechi p. 3rhema university, nigeria abstract s the nigerian population continues to increase, so too does the number of youth. the apopulation of youth (18-35 years) in nigeria is 52.2 million. despite the prospects presented by this number, young people in nigeria are largely excluded from governance, leaving them helpless to confront their continued exclusion. this is evidenced by the lower percentage of youth holding political and leadership positions in the country. the purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between youth economic inclusion and social vices in nigeria. using a quantitative approach, 100 adolescents aged 18 to 35 selected from 20 states across the nation participated in the study. the data collected were analysed using spearman's correlation coefficient and the result showed a significant positive association between youth economic inclusion and social vices in nigeria (rs/n(100)=0.65, p<0.001) and that there was a significant positive correlation between young people's socio-economic inclusion and the reduction of social vices. it was recommended that the government should ensure youth participation in governance and the need for adequate skill acquisition centre to help equip the youths. keywords: economic inclusion, financial inclusion, social inclusion. introduction the world today has the greatest number of young people in history, with half of the world's population being under the age of 35. it is interesting to note that 90 per cent of these young people who are reaching billions live in the developing world. this underscores the importance of engaging young people in personal and societal development in response to pressing global challenges (united nations educational, scientific and cultural organization (unesco), 2013). nigeria is a country where a large percentage of her population are young, energetic and hardworking youth. as nigeria's population continues to increase, so too does the number of youth continue to grow in what has been termed the youth spurt. while the rise in the youth population places a strain on education systems and labour markets, it also has economic value, provided these youths are meaningfully engaged. therefore, it is incumbent on any government to use the teeming population of youth to create a demographic dividend (a declining dependency ratio) and use such dividend for higher productivity and a growing workforce. more specifically, the youth (18-35 years) population in nigeria is 52.2 million (i.e. about 28% of the total population) with a female to male ratio of 52.8:48.2 (national bureau of statistics (nbs), 2018. allahmagani (2005) report shows that almost 70 per cent of nigerian population are youth and children. it is worth noting that youth in nigeria especially young people often feel that traditional political discourse, spheres and mechanisms do not represent them. although calls for equity and social justice, environmental protection and cultural diversity resonate with young people, they participate little in decision-making or in discussions on 41 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 key socio-economic and political issues. nonetheless, a number of prominent youth movements have emerged at the global level in the past few years, representing a wake-up call regarding their need to be heard and play an active part in developing the societies in which they live (eclac, 2014a). the national bureau of statistics (nbs) released a report in 2016 that revealed devastating unemployment rates in nigeria. the report notes that: in the first quarter of 2016, the labour force (i.e. those within the working-age population who are willing, able and actively looking for work) increased from 76.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2015 to 78.4 million which corresponds to a 1.99% increase in the number of people in employment. this means that between january 1st and march 31st, 2016, another 1,528,647 persons were employed within 15-64 years, i. h. able to work, willing to work and active. youth conceptualisation youth is generally conceptualised as a period of vitality, strength and vigour in the life of a person. the stages of human growth are childhood, teenage, youth, adulthood and old age (mukherjee, 1978). the federal ministry of youth and sports categorizes youths as people aged between 18 and 35 years while the african union defines youth as people aged 15 to 34 years and africa is reported to have a youth population of between 300 and 345 million youth by 2015 (abubakar, 2011). on his part, alanana (2006) stated that, youth as a concept has no precise definition. in nearly all traditional african societies, those who fall between 40 and 50 years of age are still considered youths. this is in contrast, to europe and america where at age of 18, a child is granted freedom and independence. it is worth noting that ageing societies in the west know that young people are key to growth. according to young entrepreneurs like sam immanuel, founder and ceo of semicolon africa, a training ground for young techpreneurs in the lagos yabacon valley, nigeria's army of young job seekers could easily be transformed into an army of job creators. a growing youth population can lead to a large active labour force, it can also lead to catastrophe with a rise in crime rates, a rise in dependency rates and worrying widespread poverty. it is all the more important for the government to actively involve youth in order to create an integrated and inclusive society (nbs, 2018). this goes hand in hand with the exclusion of young people, e.g. lower voter turnout, a loss of several per cent of gdp, violence, extremism, crime and instability. most youth efforts treat youth not as partners or agents of governance, but as mere recipients of the dividends of governance. in contrast, galstyan (2019) suggests that young people are not interested in politics because politics does not represent the issues that matter to them. literature review social inclusion the term social inclusion is “the process of improving the terms for individuals”. inclusion may be used to refer specifically to the integration of traditionally marginalized, under-represented and/or at-risk subgroups in broader populations (zohdy, 2017). according to the united nations (2016), social inclusion is defined as “the process of improving the terms of participation in society, particularly for people who are disadvantaged on the basis of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion, or economic or other status, through enhanced opportunities, access to resources, voice and respect for groups to take part in the society and the process of improving the ability, opportunity, and dignity of people, disadvantaged on the basis of their identity, to take part in the society. economic inclusion economic inclusion is a key enabler in development. it supports people's economic empowerment and helps them to better manage their business and their lives. it is more than just access to finance. 42 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 every financial product lives in an ecosystem where inequalities influence whether different groups of people – including women – can benefit from it. people may end up with very different opportunities, even if they have the same access to finance. our approach to economic inclusion seeks to transform these underlying inequalities. we aim to generate both sustainable impact in the lives of people and in the financial performance of the service provider. to do so, we place equal emphasis on grounding our clients' financial services and investments in a sound business case with an in-depth understanding of the specific needs and preferences of different customer segments. our customer-centric approach allows us to find solutions that address these specific needs and preferences through financial, non-financial and digital services. in the words of sida (2010), youth political or economic participation refers to the involvement of young people in political and economic activities, civic life, active citizenship, and policy making. this could take several forms, including serving on a local government council, voting in an election, or participating in the budget process of a local government. financial inclusion young people, regardless of their socio-economic, demographic or geographical situations, face some degree of difficulty or uncertainty as they transition to adulthood. however, the situation that youth experience in developing countries some 87 per cent of the global youth population is one of the most difficult in many respects, and the picture is particularly grave for adolescent girls and young women. youth are disproportionately affected by high unemployment rates. the aids epidemic in sub-saharan africa has already orphaned a generation of youth, and it is expected that 15 to 25 per cent of children in a dozen sub-saharan african countries will have been orphaned by aids by 2020. this generation faces a very difficult transition from childhood to adulthood as they become, in the majority of cases, heads of household at a much younger age than other less vulnerable youth. the number of young people will peak in the next 20 years. this unprecedented demographic growth could be seen as an opportunity but, given the baseline in terms of poverty and lack of opportunities for youth, it could represent a major threat to the future of these youth if their needs are not addressed. the failure to acquire marketable skills or capabilities for lifelong learning may consign them to persistent, deepening poverty. new approaches that support vulnerable youth to proactively realise their full economic potential are gaining attention. access to financial and social assets is a key contributing factor to help youth make their own economic decisions and escape poverty. providing young people with financial services whether a safe place to save or an appropriately structured loan for investment in an enterprise or education. credible governance credible governance submits that governance “involves the dynamics of transforming societal needs into concrete programmes”. governance means the development of governing styles in which boundaries between public and private sectors have become blurred and the needs of society increasingly met (udeh, 2017).according to adegbami and adepoju (2017), governance refers to acquiring political power so as to direct a state's economic power towards development. it is concerned about utilizing a state's resources for the development of that state. hence, the concept “good governance” involves public officers managing public resources judiciously and in a “good” way. to the undp (2002), good governance involves maintaining transparency, accountability, probity and upholding the rule of law in the exercise of power. udeh (2017) adds that good governance connotes an array of activities such as improved service delivery, citizens' participation in decision making, democracy, the rule of law, independence of the judiciary, electoral integrity, freedom of the press, and equality before the law and inclusion of the maligned groups in the political process. udeh further argues that good governance also guarantees gender equality as well 43 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 as accountable and transparent governance. prospects of the nigerian youth without highly educated, highly literate, intellectually, brilliant and self-confident youth, a nation is toying with its future and undermining its existential capacity (gaskiya, 2016). youths aged 35 years and below are estimated to constitute about 70 % of the population of nigeria. this is a huge advantage for a nation that is seriously and furiously pursuing national development, one that is determined not only to build an advanced human civilization, but that it is also ambitious of leading the way in the march towards further humanising the human condition globally. the youth are assets to a nation not liabilities. they are usually the athletes that bring medals home, soldiers and security agents that ensure peace and security, the vital energy in the democratic process, and the future entrepreneurs and employment labour. the youths if well-educated, trained and motivated, can utilize their mental, technical and visionary power to develop the nigerian economy. it is an established fact that our past-independence leaders were youth and there were able to manage nigeria successfully. there were able to fight and win a civil war and kept nigeria as a country between 1967 and 1970. this happened at a time when youths have less educational opportunities and training. today's youth in nigeria are more educated and exposed therefore, can do more than the past leaders if given opportunity and training to serve their fatherland (alanana, 2006). youths and political development while discussing the role of youths in contemporary political participation and development, there are certain underpinning assumptions (suleiman, 2006). firstly, we are assuming a political system that is endowed with a significant proportion of its youthful population who are highly informed and conscientised. secondly, we are also assuming an organized youth with clearly defined objectives and a variety of legitimate methods to make input in the political process. thirdly, we are assuming a political system with sufficient public space that allows for unfettered citizens participation and robust engagement in the governance process. meanwhile, the degree of these variables in the nigerian political system is at best measured and sometimes highly debatable, it has been observed generally that over twelve years of democratic experiment has created opportunity for actors in the civil society, or what social entrepreneurial scholars now call 'citizens sector' to take on their role in the political participation process (bornstein, 2005). in a recent research on government – civil society partnership in nigeria, it was observed that: “civil society groups are reaching out and trying to work with various government agencies and parastatals in efforts to build their capacity for service delivery and be accountable to citizen” (chukwuma, 2005). given this opportunity, the nigerian youths is currently faced with the task of redefining its role in the democratization process. the mission statement of the national youth policy is treated here as a point of departure in articulating the role expectation of nigerian youth in the political participation process. the document stated as follows: the present administration, having given due consideration to the significance of the youths in socio-political, economic and sustainable development, has found it most desirable, necessary and urgent to initiate this national youths development policy so that there will be a purposeful, focused, well-articulated and welldirected effort aimed at tapping the energy and resourcefulness of the youths and harnessing them for vitality, growth and development of the country well into the 21st century (national youths political reform conference, 2005). in the light of the foregoing, the crucial issue of creating an enabling environment for the youths to bring their productive capacity and resourcefulness to bear on the political and developmental process should be accorded priority attention. given the right climate therefore, the following are 44 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 considered as the role-expectation of nigerian youths in the political and developmental process (suleiman, 2006). theoretical framework this study is anchored on the social learning theory of bandura which was made prominent in the work of bandura (1977, 1986). the social learning theory posits that individuals gain knowledge through observation of the actions and inactions of others and witnessing the consequences as they happen to others. according to leff and posner (2009), the social learning theory suggest that children and youths learn to exhibit aggressive behaviours because they observe others acting aggressively and can see how these behaviours are reinforced over time. the original conception of the theory as stated by bandura (1977) holds that young adults imitate adults' aggressive actions that they witness in contrived social settings as a result of the reinforcement of the aggressive behaviour. in relation to this study, the specific ages between 18 and 35 years are categorised as the youthful age group. this creates ample room for the youths to gain knowledge and insight into the actions they witness either in the schools or at the home. the social learning theory emphasizes the fact that youths in nigeria witness the consequences of their exclusion from social, economic and financial affairs of the country and this makes them to turn to social vices in order to feel among in the society. the broad issue of credible governance emanates from the social values instilled in the youths. as such, the interplay of the social learning theory and the negative effects of their cognitive learning pave way for a cycle of never-ending social vices which comes in many forms. therefore, this study argues that when the positive aspect of the social learning theory is instilled in the youths, it creates room for a life-long positive values and retrogressive rate of social vices in nigeria. empirical literature nigeria is a country that has a large percentage of its population as youth who are energetic and industrious. allahmagani (2005)reported that nearly 70 per cent of nigeria's population are youth and children. youth in nigeria include citizens aged between 18 and 35 years (nigerian youth policy, nyp, 2009). the national bureau of statistics (nbs), 2016 released are port which revealed critical figures regarding the rate of unemployment in nigeria. the report indicated that: in q12016, the labour force population (i.e. those within the working age population willing, able and actively looking for work) increased to 78.4 million from 76.9 million in q4 2015, representing an increase in the labour by 1.99 %. this means an additional 1,528,647 economically active persons within 15– 64years, that is, were able, willing and actively looking for work between january 1 and march 31, 2016. research also suggests that the new millennium has witnessed a withdrawal of citizens from democratic participation across a range of democracies. viewed in isolation, statistics on the nigerian economy paint a bleak picture. having emerged from the 2017 recession, nigeria is growing at an anemic 1.5 to 1.9 per cent per year—against population growth of 2.6 per cent. the economic and political engagement of young people has been generally lower in comparison to the general population (pontes, henn & griffiths, 2019). badmus (2018) avers that nigerian youth are ready to be actively involved in economic development and politics, especially as the world is beginning to beam their light on youth activities in nigeria, while olufowobi (2018) opines that all that is needed to improve youth participation in social-economic development and politics in an enabling environment. obi and nweke (2010) asserted that sustainable development in its actual meaning denotes the actions and initiatives taken to improve the socio – economic conditions of the people. 45 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 the picture would be clearer if conceptualised by bridging the problem of population increase with bad leadership and unequal access to limited resources available to nigerians. increase in population has been identified by several scholars as a major problem to the impoverishment state of nigerian youth. to this end, measures to improve the social and economic status of nigerian youths have been taken through policies to addressing existing inequity; thus introducing various youth empowerment programmes. nnachi, nwigwe and nkoma., (2013); idaka (2013), odoh and innocent (2014) had earlier indicated that about 60% of nigerian population consisted of youths and children and that it has been recognised globally that the involvement of youths is the key to achieving sustainable growth and development. in the same vein, koripamo-agary, (2010) and united nations (2015) asserted that the issue of youth empowerment is a global phenomenon and it is the greatest challenge in this dispensation so much so that discussions and debates on it are on-going as old convictions and ideologies have failed to yield the desired results methodology to examine the youth economic inclusion, quantitative data was gathered for this study. the study adopted an online survey design in its data gathering process from a convenience sampling of youth. the sample (n=100) comprised more male (52.9%) than female participants, and the majority (68.3) of theparticipantswerebetween18yearsand30yearsofage. an overwhelming majority (70%) reportedly have their university/higher education qualification, while slightly more than half of the participants (51.2%) are unemployed. a well-structured questionnaire was used to gather the needed data. the statistical analyses involved spearman correlation coefficient using spss statistical tool and adopted a significance level of p<0.05. results and discussion table 1: youth inclusion and social vices correlations youth economic inclusion social vices spearman’s rho youth corr. coefficient 1.000 .650* eco dev sig. (2-tailed) 0.001 n 100 100 socialcorr. coefficient .650* 1.000 vicessig. (2-tailed) 0.001 n 100 100 *correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed) table 2: youth inclusion and economic growth correlations youth economic inclusion economic growth spearman’s rho youth corr. coefficient 1.000 .465* eco dev sig. (2-tailed) 0.000 n 100 100 eco corr. coefficient .465* 1.000 growth sig. (2-tailed) 0.000 n 100 100 *correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed) 46 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 the result supports the finding that there is a relationship between youth social/economic inclusion and good governance in nigeria. to ensure that good governance is engendered, youth inclusion in governance will improve transparency and accountability in the system, promote economic and political development, curb corruption, and provide the impetus to combat multidimensional poverty in nigeria. furthermore, the study presented in this paper supports the argument that youth social and economic inclusion will reduce social vices in nigeria. the findings of this study are consistent with the view of several other authors. according to tekindal (2017), youth political and social participation can positively impact a society, and even an organization. arches & fleming (2006) also opine that political participation will grant youth the skills to become active citizens and contribute meaningfully to governance and development. of course, when socially included, youth have the potential to bring about entrepreneurship, innovation, and advancement, which is particularly needed in economic development. this is the main tenet of the social learning theory of bandura (1986). therefore, the consistency of the findings with the social learning proves that social inclusion will reinforce positive behaviours which will have a long term developmental effect on the environment. conclusion and recommendations the study found out that social vices are an inhibitor to sustainable youth social and economic inclusion in nigeria and thus has a positive correlation with good governance in nigeria. the study revealed that the majority of nigeria youths are unemployed even though a larger percentage of them have attained post-secondary school certificate. it is therefore important that attention be paid to youth involvement in economic inclusion, because as this study indicates, their involvement will promote good governance, especially in the areas of transparency, accountability and development. in light of these findings, the study hereby recommends that the nigeria should: 1. reaffirm her commitment to the not too young legislation. more specifically, the government should establish leadership and democratic institutes (ldi) in all states of the federation to educate youth in the art of governance and prepare them for leadership. when young people realise that their opinion counts and that the government cares about their political future, they are encouraged to become more actively involved in politics. 2. in addition, under the aegis of the ministry of youth and sports, the government should harness the technological skills of youth by establishing an online leadership orientation agency (oloa), which will use various social networking sites to offer free leadership courses, webinars and guidance on the arts of governance and promoting social inclusion among young people. references abubakar, w. (2011). youth unemployment and the need for a new development strategy in africa. kada journal of liberal arts 5(1):23 – 31 adegbami, a. &adepoju, b. (2017). good governance in nigeria: a catalyst to national peace, stability and development. african research review, 11(4), 144-155 alanana, o. o. (2006). sociology of development an introduction. kaduna: joyce publishers allahmagani, e. b. (2005). the catholic church and human rights in poverty stricken africa. kaduna: knyte russ. pp. 18. badmus, b. (june 4, 2018). 2019: nigerian youths more than prepared for leadership. young alliance. nigerian tribune. bandura, a. (1977). social learning theory. englewood cliffs, nj: prentice hall. bandura, a. (1986). social foundations of thought and action: a social cognitive theory. prenticehall, inc. 47 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 galstyan, m. 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(2010) sustainable rural development in nigeria.cited in international journal of studies in the humanities, vol 7 no. 8; 2010 odoh e. and innocent e. o. (2014), role of the youths in national development, singaporean journal of business economics, and management studies, vol.3, no.2, retrieved from http://www.singaporeanjbem.com/ pdfs/sg_vol_3_(2)/16.pdf olufowobi, s. (june 4, 2018). nigerian youths ready for leadership –young alliance. punch. retrieved from https://punchng.com/nigerian-youths-ready-for-leadership-youngalliance/ pontes, a., henn, m. & griffiths, m. (2019). youth political (dis)engagement and the need for citizenship education: encouraging young people's civic and political participation through the curriculum. education, citizenship and social justice, 14(1), 3–2 s i d a ( 2 0 1 0 ) . yo u n g p e o p l e ' s p o l i t i c a l p a r t i c i p a t i o n . r e t r i e v e d f r o m https://www.sida.se/contentassets/a06826186ce9459d9cd91538e0c18e6b/15043.pdf suleiman a. (2006), the nigerian youths in contemporary political development: relevance, challenges and role expectation a journal of constitutional development vol. 6 no.4. tekindal, m. (2017). the position of the youth in political participation. journal of social policy studies, 39, 119-140 udeh, g. n. (2017). democracy and good governance in nigeria: the imperatives of supporting institutions. asian development policy review, 5(3), 148-158 united nations (2016). leaving no one behind: the imperative of inclusive development. st/esa/362. retrieved from https://www.un.org/esa/socdev/rwss/2016/full-report.pdf united nation economic commission for africa (uneca) (2015), human development report 2015: expanding opportunities for and with young people in africa. addis ababa: uneca united nations development programme (2014). human development report 2014. neyork: undp. united nations educational scientific and cultural organization (2013). world radio day, statistics on youth. unesco. zohdy, n. (2017). examining why and how to engage young people in global development: a literature review. world bank group. 48 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 page 50 page 51 page 52 page 53 page 54 page 55 page 56 page 57 text book journal pdf sis. noelle 01 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 abstract one of the main features of african life style is communalism. it is a system of life that integrates communal ownership and federations of highly localized independent communities. communalism is anchored on blood relationship and fortified by marriage ties and as such human/individual dignity, rights and responsibilities are valued. communalism offers the opportunity to relate with nature and accepts the unity of every individual and other simple entity, enabling africans to commune with their gods. this unity could be observed in the entire gamut of their existence including their social, political, economic and even cultural life. the introduction of negritude into african lexicon by leopold s. senghor and aimé césaire captured the entire african life, both philosophically, politically, anthropologically and socially. both as a concept and as a movement negritude to encapsulate, promote and indeed celebrate the africanness of black people. philosophical analytic method is adopted in the effects of negritude on the african communal socio-political life. as a protest against colonialism and racism on africans, negritude defines the african personality, history, culture, pride and values from a uniquely african perspective. however, communalism remains an african identity and enable man recognize his individuality, in the universality. the interaction and inter-communication between man and nature no doubt spins the kind of unprecedented harmony found in communalism. though uncommon in societies such as socialism, capitalism, africans are expected to appreciate who they are in spite of the effects of negritude on the praxis of communalism. keywords: communalism, negritude, african socialism and african politics introduction africans may be dark in colour but areknitly tied in spirit. their existence is such that it is dependent on one another. nze in his discourse on communalism insisted that an individual in the african context is elevated beyond his subjective individuality and as such it became necessary to recognise the universal in him. he went further to say that 'man is not truly man… than where/when he lives and acts as a recognized citizen of the community, (nze, 1989:8). mmoneke, samuel ifeanyi (phd) department of philosophy chukwuemeka odumegwu ojukwu university igbariam campus phone: +2348066796091, e-mail: si.mmoneke@coou.edu.ng and ojene, collins ifeanyi (phd) department of religion and society chukwuemeka odumegwu ojukwu university igbariam campus phone: +2348087556382, e-mail: anyicollins@hotmail.com the concept of negritude and its effect on african communal socio-political life this appreciation of reality has consequences on human freedom and liberty, equality and social responsibility, which implicitly and explicitly will invariably have effect on our economic, social and political aspects of life. it is this freedom within a communalistic set-up that is under study with much reference to the igbo experience. it is the freedom that has to do with human thought, desire, will, appetite etc for it is connected with choice. it is not one that is usurped in communalism, but one in which both in african and western settings, an individual can choose for a group and vice versa. in the african setting, it is motivated and dominated by the collective interests, while in the west it could be so motivated but not without a ring of individualism. for iroegbu encapsulates this idea thus: “fullest liberty is the freedom to contribute the most through what one has received to one's community and to humanity in globe. who belongs the most via best contribution is the freest”, (2000:117). this liberty and freedom in the igbo-african communalism is made of life in which the other is valued, respected and thought for. the other is in the 'i' and the 'i' is in the other. although a slight degree of stratification could be seen, there is strict class distinction in african society. african communalism in this sense is seen as a “social life of the africans founded on the african belief, where all human being are members of one family of mankind, (nze, 1989:14). like a system, it gives man a sense of belonging and direction as it recognizes the place and value of the man since it is based on peculiar identity of africans. ikegbu, saw this african communalism as a therapy for healing africans based on the principles of equality, justice and the realization of an egalitarian society and he remarked: egalitarianism as a component in african communal system implies that the philosophy behind the adoption of this system is to ensure a common target, to collectively ensure a (sic) society where people, lives and property would be protected, where things would be collectively owned, (2003:35). a casual look at communalism with its collectivist tendencies may cast rings of doubt on the values of individual liberty and responsibility and as such raises the question such as won't the individuality of the individual be swallowed, jeopardized or even annihilated in the collectivism of communalism? although such fears could be justified, the truth remains that this system of life steeps deep with respect, regard and concern or care for both the individual and the community. it is not the type of respect accorded to one merely out of fear of what one stand to gain or as a formality. respect in this regard is not a matter of reward; rather it is a matter of justice, which remains the chief virtue of the state. it is the granting of esteem, reverence and care to somebody or something that rightly deserves it. even in relation to the human person, appropriate respect that is due to each person is a matter of justice based on the personness of each. that we are all persons, fully human beings, woman or man, child or adult, poor or rich (sic), white or black, each person deserves respect, (iroegbu, 2000:145). each is seen as respectable and respectful due to the communal self-hood which sustains communalism. in the system at its best, the individual's life is made for the glory of the collective body. since the dawn of civilization the place of the individual in community has been a subject of great interest. coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 02 03 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 for the ancient roman empire, stress was placed on the living of either contemplative life (vita contemplativa) or active life (vita activa). the former is life in the household, while the latter is life in the public, and only the free-born strictly speaking participate in the public life. in our context igbo-africa scene, it will be life in the 'ilo'-the village square. this is tied strictly to politics, governance, but since it points to activity, it could be dragged in, within the economic sphere. this is because the africans relations with or contact with his environment (nature) is active than contemplative. in short for the african, life is a constant struggle. so he requires spirited effort to surmount and survive in what he perceives a hostile environment. this is because survival is unsure for according to maquet: “all the adult members must spend the greater part of their energy harvesting enough food for their needs from their environment. definitely the group of people will have a different view of nature from that of a group in which a few members can produce plenty food for all” (1985:22) the essence of this action initiated by our environment is for the good of all. as such, the largest social unit is seen as the clan, made up of villages or communities referred to as umunna in the igbo-african setting. these groups fit properly together as they maintain an extended family system anchored on blood ties and fortified through common ownership of land as the means of production, markets and even shrines. the political unity in african enclave also took its bearing on this same umunna, which has been sustained by some forces: blood ties, kinship ties, common ownership of the means of production and mystical bond weaved by our metaphysics. unfortunately, this traditional togetherness among africans began to suffer with the advent of the colonial masters. the irony in that encounter is that while the colonial invaders saw a lot of material resources in african soil, they refused to see anything good in africans themselves. even human colours (pigmentations) which anthropologists see as nature's gifts to the races received symbolic interpretations from the racists. this is how the black skin and black people acquired purely pejorative symbolism from white imperialists, supremacists, racists and even some writers and even some religious leaders among them. for them black became synonymous with evil, laziness, backwardness, dirtiness (like charcoal) that could stain the 'whiteness' of the 'whites'. this is how the colonial onslaught inflicted mortal wound on the personality, psyche, economic, political and the cultural heritage of the negros. the above presentation gives us a brief insight into the circumstances that gave birth to negritude both as a socio-political movement of protest and intellectual effort at representation of african history and black identity. in this study, we will follow closely the ideas and works of two franco-phone african writers and philosophers leopold s. senghor and aimé césaire. they remain the fathers of negritude. with them we shall demonstrate that black is beautiful and that the world has much to learn from africa as exemplified in the invaluable practice of communalism. it is generally admitted that negritude owes much of its form and content to western philosophical discourses, especially to french intellectual influence. the fact that the two most outstanding exponents of negritude, namely léopold s. senghor and aimé césaire, are deeply impregnated with french culture is taken as a case in point; among the french roots, some scholars single out the profound impact of henri bergson. irele thus maintains, “it is largely the epistemology of bergson that senghor has adopted in his formulation of negritude,” (1981:80). it was this ideology and under this experience that every african cultural value especially their socio-political began to lose their natural quality. in the sociopolitical life of the africans, communalistic tendencies still exist as among their identity amidst the influence and effect of negritude. african socio-political life as value system africans are known for their communal life style. though this community life style is not exclusively african, it has so affected every aspect of their life practices and value system. as such, the african socio-political life as a value system could be traced from the individual to the community. among the africans an individual is in possession of communal self-hood, and as such he originates from his community and in it, his actions, his individuality and substantiality could be identified. this life style requires freedom and liberty for both the individual and the community in the case of choice making. this choice is not only for the individual but also for the community. armed with fundamental liberty and freedom, one is therefore to examine issues, situations and weigh up things in order to make a perfect choice. nze in this communal life style is of the view that: the individual chooses for the community as he chooses for himself and the community chooses through individual choices of members of the community. that is, individual choices roll on to become collective choices. therefore, the individual is a participant in choice determination by the collectivity (1989:13). where there is any conflict between the individuals and community, the communal demands automatically take precedence since individual demands are usurped and appropriated therein. liberty is not necessarily a concept, but makes it easy for one to realize his potentials in the society. “participation in community life is communal liberty. it is the concretization of the common life of a people in daily experience. mutual co-existence that promotes both the individual and communal good is the demand of communal liberty”, (iroegbu, 2000:122). the real liberty equally qualified as liberty for enablement or liberty-enablement concerns itself with access to what makes life sweet, tick and sound. of course, experience will immediately drum the lesson that if liberty-enablement is lacking, all the other kinds of liberty crumble as they will be of no significances. irrespective of the seemingly usurpation of the individual freedom in africa, as such the individual is free. according to nwoko, that leaves african traditional society as a society where the individual is always considered a free, integrated member of his community. his pride in the community is seen as power. the more united he is to the community, the more he sees the community as more extension of the family, (1985, 71). in the suggestion of ikegbu, the logic behind the powering of the community over and above the individual, is to ensure community cooperation and in order to disallow usurpation, (2003, 39). the individual is no longer a member of his community but is mystically bound to his community hence is one with his community. the individual existence is not only corporate, but he lives for, in and through the other (the community), as such devoured of selfish interest. nze puts it beautifully that the ontological being of man in african coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 04 05 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 communalism is unique. in an african communalism, man is man because he functions in a community. he is always elevated beyond his subjective individuality. he is a universal man and in him one detects and locates other men and the entire community is discoverable in him. in his individuality, man is a concrete universal wearing an individual or separate appearance, (1989, 15). though there is collective response, the action of the collectivity is that of the individual, it does not vitiate individual responsibility. it is not uncommon to see both men and women appoint others partners to what they do, or even to oversee to their cooking's. this mode of life which expresses the african perception of reality is imbued with logics. it is logical for in african setting no distance exists between the individual and the other unlike sartre who capped the other 'hell'. in africa, the individual is for the other and vice versa, hence the freedom is indisputable. equality in this case is possible because all are seen as equal. a pivotal question here would be equality of what? as uduigwomen saw african society as based on an extended family system, which in turn expanded into kingship groups, which further extended into clan system, whereupon lies a theoretical basis of african communalism, where then is the equality?(2002,27). in answer to this, nkrumah (1964,61), saw the kinship as the theoretical basis of african communalism which expresses itself on the social level in terms of institutions such as the clan, underlying the initial equality of all the responsibility of man, for one. that does not mean that the individual is not responsible towards the other and the community for he is a person, and remains one only if he participates in what the community does. he must relate actively, can he do this if there are classes, castes, differences? that will be more arduous to achieve. all forms of inequality were abhorred. there was no granting of special privileges to people by virtue of birth, sex, race, wealth, position or class. every member was accorded an equal opportunity to enjoy his material, social and cultural benefits, (uduigwomen, 2002:28). however, upon every attempt man makes to stress and show that all are equal, experience points towards inequality. aristotle, karl marx, cicero, etc tried to adumbrate reasons for human equality based on what each sees as the essential attribute of man. but rousseau did acknowledge human inequalities in his “origin of inequality”. aristotle still insisted that people are not in fact born equal, either, physically mentally or in other respects, so that, the classification of equality between human beings remains of necessity a mere formality (aristotle , op. cit.). amartya sen added his voice: “even though such rhetoric as (all men are born equal) is typically taken to be part and parcel of egalitarianism, the effect of ignoring the interpersonal variations can in fact, be deeply in egalitarian…:” (amartya sen, op. cit). every attempt to construe inequality and amend it in many system of life ends up in inequality. it is upon this stand that ucheaga, (2000:6), posited this question saying, there is a consensus among modern political theorists that society must treat its members equally in some respects. but what are the respects and in what order of priorities remain a point of contention? in african communalism, every man is ontologically equal with the other and yet equal in virtually every other respect. for heidegger, every man is old enough to die. in death, everybody is equal; death is a leveller. it is a common human experience from east to west, north to south. in some other societies, there is no right to life, property, etc. in african society, there is equality with regard to relationship as it is one of the cardinal features of life in africa. maurier even in the bid to stress its importance made it the kernel of basis of african ontology. man is equally free to engage in the exercise of manipulation, that is in the deployment or management of all the other realities of life, as the universe is centred on man. manipulation 'is a permanent activity' for maurier. there is equality of opportunity for anyone to express himself, as one is required to participate in the 'doings in the community in order to be acceptable to the community. amarthya sen remarked that every normative theory of social arrangement that has all stood the test of time seems to demand equality of somethingsomething that is regarded as particularly important in that theory, (12.). thomas nagel talks of economic equality, dworkin talks of equality of resources, rawls talks of equal liberty. in africa, all these are emphasized because virtually everything concerning the individual could be said to be appropriated by the community's appraisal. the cardinal focus remains that the 'i' is in the 'we', communal demands takes precedence over individual demands. on account of liberty and equality, there is respect too, which is at the basis of responsibility. even when community demand is seemingly compulsion among the africans, it does not vitiate individual responsibility since our system is a collective response. man being a creature and creator of culture, making use of his will, indicates continual acceptance of the underlying principles in a place if he continues to be there; for consent remains the highest degree of freedom; and freedom has rights, privileges and responsibilities or obligations attached to it. “an individual is responsible for those actions and consequences which he does or brings about intentionally, that is, those actions he does from choice. in other words, he does what he does knowing what he is doing and being able to do otherwise” (nze, 1989:18). although in makings choices, the individual takes into consideration not only his interests but those of others as unselfish interests have no place in communalism which is tied head to toe by collectivist interests. the individual is still responsible for his actions because he has the obligation to act in such way. nze pointed out “since it is the action of the individual because of his values and obligations, then he is responsible for his actions and their consequences because of his psychological and cultured dependence on his community” (1989:18). in african communalism, which is rooted on igbo-african ontology, with the unitary perception of the universe which engineers the idea of holism, every individual is socially responsible not only to others but for the harmonious wholeness of the entire system. the individual shall do this because his wellbeing too is dependent on it, for he is not separated and cannot be separated from the community. what affects one affects the other. this is because according to temples (1959:60) “the world of forces is held like a spider's web of which no single thread can be caused to vibrate without shaking the whole net-work. you can observe that there is not only individual responsibility, there is equally collective responsibility. “in as much as african communalism is concerned, there is a patterned responsibility accorded to each member of the family (society). accordingly, every member of the family has the responsibility of contributing towards the upkeep and development of the (sic) society” (ikegbu, 2003:35). coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 06 07 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 it is not uncommon to see mechanisms designed and perfected whereby individuals' acts are rewarded by the community, as we have awards in our present day society which should depict those who have shown themselves socially responsible. (today most awards have been politicised). the kind of appropriation in communalism does not connote domination or involve alienation and exploitation in other systems for the individual has responsibility towards the community and vice versa. it is not surprising therefore to observe that there were no idlers, loiterers, beggars in traditional igbo-african society. since these principles are manifested in the cultural sphere, let us then examine the manifestations of communalism in the economic, social and political aspects of our existence (life). communalism in the social, political and economic life of the africans in the consideration of african social life and value, it is equally good to point out that everyone is related to every other one, as decipherable in the igbo-african names like 'nwanna', my brother, 'nwanne', my sister and 'nwadi' my cosine, etc. this relatedness extends even to the spirit world, for daily or yearly africans are in the habit of pouring libation, through which they express in-depth relationship with the living dead, ancestors and spirits. based on the african ontology, onyewuenyi remarked that the africans intend “to strengthen the spirits in turn so as to enable them continue in their intercessory service for the living, which is the essence of the deathless existence of the spirits and god (1984:27). the groups in african social unit are not held together by contract, rather they are held in a cob-web kind of network by not only biological ties, blood tie, kinship tie but equally by the immanent spirit of the clan. so, he is not only a social being as was exist alone except corporately. he owes his existence to other people, including those of past generations and his contemporaries. he is simply part of the whole” (1969:109). he is not just social; he is a communal, communitarian being, a being-inrelation, a being-with, a being-for, and a being integrated to the holistic functioning of reality. even among forces in the igbo-african world, there are interactions. nwala, (1985:167) observed that african political community is a spiritual commonwealth, which comprises the living, the dead and even the gods of the community. although collective action is the underlying principle in africa, on account of the hierarchy of being some people like the elders or chiefs or priests are in positions of authority and as such they exercise a kind of influence in the interaction of forces. the truth is that the chief does not rule single-handedly irrespective of the fact that mostly the three functions of government are reposed in him. the political manifestation is based on our ontology for the chief remains the custodian, hence a link between the living and the dead of the community he oversees. the life force is made to flow through him, so as to reach the rest. the chief is not on his own, but for his people and community. in all these manifestations: the economic, social and political tend to point at a unique world-view which flows from the ontology of the igbo-africans. this is where being is seen as a force and vice versa, and there is interaction among these forces. these manifestations are seen in relation to our attitude towards life and are as rings around the spiritual and central attitude of the people. the economic life of africans is not an exception. its existence must rather be a coexistence, in relation with the others, or else one would not have time and energy for other vital observed by mbiti saying: “in traditional african society, the individual cannot affairs if one must do everything by himself? africans see land as the key means of production. their economic life, therefore depend on land. it is as a result of this dependence that land is sacred. each member of the community owns a piece of land. to deny him land is to deny him life. the head of the family or clan is the custodian of the land which is communally owned and he had to sacrifice to 'ala' – the earth goddess constantly yearly to ensure productivity. though we say that an individual owns a piece of land, it is communally owned. (uduigwomen, 2002) states that the ultimate right of disposal (of land) outside the tribe was essential tribal owned, (27) economic life tended to be essentially communal. mboya argued that it was believed that every member of society exercised tremendous control in all aspects of life. it was this belief that gave rise to the logic and practice of equality and the acceptance of communal ownership of the vital means to life-land. nyerere points towards the communitarian and collective spirit as he states: “that the individual or the families within the tribe were 'rich' or 'poor' according to whether the whole tribe was rich or poor. if the tribe prospered, all the members of the tribe shared its prosperity” (1968:9). look at the above manifestations of the africans in their different communal life style, they live and existed as one family. colour was never a barrier within their socio-political history, as well as in all the above manifested activities in the lives of the africans. they were still found together, appreciating each other in whatever they shared. it is in the spirit of all we have seen above that we can really appreciate the importance of negritude both as a philosophy, ideology, philosophy or spirit of africa. below we will see that indeed negritude as ideology best explains who we are as a people and gives insight into how the theory and praxis of communalism can be better appreciated. the negritude and african communalism negritude as an ideology was only a differentiating factor between the europeans (whites) and the africans (blacks). while the blacks appreciate their colour, the whites did not reject theirs. it was never a discriminating factor or a measure of superiority. among the africans, colour never played any role in their communal life and activities. with western influence and the ideas of some scholars like bergson, some eminent francophone scholars at the time gave negritude an ideology with a different meaning. it then began to negatively affect african communalism, which cut across social, political, economic and especially the cultural life of the african man. it was also observed that negritude at the time “impregnated not only poetry and the novel in africa but also african research in all the different human sciences,” a meticulous knowledge of affiliations is most necessary to decide to what extent the self-appointed african philosophy is authentic, expressive of african indigenous thought (wauthier, 1979:22). it affected the africans and african life so much that even the existence of african philosophy was in doubt. bergson's philosophy so influenced negritude that the impact was felt not only on the established concept, but also on the methodological, and ideological filiations. however, it also raises the question of knowing where negritude departed from bergsonism and to what extent this bifurcation inaugurated a distinctly african discourse especially when we are concerned with one of the deepest african culture or better still value, in the name of communalism. coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 08 09 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 our concern here is not basically on the bergsonian epistemology, connecting negritude with western philosophical positions via the debate opposing the defenders of reason and those who rebelled against its dominance. nor the influential trend of western thinker, the cartesians, whose philosophical project had promised to bring nature as well as human desires, social environment, and aspirations under the governance of reason. our concern here is mainly on what level of influence western interpretation of negritude has on the african socio-political life. was this european background of a receding authority of reason enough to inspire negritude's radical profession of non-rationality? blackness in the manner of senghor and césaire, seem to be looking at africans in their colour as backwardness and primitivism, since the western world began to feel that progress in some aspects of life could mean regress in other areas of life, (kebede, 1995). this is to suggest that african progress in their cultural belief could mean regress in the area of modern civilization. a little reflection into the connection between french culture in general and negritude can be used to settle the issue pertaining to the alleged difference between french and british colonial methods. truly in no small measure has this affected the african socio-political life. this is because seeing negritude as a brain child of the french soil, with the french assimilationist policy, as opposed to the british system of indirect rule, one will understand that the forced assimilation brought about a reaction of “passionate exaltation of the black race” in lieu of the restraint that prevailed in the british colonies of africa, (irele, 1981:68). a distinction of this nature between the two colonial powers is hopelessly futile; in both cases we find the same policy of “reduction and acculturation”, (mudimbe, 1988:68). if at all it means something, it must be that the french outcry against the supremacy of reason was more conducive to an exalted assertion of blackness than the subdued atmosphere of british empiricism. however, our concern here is not mainly on the epistemological content of negritude but rather as it affects on the african person or their africanity, (africanness) that is, in what really makes them africans. besides, the geographical entity known as africa cannot be classified as a national community, nor defined in terms of a common language, culture or world view. ideologically, the northern part of africa, predominantly muslim, identifies more with the arab world than with sub-shara africa. according to southern africa's policy of apartheid, until recently whites have not considered themselves as africans; indeed, the whole idea of apartheid has been aimed at dehumanizing africans on the basis of colour. whites have their affiliations with the caucasians of western europe and the united states as the home of their forebears. thus, we are left with the sub-saharan southwest and central africa, often referred to as the "real" africa or "black africa", they are the negros, (jahnheinzjahn, 1961:19-21). yet there are the african americans (courtesy of the reverend jesse jackson) and the african caribbeans (socalled "black souls in a white world") who by accident or design are black migrants or descendants of former slaves. there are the offspring of intermarriages between africans and non-africans. these people are popularly known as half-casts and often battle with the challenge of their true identity (downs, 1972). who then wears the african badge; is it possible to have in-between africans or people more or less african than others? so why not appreciate the africans for who they are, black or white? negritude and its effect on socio-political life of africans on socio-political life of africans, colour does not seem to provide the ultimate answer to the question of african identity. there are many light-skinned people in africa, just as there are so many dark-skinned people in other parts of the world. it is, however, noteworthy that most of the attempts at identifying the african, even by africans themselves, have never quite succeeded in getting away from the question of colour. one possible explanation is the fact that the human mind often tends to work within established categories such that opinions earlier held tend to influence subsequent views. some of the theories proffered as to the content of africanity lean heavily on the question of race and colour. negritude is one such theory. the question of race, the african does not pass simply, like any other person, but is always considered minutely with uncanny curiosity. frantz fanon shares his personal experience: the schema of my normal body experience had dissolved, attacked at several points, gave way and was replaced by a schema that was racial and epidemic. in the train, i was responsible at one and the same time for my body, for my race, for my ancestors. i looked at myself objectively, discovered my blackness, my ethnic characteristics. and i understand all that was being held against me: cultural backwardness, fetishism, slavery, cannibalism.i wanted to be a human being, nothing more than a human being, (1967:114). as a result of this kind of situation, many african americans wanted to become white to liberate themselves from the burdensome memory represented by a more highly pigmented skin; others wanted to seek their salvation in the acquisition of the african heritage in the newfangled spirit of pan-africanism. the grand division of humanity as caucasoid, negroid, and mongoloid seems to be altogether arbitrary. for instance, the blacks in india or sri lanka do not look like the bantus in africa. nor can one accurately point to differences in mental and intellectual endowments as criteria since geniuses as well as dunces exist in every camp. that is why we decided to consider a little of bergsonian epistemology. another fallacy, based on an incomplete understanding of the theory of evolution, is the idea that some races have some of what have been termed "primitive" features such as hairiness, thinness or thickness of lips or heels, etc (downs, 1972). the point here is that there is no justification to be drawn from history, geography, sociology, anthropology, or anatomy to support the idea of one race being innately superior to another. the percentage of people who are battling with this mental challenge even among africans themselves is surprising. one such person is leopold sedar senghor of ivory coast. rationalizing with color senghor's negritude sees the common factor of africanity as consisting in the state of being black or negritude. this is clearly an extrinsic and superficial analysis. he describes negritude as: the whole complex of civilized values, cultural, economic, social and political which characterize the black peoples, or precisely the negro-african world. all these values are essentially formed by intuitive reason, which expresses itself emotionally through self-surrender . . . through myths . . . and above all, through primordial rhythms synchronized with those of the cosmos, (senghor, 1972:250). coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 10 11 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 these values, according to senghor, consist in the sense of communion, the gift of mythmaking, and the gift of rhythm. negritude is community-based: communal and not collectivistic. though socialist in character, it is founded on spiritual and democratic values. senghor's analysis understandably met with criticism in that he, among other things, advocated a process of miscegenation which hopefully would get rid of the dark pigmentation over the generations. he also considers the african as emotional rather than rational: "emotion is black,… reason is greek, (senghor, 1964:24)." when confronted with these things, senghor in a work he titled, on african socialism, was not about to change his views, expressed thus: “young people have criticized me for reducing negro-african knowledge to pure emotion, for denying that there is an african `reason.'… i should like to explain myself once again…. european reasoning is analytical, discursive by utilisation; negro-african reasoning is intuitive by participation” (1964:74). as if to complete his coup de grace, senghor ventures into the area of epistemology and claims that african epistemology starts from a different basic postulate: "he (the african) does not realise that he thinks; he feels that he feels, he feels his existence, he feels himself”' (iroegbu, 1984:64). hence his epistemology begins with the premise following rene descartes, "i feel, therefore i am." senghor never said how he came about this outrageous conclusion and on what basis such stereotypes, can claim validity. one would wonder if such conclusions were a result of some careful thought or an attempt to confirm his assertion that africans feel rather than reason. for that matter, bergson represents the philosophical culmination of the french protest against the rule of reason. but this characterisation falls short of indicating the specific contributions of bergson unless it brings out the sharp and resounding concepts by which bergson articulated and redefined the spiritual ambiance. the appropriation of these special conceptual tools as well as arguments was crucial for negritude's crusade against historicism and eurocentrism. what is said here is no mere speculation, since senghor himself has overtly hailed the appearance of bergson's time and free will: an essay on the immediate data of consciousness (trans1960) as “the revolution of 1889, (209).” it was a revolution because it had a profoundly upsetting effect on art, literature, and science through the suggestion that “facts and matter, which are the objects of discursive reason, were only the outer surface that had to be transcended by intuition in order to achieve a vision in-depth of reality”(senghor, 1988:105-209). in the above thoughts of senghor, it became obvious that his effort is to reconcile african socio-political activities with the concept of negritude. as such we are to look at the inner being not the colour in all our activities be it social, political, economic or cultural. though our different minds, understanding and ideology have been affected directly or indirectly by the foreign meaning of negritude in our views of the african socio-political life, this paper calls for a redirection of the mindset. conclusion communalism as a system of life is one of the characteristics of african people. it is a system of life where africans work and live together. the existence of one is dependent on the other. it is a system of life that is based on 'i' – 'thou' relationship. communalism is a life style in which one lives and exists because others are living and existing. it is a system of life devoid of any form of discrimination either of colour or personality. all are considered equal not only on the socio-political african life but also on the economic and cultural activities of the african people. the advent of western invaders dealt a fatal blow on this noble african practice of communalism. this led to reactions from some african elites like senghor and aime who proposed an expounded negritude as a remedy to the challenge. unfortunately negritude itself encountered some ideological challenges leading to serious criticisms by even africans themselves. in spite of these issues, senghor insisted loudly that despite the derogatory attitude of the white imperialists, africans should appreciate their colour and look unto black as also essentially good, beautiful, valid and genuine. he and other african writers and activists like martin luther king jr. malcom x, franz fanon, nelson mandela etc, kept impressing it on africans to reject all forms of mental slavery and inferiority complex. looking down on our colour will in the final analysis hinge the african identity precariously upon color, while ignoring the ontology which is the root of our personal identity. in-deed it is when africans accept themselves for what/who they are, when they rejoice at their blackness as the symbol of african pride that they can really appreciate the theory and praxis of communalism. communalism is hinged on equality for all. it is africa's great gift to humanity in a world characterized by selfishness, division, religious bigotry/terrorism, racism, xenophobia and immoral capitalism. reference abiola, i. (1981). the african experience in literature and ideology, london: heinemann. bergson, (trans. 1960). time and free will: an essay on the immediate data of consciousness as resolution of 1889:209. downs, james f. (1972). cultures in crisis, london: colliermacmillan. fanon, f. (1967). the wretched of the earth, with a preface by jean-paul sartre, translated by constance farrington. ikegbu, e. (2003). “african communalism” in ozumba, g.o. (ed.), a colloquim on african philosophy, vol.1, calabar: pyramid publishers. iroegbu, p. (1984). enwisdomisation and african philosophy, owerri: international university press. iroegbu, p. (2000). treatise on the human person, nigeria: eustel publications. jahnheinz, jahn, (1961). muntu: an outline of neo-african culture, trans. by marjorie greene, london: faber and faber. kebede, m. (1995). remarques sur la conception bergsonienne de l'histoire, les etudes philosophiques,4. king m. l., (august 28, 1963). i have a dream, (audio speech delivered in washinton dc on august 28, 1963, kinginstitute.edu. maquet, j. (1985). africanity, london: oxford university press. coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 12 13 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 mbiti, j.s. (1969). african religions and philosophy, london: heinemann. mboya, t. h., (1962). freedom and after, london: andie delitsch. mudimbe, v. y. (1988). the invention of africa, bloomington: indiana university press. nkuruma, k. (1964). consciencism, london: panaf publication. nwala, t.u. (1985). igbo philosophy, lagos: lantern books. nwoko, m.i., (1985). the rationality of african socialism, roma: university press. nyerere, j.k. (1968). freedom and socialism, dares salaam: oxford university press. nze, c.b., (1989). aspects of african communalism, onitsha: veritas press. onyewuenyi, i. c. (1984). igbo (african) philosophy. unpublished w o r k , n s u k k a : university of nigeria. s e n g h o r, l . s . ( 1 9 7 2 ) . w h a t i s n e g r i t u d e ? i n i d e o l o g i e s o f t h e developing nations, paul e. sigmund, (ed.), new york: praeger publishers. senghor, l.s. (1964). negritude et humanisme, paris: seuil publishers. senghor, l. s. (1964). on african socialism. london: pall mall. senghor, l.s. (june-november 1956).the spirit of civilisation or the laws of african negro culture. an address given at the first international conference of negro writers and artists, conference proceedings. in presence africaine , special issue (junenovember 1956:64). senghor, léopold s. (1970).negritude: a humanism of the twentieth century. in w. cartey & m. kilson, (eds.),the africa reader, new york: vintage books. senghor, l.s. (1988). the revolution of 1889. in ce que je crois, paris: bernard grasset. temples, p. (1959). bantu philosophy, paris: presence africaine. ucheeaga, d.n. (2000). the enigma of equality. in sophia: an african journal of philosophy,2(2), calabar: pyramid publishers. uduigwomen, a.f. (2002).african communalism: individual freedom versus communal demands. in sophia: an african journal of philosophy,4(1), calabar: pyramid publishers. wauthier, c. (1979). the literature and thought of modern africa, washington dc: three continents press, inc. page 1 page 2 page 3 page 4 page 5 page 6 page 7 page 8 page 9 page 10 page 11 page 12 page 13 text book journal pdf sis. noelle 01 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 abstract the coronavirus disease (covid-19) that started out as an epidemic in wuhan, china in december 2019 has become a pandemic, affecting the whole world. the first confirmed case of the disease in nigeria was announced on 27 february 2020, when an italian citizen in lagos tested positive for the viral infection. since then, nigeria has witnessed the spread of this disease across the different states of the country. the pandemic has impacted both global and local economies in several ways along with other implications. in nigeria the disease has impacted areas such as economy, health, social, religion, and others. this paper using critical analysis of observations of events within the church in nigeria and other publications from written and online sources, examines the effects of covid-19 on the christians and their churches in nigeria. it argues that the pandemic has impact on the church. it highlights the negative and positive impact of the pandemic on the church. the negative impacts include loss of human lives, church closure, trauma, and decline in church finance. the positive impacts include survival strategies, promotion of unity, enhanced church/government co-operation, and spiritual revival. the paper recommends that the church should innovate ways for survival such as virtual services, collection of church funds through modern banking transactions. these strategies will help the church during the covid-19 infection period and beyond. key words: impact, coronavirus, church, christianity, pandemic, fellowship introduction today, coronavirus (codvid-19) has become a pandemic affecting the whole world. when the novel coronavirus started in the chinese port city, wuhan in december 2019, many never saw a virus with the power to disrupt the global economy and health. the disease was seen as a local chinese problem probably restricted to wuhan. however, the disease within a short period has spread almost all over countries of the world. for example the disease has been confirmed in 188 countries with more than 4.8 million confirmed cases, and more than 300,000 people who have lost their lives (bbc news, 2020). all the 56 countries in africa have reported confirmed cases of coronavirus infection (who, african region, 2020). the first confirmed case of the pandemic in nigeria was announced on 27 february 2020, when an italian citizen in lagos tested positive for the virus, (nigerian centre for disease control (ncdc), 2020). tama, suleiman samuel phd department of philosophy and religious studies nasarawa state university, keffi gsm: 08092159979 e-mail: sthama2007@gmail.com and jacob, danboyi kauna department of christian religious studies nasarawa state college of education, akwanga gsm: 08060920198 impact of the 2019-20 coronavirus (covid-19) pandemic on the church in nigeria as at may 21, 2020, coronavirus disease has spread to 34 states of nigeria and the federal capital territory (fct) with 7,016 confirmed cases, 4,898 active cases, 1,907 recovered and discharged cases, and 211 deaths (ncdc, 2020). this pandemic has impact on nigeria in several ways. the areas of impact include economy, social, health, education, religious, and others. some scholars such as lateef o. akanni and samuel c. gabriel (2020), justice nwafor ( 2020), and ruth olurounbi (2020), have written on the socioeconomic impact and other related effects of corona virus in nigeria. however, the effect of this pandemic on the church is yet to be fully probed. this paper examines the impact of this infection on the christians and their churches in nigeria. this is done in three parts. the first part analyses the negative effects of the pandemic. the second part interrogates the positive or constructive response of the christians to the pandemic. the paper ends with a conclusion. negative effects the pandemic has negatively impacted the church in nigeria in some ways. however, four of the effects are examined. they include loss of human lives, psychological impact, closure of churches and church finance. these are discussed in details below. loss of human lives the outbreak of coronavirus pandemic in nigeria has resulted to the death of about 211 people as at may 21, 2020 (ncdc). this is not the first time lives are lost to a disease of this nature. ohadike d. c (1991) reported that the global total death recorded during the 1918-19 influenza pandemic was about 21 million people within a 12-month period. the total death for nigeria due to the disease was about 500,000 people, out of a population of 18 million, who died in less than 6 months. although the ncdc report on the covid-19 does not provide information on the religious affiliations of the 211 dead people, there is no doubt some of them are christians as well as people of other faiths. before this pandemic is brought under control, many more lives are likely to be lost. death can be devastating. it is painful, and may bring hurt; anger, depression, and sadness to people that have lost their loved ones as well as the church family. this is because the church family has to accept the reality that it is never going to see their dead members again. trauma the psychological impact of the pandemic can never be underestimated. as at may 21, 2020, the 40,043 people that had to be tested, isolated, and 6,401 admitted for treatment experienced psychological trauma. church members in nigeria have been socially isolated and have experienced dramatic and rapid losses in their lives, all while having little preparation for a crisis of this magnitude. michael j. salas (2020) has noted that the rapid shift people have to make from a “normal life” to extreme uncertainty a few days and weeks gave a little time to adjust to changes that were coming. the trauma and lack of social support and services are harmful to people and may have lasting effects on their physical and mental health. in addition, other losses in terms of businesses and redundancies make many individuals and families to become destitute through the material and economic devastation of the pandemic therefore increasing stress. in others, the stress from the pandemic may manifest in various forms such as increase anxiety, sleep disturbances, and nightmares. coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 02 03 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 closure of churches/suspension of church gatherings one of the major steps taken by the government to slow down the spread of corona virus was the suspension of all forms of religious gatherings. surely closing churches will help limit social interaction and thus reduce the number of transmissions. many churches have suspended their major and weekly activities, including sunday services, which usually attract thousands of worshippers. this is not the first time church services are suspended in nigeria. sam adeyemi, the senior pastor of the daystar christian centre, says churches, mosques, schools and markets were shut in nigeria during the influenza pandemic which hit the world in 1918 (mayowa, 2020). although lagos state government was the first to suspend religious gatherings, it has become a national action. several christian denomination leaders issued instructions to their members to abide by government's instruction. for example, pastors paul and ifeanyi adefarasin of house on the rock church, pastor william kumuyi, leader of deeper life bible church and other church leaders issued statements stopping church services (chris, 2020). similarly, samson ayokunle, leader of the nigerian baptist convention and the president christian association of nigeria (can), instructed all baptists as well as christians in nigeria to abide by government directives. every state in nigeria has issued guidelines or orders limiting social interaction. but these rules do not always apply evenly when it comes to in-person worship services and other religious gatherings. for example, while lagos state gave opportunity for 50 worshippers in a service, nasarawa state gave room for 20 worshippers. in some places such as lagos and abuja it took not only threats, but force and arrests of some pastors and church leaders for the message to get across. while there are good reasons for closing churches, and that we should follow government guidelines, we also need to be aware of the potential consequences. the suspension of in-person church services has denied several christians the opportunity of congregational fellowship with other church members. we need to consider carefully the cost of closing churches. not the financial cost, but rather the psychological, emotional and spiritual costs to people. there are many people for whom the weekly gatherings of the lord's people are a real strength and community to them. these fellowship meetings provide support for those who are lonely and isolated. the gatherings give the word of god and hope to the people (david robertson, 2020). from biblical perspective, the term church or 'ecclesia' means 'gathered assembly'. this connotes that christianity involves the gathering of people. where there is no gathering, there is no church. physical people gather to fellowship, observe the sacraments, pray together, worship, sing and dance together. when meetings to not hold, then we may not say the church exists (robertson, 2020). the interaction that we have with one another when we fellowship at church services helps us to develop the fruit of god's spirit—love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (galatians 5:2223). paul shows that the church is truly christ's body, and like the human body, each part depends upon the other parts. furthermore, if the pandemic persists for a longer period, some christians may not see again the relevance of congregational worship. some may even scale back their attendance of church services because of the coronavirus – in many cases, presumably because churches and other houses of worship have cancelled services. but this does not mean they have disengaged from collective worship entirely. they would have become familiar with watching religious services online or on television instead of attending in person. therefore, these regular worshippers would have replaced personal attendance with virtual worship. however, we argue that when the pandemic is over, regular congregational services will resume. this is because nigerians, and indeed africans generally like to congregate. again, the church may not be the same as it used to be after the corona pandemic. some churches may witness a big reduction in their membership as many members might just want to continue worshipping god from homes. church finances coronavirus pandemic has implications for reduced financial giving through tithes and offering for the churches. in a research done by the authors on giving in 20 churches of different denominations in keffi, nasarawa for the months of march and april 2020, all the churches reported decline of about 50 per cent of their average weekly collection prior to the period of the coronavirus pandemic. researches also done in the united states of america on giving in churches showed that there was significant decline in giving when the pandemic started (jessica mouser (2020) adelle m. banks (2020), michelle boorstein (2020), meagan clark and liza vandenboom 2020). several factors are responsible for this poor giving. one of the reasons is that some of the church members who are artisans, taxi drivers, work daily to get money are not able to work due to lockdown that has affected economic activities. for example, some commercial tricycle riders interviewed on their giving to churches since the start of the pandemic reported that they have not given anything to the church. their inability to give was because they were not working. therefore, such categories of members do not have any money to give to the church. another factor identified by a pastor was that most of his church members, especially the older generation, and the less educated or illiterate were more comfortable in giving cash as offering during in-person church services. only the younger people use modern banking facilities. therefore, because congregational services do not hold, the opportunity of giving is affected negatively. in addition, only well-educated as well as young church members who have embraced modern banking technologies are able to make their contributions to the churches without any difficulties. furthermore, congregational church services in nigeria have certain programmes targeted at generating money. such programmes include monthly birthday thanksgivings, marriage thanksgiving, child dedication, and other special events. the cessation of church services automatically stops these programmes thereby blocking church income from these sources. reduced giving to churches has implication for the smooth running of its ministries. one of the pastors of a baptist church in keffi, nasarawa state, interviewed about his church finances for the months of march and april 2020, reported that it “has been difficult and we have been unable to pay the salaries for church workers as well as make contributions to other sister denominational bodies that we belong to.” the implication is that these other bodies referred to, are also affected. poor church finances have affected some churches and church related organisations. for example, the conference president of benue-nasarawa baptist conference (a third baptist denominational of organisation), reported that they have not been able to pay their workers' salaries since february, 2020. he attributed the reasons to the failure of many churches in the conference to send money to the office due to the coronavirus crisis. one pastor also stated that since the pandemic started, the church building project has been coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 04 05 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 affected. the work was stopped in the month of march 2020 due to lack of funds. there is no doubt, inadequate funding will affect different aspects of church ministries and activities. positive impact the positive impact of the pandemic discussed in this section is in the context of unintended outcomes of the disease. this does not in any way justify the occurrence of infection for the benefits it brings. rather, this is understood in the christian context of the bible verse of romans 8:28 which states that: “and we know that in all things god works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose (new international version).” some of these positive impacts include survival strategies and innovations brought into church life, determination and commitment, co-operation and support to government among others. survival strategies jenkins (2008), opines that faiths are dynamic, and periods of difficulty or persecution can have the effect of forcing believers to evolve some ideas and practices that enable them to adapt and survive even in the new world that they have found themselves in. this we can say is the situation that applies to the christians in nigeria in relation to the novel corona virus pandemic. some of the coping methods adopted include modifications of church services and other activities, ways of giving, and others. in response to governments at different levels banning church services, different church denominations and groups adopted different models of worship services. for example the nigerian baptist convention instructed its churches to meet in house fellowships/cells or units. in a letter dated march 19, 2020, samson ayokunle, the leader of the baptists issued advised all churches of the convention that: “all services and gatherings at church base should be in small cell groups not more than 40 in number or as decided by the state government”. a prominent leader,pastor adeboye of the redeemed christian church of god (rccg) also advised his churches to adopt house cell method. adeboye held a service on sunday 22 march, but it was a congregation of less than 20 in compliance with a lagos state directive ( 'tofe, 2020). the house cells and fellowships fixed their meetings as agreed by the members of the groups. these meetings usually held in private residences. the reversal to house fellowship meetings, although robbed members of the fellowship of a larger congregation, brought members closer together as in the early church in acts of the apostles. apart from the use of house cells, some churches have adopted online services. for example, sam adeyemi, the senior pastor of daystar church, is holding online services. various other churches are doing the same across the country (toye, 2020). samson ayokunle of the nigerian baptist convention advised his pastors to preach and disseminate information online to members and use skype or any other online service provider to conduct services like naming or any similar functions. a number of nigerian churches today use some of the modern technologies to minister to their members virtually. although these are good alternative innovations, the older people and the not well educated people are not able to handle such technologies. in addition, the use of online services may only be suitable for churches in urban centres. michelle boorstein (2020), argues that the virus may speed up a cruel evolution — the end of congregations that have not embraced technology for functions such as streaming services, paying bills and using cloud computing. that includes congregations with members who can't afford devices or connectivity. in order not to starve churches of funds, deliberate steps have been taken by some denominations to ensure that churches make their contributions. the leader of the baptist denomination advised that members should be faithful in their giving. such offerings and donations should be done through the small groups and sent to the appropriate persons handling church funds. some churches had to encourage members to embrace online banking, which may pose a problem to older people. nigerian churches everywhere now know that they must use multiple avenues to reach their communities, and not just large corporate gatherings. in today's world any model can fail overnight. even now, if the internet was to shut down (and it could), the online ministries would end immediately. promotion of christian unity the issue of denominationalism among christians is very strong in nigeria. christians in nigeria have denominational divisions: however, all christians see themselves as brothers and sisters. in 1976 the christian association of nigeria (can) was founded by the christians in nigeria to foster unity among the various denominations in the country. with this association the christians are able to present a common front on issues that affect them in the country. therefore, during this pandemic denominational differences were put aside while christians jointly prayed together for the healing of the country and the world. as a matter of fact samson ayokunle, the can president sent out letters to christians in the country to pray for god's intervention on the pandemic crisis. a number of churches responded positively to his appeal. in addition, when churches started house fellowships, some people did not consider denomination as an issue. they joined the group meetings within their neighbourhood in spite of their denominational differences. for example, some house fellowships of a baptist church in keffi, nasarawa state reported that members of other denominations joined them in their meetings since they did not have their own denominational home churches within the community. such interdenominational fellowships can contribute to strong christian unity. enhancement church/government cooperation the church has been playing a great role in supporting the government in nigeria, especially on issues relating to human wellbeing. this act of giving support is being played out since the outbreak of the deadly (covid-19) pandemic in nigeria (uma and abiaziem, 2020). some churches have donated to government to ease the effect caused by the pandemic. different types of contributions have been made by the churches. they range from the contributions of buildings, ambulances, equipments, consumables and food items. for example, the catholic bishop of yola diocese, most rev stephen mamza says the catholic church has made available 100 rooms in the pastoral centre in yola, adamawa state to be used by the government in its fight against covid-19 (adamawa times, 2020). the catholic church in nigeria pledged to make available all its 435 hospitals and clinics in nigeria's dioceses and archdioceses along with other services that may be needed by the government (peter, 2020). the presiding bishop of the upper churches worldwide, in adamawa state, bishop peter makanto, also donated a hundred-bed capacity hospital to the state government to be used as isolation centre for coronavirus suspected cases in the state (frcn, 2020). coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 06 07 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 in addition, the rccg made a donation of 11 intensive care units, icu, beds fully fitted with ventilators in lagos, ogun and plateau states to contribute to the improvement of healthcare facilities in nigeria, which is now found to be very useful as the government works round the clock to curtail covid-19 pandemic. furthermore, the church has donated some medical supplies to the lagos state government to support its efforts in equipping medical staff with necessary protective gears needed to contain the coronavirus pandemic. the items include 8,000 hand sanitizers, 8,000 surgical face masks and 200,000 hand gloves (eyoboka, 2020). living faith church worldwide (winners' chapel international) equally made donations of ambulances, test kits, personal protective equipment (ppe) to the lagos and ogun state governments, to assist in the fight against the coronavirus (covid-19) scourge in nigeria. the church also donated medical resources and food items as part of its phased and continuous support to the nigerian authorities in taming the covid-19 pandemic and the biting effects of the lockdown on poor citizens of the country (uma and abiaziem, 2020). in addition, the deeper christian life ministry (dclm), has donated food items which included hundreds of bags of rice in palliatives to the lagos state government. the foursquare gospel church nigeria also donated foodstuffs to the lagos state government to assist in providing palliatives to cushion the effect of the covid-19 lockdown in the state. the donation, which included 500 bags of rice, packed in 5 kg bags and 200 cartons of noodles (uma and abiaziem, 2020). several church groups have made contributions towards the coronavirus pandemic. these contributions have no doubt supplemented governments' fight against covid-19. spiritual development, revival and commitment despite the lingering uncertainty, covid-19 pandemic offers us an opportunity for positive spiritual development as individuals as well as a community of believers and could even lead to the growth of the church (solomon, 2020). with the closure of churches, the christian congregations are determined to exist and function despite the challenges being faced. getting through these testing times require a lot of 'spiritual innovation'. amid this situation, nigerian christians were encouraged to stay back, pray from home, and using the prayer resources provided by their groups or denominations. for example, samson ayokunle, the leader of the baptist denomination in nigeria and the president can, in a letter to the baptist churches in nigeria advised them as follows; “let all baptist churches join the rest of christian association of nigeria to observe prayers against coronavirus on sunday 22 and 29, march” (ayokunle, 2020). different church groups organised prayers for the pandemic. coronavirus pandemic in nigeria ceased religious freedom but rekindled people’s faith in god as they embarked on prayers. human beings generally whether christians or nonbelievers turn to prayers in a time of crisis (sherwood, 2018). often the pastors play a major role in conducting church services. however, a call to pray from home transfers greater responsibility to non-ordained members. praying from home will bring in a faithful realisation that all can have access to god through christ jesus (ephesians 2:18), and all have the priestly responsibility of interceding for other people to god (1 peter 2:9). it will be a time for understanding that, similar to fellowships in physical church buildings, family members praying together in their homes is also the real church (body of christ) in a spiritual sense. the call to pray from home equally assures god's presence in line with what jesus said in the gospel of matthew 18:20: 'for where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am i in the midst of them'. such a divine responsibility needs to be handled with faith. covid-19 pushes us hard to rekindle our faith to see god's intervention in overpowering the disastrous effect of coronavirus (psalm 91) (sherwood, 2018). in other ways the church is stronger and more resilient than many anticipated. its ability to respond by the leading of the holy spirit is astounding. the true church will not be diminished by crisis but empowered (fred, 2020). michelle boorstein (2020) argues that some clergy see the virus as a divinely inspired challenge, a chance to refocus on the core of their faith, to purify, to pray in the quiet, to worry less about building funds and costly programming and to think more about getting out and helping the needy, about evangelising. the pandemic has also brought about spiritual revival in peoples' lives. for example, during holy week this year, over 100,000 people came to faith in christ thanks to a livestream event that was viewed by over 1.7 million people in homes around the world including nigeria (briggs, 2020). while other revivals in the past have been tied to a particular location, this overwhelming response is being called the “great quarantine revival” and is not tied to any one place. there is an explosion of spiritual hunger across the middle east and north africa, iran, iraq and turkey where people are seeking real hope and real answers by turning their lives to jesus christ (rex, 2020). revivals and awakenings in the past have almost always occurred during times of great disruption and social upheaval. for example, ayegboyin and ishola (1997), opined that the rise of african indigenous churches in south western nigeria as well pentecostal revival is closely associated with the 1918-19 influenza pandemic. it is possible that a revival would come out of this time of disruption and the church would emerge from it stronger. conclusion this paper has argued that the covid-19 pandemic has impacted the church in nigeria both negatively and positively. one of the greatest negative effects is the shift of religious services to home fellowships/home cells, and gathering of persons to online worship. while many churches in nigeria, especially the pentecostal mega churches and some mission churches in urban centres have used communication methods to reach their audiences, such as radio, television and online media, the cessation of congregational worship is one of the most significant sudden disruptions in the practice of christianity in nigerian history. the stoppage of in-person services has contributed to decline in church finance. the ultimate effect of this is that the church is put into financial difficulty of meeting the needs of its obligations. the pandemic has also brought about the loss of some members. these losses and the fear and anxiety of dealing with the pandemic have impacted members psychologically. in spite of these negative effects of the pandemic, the church has innovated ways of survival such as breaking into small groups and meeting in homes, holding of online virtual worship, encouraging online giving among others. the church supports the government in its efforts to curb the spread of the infection. the nigerian church is passing through a period of revival and will emerge stronger when the pandemic is over. to ensure its continuous survival, the church must adopt new strategies such as use of virtual services, house cells/fellowships, and encouraging church members to use modern banking technologies in giving money to the church. coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 08 09 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 references adelle, m. b. 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(2020). covid 19: are churches' donations to government misplaced priorities? independent, sunday may 3, 2020. world health organisation (who) african region, (2020).covid-19 who african region external s i t u a t i o n r e p o r t 1 1 , 1 3 m a y 2 0 2 0 . r e t r i e v e d f r o m h t tps: / /apps.who. int / ir is /bi ts tream/handle/10665/332078/sitrep_covid19_whoafro_20200513-eng.pdf page 1 page 2 page 3 page 4 page 5 page 6 page 7 page 8 page 9 page 10 text book journal pdf sis. noelle 01 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 abstract the state of insecurity has increased in nigeria since the wake of the fourth republic in 1999. the heightened state of insecurity in the country could be blamed partly on increased protestations across the country. various parts of nigeria are saddled with the problem of terrorism, insurgency, militarization, secession, herdsmen attack, cattle/farmers rustling, banditry, kidnapping and other sectional and religious agitations. all the enumerated problems could probably be linked to bad governance which in turn has given rise to youth restiveness as a result of unemployment, poor infrastructure, poor policies and corruption. violence and insecurity constitute a major challenge to planning for economic development and nation-building. they contribute immensely to the waste of the scarce resources in nigeria. they are harbingers of destruction of lives and property. this paperhas therefore for its objective to explore the challenges posed by violence and insecurity on economic development and nation-building in nigeria and their effect on the psyche of the people. normative method approach and failed state theory are used to dissect the happenings caused by violence and insecurity in nigeria since fourth republic (1999-2020) and to analyse its implications for economic development and nation-building.the paper made use of data collected mainly from secondary sources such as books, journals and internet reports. the findings reveal that violence and insecurity have indeed constituted serious impediment to economic growth and nation-building within the period covered by this work. keywords: violence, insecurity, economic development, nation-building, nigeria's fourth republic. introduction the politics of fourth republic in nigeria (1999-2020) has been volatile as it is related with violence and insecurity and various conflicts of different scope and dimensions. notable conflicts and killings included but not limited to odua progress congress (opc) verses hausa settlers conflict in lagos in july 18,1999; opc versus ibo traders at alaba international market lagos, july 13, 1999; opc versus ijaw youths, october 28, 1999; opc versus hausa yam traders in lagos, nov 25, 1999; igbo versus hausa in aba and owerri, february 2000; jos conflicts between muslims and christians sept 11, 2001 and 2004; fulani versus zakibiam in benue state and taraba states october 2001; tarok versus hausa conflict in wase local government area plateau state, 2002 and 2005 (ezeogidi 2013). others include the numerous fulani herdsmen attacks in kaduna in adamawa state, august 2016 (tvc news online aug 2, cynado c.n.o. ezeogidi ph.d ozioma victoria okezie esther chiamaka okezie department of history and international studies chukwuemeka odumegwu ojukwu university, igbariam, nigeria violence and insecurity: a challenge to economic development and nation-building in nigeria's fourth republic 1999-2020 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 02 2016), fulani herdsmen attack in belon in benue state, may, 2018 (tvc news online february 20, 2020), fulani headsmen attack in uwheru community in delta state, february 2020 and fulani herdsmen attack in mbanyiar community in guma local government area in benue state on march 8, 2020 (al jazeera news online may 7, 2020).these conflicts have posed serious challenges to the country's economic development and inevitably slow down the country's nation-building process. prior to the fourth republic, there were certainly pockets of insecurity in nigeria which were more spread out in the niger delta area. nwuba (1997:204) opines there was unpleasant and inevitable restiveness in the region because it appears that the “blessing of the nigerian nation and the world in general is turning to a curse or woes”. explaining further, nwuba writes: from the earliest time in recent history, the niger delta region of nigeria has never been incorrigibly insular nor irrationally imperious to internal and external restiveness. armed conflicts and traditional restiveness have become part of their custom or culture. the above statement refers to the period when, activists like ken saro-wiwa and company were considered threats to nigeria state under gen sani abacha whose regime tried and summarily executed them. violence is however increasingly becoming more widespread in nearly all parts of the federal republic of nigeria. from the southern forest region to the mambilla plateau, down to the savannah regions of the north, insecurity, violence and conflicts have infested the many parts our country as people witness increasing conflicts especially in jos and its surroundings. jos conflicts, tarok versus hausa conflicts mentioned above and others serve as classical example. militarisation, secession, herdsmen and boko haram attacks, kidnapping, armed banditry have become the order of the day. every geographical region in nigeria has its peculiarity. in the east, it is secession as championed by the independent people of biafra (ipob) and other similar bodies; in the far north, it is the boko haram attacks; in the north west, it is the kidnappers, armed bandits and cattle rustlers; in the north central, it is the fulani herdsmen; in the south west, the same herdsmen and kidnappers, and in the niger delta, it is the militarisation of the youth. all these pose some major challenges to the economic development of nigeria and constitute severe impediment to the country's nation building process in this fourth republic. if we take mittee (2011:91-97) logic into consideration, it will be evident to us here that these acts of violence and insecurity take some negative tolls on nigeria's economy. mittee gave a practical example that between 2006 and 2008, kidnappers and hostage takers pocked ransoms of over $100 million (about n 15 billion). also about 680,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil was lost to oil theft, whilst 1.3 million bpd was shut in for six months in 2009. this paper therefore investigates what violence and insecurity have done to the economic development of nigeria in her nation-building process in the fourth republic. what are the implications in terms of human beings sacrificed, able-bodied youths maimed, manpower lost and millions of people dislocated from their homes? how have successive regimes handled the situation? are there better options? these and more are some of the questions that guide the study. state and nature of violence and insecurity in nigeria bala usman once theorised that: the most primary of the fabrics binding all human communities, throughout 03 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 the world, from the earliest stone age hunting and gathering bands, up to today, has been the provision, on a sustained basis, of the security of life, and of the means of life, to the members of the community. in nigeria, even before the coming of europeans, there had been pockets of violence and conflicts, the climax of which was the 30-month nigeria-biafra war that led to an estimated death of three million biafrians. according to wikipedia, “during the two and half years of the war, there were about 100,000 overall military casualties while about 500,000 and three million biafrans died of starvation.” ezeh, 2012() also asserted that “the failure of political and diplomatic agreement led to the economic blockade of the south-eastern region mostly dominated by the christian igbo community… during which millions of igbo people faced ” death by starvation and disease. however, the conflicts of the past three decades seem to be more sophisticated, deadly and confusing. every part of nigeria is affected, unlike during the nigeria-biafra war when attack was mainly focused on the biafran enclave. usman enumerated 33 internecine conflicts in nigeria from 1980 to 2004, the cost of which was mostly land struggle for farming and other purposes. the intensity and volatility of conflicts and violence in nigeria seem to be on the upsurge with the terrorist activities of boko haram insurgency in the north eastern nigeria. the activities of boko haram have left no one in doubt that they are terrorists' organisation operating in nigeria. their acts of violence have impinged on the security of nigeria for a good numbers of years in this fourth republic. shinkeiye (2004) defines security as the totality of actions and measures as well as legislative and operational procedures taken to ensure peace, stability and the overall well-being of a nation and its people. francis on his part sees security as a feeling of safety from harm or danger and the defence, protection and preservations of core values. it simply has to do with survival and human existence. the above definitions are the direct opposite of insecurity characterised by violence that various parts of nigeria are experiencing which has left much to be desired. osakwe (2011:1-24.) noted that “there had been records of deadly game of “kidnap and ransom” with increasing incidents of violent criminality. he laments on the prevalence of arching lawlessness and insecurity in the land” in his words: many parts of nigeria show evidence, approximating this hobbesian description. whatever the proximate and remote causes, effective government must act to stop the impunity of violent criminality and the cycle of ethnic and religious butchery. when this condition is achieved that is the emergence from this degenerative “state of nature”, and then the work of constructing the modern state can begin, through the application of laws, and the implementation of rational policies and regulation. nation-building cannot be achieved in a state of insecurity because as osakwe postulates, it is one of the biggest “non-tariff barriers to trade and investment. insecurity will countervail and undermine all policies for growth, poverty reduction and development.” nigerians are worried and in protestation to the prevailing state of insecurity in the country. achebe (2012:250) blamed the rise of terrorism in nigeria on economic deprivation and corruption which in his words “produce and exacerbate financial and social inequities in a population, which in turn fuel political instability.” for achebe, in the face of this scenario, “extremists of all kinds, particularly religious zealots and other political mischief makers, find a foothold to recruit supporters and sympathisers to help them launch terrorist attacks and wreak havoc in the lives of ordinary citizens”. in a nutshell, a major catalyst to insurgencies, coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 04 kidnappings, armed banditry, militarisation, secessionist agitations, riots and other violent behaviour in nigeria is unemployment occasioned by bad leadership and unbridled corruption. implications of insecurity and violence in nigeria arowosegbe (2005:25) has isolated insecurity of lives and property as some of the key challenges facing nigeria in this fourth republic, especially from 1999-2014.odey and agba (2011:147-165) are also of the opinion that “insecurity is a cause for poverty in that it disrupts the socio-economic order in the society thereby keeping people out of their productive ventures hence poverty.”orhero (2015) has argued that “expenditures on security are essential components of the development process.” if the resources that would have been put in the socio-economic development in terms of infrastructure, health, education and other projects have not been diverted to quantifiably out of ratio fund to quell violence and insecurity and provide for internally displaced persons' camps (idp), more structures would have been developed. orhero also noted that “insecurity is a drain on national resources at the expense of people's well-being”. boko haram as, an insurgent organization, has indeed grossly depleted the economy of the north and the rest of the nation. its continued violence has affected every sector of the economy in the country. the plunging of the economy into recession in 2016 could be said to have had some linkage to the violence and insecurity perpetrated by the activities of boko haram. indeed, in human right watch (hrw), okereocha (2014) observed that the world investment report of the united nation conference on trade and development (unctad) estimated that nigeria lost a huge sum of n1.33 trillion foreign direct investments (fdi) due to the nefarious activity of boko haram. similarly, the united nations humanitarian and resident co-ordinator in nigeria, kallon asserted that boko haram insurgency has claimed over 27,000 civilian lives since its beginning in 2009.he also noted that it was still raging and called for a prioritisation of prevention mechanism in terms of possible developments and humanitarian actions. the implication of violence and insecurity in nigeria are indeed many and varied. dissecting it is dependent on the intellectual prism one looks at. to begin with, the people have been demoralised and their psyche bastardized. this does not augur well for nation building. since violence has taken over the place of dialogue and negotiation, and statements of threats have been preferred to discussions and diplomacy, mistrust, suspicion and volatility have therefore become the order of the day. consequently, fear, religious fanaticism and the destruction of lives property have overtaken every sector of the society especially in the north east. in addition, the fulani herdsmen attack mostly the christian population of central and eastern nigeria. lamenting on the great loss suffered by christians due to such attacks between 2018 and 2019, mailafia (2019) stated: the church of christ in nigeria is among the most persecuted in the world. in the north-east, some 2000 churches have been destroyed and more than 400 clergy killed. during the past year, 11 catholic priests have been killed by faceless armed herdsmen militias in enugu state. the latest victim is father paul offu, who was gunned down on thursday, august 1, 2019. … last week five pastors belonging to the redeemed church of christ were abducted by kidnappers along the sagamu-benin-ore road on their way to a church conference in mowe, ogun state (mailafia, 2019:31). 05 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 who then is safe? the answer is that no one is safe. open door, an international nongovernmental organisation (ngo) that documents the persecution of christians around the world, claims that six thousand christians were killed during the first half of 2018 in nigeria alone. a greater number of this figure fled as refugees from the attacked zones and ultimately ended up as internally displayed persons (idps) in the different camps scattered all over nigeria. according to mailafia (2019:31) “people who do such things are not only shameless cowards; they are strangers to both god and humanity. their aim is to brutalize the society and to create an atmosphere of fear. fear in its turn will generate bitter hatred. bitterness and hatred bottled over a long period, will sooner or later, explode into widespread violence of all against all.” furthermore, aribisala (2019:40) has warned that, “there is a revolution already underway in nigeria: the revolutionaries are armed–robbers, pen-robbers, “area-boys,” “yahoo–yahoo boys,” herdsmen, kidnappers and 419 scammers.” the people of nigeria live and move indeed in constant fear of insecurity. hence aribisala (2019:40) further noted: “this revolutionary criminality has found its most profound expression in armed robbery and kidnappings. everyone is now wary of travelling inter-city for fear of being kidnapped. if you fall into the trap of these hoodlums, the going rate is 5 million naira.” the nature of the violence and security has also become widespread. kidnapping, which used to be localised in certain areas of eastern nigeria, has become a national phenomenon. the fulani herdsmen menace which operated mostly in northern nigeria has turned its direction southward. gangsters and criminals are operating with carefree lance in almost all sectors of the federation. the churches in the north-east have become death-trap as boko haram insurgence launches frequent attacks in these places of worship, claiming the lives of innocent people and destroying their property. resource mismanagement and the escalation of violence in nigeria since 1999 one of the major factors that escalate violence is government's inability to allocate resources equitably. the rich-get-richer and the poor-get-poorer syndrome seem to promote such poor allocation of resources and it is a big threat to nation-building in nigeria. it fuels disequilibrium which is a catalyst for tension and violence in the country. lakefema (2019:31) has submitted that “nigeria has built a society where a handful have cornered the wealth of the country and privatised its resources. where a senator nets n14 million ($38,356) monthly, and . the worker on the national minimum wage earns n18,000 ($50.57) monthly” how can there be peace and security in such state of disequilibrium and inequality? the country's oil wealth could ordinarily provide adequate for all the children in nigeria in standard schools even with free lunch meals, but the reverse is the case. 13.2 million nigerian school children are out of school, and the standard of existing schools is grossly inadequate. the classrooms are over-crowded and some schools have no provision for what could be called classrooms. indeed lakemfa (2019:31) asks: “what magic will be done to make the children from this background not to be violent when they grow up? more so, with little or no means of legitimate livelihood!” it would therefore not out of place for one to agree also with lakemfa (2019:31) that “nigeria through conflict and violence has witnessed some depopulation beginning with its three year civil war from 1967 with an estimated two million soul. in the last decade, the boko haram terrorists have killed over 27,000 with an estimated two million displaced.” the money spent by the nigerian government in handling insecurity problem is indeed enormous. in the first six months of 2018 alone, not less than 1,300 nigerians lost their lives coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 06 with over 300,000 people dislocated and lodged in the various idp camps. these became dependent on the nigerian government for their daily maintenance. opukri and etekpe, (2019:31) contend that in the 2012 budget, the federal government mapped out 21.91 per cent, that is, us $5.58 billion to security agencies alone, while other pressing issues of governance like health and education were neglected. it is therefore not out of place for one to align with the view of lakemfa that “due to mismanagement especially of its human and natural resources, poverty and hunger has grown so much in nigeria that it has infamously become the world's poverty capital with 87 million living below $2 a day.” furthermore, igbuozor writes that according to global peace index, between 2011 and 2012, there was a notable fall in peace as nigeria dropped four places 146 out of 150 countries in global peace ranking. this marked nigeria as one of the least peaceful countries in west africa. conclusion violence and insecurity have thrived in nigeria for twenty one years without interruption in the fourth republic. however, it is not without skirmishes of probable disintegration orchestrated by agents and promoters of failed state theory as exemplified by terrorists and separate state agitators. but still the country has continued to survive. the resilience of the citizen in the face of such unabated violence and insecurity points to the fact that nigeria could be a better place ifonly government would put in place positive mechanisms to address the situation. equity in the allocation of the nation's wealth could be considered a major factor to be addressed to boost economic development and enhance nation-building. if the education and health sectors receive adequate funding by the government, this would also go a long way to promote quality education, healthy living and create more jobs to take the hoodlums out of street, thereby reducing violence and insecurity to the barestminimum. as this study has exposed, violence and insecurity have indeed posed enormous challenges and constituted grave impediment to the economic development and nation-building in nigeria within the first two decades of the fourth republic. the solution to the problem may however call for a rethink of the present system of operation of governance which seems to have failed the people. it is for this reason that the paper makes the following recommendations. recommendations the paper recommends that for violence and insecurity to be reduced and eventually eliminated in nigeria, nigeria needs to be restructured in order to have strong institutions with independence from the presidency. the national assembly which is the legislative arm of government should be independent of the executive. also, the judiciary should be independent of the two other arms of government. on this note, the paper is advocating for strong practice of separation of powers. and there should be constitutionalism and rule of law. the law of the land must be respected by all, irrespective of position or authority. there should not be impunity in legal process of the nation. also, the law enforcement agents must not be selective in the application of laws. if offenders are brought to book accordingly, violence and insecurity would have been nipped in the bud. 07 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 references achebe, c. (2012). there was a country: a personal history of biafra. london: allen lan, penguin books. al jazeera news online may 7, 2020. aribisala, f. (2019). the revolution will not be televised. vanguard, tuesday, august 6, 2019. arowesegbe, j. o., (2005). election and politics of democratic transition in nigeria: lessons from the 2003 exercise and in anambra sage. in onu g. & a. momoh a. (eds.). elections and democratic consolidation in nigeria, lagos: nigeria political association. opukri, c. o & etekpe, a. (2013). domestic response to terrorism in a global world: the nigeria experience. in mbachu & baturu, u. m. (eds.). internal security management in nigeria: a study in terrorism and counter-terrorism. kaduna: medusa academic publishers. kallon, e. (2019.) vanguard news report, thursday, august 1, 2019. ezeh, m.n.e. (2012). retrieved from. ezeogidi c.n.o. (2013). the history of aguleri and umuleri in anambra state 1933-1999. unpublished phd thesis. university of jos, nigeria. igbouzor o. (2002). peace and security education: a critical factor to sustainable peace and national development. international journal of peace and development studies, 3(1), 7-15. lakemfa, o. l. (2019). the world is like nigeria, a riddle. vanguard, friday, august 2, 2019. ledum, m. (2011). the niger delta and development issues. in nigeria: half a century of progress & challenges. ikokwu, c. c. (ed.), lagos: true expression press. mailafia, o. (2019). christ re-crucified in nigeria. vanguard, tuesday, august 6. nigerian-biafra war. retrieved on may 6, 2019 from www.wikipedia.com . nwuba, k. (1997). political terrorism & liberal democracy in nigeria. onitsha: creative forum. odey, m. o. & agba, t. p. (2011). poverty and democratic instability in nigeria since 1999. in wuam t. & sunday, t.n. (eds.). governance and economic development in the fourth republic, ibadan: aboki publishers. okereocha, c. (2014). heartache for the economy, tell international mgazine, may. orhero a. e. (2015). the economic and security implications of boko haram terrorism. international journal of african and asian studies, 10. osakwe, c. (2011). nation building. in nigeria: half a century of progress and challenges. ikokwu, c. c. (ed.), lagos: true expression press. shinkaiye, j. k. (2004.). strategic defence matters and future of democracy in nigeria. paper delivered at interactive session of sec, no 26, kuru: nipss, 28 july. teniola, e. (2019). a look at bala usman's analysis of communal conflicts in nigeria. vanguard, friday, july 26. tvc news online aug 2, 2016. tvc news online february 20, 2020. page 1 page 2 page 3 page 4 page 5 page 6 page 7 article 8.cdr risk factors associated with pregnancy and maternal mortality among gwandara women in kokona local government area of nasarawa state, nigeria by mamman matthew samuel department of sociology nasarawa state university, keffi -nigeria matthewsamuel@nsuk.edu.ng +2348031851387 abstract n emerging societies, large percentage of women lose their lives as a result of pregnancy related icomplications due to early marriage, non-attendance of antenatal clinic, non-utilization of maternal healthcare services among other factors. this paper examines risk factors associated with pregnancy and maternal mortality among gwandara women in kokona local government area of nasarawa state, nigeria. a social survey design was adopted for this paper. a sample of 262 respondents was drawn, using multi-stage sampling techniques involving electoral wards, towns/villages, main streets, houses, households and individuals. primary data were utilized in the study. the primary data were generated through the use of questionnaires and in-depth interview (idi). the questionnaires were carefully analysed quantitatively using tables' frequency and percentage while data generated through in-depth interview (idi) were analysed to complement the quantitative method using content analysis. findings from the study revealed that existing health conditions is the major risk factor associated with pregnancy and early marriage as the main determinant of risky pregnancies. the findings equally show that maternal mortality is the effect of risky pregnancy. the paper recommends the need for more awareness on importance of utilizing maternal health care services during pregnancy hence government should organize monthly seminars, lectures and symposiums aimed at encouraging pregnant women to utilized maternal health care services and there is the need for improved educational opportunities for women to be encouraged to dispel ignorance thereby discouraging early marriage. also, women should be supported and encouraged to start antenatal care early in pregnancy to allow for sufficient time to identify and treat problems thereby preventing maternal mortality keywords: risk factors, pregnancy, maternal mortality, gwandara women. introduction in the world today, maternal mortality has been on the increase in modern time with unfavourable effects on the health care system. the current rate of maternal deaths in nigeria indicates that nigeria is far from ending the problem of maternal mortality. maternal health constitutes delicate aspects of every nation's health that requires adequate attention. a society is known and measured by the way the most vulnerable segment of its population is treated, in this case, women and infants or children. with only two per cent of the world's population, nigeria contributes ten per cent of the world's maternal death. each year as many as 60,000 nigerian women die due to pregnancy-related complications. universally only india has a larger number of maternal deaths from pregnancyrelated complications as many as 136, 000 annually. maternal death is one of the world's health concerns hence the united nations has called for "safe motherhood". despite such early awareness, very little improvement is seen in maternal health care delivery in most developing countries in africa as well as nigeria (world health organisation factsheets, 2021). mortality associated with pregnancy and delivery complications is highest among poor and less 67 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 http://matthewsamuel@nsuk.edu.ng privileged women in nigeria (olusola, 2011). kassebaum, lopez, murray, & lozano(2014)noted that the maternal mortality ratio in nigeria is estimated to be 545 deaths per 100,000 live births (ogu & ephrain, 2018).large number of nigerian women dies as a result of complications associated with pregnancy or child birth, as about one woman dies every three minutes due to pregnancy and child birth related issues. this suggests that the maternal mortality rate in nigeria is about 100 times worse than in the industrialized countries, highlighting what is one of the widest disparities in international public health. nigeria is ranked second in the world behind india and nigeria is part of a group of six countries in 2008 that collectively accounted for over 50% of all maternal deaths globally, nigeria is ranked eighth in sub-saharan africa behind, angola, chad, liberia, niger, rwanda, sierra leone and somalia as shown in (macro & commission, 2009). maternal mortality has been on the increase in recent times with detrimental effects on the socioeconomic development of many nations. approximately 830 women die globally every day from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. more worrisome is the fact that 99% of all maternal deaths occur in developing countries. it mainly occurs in resource-limited settings from preventable causes and affects women of childbearing age (15-49 years of age) with poorly met health needs. maternal mortality is unevenly spread geographically with stark differences between developed and developing countries. developing nations bear the brunt (99%) of maternal deaths, with over 50% occurring in sub-saharan africa. from 1990 to 2015, the global maternal mortality ratio declined by 44 per cent; from 385 deaths to 216 deaths per 100,000 live births. this translates into an average annual reduction rate of 2.3 per cent. while this looks impressive, it is less than half of the 5.5 per cent annual rate required to achieve the three-quarters reduction in maternal mortality target for 2015 in the rested millennium development goal five and nowhere close to the goal three (3) of the sustainable development goals targeted at reducing the global maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per 100,000 live births (unicef, 2017). almost all maternal deaths can be prevented, as evidenced by the vast disparities found between the richest and poorest countries. the lifetime risk of maternal death in high-income countries is 1 in 3,300, compared to 1 in 41 in low-income countries. the number of women and girls in the world who die each year from complications of pregnancy and childbirth declined from 532,000 in 1990 to 303,000 in 2015 (aphrc, 2017). according to current world statistics, over 800 women die each day from complications in pregnancy and childbirth; and for every woman who dies, approximately 20 others suffer serious injuries, infections or disabilities (world health organization factsheets, 2021). world health organization (2021) reports that, one out of every 22 women in africa dies from pregnancy-related complications (ezeh, agho, dibley, hall, & page, 2014; & unicef, 2014), for every woman who dies, about 50 to 100 other women suffer from an illness or disability due to childbearing. this implies that every 8 years, more than 150,000 african women die and millions of women suffer a serious illness, because of pregnancy and child birth complications. based on the foregoing, the study examines the risk factors associated with pregnancy and maternal mortality among gwandara women in kokona local government area of nasarawa state, nigeria. statement of the problem maternal health care services are a contemporary issue with vast universal implication on the continued existence of human society. the health of women during pregnancy and post-natal is essential to ensure adequate well-being of the home and family especially in matters relating to childbirth, child care, breastfeeding, home care etc. in nigeria the number of maternal deaths has 68 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 remained high, with maternal mortality ratio of 814 per 100,000 live births despite the administration of wide range of maternal health service strategies that include free antenatal care, training of skilled birth attendants just to mention a few as well as availability of resources, the situation of maternal health remains one of the worst in africa as evidenced by prevailing maternal mortality ratio. nigeria contributes greater than 10% of maternal deaths globally, this prevailing issue in nigeria is strongly linked to the weak implementation of maternal health policies and services as well as the presence of a number of cultural and socio-economic factors including lack of funds, lack of birth preparedness (oladineji, pius, adekunle,temi, abiodun, peter, & babatunde, 2013). the maternal health care system in nigeria is one which is characterised by the presence of factors such as traditional and faith based and orthodox health providers. the present of factors such as traditional, faith based health provider linked with the socio-economic and deleterious cultural determinants of maternal health can be implicated as a plausible reason for the seemingly weak health system. this implication is evident in the number of pregnancies being managed by these nonorthodox methods their inability to recognize danger signs in pregnancy and ensure high maternal death rate (oladineji, et al2013). apart from the problems posed by these factors, maternal health care services are also plagued with problems of poverty, illiteracy lack of knowledge, delay in reaching health facilities either due to inaccessibility, poor roads, poor communication networks, poor transportation system or long distance to be covered as well as delays in receiving appropriate care at health facilities which is characterised by absence of quality maternal health services, inadequacy of skilled birth attendants, inadequate medical supplies during labour, delivery and after the delivery, there is thus the need to focus on prevention of maternal deaths in nigeria by tackling these issues affecting the ability of pregnant women to access timely and quality maternal health service. in spite of policies, declarations, conferences and other efforts aimed at reducing the scourge of maternal deaths across the globe, only modest gains in maternal mortality reduction appear to have been achieved in many countries in the past 20 years (shah & say, 2007) countries in africa may have actually lost ground while many developing countries have fallen far short of the standard set by the world health organization's initiatives on safe motherhood. in nigeria, the federal ministry of health had set year 2006 as the target year that maternal mortality would have reduced by 50%. however not only were these targets not achieved but also the maternal health situation in nigeria is now much worse than in previous years (ujah, et-al 2005). past efforts to reduce maternal mortality ratio in nigeria were concentrated on making direct improvements to the health system. these efforts have not involved enough resources to successfully reduce maternal mortality in the country. in view of these lacks of success, okonofua (2007) noted that the high maternal mortality in the country will have to be tackled by generating sufficient political priority to make governments deploy enough resources to successfully reduce maternal mortality in nigeria. several studies in the nigeria (ogu & ephrain, 2018; oladineji, pius, adekunle, temi, abiodun, peter, & babatunde, 2013; ujah, aisien mutihir, vanderagt, glew, &uguru, 2005; okeke, oluwuo & azil, 2016; nwokocha, 2012) have been undertaken on risk factors associated with pregnancy and maternal mortality, but none of these have examined the risk factors associated with pregnancy and maternal mortality among gwandara women in kokona local government area of nasarawa state, nigeria. this study, therefore, intends to fill these gaps. research questions the paper attempts to answer the following research questions: 69 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 i. what are the risk factors associated with pregnancy among gwandara women in kokona local government area of nasarawa state, nigeria? ii. what are the determinants of risky pregnancies among gwandara women in kokona local government area of nasarawa state, nigeria? iii. what are the effects of risky pregnancy and maternal mortality among gwandara women in kokona local government area of nasarawa state, nigeria? conceptual and theoretical review risky pregnancy like other societal issues, scholars or intellectuals have variegated views on risky pregnancy. in other words there is no consensus or generally accepted definition of the concept. but this study will dwell on those definitions that are widely accepted. risky pregnancy refers to any pregnancy associated with an increased risk for adverse outcomes. the incidence of risky pregnancies varies from society to society. risky pregnancies are associated with a higher incidence of low birth weight babies (lbw), a high pre-natal mortality (pnm), and an increased pregnancyrelated maternal morbidity and mortality. the maternal and prenatal mortality reflects the quality of health of a community. prenatal mortality is the best indicator to measure the quality of maternal and child health (mch) cares in a community. risky pregnancy within the context of the paper is any pregnancy accompanying with an increased threat for adverse results. maternal mortality it is rather difficult to point out a single holistic definition of maternal mortality despite its significance and wide usage in the field of demographic and population studies. this has left scholars, researchers, intellectuals and authors to defining maternal mortality from different perspectives and perceptions. world health organization refers to maternal mortality as the death of woman while pregnant or within forty-two days after termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and site of the pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management but not from accidental or incidental causes and also maternal death as the death of a woman from direct or indirect obstetric causes occurring more than 42 days but less than one year after the termination of the pregnancy (who, 2014). similarly, ibrahim (2016) asserted that maternal mortality refers to any loss of a woman's life resulting from pregnancy complication or death within 42 days after childbirth, notwithstanding the period or site of the pregnancy, emanating from issues that are linked or escalated by the management of the pregnancy but not from accident or incidental factors (ibrahim, 2016). maternal mortality can be distinct as either direct or indirect. direct maternal mortality result from complications and difficulties of the pregnancy (pregnancy, labour and post-delivery), from interventions, omissions, incorrect treatment, or from a chain of measures ascending from any of the above. indirect maternal mortality is due to hitherto the existing diseases or diseases that advance during pregnancy, and not as a result of direct obstetric causes (oxaal & baden, 1996). within the context of this paper, maternal mortality denotes the death of woman while pregnant or within forty-two days after termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and site of the pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management but not from accidental or incidental causes and also maternal death as the death of a woman from direct or indirect obstetric causes occurring more than 42 days but less than one year after the termination of the pregnancy. 70 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 theoretical framework this paper is positioned within the health belief model. the health belief model (h b m) was developed as an attempt to explain the decision of an individual with respect to preventive health care (french, kurczynski, weaver & pituch, 1992).this model was developed for the first time in the 1950's to evaluate why screening of tuberculosis was not successful in the usa (hayden, 2009). personal beliefs influence on a person's health choices and behaviour. health belief model explains that health behaviour is determined by an individual's beliefs and perception about particular health problems and illness, and available resources address these problems (calnan, 1984, champion & skinner, 2008). in this study, hbm was adopted in order to understand women's thoughts, behaviour and decision with regard to providing health care related to risk factors in pregnancy and maternal mortality among gwandara women in kokona local government area of nasarawa state-nigeria. health belief model mainly builds on the following four components which make theoretical constructs for the exploration of the perception of women in this study. these components together assess the women's understanding of risks and explain decisions of health behaviour (champion &skinner, 2008, hayden, 2009). perceived susceptibility: perceived susceptibility refers to the belief about the livelihood of getting a disease or risk of being exposed to threat for a particular person in particular circumstances. this means how much risk a person perceives he/she has (hayden, 2009). recognizing a danger sign brings about the realization of needs for care. women may be aware of the risk but it does not guarantee that they will act for biomedical care. it is essential to see to what extent women see the risks how they confront the problems related to pregnancy and obstetric complications. the greater the risks are perceived as susceptible, the greater livelihood that they will seek for care (hayden, 2009). perceived threat/ seriousness: if an individual does not see a health problem as risky or threatening, there is no stimulus to act. perceived feeling about the seriousness of risk includes evaluation of both the medical consequences including pain, disability, death and social consequences such as impact on work, family and social relations (hayden, 2009). perceived threat explains a woman's belief about the seriousness, and how severe it can harm her. to make a decision on whether to seek medical care or not one must believe in both susceptibility and severity. so health choices can be weighed. pregnancy is a risk and there is a 10-15 percent chance of unexpected complications. (van den broek & falconer, 2011). perceived benefits: a person's belief of giving importance to certain health actions decreases the risk of potential complication. a person's tends to make a decision and adopt a healthy practice, when he/she believes that the decision taking would benefit them (champion & skinner 2008, hayden, 2009). when a person perceives a threat, whether such perceptions lead to behavioural change will be affected by the person's belief with respect to perceived benefits of the various measures available to reduce the threat (hayden, 2009). perceived barriers: these explain that decisions on health action are influenced by perceived barriers to change. when an individual evaluates an obstacle on his/her way of determining health behaviour, decision may not be made. perceived barriers play a significant role in behavioural outcome (hayden, 2009). fear of pain and embarrassment are also common issues women perceive as barriers in seeking for health care. perception of women is different in diverse ethnic groups and so is women's decision making power within their household (suwal, 2008). 71 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 the health belief model (hbm) has been adopted in the paper for the following reasons: i. women perception about the risk of pregnancy will inform health care-seeking behaviour or to seek for antenatal care. ii. beliefs regarding therapeutic/healing effectiveness of health care options will inform health care seeking behaviours. iii. beliefs regarding barriers to some health care options such as higher cost of care, availability and distance to care facilities will inform health care seeking behaviour. iv. previous experience with different care options and observation of treatment outcomes of other women from different care options will inform health care seeking behaviour for current and future complication (cues to action). methodology gwandara is the major tribe with large number of women of child-bearing age in kokona local government area of nasarawa state, nigeria. the paper adopted social survey design. the social survey entails a research design that allows the collection of data from a fraction of a study population, which can be seen as truly representing the larger population using the questionnaire and in-depth interview. the population for this study consists of women of childbearing age of 15-49 years from gwandara ethnic group who registered for antenatal care services in various electoral wards in kokona local government area of nasarawa state-nigeria between the periods of november 2021 to january 2022. the total of one thousand six hundred and seventy two (1672) women of childbearing age was registered across the electoral wards in the study area (primary health care, kokona local government area, 2022). the sample size was determined using krejcie morgan's formula (1970) which is given as: table 1 indicates the responses on the risk factors associated with pregnancy in the sampled population of the study. data from the study revealed that majority of the respondents accepted that existing health conditions (high blood pressure, diabetes, kidney disease, autoimmune disease, thyroid disease, obesity, hiv/aids, depression and infections) are the common risk factors associated with pregnancy in the study with an affirmation of 46.9 percent of the respondents. this clearly shows that existing health condition is the main risk factors associated with pregnancy in the study area. data analysis and results table 1: response on the risk factors associated with pregnancy response frequency percentage (%) mother’s age 51 19.5 existing health conditions (high blood pressure, diabetes, kidney disease, autoimmune disease, thyroid disease, obesity, hiv/aids, depression and infections) 123 46.9 condition of pregnancy (multiple gestational, gestational diabetes, preeclampsia and eclampsia, previous birth defects) others 72 16 27.5 6.1 total 262 100 source: field survey, 2022 72 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 in the in-depth interview (idi) conducted, there was clear consensus that existing health conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, kidney disease, autoimmune disease, thyroid disease, obesity, hiv/aids, depression and infections are the risk factors associated with pregnancy. an overwhelming proportion of the interviewees' stated that these risk factors are mostly experienced by pregnant women in the study population. two interviewees, a gynaecologist and a mentor mother captured the general position of the interviewees' as reported below. a gynaecologist reported that: the common risk factors associated with pregnancy in this area is the existing health conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, kidney disease, autoimmune disease, thyroid disease, obesity, hiv/aids, depression and infections. these are doing more harm on the pregnant women and a lot of complications are as a result of these risk factors this point was further buttressed through a statement made by a mentor mother who said: pregnant women in this village suffer from serious risk factors during pregnancy. this has serious implication on the health of the pregnant women and the unborn child. mostly, the risk factors are existing health conditions like depression, diabetes, high blood pressure and others. table 2 shows the responses on the determinants of risky pregnancies in the study area. the table illustrates that early marriage is a major determinant of risky pregnancies. this was established by 27.9 percent of the total respondents in the sampled population of the study. this denotes that early marriage is a key determinant of risky pregnancies in the area of the study. during the in-depth interview (idi) a nurse pointed out that early marriage is a principal determinant of risky pregnancies. even though, there are other determinants like poverty, maternal age, sociocultural and religious influence, non-use of contraceptives and inadequate comprehensive sexuality education. the participant explained as thus: one prime determinant of risky pregnancies in kokona local government area of nasarawa state is the issue of early marriage. in this area, many young girls are married before the age of 18 years. within this age bracket their body system is not well developed. having pregnancy will come with a lot of complications. this is a serious problem and a major determinant of risky pregnancies. table 2: responses on the determinants of risky pregnancies response frequency percentage (%) early marriage 73 27.9 poverty 38 14.5 socio-cultural and religious factors 57 21.8 non-use of contraceptives 39 14.9 maternal age gender power relation inadequate comprehensive sexuality education others 22 09 18 06 8.4 3.4 6.8 2.3 total 262 100 source: field survey, 2022 73 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 table 3 is a presentation of the effect of risky pregnancy and maternal mortality in the sampled population of the study. data from the study established that maternal mortality is a strong and leading effect of risky pregnancy among gwandara women in kokona local government area of nasarawa state, nigeria. this was affirmed by larger percent of the respondents with 55.3 percent of the response in the area of study. this attracted strong support from interviewees during an in-depth interview (idi) conducted in the sampled areas. the overwhelming proportion of the interviewees accepted with one voice that maternal mortality is a major effect of risky pregnancy. an interviewee, a midwife netted the wideranging position of the interviewees' as thus: not only in kokona local government area or nasarawa state but nigeria in general, maternal mortality has negative effect on pregnant women. larger proportion of pregnant women is dying on daily basis as a result of complications during pregnancy. maternal mortality has been on the upsurge in contemporary time with disparaging effects on the pregnant women. discussions of findings regarding the risk factors associated with pregnancy in among gwandara women in kokona local government area of nasarawa state, nigeria, study findings revealed that the existing health conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, kidney disease, autoimmune disease, thyroid disease, obesity, hiv/aids, depression and infections are the common risk factors associated with pregnancy in the area of study. this was affirmed by achama, emmanuel and moses (2015) that the significant factors associated with pregnancy is the existing health conditions of the pregnant woman. these factors include high blood pressure, diabetes, kidney disease, autoimmune disease, thyroid disease, obesity, hiv/aids, depression and infections. every pregnancy faces high-risk and low-risk during the childbearing period. on the determinants of risky pregnancies in among gwandara women in kokona local government area of nasarawa state, nigeria, study findings unraveled that early marriage is a prime determinant of risky pregnancies in the study area. this was established by ezeh, et al (2014) that age of pregnancy is considered high-risk when there are potential complications that could affect the mother, the baby, or both. some of the risk factors associated with high-risk pregnancies are: maternal age, medical conditions that exist before pregnancy, medical conditions that occur during pregnancy and pregnancy related issues. one of the most common risk factors for a highrisk pregnancy is the age of the mother-to-be. women who will be under 17 or over 35 when their baby is due are at greater risk of complications than those between their late teens and early 30s. conditions such as high blood pressure; breathing, kidney, or heart problems; diabetes; autoimmune disease; sexually transmitted diseases (stds); or chronic infections such as human immunodeficiency virus table 3: responses on the effect of risky pregnancy and maternal mortality response frequency percentage (%) maternal mortality 145 55.3 health risks e.g. obstetric fistula 62 23.7 still born 17 6.5 premature birth 11 4.2 complication at birth others 06 21 2.3 8.0 total 262 100 source: field survey, 2022 74 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 (hiv) can present risks for the mother and/or her unborn baby. a history of miscarriage, problems with a previous pregnancy or pregnancies, or a family history of genetic disorders is also risk factors for a high-risk pregnancy -risk pregnancies, such as: early child bearing, late child bearing, poor child spacing, large number of children, non-attendance of ante-natal clinics, poor nutrition, and poverty. concerning the effects of risky pregnancy and maternal mortality among gwandara women in kokona local government area of nasarawa state, nigeria, the study findings discovered that maternal mortality is the main effect of risky pregnancy in the sampled population of the study. this was supported by world bank (2011), maternal mortality is the most extreme consequence of risky pregnancy. complications of pregnancy and childbirth are the leading cause of disability and death amongst women between the ages of 15-49. maternal mortality is the death of a woman during pregnancy, delivery or six weeks following the birth of the baby. every year, it is estimated that approximately 500,000 women die as a result of pregnancy and child birth; one woman dies every minute. for every woman that dies, it is estimated that more than 25 others suffer a debilitating injury often with lifelong consequences. further, maternal death often results in death to the new born and increases risk of survival for the older children. it is estimated that 4 million new-borns die in the first week of life every year, mostly due to problems during pregnancy and childbirth. conclusion and recommendations the rising challenges that come with lack of utilisation of maternal health care services by women pose a great threat to the future generation, this can be attributed to belief model of such an individual or awareness on high risk of pregnancy and maternal mortality, the health benefit for antenatal care utilization, for nigeria to reduce its maternal mortality and infant mortality there is an urgent needs for more expectant mothers to learned how to utilized the antenatal care service. nigeria today is saddle with the high rate of risky pregnancies and maternal mortality. this may be due to women not utilising antenatal care despite the fact that antenatal care has been given top priority by government and non-governmental organization (ngos) and stakeholders. this paper recommends that: i. there should be more awareness on importance of utilizing maternal health care services during pregnancy since most of the pregnant women are still ignorant of services. therefore, government should organise monthly seminars, lectures and symposiums aimed at encouraging pregnant women to utilise maternal health care services, where they will be taught on all the activities involved during pregnancy. ii. there is the need for improving educational opportunities for women to dispel ignorance, thereby empowering them to make independent decisions. this would discourage early marriage which is the major determinant of risky pregnancy iii. women should be supported and encouraged to start antenatal care early in pregnancy to allow for sufficient time to identify and treat the problems so that the effect of risky pregnancy and maternal mortality would be prevented. 75 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 references african population and health research centre (aphrc) (2017). rates of maternal healthcare accessibility in africa. accessed online on 13/7/2017. calnan, m. 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(2017). human development report. new york and london, oxford university press. footnote 12. who (2014). unfpa nigerian maternal mortality profile: 1990 -2013. the world bank and the united of nations population division, 2014. trends in maternal mortality 1990 to 2013 isbn 978 9241507726. world health organization. 76 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 http://www.eajournals.org world health organisation (2018). factsheet maternal mortality. department of making pregnancy safer. world health organisation (2019). trends in maternal mortality 2000 to 2010. who, unicef, unfpa and the world bank estimates. world health organization factsheets (2021). maternal mortality. http://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/details/maternal-mortality accessed 28 february 2022. 77 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 http://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/details/maternal-mortality page 76 page 77 page 78 page 79 page 80 page 81 page 82 page 83 page 84 page 85 page 86 text book journal pdf sis. noelle 01 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 abstract the study investigated the influence of family violence and age on the manifestation of depressive symptoms among married women. the sample for the study comprised 200 married women (100 battered and 100 non-battered) who were selected from onitsha north local government area, anambra state, nigeria. marital conflict behaviour checklist (mcbc) was used to serve as an indicator of conflict behaviour which spouses engaged in, during conflicts. the centre for epidemiological studies depressive scale (cesd) radloff, (1977) was used to measure the levels of depressive symptoms manifested by the participants. data were analyzed using 2x2 analysis of variance (anova). the results showed that there was significant difference between battered and non-battered women on the report of depression and there was a statistically significant age difference in the manifestation of depression. young battered women reported higher depression than old battered women. the findings suggest that depression was as a result of battering. the correlation co-efficient of marital conflict and depression showed to be positive and significant at (p>0.05), which implied that the higher the marital conflict, the higher the depression of the participants. based on the findings of the study, recommendations were made. keywords: family violence, battered women, non-battered women and depressive symptoms. introduction global trends have shown that the increasing frequency of violence and its attendant consequences on women, children, families and communities is becoming source of concern to family physicians, psychologists, sociologists, social health workers, community leaders, politicians and families themselves. violence inflicts long-term harm on physical, mental, emotional, psychological, spiritual, social and economic well-being of individuals. violence is an act carried out with the intention or perceived intention to cause pain, injury, or abuse. when two people or parties fail to achieve a consensus over an issue, the tendency is that they may resort to the use of violence, if they failed to control their emotions. the stronger party may lord it over the weaker one as sometimes happens in the case of husband and wife. violence against women was culturally accepted in most african societies (kunnyi, 2014). gender stereotype prejudice against women in nigeria perceives the male as superior and the female as inferior. the male role socialization and cultural influence invest them with lots of powers and recognition. uchem (2002) stated that men often enact laws and women bear the brunt. for instance, adultery and promiscuity are often punished in women but mary nicolette chinwe ihenacho, ihm department of educational psychology nwofor orizu college of education nsugbe, anambra state, nigeria email: chinweihenacho@yahoo.com phone: +2348035081647 influence of family violence and age on manifestation of depressive symptoms among married women not in men. unfortunately, the women in trying to keep the family conflict secret oftentimes suffer in silence. hence, violence in the family which may have social, cultural, religious, race and ethnic orientations are usually perpetrated by the male members of the family against women (musbau 2017 &ishiola, 2016). unfortunately, family violence affects every member of the family, husbands, wives, parents, children, elders, siblings and dating partners (seifert, 2012). however, because women appear to be the most frequent victims, they are termed "appropriate victims."this is in concordance with united nations' general assembly 2000 assertion that, domestic violent acts are often gender-based and result to physical, sexual and mental harm to women with inclusive intimidation, deprivation of public and private liberty. deprivation of women's human rights is an act of violence against women which violate, impair or nullify their enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedom (un (2013). ideally, the family is a place of warm intimacy, and a place where one's security is expected to be assured. paradoxically however, it is also in the family that people are more likely to be abused, physically assaulted, sexually victimized, beaten up, slapped or spanked by other members than anywhere else or by anyone else. world health organization (who, 2016), averred that family violence are portrayed in behaviours such as threats, damaging property, violent sexual behaviour or play fighting. in nigeria, family violence, include wife battery, acid attack, molestation, rape, corporal punishment, girl-child marriage forced or arranged, female genital mutilation, dowry related violence, gun shots and other traditional practices harmful to women (ishiola, 2016). despite the harm inflicted on women who are victims of domestic violence in many parts of nigeria, the notion still persists that family conflict matter has no room for external intrusion. this african erroneous perception cages women to the point that in trying to cope with all the stressors in family life and domestic violence, they may begin to manifest depressive symptoms such as sleeplessness, sadness, loss of weight, obesity and crying spells. a lot of victims of physical, psychological and sexual violence suffer from psychosomatic illnesses, gastrointestinal disturbances, mental health disorders, saddness, chronic pain, etc.(department of justice, canada, 2017). physical violence is the inflicting or attempt to inflict bodily or physical harm or injury by beating, battering, slapping, grabbing, kicking, stabbing, punching, flogging, shooting, using weapon against partner e.g. pangs, guns, knives (rhodes, frankel, & levinthal ,2007). physical abuse and neglect also include withholding access to resources of medical care and hygienic assistance, forced alcohol and drug use (arisi, 2011). psychological violence or neglect, manifested in patterns of behaviour such as degrading, bullying, terrorizing, isolating, corrupting, gas lighting, and verbal or non-verbal form of abuse against one's spouse. psychological abuses are actions that serve to undermine an individual's self-worth or esteem. it may be evident in constant criticism, belittling, name-calling, silent treatment, making and breaking of promises. emotional abuse or mental abuse is characterized by a person exposing or subjecting another to behaviours that may result in lots of psychological trauma, such as: fear, anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorders and other forms of psychological wounds. research has shown that a number of factors which include, personality traits, demographic and economic factors are associated with family violence (abadi, mahdavi, esnaeli & amighi 2014 & abdulhai, moseleh, 2015). in the view of (colucci & hassan 2014), spousal violence is seen to be more prevalent in blue and low socioeconomic families. thus, total dependency of wives on husbands for basic necessities of life such as food, shelter and coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 02 03 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 clothing (nurul, syazlian, maisarah, normilia 2018), may keep them long in an abusive relationship, and after some time they may begin to internalize the belief that they are helpless. feelings of helplessness may manifest in depressive symptoms, which in many cases in the nigerian setting, are glossed over. however, battering may not affect younger (age range 1540) and older married women (50 and above) in similar ways for reasons that other family challenges such as childbearing and rearing may be an important factor in the lives of the former. experience has also shown that in nigeria, most older married mothers take comfort in their grown up children and if their children were married, the advantage of taking leave for a while to assist their nursing daughters (what the igbos call, 'omugwo'), has a lot of soothing effect and a break from violent husbands. incidentally, studies have not yet explored the pattern of depressive syndrome manifestation of younger and older married women. theoretical framework: this study is based on the social learning and situation models. according the social learning model, we are all born into families and it is in these families that we are taught the first profound lessons of social interaction and society's rules of accepted conducts. the social learning model can be better understood by the use of the phrase “cycle violence” – that violent childhood of the abused children grow up to become abusive parents and violent adult. this is what kaufaman and zigler (1987) termed inter-generational transmission of violence. one can say that much of violent behaviour that occurs in the school is a re-play of violence that has been learned at home. on the other hand, women who experienced spousal violence in the family of orientation are more likely to accept conjugal violence as part and parcel of married life. however, this model affirms that since violence is a learned behaviour, it also can be unlearned. the social situation model proposes that violence arises out of two main factors, stressful life events and cultural norms. stressful events associated with family violence include low income or inadequate financial resources, unemployment, poor educational opportunities, poor-living conditions, illness and large family size. culturally, in most africa societies violence is used by husbands and fathers as disciplinary and corrective measures against women and children (atinmo, 1997). yet, tough and violent disciplinary measures have negative consequences such as depressive symptoms. nonetheless, cognitive theories aver that it is the individual's interpretation of events or problems which cause depression, whereas, becks (1982) asserted that depression is linked with self-defeating beliefs. the depressed person perceives life irrationally and negatively. the negative views about themselves, life situation and the future lead them to overestimate the severity of negative or feared events and underestimate the positive or their ability to cope. these self-defeating beliefs/thoughts is what seligman (1976) referred to as “learned helplessness”. the battered women seem to be helpless and come to see the batterer as being in control. the result is the tendency to withdraw, become passive, depressed and ultimately despairing of themselves, their plight and future. clinical as well as survey data consistently reveal a high incidence of depression, anxiety and an increased risk of suicide, among samples of women victims of violent marriages (durbach, 2016). in nigeria however, recent studies such as benebo, schumann and vaezghasemi (2018)conducted multilevel study of the effect of intimate partner violence on women's status and community norms; ekundayo, durowaiye and modpe, (2015) studied the effects of domestic violence on young people in family. however, studies on the degree of married women's depressive symptoms manifested by battered and non-battered married women in nigeria are sparse. hence, the need to examine the degree of manifestation of depressive symptoms among young and older battered women. statement of the problem the rate of family violence against women in nigeria has continued to attract the concerns of psychologists, sociologists, and medical and mental health personnel. male chauvinism appears to be an accepted norm such that in many families, husbands despicably batter wives both young and old. this results to devastating effects on the battered women who may begin to manifest depressive symptoms. research so far done in nigeria has not examined the influence of violence on manifestation of depressive symtoms on the young and older battered women. put in question form therefore, the statement of the problem of this study is, “to what extent does family violence influence young and old married battered women, young, which is manifested in depressive symptoms?” hypotheses based on the findings from the reviewed work, the following hypotheses were proposed. 1. there will be no significant difference in the manifestation of depressive symptoms between battered women and non-battered women due to domestic violence. 2. there will be no significance difference in the manifestation of depressive symptoms between young and old battered women due to domestic violence. 3. there will be no significant correlation between marital conflict and extent of depression expressed in the married women. sampling technique: the participants comprised two groups – 100 from reported or identified cases of violent families and 100 from non-violent families. purposive sampling was used to select the names and addresses of the battered women from the files of various reported cases in the area of study, onitsha north local government area of anambra state, nigeria. they were married women living with their husbands with one child at least. the ages of the participants ranged from 20 to 40 years of younger women; 41 to 55 years for older women. method: the design used was factorial design. a 2 x 2 analysis of variance (anova) with unequal sample sizes was used in testing hypothesis one and two. it was analyzed on spss version 7.5. for the third hypothesis, pearson r was used to test the relationship between marital conflict and depression. instruments: two instruments, the marital conflict behavior checklist (mcbc) omeje (1998) and the center for epidemiological studies depressive scale (cesd) radloff (1977) were used for the data collection. the mcbc (omeje, 1998) is a 37-item test that measure conflict in marriage, with a reliability index of .94 and concurrent validity index .90. mcbc was considered to be reliable and valid for the study of marital conflict and violence. the scale was used because it incorporates the two forms of violence, physical and psychological appropriate for this study. each item was scored on a four-point scale of: rarely – 1, sometimes – 2, often – 3, always – 4. the mcbc served as an indicator of conflict behavior spouses engaged in during conflicts and how often they do so. the cesd is a 20 – item test, designed to assess depressive symptoms in the general population (radloff, 1997). the scale has been used in nigeria by okafor (1997), who reported a reliability index of .85, while ugwu (1998) reported concurrent validity index of 41. the items were scored on a four-point scale ranging from 1 – 4, (rarely 1, sometimes 2, often 3, always 4). the participants report the frequency with which the 20 events were encountered within a six months period. coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 04 05 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 procedure for data collection: the two instruments: mcbc and cesd were administered to the participants by the researcher. they were made up of identified victims from violent families and non-victims from various parishes and social welfare department in the selected areas of onitsha north. the researcher also visited the women during their meetings in their different parishes and administered the instruments to those who willingly volunteered to complete the questionnaire. results: table 1: summary of a 2 x 2 anova on effect of age and battering on depression source of variation sum of squares df mean square f-ratio age battering age and battering error total 2355.51 1009.39 1885.55 12315.65 321056.0 1 1 1 196 200 2355.51 1009.39 1885.55 62.84 37.49** 16.06* 30.01** * p<.05 **p<.01 the result as shown in table i above indicates f = 37.49, p>.05 and this shows that there is a significant different between young and old women in their manifestation of depressive symptoms. the result indicated a statistically significant difference between battered and nonbattered women in their manifestation of depressive symptoms, f = 16.06, p>.05. there is also a significant interaction effect between age and battering in the report of depressive symptoms: f = 30.01, p>0.5. this showed that depressive scores of the participants were influenced by a combination of age and battering such that the scores of the young battered were higher than that of non-battered women. table ii: mean and standard deviation (sd) of depression scores of battered and nonbattered women age battered non-battered young old x sd x sd 47.24 8.19 34.12 6.56 36.51 8.06 35.78 8.45 table ii above indicates the mean and standard deviation scores of depression of the group of participants, young battered women and young non-battered women, old battered women and old non-battered women. the results show that young battered women had the highest depression scores (x = 47.24) whereas the old battered women had the least depression scores (x = 43.12). this indicates that there is a significant difference in the manifestation of coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 06 depress marcon pearson correlation sig 2 (tailed) macron n depress macron depress marcon depress 1.000 .356** .000 200 200 .356** 1.000 .000 200 200 *** the correlation co-efficient of 0.36 of marital conflict and depression was positive and significant at (p>0.05). this implies that the higher the marital conflict, the higher the depression of the participants. discussion the findings in the study revealed that there is a significant difference in the manifestation of depressive symptoms between battered and non-battered women. the battered women reported higher depression than non-battered women. this was is contrast with the first hypothesis which stated that there will be no significant difference in the manifestation of depressive symptoms between battered and non-battered women. the result indicates that battery induces a lot of depression, on the battered women. marital relationship problem was also a common source of psychological distress. okolo (2001) equally observed that stressrelated illness and stressful life events or family violent with their consequence could reinforce depression and these would have a lot of negative impact on the mental health of the battered group. the second hypothesis stated that there would be no significant difference in the manifestation of depressive symptoms between young and old battered women. contrary to this prediction, the result showed that young battered women manifested higher depression than the old women. this confirms that women under thirty years of age and “newer” marriages experience the highest rate of family violence than the older group. the national population commission, nigeria (2015) confirmed that women under the age bracket of 15 – 49 years' experience the highest marital conflict from their intimate partners. the variables that may have contributed to the high depression reported by the young battered women may be inexperience, marital adjustment on the part of the “newer” married. they come into marriage with high expectations and when these are not met the result is disagreement, quarrels, disappointment and sadness. the older women having learnt through life lived experience tend to portray better shock absorber than the young ones, so are less depressed. on the hand, the young battered women could be people with many responsibilities – like caring depressive symptoms between the young battered women and old battered women. the result also shows that the young battered women had significant higher mean depression score (47.24) than the other three groups, whose depression scores did not differ significantly from each other, old battered women (34.12), old non-battered women (35.5) and young nonbattered women (36.51). table iii: correlation of marital conflict and depression 07 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 for their young children, adjusting to new jobs, some could be students without jobs so could be solely dependent on their husbands economically. hence, when crisis exists in the marriage in form of battering the young women may tend to manifest high depressive symptoms than the old women. however, the young non-battered women manifestation of a low level of depression could be that their expectations about marriage were met by their partners and those around them. they have enjoyed love, care, economic support in their marriage and so are not likely to manifest high depressive symptoms like their young battered counterparts. the old battered women and old non battered women did not manifest significantly in their depression scores because they may have over the long years of their marriage learnt to cope with their situation. moreover, the older women at this stage of their lives may be enjoying the social and economic support of their grown-up children, relations, friends and other social groups. again, they may be economically balanced and fulfilled in life, so this may serve to cushion them from feeling the impact of battery and depression intensely. the third hypothesis which stated that there will be no significant correlation between marital conflict and depression was not confirmed. there was significant relationship between marital conflict and depression. the young battered women who experienced high level of marital conflict also reported higher depression. therefore, this goes to show that when there is marital conflict there is also depression. recent research equally showed that women, who suffer depression, are often killed by their family members, 51% of whom are spouses point to a long standing spousal abuse as a factor (national organization for women, 2018). conclusion family or domestic violence is one of the most heinous abuses that women suffer in marriage or intimate relationships. results from this study have shown that domestic violence affects the well-being of womenboth young and elderly married women, though the younger women seem to manifest more depressive symptoms than the latter. hence, the negative effect of husband battering on women in the context of this study, confirm the high rate of depression, physical and psychological illnesses experienced by nigerian women and by extension the increasing rate of maternal death in the country. this therefore calls for critical attention and attitudinal change among nigerian men as well a review of cultural practices against women. recommendations the findings presented in this study clearly point to the fact that some fundamental changes in the attitude, values and beliefs of the society towards women have to occur before a decrease in the level of marital violence against women can take place. . parents, teachers and all entrusted with the training of the child should start early to educate them on the need to live in partnership, equality and respect. inequality between men and women starts from the home. elimination of this inequality right from the cradle would be a vital means of curbing family violence. . legal administrators of family laws should make effective policies and enforce them so as to protect women from marital violence. . family physicians can prevent suffering, serious injuries and death by being alert to the possibilities of marital violence and victimization when evaluating their patients. . public awareness, enlightenment and education of the masses on the seriousness of family violence and its damaging consequences to the individual involved, to the children, families and the society at large. coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 08 references abadi, m.p., mahdavi, s., esnaeili, k., amighi, m., & hashemian, a. 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(2016). understanding and addressing intimate partner violence. geneva, switzerland: world health organization. page 1 page 2 page 3 page 4 page 5 page 6 page 7 page 8 page 9 article 8.cdr mapping the metanarration of informal violent discourse in chimamanda adichie's purple hibiscus by michael chukwualuka uyanne department of english language and literature nnamdi azikiwe university awka cm.uyanne@unizik.edu.ng 08038878342 & oziomachukwu akunna ajemba department of english language and literature nnamdi azikiwe university awka oa.ajemba@unizik.edu.ng 08130422911 & obiageli c okpala department of english language and literature chukwuemeka odumegwu ojukwu university uli obypascal2@gmail.com 08037786448 abstract he epistemology in interpreting the text world is the self-reflexive action of the socio-critics tfor the intellectual appraisal of active social functionalism. they interrogate the philosophical perspectivism of the social phenomena in the text, which includes dissent, conflict and struggle. it is a social conflict that is fought between discursive falsism and sociocultural flexibility. the text is the exaggerated reality of an extreme belief system, in the postcolonial imprisonment of papa (eugene) in his positionality of the new culture and ideology. the paper interrogates the metacommunication in chimamanda adichie's purple hibiscus, where the protagonist represents in the context of anthropological metaphor that is the alpha male, who exerts physical, mental and lexical abuse on the other participants. being the centre and others; margin, he assumes the semiotic position of socio-lexical disequilibrium and intellectual arrogance, in the phenomenal discourse that enveloped the storyline. narrative semiotics is a method for analysing texts within the frame of the metacommunicative domain to reconstruct the narrative structure and the meaning-bearing deep structure of texts. it is the potency for the extrapolation of meaning and/or deduction in the narrative analysis. the superlative phenomenon of the use of lexical oddity and the social misdemeanour of the protagonist in the text awaken the instinct of the others for selfdefence to the extreme measure, and also to the truth of being free. these are the stimulants for violent reactions and the response is enormous. keywords: metanarration, metacommunication, epistemic, narrative semiotics, discourse introduction we tend to create our objectified perception of our microscopic world which influences the biggest picture and representation of the microcosm. we are therefore compelled to impress it on the people we can control or who seem inferior to us. more so, if we consciously employ our intellectual ability to understand and perceive the prevailing world around us, by being able to access reality in order to 78 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 not assuming the position of centre and others as margin. only then, we can achieve our optimal desire in our set out goal, for the existential or mutual accommodation of one another. these perceptions along with our intelligence and ability aid us in solving problems and understanding of the philosophy of our world, as being flexible and creative in its perspective, and in action, are what made us rational and successful as higher beings. but sometimes, certain elements of the way we structure our experiences turn out to actually force upon us to behave idiosyncratically, which is unacceptable to common sense assessment. consequently, these limitations often subject us to perceive things that are just non-existent; they only exist in our subconscious domain, so they became objectified, thus creating a world of dissent, conflict and struggle. so, when we interpret the epistemic values of the world, we should see them from the philopsychological prism and ideology within the framework of the common values of prevailing social phenomenon. the prevailing discourse is very significant in the value orientation and ideological transfer to the large social participants, by the construction of knowledge through managing the communication between the interactants that come from the same discourse family or community, who may be interested in sharing ideological, cultural and academic practices (huand cao, 2795). the text recruited the resources of metanarrative to create extreme consciousness by varied belief systems that bind the participants together. this enables the writer to organise the discourse that is the story, to engage the audience and signals her latent expressive positionality in the storyline of the text. more often our supposed epistemic awareness, the phenomenology within the individual confined precept of its interpretation beclouds one with self-reflexive and self-referential knowing. knowing is influenced by universal philosophy or community discourse where the knowledge generates its principles and existence. thus, any deviation from the community discourse precept is deviant and therefore contravenes the principle of the acceptableness of the local order in that given social construct of the participants. this text provokes some certain reflections in the philosophy of language which are considered in its relationship to human consciousness where language is conceptualized as having bipolar levels. they include phenomenon which conceptualises language as the primary realisation of consciousness, thus giving major insight into its nature, and meta-phenomenon which is the powerhouse of human intellectual endeavour: this is all about constructing theories, even theories that are premised on the evolution of consciousness. theorizing is a part of the history of consciousness and also a form of human intellectual endeavour. and its evolutionary continuum is influenced by some sort of dynamic such as the “successive refinement of categorization, from generalisation through abstraction to metaphor, and characterized by a particular moment in the history of culture (some more rapid, some more long-drawn-out) as cosmologies – theories of the human condition are steadily built up” (halliday, 391-392). halliday asserts further that these cosmologies usually vary with important changes in the socio-economic conditions of settled people, who have varied theories of the world from those of unsettled, “hunting-gathering cultures, and within settlement, theories change as technology changes; mythic, religious and scientific cosmologies represent the theorybinding aspect of consciousness associated with” the individual person (halliday, 392). epistemic lexicality of discourse value “we do not perceive the world around us as such”, but rather, through seeing, we 'clip' it into shape of ourselves” (socffener and raad, 266). so, our existence is dependent on our conventionalized social contract, that is, we agreed to live in our everyday world side by side with all the participants. this will enable us to operate with a shield of the social reality we experience as normal; thus, we are not stimulated to interrogate further its essence, despite being aware that it is man-made and conventionally designed. however, it behoves us to redefine this reality, within the context of design ethnography, not simply as we assume or know, but as constructed contingent. essentially, therefore, 79 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 we are bound to bare those blind spots, and decompose the reality that we classify on the basis of received knowledge in a phenomenological way, which is epistemologically relevant. we must deliberately alienate ourselves from self-epistemic value, which is idiosyncratic knowledge which emanates from our consciousness, “in other to seek connections of meaning in it” (muller, 7). in spite of the inherent imperfection found naturally in language, and the obscurity and confusion that is so endemic to be avoided in the use of lexical items, there are many “wilful faults and neglects”, which the users are found liable in the manner of the communicability of their epistemic values. these lexical idiosyncrasies “render these signs less clear and distinct in their signification, than naturally they need to be” (locke, 437). in this event, the first and perceptible abuse, that is lexically, is without clear and distinct ideas meant to convey or it is worse, showing signs without anything signified. these words are empty because they do not bear the intended fruit so they are of no effect or epistemic awakening. they do not produce the required perlocutionary force or effect because of the deviant lexicality in the diction. words must bear social knowledge before they become significant items in the appropriated social environment in their appropriated use (locke, 437). men have been exposed to the lexical acquisition or learning from the cradle, which they easily got and retained consciously and thus, they frame the consequent ideas which are consequent upon experiential and intuitive knowledge. all these epistemic variables are either annexed or are found in things that are thought that men stand for which hold sway all their lives, without considering the pains necessary to settle in their consciousness the determined conventions or ideas: they use their words for such unsteady and confused notions as they have, contenting themselves with the same words other people use; as if their very sound necessarily carried with it constantly the same meaning. this, thou men make a shift within the ordinary occurrences of life, where they find it necessary to be understood , and therefore they make signs till they are so :yet this insignificancy in their words, when they come to reason concerning their tenets or interest manifestly filled their discourse with abundance of empty unintelligible noise and jargon, especially in moral matters, where the words for the most part, standing for arbitrary and numerous collections of ideas, not regularly and permanently united in nature….(locke, 438) chronotopic context in discourse every action or thought has its idiosyncratic influences from the social phenomena which are acceptable or unacceptable within the contemporary proposition of the ideology. it is a phrase which diminishes through time by the resource of social evolution. time is a universal essence which finds its expression in several ways, in different languages. so, there is always a metaphoric representation of time in the lexical features of the discourse of the apparent or real time. however, like direction time as an abstraction cannot be objectified via semiotic representation of the real world. in fact, the conceptualization of time is closely tied to spatial direction, which is the setting or the discourse or utterances. in addition, time must resonate with the dictates of the present space (setting) and be in tune with the direction of where the spatial pendulum is swinging to. ''applying this analysis, an english conceptualization of time of time is as an object or person moving in space, as a resource with a spatial existence, or as space itself” (holme, 24). in the event structure hierarchy which was put forward by lakoff and johnson, they defined this hierarchy as a fundamental metaphor like time is space, which implies that the vehicle of metaphor is space, and this lends its structure to the topic time. thus, whenever any event happens in space, the event will unfold within the parameters developed by the structure of space (holme, 24). 80 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 meta-narration of a text meta-narration and meta-fiction are inseparable concepts in narratology. they designate selfreflexive utterances, that is, by responding to the discourse rather than to the story. both concepts and terms are based on the model of the meta-language, which accounts for 'a system of language positioned on a level above the ordinary use of words for referential purpose' (fludernik, 15). the umbrella terms have one thing in common that is their self-reflexive or self-referential character. although they are related and they are used interchangeably, but they differ greatly, though their differences tend to be ignored in several typologies. meta-narration highlights the narrator's reflections on the act or narration process, while meta-fiction is referred tom as the responses on the fictionality and the constructedness of the narrative. meta-narrative responses are referred to as the act or process of narration that do not have fictional nature. on the contrary, meta-fiction only appears in the context of fiction. however, different kinds of meta-narration can appear in many non-fictional narrative genres and media. meta-narrative discourse does affect negatively the aesthetic illusion (wolf illusion (aesthetic)), but it can stimulate substantially the illusion of authenticity which a narrative is meant to create. neumann and nunning put forward that, “it is precisely the concept of narratorial, illusionism, suggesting the presence of a speaker or narrator, that illustrates that meta-narrative expressions can serve to create a different type of illusion by accentuating the act of narration, thus triggering a different strategy of naturalization”(346). it shows a variety of textual functions (prince, 51), but on the other hand, genette suggests that it cannot be restricted to the narrator's directing functions, that is, those references that thematise the internal organization of the text. 'rather, all comments which address aspects of narration in a selfreflexive manner as well as narrator's references his or her communication with the narrative on the discourse level can be subsumed under the term'' (261-262). systematic 'violence' on women in our society, patriarchy is a historical convention that seems that to meet out discrimination and injustice developed in institutions, cultures, laws, ideologies and practices. moreover, these dominant articles of social things, laws, cultures and ideology, institutions and practices in society are chiefly founded on the social consciousness and experimental knowledge of men not women. patriarchal over lordship is a semblance of dictatorship, controls and influences socio-psychological reality, of which the notion of male superiority overwhelms and pervades socialization processes from homes, schools, workplaces, and worship centres. women and men are stereotypically socialized within rigid gender role differentiations and expectations “(ogidi and ejiogu, 259). some social institutions such as family, law etc. stoke ambers of these biases in norms, rules and laws. historically, women are regulated to the background culturally, politically and economically by these institutionalized biases. these conventional biases are seen as systems of operation and injustice which directly or indirectly incite disillusionment, disenchantment and disaffection, and thus “creates disputes, which permeate all human interactions and sustain and escalate other conflicts in the wider society” (ogidi and ejiogu, 259). the socio-biological differences between men and women usually lead to the understanding of conflict in different ways which thus, produce several approaches to conflict resolution. however, there is a feeling of vulnerability among women, especially in relation to men, and this feeling is particularly salient in conflict situations, since there is a likelihood of aggression and violence. women are more likely to feel vulnerable in conflicts with men than in conflicts with other women, 81 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 and are more likely to talk about being afraid of normal conflict and of being the victim of aggression or violence. concerns about children, identity and status are among factors that contribute to women's vulnerability in times of conflicts (ogidi and ejiogu, 261). theoretical framework this paper employs the textual analytical tools of narrative semiotics in the analysis. according to barthes: narrative is first and foremost a prodigious variety or genre, themselves distributed among different substances… able to be carried by articulated language, spoken or written, fixed or moving images, gestures, and the ordered mixing of all these substances, narrative is present in myth, legend, fable, tale and novella, epic, history, tragedy, drama, comedy, mime painting (think of carpaccio's st ursula), stained glass windows, cinema, comics, news items, conversation (79). from the foregoing, barthes highlights the plurality of narrative genres, but he failed to point out somewhat bewildering plurality of approaches to the study of narrative. narrative has been thematised, since the early twentieth century, in folklore, semiotics and literary theory (baynham, 69-70). narrative semiotics is pervasive in most of the social interactional context of the genre. storytelling is the bedrock that leverages us to the way. we structure, account for and exhibit our understanding or experience of our human living. thornborrow states “therefore analysing narrative as a genre, or particular form of talk activity has become one of the central areas on inquiry within the broad field in discourse analysis” (51). narrative semiotics has been deployed from different lend across the domain of humanities, using a host of analytical principles and methodologies, which are dependent on the priorities of the discipline and the research foci. narrative semiotic principle methods cover fictional, text-based, 'news' narratives, 'big' stories, sometimes called social, macroor 'meta-narratives', these usually emerge as conceptual frameworks within the confines of social and cultural studies. however, the first thing narrative semiotics does is to –'establish a framework for identifying narrative discourse , which is to say that we need to be able to describe a story formally , before addressing the issue of what storytelling means and how it functions across different contexts for talk” (thornborrow, 51). analysis the paper engages here on the textual analysis of the text, in order to extrapolate from the text, subtextual implicatures, which the text presumes to represent. …papa looked around the room quickly, as if searching for proof that something had fallen from the high ceiling, something he had never thought would fall. he picked up the missal and flung it across the room, towards jaja. it missed jaja completely, but it hit the glass …it cracked t h e t o p shelf…landed on their many pieces. jaja did not move. papa swayed from side to side (15). the above was an overreaction of the character eugene (papa) when his son (jaja) responded to his question on the reason he didn't take holy communion in the church. here, from kambili who was the narrator, it is gathered that jaja no longer bath an eyelid at whatever papa will do, even the mother didn't even behave as if anything happened because they are used to and tired of eugene's extreme but wicked cautions. …i did not know she had been trying to have a baby since the last miscarriage almost six years ago. i could not even think of her and papa together, on the bed they shared, custom-made and wider than the conventional king-size. when i thought of affection between them, i thought of them exchanging the sign of peace of mass… (29). the above is like a foregrounding telling the reader how strict eugene even to how he treats his wife to the extent that the narrator, kambili never thought of any affection like love-making that led to her 82 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 mom's pregnancy will exist between her dad and mom except the one she sees in the church during exchanging of the sign of peace. …jaja closed his eyes for a while and then opened them. “we will take care of the baby; we will protect him''. i knew that jaja meant from papa… (31). jaja talked about protecting a baby that is yet to be born, by mama from the harsh treatment of papa, this statement alone on protection shows the cruel abuse from their father eugene which they are not enjoying. …papa did not pencil in tv time on our schedules. (87) this is the response of kambili to aunty ifeoma's daughter, amaka when she wanted to know why they don't watch satellites. kambili's father was an extremist to the extent that he is so strict with ''schedules'', in kambili's house, one doesn't do what is not in the schedule or else punishment. …back home that night, papa told mama that it was sinful. you did not bow to another human being. it was an ungodly tradition, bowing to an igwe. so, a few days later, when we went to see the bishop at awka, i did not kneel to kiss his ring. i wanted to make papa proud but papa yanked my ear in the car and said i did not have the spirit of discernment … (101-102). in the above extract, the narrator kambili portrayed her as someone who is beyond satisfaction, someone whose reaction can't be predicted thus he rebuked his wife for offering herself to be patted by the traditional ruler as a of respect and greeting, but rebuked kambili for not kissing the ring of the bishop; explaining that bishop was a man of god while igwe was a mere traditional ruler. …but you know eugene quarrels with the truths that he does not like. our father is dying, do you hear me? dying. he is an old man, how much longer does he have, gbo? yet eugene will not let him into this house, will not even greet him. o joka (103-104). from the above, eugene's sister, aunty ifeoma, who is also unhappy about eugene's cruel abuses on their father, whom he demonises because he is a traditional worshipper. and thus, he refuses to take care of him (papa nnukwu), even to the extent of not allowing him into his house, due to his religious inclination. …he unbuckled his belt slowly. it was a heavy belt made of layers of brown leather with a sedate leather-covered buckle. it landed on jaja first, across his shoulder then mama raised her hands as it landed on her upper arm, …i put the bowl down just as the belt landed on my back….papa was like a fulani nomad-although he did not have their spare , tall body as he swung his belt at mama, jaja , and me …(110) just because kambili took cornflakes before holy communion to enable her to take paracetamol for her menstrual cramps that made him beat them even his wife with a belt. eugene is a pure extremist with a puritanical complex that overwhelms his attitudes to life.… i had never thought about the university, where i would go or what i would study. when the time came, papa would decide (138). the phrase 'papa will decide' has always being the phrase used by kambili; she always finds it difficult to make her decision. the fear of always being beaten by their father makes her to always shy away from making decisions. the above was in aunty ifeoma house where she was asked the university she will attend, amaka aunty ifeoma daughter , her age mate was able to voice her choice of the university but kambili will rather wait for her father's choice not really because she love the dad but because the fear of being beaten. “what happened to your little finger?” chima asked. jaja looked down, too, as if he were just then noticing the gnarled finger, deformed like a dried stick… when he was ten, he had missed two 83 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 questions on his catechism test and was not named the best in his first holy communion class. papa took him upstairs and locked the door. jaja, in tears, came out supporting his left hand with his right hand, and papa drove him to st. agnes hospital. papa was crying, too, as he carried jaja in his arms like a baby all the way to the car. later, jaja told me that papa had avoided his right hand because it is the hand, he writes with (153). the above is pure violence, eugene maimed his son's little finger just because he missed two questions in his catechism test. he always regrets what he does he (eugene) even cried, when he mistakenly chop off his son's finger out of anger. more so, when he flogged his wife and kids with belt, just because kambili fail to take her tablets; he regretted equally flogging them. he later he told them sorry after wounding them… i was familiar with fear, yet each time i felt it, it was never the same as the other times, as though it came in different flavours and colours (203). in the above excerpt, kambili was confessing that she was familiar with fear, which means that there is never any chance of freedom in her house, all is about violence. …get up! papa said again. i still did not move. he started to kick me. the metal buckles on his slippers stung like bites from giant mosquitoes. he talked nonstop, out of control, in a mix of igbo and english, like soft meta and thorny bones.… the kicking increased in tempo…. the stinging was raw now, even more like bites, because the metal landed on open skin on my side, my back, and my legs. kicking. kicking. kicking. perhaps, it was a belt now because the metal buckle seemed too heavy. i could hear swoosh in the air. a low voice was saying, 'please, biko, please.' more stings, more slaps. a salty wetness warmed my mouth. i closed my eyes and slipped away into quiet (216217). the above is typical violence because she was caught with a native chalk from her dead grand-dad; eugene beat his daughter to the point of collapsing, despite his wife's pleas. “…this cannot go on, nwunye m,” aunty ifeoma said. “when a house is on fire, you run out before the roof collapses on your head'' (219). even eugene's sister aunty ifeoma is against his actions thus he told his wife to do something about what's happening in her house before it gets out of hand. conclusion the setting of informal violence is in the family home, it is the same as domestic violence, and the writers chose to diminish the valency of the concept. it is a truism that children and women are prone to suffer untold physical and psychological trauma from their deviant father or husband. the psycho-social effects of this violence have 'spiral' destructive consequences which hurt the victims throughout their lives. as we said, in the previous paragraph, it is a generational or historical convention, where degradation and humiliation are meted to women as convention or norms. nobody raises an eyebrow, so women suffer in silence, because is constructed in that manner. worse still, they are regarded as the property acquired and managed by men who are empowered by the patriarchal philosophy of society to lend force to this, odinye and okey-umeh state that marriage provided a firm ground for the manipulation, humiliation and violation of women's freedom and self-worth. thus, women perpetually remain slaves to their husbands who do not consider their feelings and opinions in matters concerning them (81). this pervading ideology has been entrenched in the psyche of that society. similarly, imbua explains different types of servile marriage, where a woman is treated like a servant. and she does not have the right to a marriage proposal and forcefully or conventionally ceded her right to her parents or guardian, so, however, her fate is being decided, she is not part of it. in most cases, husbands in servile form of marriage consider their wives as their property over whose productive and reproductive powers he exercises absolute control (14) 84 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 works cited barthes, roland. image-music-text. london: fontana press, 1977. baynham, mike. “narrative analysis”. in ken hyland and brian paltridge (eds).the continuum companion to discourage analysis. new york: bloomsbury publishing, 2011. fludernik, monika. towards a natural narratology. london: routledge, 1996. …….“metanarrative and metafictrorial commentary: from metadiscursity to metanarration and metafiction.”poetica. 2003, 35,1-39. genette, gerard. narrative discourse: an essay in method. ithaca: cornell up, [1972] 1980. holme, randal. “carrying a baby in the back: teaching with an awareness of the cultural construction of language”. in michael byram and peter grundy (eds). context and culture in language teaching and learning. sydney: multilingual matters ltd, 2003. hu, guangwei & cao feng. “hedging and boosting in abstracts of applied linguistics articles: a comparative study of english and chinese-medium journals”. nanyang: journal of pragmatics, 43, 2795-2809, 2011. imbua, david. slavery, slave trade and the african diaspora. makurdi: aboki publisher, 2018. thornborrow, joanna. “narrative analysis”. in james paul gee and michael handford (eds). theroutledge handbook of discourse analysis.new york: routledge, 2012. locke, john. an essay concerning human understanding. roger woolhouse (ed).london: penguin books, 1997. muller, francis. design ethnography: epistemology and methodology. zurich: springer,2021. neumann, birgit and nunning, ansgar. “metanarrnation and metafiction”. new york university bobst library technical service. the living handbook of narratology. odinye, ifeoma and okey-umeh, chinazom. “effects of domestic violence on women and children: a study of chimamanda ngozi adichie's purple hibiscus”. awka: interdisciplinary journal of african and asian studies. vol.1 (2), 2016. ogidi,maduabuchi and ejiogu, cynthia. “gender, conflict, and conflict resolution”. in aituaje pogoson and maduabuchi ogidi (eds).peace and conflict resolution studies: concepts, theories and issues. hysab prints and publishers ltd, 2007. soeffener,h.g. andraad, j.sehtechniken. die medialisierung des sehens: schnittund montage alsastketisierungsmittelmedialerkommunikation[techniquesorseeing.the mediatisation of seeing: editing and montage as means of the aesthetisation of media communication]. in h. g.soeffner(eds.), auslegung des alltages-der alltag der auslegung. [interpretation of everyday life], 254-254, konstanz: uvk, 2004. prince, gerald. narratology: the form and functioning of narrative. berlin: mouton de gruyter, 1982. 85 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 page 87 page 88 page 89 page 90 page 91 page 92 page 93 page 94 text book journal pdf sis. noelle 01 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 abstract many studies have been carried out on the responsibility of the church in caring for widows that are in real need but few have focused on paul's recommendation for the church regarding those that are widows 'indeed' and how they should be cared for. the number of women becoming widows has been increasing on daily basis due to the deaths of their husbands which are caused by various reasons such as insurgency, ethnic wars, hiv infections, accidents, old age and many others. this paper, therefore, examines critically paul's teaching on care of real widows in 1timothy 5:3-5, 8 in relation to the practice of care of widows in the church. the paper adopts a critical exegetical interpretation drawing resources from secondary sources. the secondary source has to do with both published and unpublished materials from books, journals, commentaries, newspapers, internets, etc. the study recommends that there is need for the church to follow the recommendations spelt out by st. paul in 1timothy 5:3-5, 8, so that the church is not over-burdened with so many responsibilities. keywords: exegetical analysis, church, ontos cheras, implication introduction several studies have shown that widows undergo several challenges after the death of their husbands within the society and these affect their socio-economic development and spiritual growth in the society. however, despite the church's effort in caring for the need of the widows, there are still much to be accomplished. odaga (1994) opines that widows' care was done as an expression of love and respect to the family of the deceased. “the church has done very little to see to it that the needs of genuine widows were met appropriately. from the beginning of its ministry, the church had a concern for believing widows, (acts 6:1; 9:39). of course, the nation of israel had sought to care for widows; and god had given special legislation to protect them (deut. 10:18; 24:17; isa. 1:17). god's special care for the widows is a recurring theme in the scripture (deut. 14:29; ps. 94:6; mal. 3:5). it was only right that the local church show compassion to these women who were in need. according to david, (2013) james elevates the activity of caring for widows and orphans as the very essence of pure and undefiled religion. however, the church must be careful not to waste her resources on people who really are not in need. there are individuals and entire families that "milk" local churches, while they themselves refuse to work or to use their own resources wisely. as long as they can get handouts from the church, why bother to go to work and made a living for themselves? paul listed the qualifications a widow must meet if she is to be supported by the church. jibromah, oghenekevwe kate (mrs) department of religious studies, adeyemi college of education, ondo, ondo state, nigeria. email: jibromahok@aceondo.edu.ng tel: +2348181296640/08123197985 a critical exegetical analysis of 'ontoscheras' (1timothy 5: 3-5, 8): its implication for the church. this study was conducted to identify how best widowhood care can be applied in relation to biblical principle. the bible speaks highly of widows who desperately need the church's help and support from their relatives. thus the paper focuses on paul's instruction in 1timothy5:35, 8, on the criteria to use in selecting widows that should be cared for and its implication for the church. the biblical basis for the care of widows the term “widow” is found approximately one-third of time in legal texts, one-third in prophetic texts, and one-third in wisdom and historical literature, stephen, (1996). but the vast majority of the contexts are legal in nature, either dealing with justice (the legal protection of the widow) or injustice (the exploitation of her status), smith (1901). in the former case, the old testament is replete with legislation that attempted to provide a social security net for the widow: she was not to be exploited (exod. 22:21-22; deut. 27:19); she was specifically permitted to glean the fields and vineyards during harvest time (deut. 24:14; ruth 2); tithes were to be shared with her (deut. 14:29; 26:12-13); provision was to be made for her at the main religious feasts (deut. 16:9-15s); her garment could not be taken as collateral for a loan (deut. 24:17); and the levirate institution would not only provide an heir for the land for childless widows, it would help them to be integrated back into the society, stephen(1996). in biblical times, the term for “widow” sometimes acquired the connotation of a person living in extreme poverty. while this was not always the case, widows were nevertheless prime targets for exploitation. it was because of this vulnerable state that god himself took steps to secure the protection of widows, commanding his people to show compassion and sensitivity towards them in their need, brian & austin (2015). a 'widow' is a woman who has lost her husband to death, who has outlived the man she married; especially when such a woman has not remarried, (webster, 1973:2090). the status of the widow in bible times and even in our contemporary society can be aptly described as precarious, burdensome, mentally, financially, emotionally and physically draining. biblical corpus considered widowhood as a reproach to the surviving spouse (isa. 54:4). “the fate most feared and bewailed by a woman was to become a widow”, (kittel, 1964). lamentations 1:1 hints that being a widow is like being a slave. also, spencer (1994) in his assertion, defined widows as a distinctive group of persons sharing certain social characteristics pertaining to gender and family status, all widows are women with deceased husband. smith (1901) the legislation acknowledged the fact of the vulnerability of the widow and many old testaments texts indicate that she was victimised repeatedly (exod. 22:22-23; isa. 1:23; 10:2; ezek. 22:7; mal. 3:5). the prophets were the champions of exploited widows. as far as they were concerned, repentance began with redressing wrongs done to such unfortunate women (isa. 1:17; jer. 7:6; 22:3; zech. 7:10).wisdom texts encouraged a benevolent attitude towards widows. job's comforters accused him of heinous crimes, particularly of oppressing the widow (job 22:9), but he countered the argument that he never sent away a begging widow without food and he often made her broken heart sing (job 29:13; 31:16). also, stephen, (1996) asserts that god's prophets were sent as messengers with the directive to his people: “don't hurt my little ones”. even non-hebrew widows could trust in him (jer. 49:11) under the mosaic dispensation, no legal provision was made for the maintenance of widows. they were left dependent partly on the affection of relations, more coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 02 especially of the eldest son, whose birth right or extra share of the property, imposed such a duty upon him, and partly on the privileges accorded to other distressed classes, such as a participation in the triennial third tithe(14:29, 26:12), in leasing (24:19-21) and in religious feasts. (deut. 16:11, 14). with regards to the remarriage of widows, the only restriction imposed by the mosaic law had reference to the contingency of one being left childless in which case the brother of the deceased husband had the right to marry the widow, (deut. 25:56) and matt 22:23-30). smith, (1901) argues that widows were prominent in the new testament. it was no accident that one of the poorest of the widows, anna, was privileged to greet the infant messiah (luke 2:36-38). the adult jesus followed in the footsteps of his predecessors with his concern for the plight of the widows. he healed a widow's son because of compassion for his mother (luke 7:1-17), he protested the exploitation of widows (mark 12:40), he reversed the standard by which people were judged with the parable of the widow's tithe, the widow gave from her poverty while the wealthy merely offered from their abundance (mark 12:41-42). in another parable, the church was compared with an importunate widow who kept demanding that her case be heard and the redressing of all wrongs against her (lk18:1-8). smith, (1901) believes that in the apostolic church, the widows were sustained at the public's expense, the relief being daily administered in kind, under the superintendence of officers appointed for this special purpose, a special fund was instituted for widows (acts 6:16) and as the church matured, the younger widows were urged to remarry while a special class of widows was maintained economically. particularly, directions are given by saint paul as to the class of person entitled to such public maintenance (1tim5:3-16). out of the body of such widows, a certain number was to be enrolled, the qualification for such enrolment being that they were not under 60 years of age, that they had been (the wife of one man) probably meaning 'but once married', they had led useful and charitable lives (1tim5:9-10). stephen (1996), in his submission, affirmed that the early church, the messianic community, defined the essence of true religion as demonstrating compassion to the poor and the needy, in particular the widow and the orphans (jam 1:27). 03 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 exegesis of 1timothy 5:3-5, 8. 3×? ñáò ô?µá ô? ò?íôùò÷? ñáò. 4å?ä?ôéò÷? ñá ô?êíá ? ?êãïíá ? ÷ å é , µ á í è á í ? ô ù ó á í ðñ? ôïíô? í?äéïíï?êïíå? óåâå? í êá? ? µïéâ? ò ? ðïäéä?íáé ôï?ò ðñïã? íïéò, ôï? ôïã? ñ?óôéí ? ð? äåêôïí?í? ðéïí ôï? èåï? . 5 ? ä ? ? í ô ù ò ÷ ? ñ á ê á ? µåµïíùµ?íç? ëðéêåí ?ð? èå?í êá? ðñïóµ?íåé ôá?òäå? óåóéí êá? ôá?ò ðñïóåõ÷á?ò íõêô?ò 8 êá? ? µ?ñáò? å?ä?ôéòô? í?ä?ùí 1timothy5:3-5, 8: (rsv) 3 honour widows who are 4 real widows. if a widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn their religious duty to their own family and make some return to their parents; for this is acceptable in the sight 5 of god. she who is a real widow, and is left all alone, has set her hope on god and coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 04 a critical exegetical interpretation of 1timothy 5:3-5, 8 during paul's fourth missionary journey, he had instructed timothy to care for the church at ephesus (1 tim.1:3) while he went on to macedonia. however, when paul realised that he might not return to ephesus in the near future, he wrote this first letter to timothy to develop the charge he had given timothy before. in this chapter, paul gives timothy many instructions on how to deal with various groups of people within the church. he reiterates that it is the responsibility of overseers (elders) and pastors to reprove sin in the church and to discipline church members. however, it is never suitable to harshly rebuke an older person. rather, the pastor should treat older people with the respect he would show to his own parents. paul further explains that timothy should advise and admonish younger members of the church as he would his own brothers and sisters. he then changes his topic of discussion and focuses on widow care, saying that caring for widows is a very important christian duty and so the church was obliged to take into consideration the welfare of widows in the church (miruka, et.al (2015). in 1timothy 5:3-8, apostle paul instructs timothy with regards to handling the problems with widows. this discussion is one of the most extensive on a particular subject in the entire epistle. this indicates that this was a significant problem in the ephesians' christian community and therefore expresses urgency for this situation to be dealt with promptly and correctly. in this periscope paul identifies three different types of widows. first, are real widows who are in need and have no relatives to support them materially? second, are widows who have relatives who can support them materially (1tim.5:4).third, are widows who have a self-indulgent lifestyle (1tim.5:6-7). paul teaches that only the first group is to be supported materially by the ephesians' christian community. however, as much as the church supports the widows with the benevolence fund, they should be careful, for there will always be those who are in need and those who want to take advantage. the relatives and the children of the second group were actually responsible to financially support this category of widows. the third group was not worthy of any financial support. however, to the fourth group in verse 9 to14 paul recommends them to remarry and not only so, but to be supported by their husbands who will make sure that they are kept occupied so that they do not become busybodies and gossips. the apostle did not want the church to waste her financial resources on people who are really not in need. in 1timothy5:3-8, apostle paul instructs timothy about those widows to be enrolled to receive benefits from the church and the widows who should not. this however, is not an official order of widows because this passage does not address the duties of widows but rather simply the qualifications that must be met by widows in order for them to be supported by the church. ê á ? µ ? ë é ó ô á ï ?ê å ?ù í ï ? ðñïíïå?ôáé, ô? í ð?óôéí? ñíçôáé êá? ?óôéí ? ð?óôïõ÷å?ñùí. continues in supplications 8 and prayers night and day; if any one does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his own family, he has disowned the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. 05 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 1timothy5:3÷? ñáò ôßìá ô? ò?õôùò÷þñáò “give proper recognition to those widows who are really in need”. this verse begins the periscope that ends in 1timothy 5:16 and addresses the issue of which widows in the ephesians' christian community were eligible to receive financial aid from the church. it also contains the omission of conjunctions to emphasize the prohibition in 1timothy 5:3 in the sense that paul wants timothy to dwell upon it and obey it. this figure emphasizes the importance of this command for the christian community in ephesus. according to the new analytical greek lexico, the word 'widow' is translated chera (÷? ñá) meaning a woman whose husband has died. greek word ÷? ñá is a noun in the nominative case and its gender is feminine. friberg (2000) explains that, “the word chera which in hebrew is translated “bereft” conveys a sense of suffering loss or being left alone. in the context of the apostle, the word 'widow 'specifically refers to a special category of widows, namely those who are not receiving financial and material support from their children or relatives. it refers to those who are in need materially because they do not have children to support them materially. 'give proper recognition' implies, to provide for widows who have no children or relatives to support them as an expression of honouring them. it was done as an expression of love and respect to the family of the deceased. the greek word ôéìáù simply means to 'revere' or 'value'. the widows had to be honoured if they meet the criteria that paul later stated in 1timothy 5:3 which is simply a reminder to timothy to continue doing what they talked about before paul left for macedonia. 'widows indeed' (?íôùò÷þñáò) the phrase 'widows indeed' is qualified by the greek term ïíôüswhich is translated “desolate” which means having been left alone. it also indicates that no one is able to help her. the “widows indeed” refers to those widows who meet the qualifications presented by paul in this chapter making them eligible for material aid from the church but does not deny that other widows are not widows in the normal sense of the word. 1timothy5:4 consist of two parts: protasis which is the first part of a conditional sentence, whereas an apodosis is the second complementary part. the protasis, is 'if a widow has children or grandchildren,' and the apodosis is 'then' these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to god.' miruka, (2015) citing levisohn, (2000) asserts, “she” is hypothetical, for it is speaking of those widows who have children or grandchildren who can support them in contrast to those mentioned in verse 3 who do not have children or relatives to support them”. therefore, it refers to a christian widow who does not qualify to receive material aid from the christian community in ephesus. it is referring to christian widow in order to teach a principle that is always applicable for christians. “children” is the noun ôåêíïí which speaks of the offspring or children of the particular christian widow or hypothetical christian widow. the greek term ýêã? íïò translated “nephews” means 'descendants' or 'grandchildren' george (1992) in miruka, et al (2015). the apodosis indicates that children and grandchildren of widows must be taught to care for their parents and grandparents. this refers to the act of carefully communicating and instructing the children and grandchildren of widows in a face to face manner with regard to their responsibilities towards their parents. this would involve teaching them the implications of the commandment in exodus 20:12 to honour one's father and mother. it is communicating the authoritative proclamation of god's will to christian children and grandchildren with respect to their responsibilities to their parents and grandparents, therefore, revealing their true spirituality in the context of family relationships. according to strong,(strong's 1901:113), the adjective 'first'(ðñ? ôïò) means “foremost” in time, place, order or importance.'ðñ? ôïò' emphasizes the that children and grandchildren of widows should learn through instruction to fulfil the financial duties to their parents. it also emphasises that children and grandchildren should exercise godliness in their own family. the third part of 1timothy 5:4 explains in greater detail what paul meant by his previous statement that children and grandchildren of widows are to exercise godliness with their own families by providing material support to their parents and grandparents. this is a clear responsibility of the children for their parents including grandparents. vines elaborates the word “repay” in his dictionary by saying, “the word “repay” is the greek word that means “recompense”, '? ìåéâ?ìáé'is to repay, which is not found in the new testament is used with the verb 'áð?äéäïìéò' meaning to 'render'. in 1timothy 5:4 this use is illustrated in the papyri by way of conferring a benefaction in return for something” miruka, p.et al (2015) citing vines, (1997). this indicates that children are to give back a return to their forebears which includes material support. besides providing material items such as food, clothing and housing, parents also should give intangible assets such as love and encouragement to their children. this will give a great and happy privilege for children to also return a small measure of the tremendous support they have received from their parents. fourth, is the causal clause which is connected to the exegetical clause and so presents the reason for the exegetical clause and the apodosis. the word 'åíùðéïí', an adjective and its gender is neuter and means' before' or 'in the presence of', as in luke 5:25, 8:47, rev 4:5. the word èåïõ is used to denote one true god and in septuagint èåïsis a translation of the hebrew words 'elohim' former indicating his 'power and pre-eminence'. the causal clause presents the reason why paul wants the children and grandchildren of widows to fulfil their financial obligations to them. it indicates that fulfilling one's material obligations to one's parents and grandparents is pleasing and acceptable to the father since this is in accordance with god the father's will and also an exercise of godliness and honours him. 1timothy5:5. the phrase 'widows indeed' is the english equivalent of the greek phrase ?íôùò÷þñá which is also translated as 'desolate' meaning 'having been left alone'. this also indicates that no one was able to help them. in ancient times widows were in an especially difficult position because honourable employment for them was not readily available. perhaps some could receive help through family or friends but many lived in poverty never having received an inheritance. the outlook for many was a test whereby believers demonstrated the genuineness of their faith. in paul's context the “widows who are really in need” refers to a widow who does not have children or relatives to support them materially. she is the widow who meets the qualification presented by paul in verse 5 making her eligible for material support from the church. “she who is left alone puts her hope in god” ìåìïíùìýíç? ëðéêåí åð? èåïí. the greek phrase ? ëðéêåí ?ðß èå?í is translated as 'puts her hope in god and implies having a confident expectation and has to do with the unseen and the future. the word çëðéêåí is in the perfect active indicative singular and it describes a true widow who confidently expects to receive logistical grace from god, for example, his provision to meet her daily needs (matthew 6:25-34; hebrews 13:5). the word also refers to her confident expectation of receiving god's rewards for faithful service because of her faith and good deeds in the past. 1timothy5:8.the word 'ðñïíïåù' means to have in mind to do; to provide for, care for, coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 06 07 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 take care of miruka & louw (1996: 220) explains the verb ðñïíïåù as a compound word which is composed of the preposition 'pro' which means 'before' and the verb íïåù which means 'to take thought'. in later writings among the greeks and septuagint, it also could mean to 'care for, provide or be concerned about'. the word appears only three times in the new testament (rom12:17, 2cor 8:21, 1tim5:8). in the above verses, the verb 'ðñïíïåù' means, “to have regard for, take into consideration, carefully consider. the verb 'ðñïíïåù' in 1timothy 5:8 is used of believers to provide materially for the widows who are in one's own lineage. the word 'ì? ëéóôá' is an elative superlative adverb and appears a dozen times in the greek new testament (acts 20:28, gal. 6:10, phil. 4:22, 1tim. 4:10).mirukaet al citing thayer (1996:613), gives the following meanings, 'to an unusual degree, most of all, especially, particularly. louw and nida define the word as, 'a very high point on a scale of extent', 'very much', 'particularly', exceptionally (louw and nida 1996:280) in miruka, (2015). in 1timothy 5:8, the adverb 'ì? ëéóôá' functions as a superlative adverb meaning, “especially” and is used to single out those who are members of immediate christian family such as parents and grandparents. it denotes an exact point on a scale of extent. the term is actually emphasising the command for the christians' responsibilities to care for their own parents and grandparents and even beyond one's own extended family. “oikeios” is derived from “oikos” which means, 'of a house, what belongs or related to a house or household'. thus here in 1timothy 5:8, the word denotes “one's own immediate family”. thus the christian is to provide for those women in his own immediate family who are widows. the statement, 'he has denied the faith' is composed of articular, accusative case and feminine singular. the noun 'ô? í ð?óôéò', “the faith” and is followed by the third person singular perfect middle indicative form of the verb '? ñíåïìáé', “he has denied”. the verb '? ñíåïìáé' means, 'to refuse'. however, at times it could mean, “to reject or to decline” and even, “to deny something or someone'. the word occurs only six times in the septuagint and in genesis 18:15 it is used of sarah, “denying” that she laughed when the lord promised that she and her husband would have a child a year later. the term also occurs 33 times in the new testament. in 1timothy 5:8, the verb '? ñíåïìáé' means “to reject” and its object is an articular with a noun 'ð?óôéò' which denotes that body of doctrine taught by the lord and the apostles. thus, 'ð?óôéò' is synonymous with the gospel and speaks of it as that which the church believes. therefore, the verb refers to the christian refusing to obey the teaching of the lord and the apostles which constitutes the new testament. the term speaks of the christian refusing to obey the command to support the widows materially when they are in need. the noun'ð?óôéò' is used in an objective sense for the christian faith. it refers to the content of what paul taught the gentile churches, in other words as a description of the gospel. it also refers to the gospel from the perspective of a body of doctrine or that which is believed by the church. commenting on the phrase, 'and is worse than unbeliever', knight (1992) writes, “such a person is worse than unbeliever, because paul regards believers as having the word of the law written on their hearts and therefore even unbelievers are known to do instinctively the things of the law(roms. 2:1415, 1cor. 5:1). thus, for a professed believer who has god's law and fails to do what even many unbelievers do warrants the verdict that he is “worse than an unbeliever” the conjunction êá? is an adjunct, meaning that it is introducing a statement that presents an additional consequence of christian failing to support members of his household who are widows and need material support. the word denotes 'an emphatic amplification' of the denial of christian faith; the christian who fails to provide for those widows in his immediate and extended family is worse than an unbeliever. the verb 'å?ì?' means, 'to exist in a particular state or condition' which is complemented by the expression '? ðßóôïõ÷åßñùí', 'worse than unbeliever'. this describes a christian who does not provide for the material needs of his parents or grandparents. implication of 1tim 5:3-5, 8 to the church the opening instruction of st. paul in 1timothy 5:3 controls the thought of the whole passage. the church must properly recognize its needy widows (literally, "real widows"). proper recognition ("honour") was to be expressed in practical support. the practical implications of this are that while the church does well in putting in place a program to take care of widows, it must not shy away from putting in place a fool proof mechanism to make sure that every widow that receives help is really worthy of the help. it must also ensure that those who are supposed to get help are all captured within the widow help program as suggested by st. paul in 1tim 5:3-8. michael, (2013) believes that, if the widow has family members who can take care of her, then they should be taking care of her. she is not a “real” widow, and the church does not need to treat her in the same way that the church deals with a widow who has no one to help her. the tniv explains the idea in this way: “give proper recognition to those widows who are really in need.” but good stewardship of the church's limited resources and protection of its reputation required the leadership to decide who the "real" widows in the church were and whether other means of support were available (niv). one of the key objectives of the church in caring for widows is being a catalyst in getting family members involved in caring for their own. 'but if any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own house': here is the manifest distinction between his own, ?ó?ùí and his own household, ï?êå?ùí they are distinguished by terms in the greek, and as to the care which men and women ought to extend to them. by his own, he means his relations, all of a man's family or stock; by his own household, he seems to mean those who cohabit with him. paul wanted christian families to be as mutually supportive as possible. he insisted that children and grandchildren take care of the widows in their families, for this would show godliness at homeland it would please god very much, (adam, 1967). the apostle said that he who is careless of providing for the former, (so far as he is able), but especially for the latter, hath denied the christian faith, that is, in the practice of it, though in words he professes it; he lives not up to the rule of the gospel, which directs other things. to make widow's care holistic, children who are able to take care of their aged widowed parents should have encouragement from the church to do so. they needed a program of instruction to prevent them from being negligent. in order words, the church has the prerogative to reach out to children whose mother belong to the church who are widows by encouraging them to take care of their widowed mother. if there are widows whose children are quite young and are not able to cater for their mothers, then the church has a responsibility to care for these widows. conclusion from the study, it was observed that the role the church has to play in addressing the plight of the widows should be well spelt out as recommended by st. paul in 1timothy 5:3-5 & 8. the coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 08 09 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 church should not always address the care of widows from the point of the general welfare to the less privilege in the church. the church is expected to educate and admonish the children, relatives of the widows on how to cater for their widowed mothers. and this they can do by setting up a ministry that can look into the affairs of the widows and address their needs. the church cannot single-handedly meet the various needs of the widows among them. when they follow st. paul's injunction, the burden on the church will become light. references adam c.(1967). clark's commentary volume v. new york: abingdon press. brian, c. & austin, w. (2015). caring for widows. wheaton, illinois: crossway publisher. david, g. (2013). 1timothyhow to treat people in the church: enduring word. 1timothy 5 ivp new testament commentaries: proper recognition of widows in need. lacnt-p 948. friberg, t. (2000).analytical lexicon of greek new testament: bakers greek testament library. grand rapids, mich: bakers books. kittel, g., & gerhard, f, (eds.). (1964–1976). theological dictionary of the new testament. 10 vols. grand rapids, mi: eerdmans. knight iii, g.w. (1992). the pastoral epistles: a commentary on the greek text. the new international greek testament commentary. grand rapids: wm. b. eerdmans publishing co. michael m. (2013). the strange list of widows: a study of 1timothy 5. retrieved from www.gcs.edu. miruka, p., aloo, m. nathan, j., & onginjo, m. (2015). the role of the church and the christian family towards widow care as highlighted by paul. sociology and anthropology3(1) 52-57.retrieved from http://www.hrpub.org doi: 10.13189/sa.2015.030107. odaga, a.b. (1994).luo sayings. kisumu: lake publishers and enterprises. smith, w. (1901). widow. dictionariessmith's bible dictionary. revised standard vision (1971). the british and foreign bible society. glasgow: international book manufacturing. stephen g. d. (1996). widow. baker's evangelical dictionary of biblical theology. walter, a.(ed.), elwell: baker's books publishers. spencer, f. s. (1994). neglected widows in acts 6: 1-7. the catholic biblical quarterly, 56 (40) 715-733.retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/4372191. strong's exhaustive concordance of the bible (1901). computer file: libronix digital library system 2.0., libronix corporation. webster, m. (1973). new twentieth century dictionary of english language (2nd ed.). cleveland: the world publishing company. page 1 page 2 page 3 page 4 page 5 page 6 page 7 page 8 page 9 article 8.cdr abuse and exploitation of the girl-child in a digital age: a study of akachi adimorah – ezeigbo's trafficked by nwafor, john onyema department of english chukwuemeka odumegwu ojukwu university, igbariam campus nwaforjohnable@gmail.com 07037828182, 07087870380 abstract his paper highlighted the ill treatment of the girl child by parents and the society. the tphenomenon of trafficking and exploitation of the girl – child have become the most widely discussed social tragedies of our time. scholars can note the considerable skill used by the author in portraying the plight of young girls in a merciless world dominated by greedy, irresponsible and often cruel men and careless parents in their lives. the abuse, domestic violence, exploitation and intimidation stare the helpless young maidens in the face as they cannot change their sad situations individually. it is therefore envisaged that the society especially parents of those children should look at the humiliation as a cankerworm that should be eliminated. the young, innocent and naïve girls are taken advantage of, and sold out for prostitution and other money – making ventures by those they trusted. at the end of the day, humiliation, dehumanization and even demented lives become their fate contrary to their expectations. the researcher made use of both primary and secondary sources in the gathering and analysis of data. keywords: trafficking, exploitation, prostitution, humiliation, abuse, domestic violence introduction literature as a work of art mirrors the society; it speaks, affects and exposes the life of man through the experiences and challenges he faces in his immediate environment and the society at large. the issue of gender is closely related with feminism, a movement which advocates the emancipation of women and the removal of all forms of inequality between male and female genders. the idea of gender was for the first time brought about in the 1970s by a group of feminists like catherine acholonu, buchi emecheta, akachi adimora ezeigbo and even chimananda adichie. the issue was to use the notion of it as a parameter for appreciating the fact that women do not relate to men because it presupposes a social construct against biological circumstances of men and women. a girl child is described as a female child between infancy and early adulthood. during this period of the development of the girl child, she is under the custody and supervision of adults who may be her parents or guardians and siblings who are older and more mature than she is. the girl child is easily influenced by her experiences as she develops. she models her behaviour during this development process through observations and imitations of those she depends on, and her physical, mental and emotional development start and reach their peak within this stage. in attempting to establish the relationship between the society and the girl child, we ask certain pertinent questions relating to how the child is received and related with in her contemporary society. what are the struggles, challenges and oppression faced by the girl child? what are the factors that foist on the girl child such challenges and oppression? 86 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 from the family circle to the public sphere, the girl child has suffered much hardship and has been greatly dehumanized. this is due to the fact that she is regarded as inferior to her brother. she is devalued and as buchi emecheta portrays her, in her novel second class citizen, she is a second class citizen in a society ruled by male chauvinism. in especially most african societies, the girl child has been consigned to an inferior status for which she constantly wears a daunted image. this inferiority is as a result of the patriarchal ideology in the society which bestows undue selfimportance on the male child. the result of this is that, men do everything to undermine the women in order to arbitrarily institute value and ideologies in the society. the african society bestows importance on the male folks neglecting the female folks. this patriarchal ideology has influenced the way the girl characters are projected by male writers in their literary texts. in most literary works, female characters always wear one of these images: prostitute, girlfriend, courtesans, and workers and are evident in these novels: clara is obi's lover in chinua achebe's no long at ease: elsie in a man of the people by achebe is odili's girlfriend and later becomes chief nanga's girlfriend; and also in chimamanda adichie's half of a yellow sun, we see olanna as odenigbo's lover. these images of female characters to helen chukwuma's assertion that: the female character in african fiction... is a facile lacklustre human being, the quiet member of a household only to bear children, unfulfilled if she does not, and handicapped if she bears only daughters... docility and-complete submission of will is demanded and enacted from her (131). the construct portrays the girl character as a passive and inconsequential object. the male writers communicated a picture of the girl-child as one whose destiny is subject to the whims of her male folk. in other words, the girl-child lives under the shadows of the males in the society. so, many literary artists in our society try to expose the humiliation and dehumanisation of girl children and womanhood by the traditions, and men of society and make efforts to redeem these deplorable conditions of women in their literary works. they also try to give answers to many questions raised on the girl-child/women's emancipation and the level of success achieved so far. african fiction is a reflection of the prevalent issues that are eating the bone marrow of the contemporary african society. these are literary works written by africans in english language for everyone in the society to correct their mistakes or other social errors. besides, female writers in modern african literature have before now gained stand in african literary world. they have attempted to emancipate african women in diaspora from the shackles of prejudice and subjugation meted on them by tradition, culture, norms, and all forms of mystical and diabolic beliefs governing the average african society. they now seem to reinstate and establish what seems to be their main interest which focuses on penetrating into the african literary world. their aim is to examine the societies in africa as well as to rid them of any practices that will mar the upraising freedom of women. in order to achieve this, they seek to promote their authored books or texts hence the female and male writers in modern african literature are focused on promoting peace and harmony in african continents. thus, in the novels by male writers like achebe's things fall apart and a man of the people, john munonye's the only son, females are often regarded in nigeria as the weaker personality in the value chain of human development. this orientation has led to demeaning and sometimes dehumanizing treatments against her in the hands of men who are in charge and in control of the order of the social and cultural institutions. all these have brought about the subservient classifications in which the female child has been confined in african societies. but in recent times, there have been efforts and advocacies by women and significant others like akachi adimora87 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 ezeigbo and ngozi chuma-udeh in children of the eagle, the last of the strong ones and echoes of a new dawn to emancipate the situation of female children against the backdrop of traditional restrictions. this paper is concerned with the problems of the girl-child in the african world as seen in the texts under study. these efforts are geared to recognize, rehabilitate, and ultimately elevate the female children as the real custodian of the society's traditions and values. the paper advances that while tradition tries to undermine the status of the girl-child and women; this canvasses that without the noble role of women as the pillars of the society, cultural legacies would have been stuck in irretrievable quagmire or possibly lost forever. in fact, women have been regarded as the weaker vessels and treated as such. it could be categorically stated that most of the male novelists make female characters play second fiddle as the custom demands. women were discriminated against in virtually every aspect of life: educationally, sexually, socially, politically and otherwise. according to ebere ezenweke in her book a hindrance to women potentials “the girl child as a woman has suffered tremendous marginalization and show of superiority complex in the past. a traditional orientation of many cultures of the world testifies to this assertion” (2). she indicates that women problems vary in the impact of negative cultural practices. from this view, women are helpless in the society due to the cultural practices of the past which constitute conflicts and tragedy in our contemporary society. this is a societal tragedy whereby a child is beaten and at the same time prevented from crying. nmah paul in his book entitled women's right in igbo land he states that: igbo women, like the majority of africa's population, are subject to inequalities in the political, social, economical and cultural fields. women's attitude to their traditional role has varied from acceptance that has been tended to condition the non – utilization of formal guarantee of equality (4). thus, women are deprived most of their rights and their potentials are not easily acknowledged by the men who are prejudiced against them. the tendency to relegate women to the background becomes naturally a part of the patriarchal ideology of the society. some female writers like amma darko, akachi adimora –ezeigbo, sefi atta, yejide kilanko and kaine agary have now decided to break the jinx concerning this biased judgment of women by the men. akachi adimora – ezeigbo's trafficked, is a novel about nneoma, alongside some girls who were tricked into prostitution, all in the name of going to work abroad. these girls as the narrator says in the novel, were brutalized, exploited and dehumanized and later deported back to nigeria penniless. also some others mentioned in the novel like hannah; nneoma's sister who went to live with prophet elias (a married man) without her bride price being paid and he continued molesting and battering hannah until she left him and ran back to her parents. this study will look into the problems of trafficking and exploitation faced by the girl-child in akachi adimora-ezeigbo's trafficked the theoretical framework for this study is feminism. according to the world book encyclopedia, “feminism is the belief that women should have economic, political and social equality with men” (71). it is an organised activity on behalf of women's rights and interests. cynthia cockburn in book her in the way of women says that “the story of modern feminism began with the american revolution in 1784 which embodies the aspiration for equality, liberty and fraternity, shaking the old feudal and monarchical order” (36). she further states that “the first feminist document was mary wollstonecraft's vindication of the rights of women in 1792 in which she opposed men” (36). 88 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 this phenomenon of girl – child humiliation, has become one of the most widely discussed social tragedies of our time. we are witnesses to a deluge of talks about the plight of these children, from newspaper articles, to radio talk–shows, television documentaries and elegant academic discussions. many well–funded, well–attended workshops and conferences have been convened on the subject. even government claims to be doing its very best to tackle the problem, yet in spite of all these well publicised efforts; the problem not only persists but seems to be getting more and more intractable. the ideas of feminism have catered effectively to the movement of women for the achieving of social, political and educational emancipation of women and their equality with men. ngozi chumaudeh's echoes of a new dawn, amma darko's faceless and akachi adimora – ezeigbo's trafficked like many others are examples of works along this part. they are works that arose as a response to the male dominated society that seeks continually to subjugate women and treat them as sub humans. trafficking and exploitation of the girl child in akachi adimora – ezeigbo's trafficked akachi adimora – ezeigbo's trafficked is all about young girls who ran away from unfavourable circumstances at home, hoping to get rich abroad and come back to help their families but ended up being tricked into prostitution slavery abroad and later deported penniless. trafficked raises related social issues that are all too – familiar to us in an equally familiar setting because there is always news on human trafficking where young girls are taken abroad and used as sex workers. as in the case of these girls – nneoma, efe and the rest of them who were deceived on the idea of a better life, only for them to get abroad and be turned into sex workers. the two women, madam gold and madam dollar mapped out strategies which they used in tricking those girls into travelling with them. these measures worked through the use of adverts and pictures of the schools which they were made to believe that they would work in, and also by issuing employment letters to them. according to the author, nneoma narrates the story of her travel abroad to efe thus: for personal reasons, i fled from home one friday morning without telling my family. a friend and classmate had told me some weeks before that some people had helped her secure a teaching appointment in the united kingdom and she would introduce me to them and i could come with her (126). based on the assurance to get a better job and the urge to help alleviate the poor state of her family, nneoma innocently and ignorantly took the bait. as she goes on: so i head for her hometown which is near mine, to find out if the invitation is still open. it is, and we travelled to lagos together to meet her sponsors. in no time, they got passports and flight tickets for us, and kept them. they showed us pictures of the schools where we'll be teaching and gave us appointment letters signed by people with english names (127). such deceit readily influenced the naïve girls whose mind set were to secure gainful employment to help themselves and their families, not knowing the humiliation and exploitation awaiting them abroad. much to nneoma's surprise they were made to swear an oath with 'a bible and an image of arusi'. this was done so that they will not think of breaching the contract. as she narrates to efe, thus: we are six young women between the ages of seventeen and twenty, they tells us we will have plenty of time to pay back our debts to the agency when we start earning money. while in lagos, we related with just two people, eddie and maria. everything seems normal. they joke with us as if we're their younger sisters. i am so happy and thank my chi… the only thing that worries me is that we have to take an oath and they told us that the consequences are severe if we disregard the terms of the 89 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 agreement, disobey them or cut links without settling our debts… (127) on the case of efe, they took them to a shrine, somewhere between lagos and ibadan, such barbaric act was the extent of humiliation they suffered in the hands of those traffickers. when nneoma alongside others reached murtala mohammed international airport, eddie and maria withdrew as they were handed over to others who explained that eddie and maria are their nigerian contacts, and that they will get to italy before travelling to britain. as nneoma laments: in italy, i discovered i'm trafficked. i have no say in the matter. here's a woman called madam dollar – nothing comes between her and money. she owns us and the man, whom we learnt to call captain is her bodyguard. she keeps us prisoner in her flat. life is hell in rome – we are always walking at night, selling sex to italian men and foreigners … as soon as we arrived, she sells my friend. i have not set my eyes on her since (128). nneoma feels dehumanized and devastated by the life she was forced to live while abroad as it was contrary to her expectations. as she narrates her ordeal to efe thus: “i am completely devastated by the life i'm forced to live: hit the street at night, waiting for customers, winter, spring, summer and autumn. i come back at dawn, wash, eat and sleep till it all begins again at nightfall” (129). nneoma arrived italy only to be surprised with a different job proposal and this earned her much beating and bruises as she refuses sex to madam dollar's customers. as she continues narrating her ugly experiences abroad to efe thus: “sometimes, while we are standing in the red light area where other prostitutes line up, youths come shouting, 'puta puta!' at such moments, i am completely overwhelmed by shame” (130). nneoma served in madam dollar's hotel as a prostitute for three years before she was bought and transferred to baron in the united kingdom (uk). she was denied access to her documents and passport. she always received severe beatings form baron any time she refuses to have sex with him. she was not allowed to walk on the streets of uk alone. she only goes out with baron or those who paid baron for her sex services who later brought her home afterwards. according to nneoma as she recounts her sad story: baron sends the other girls to brothels and keeps me in his flat. instead of putting me on the street, he brings men to the flat. baron is a sadist. he rapes and beats me. i refuse when customers want oral or anal sex and insist they use condoms and i'm sometimes assaulted for this. baron locks me up in his flat, and does not allow me to go out except when he takes me with him (132). an opportunity she has been waiting for presented itself for nneoma, when she went out one day with baron and she grabbed it. nneoma left with some money she was able to save which she carries everywhere she's going should an opportunity of running away present itself and started roaming the streets of uk and was arrested by the immigration officers who discovered that she has no residential permits with her and she pleaded with them not to kill her. she was arrested together with other girls and after some time in the uk, they were deported back to nigeria. nneoma recounts how she escaped from baron, how she met dr. chindo okehi, the university lecturer, how she was caught and eventually deported back to nigeria and brought to oasis, thus: many months later when he takes me out for shopping, i'm alert all the time with my money hidden in my clothes, ready to escape if an opportunity presents itself. on this occasion, he stops for a second to buy a newspaper as soon as he turns his back i opened the door gently and got out. i did not look back until i have disappeared round the corner of the street. i run and run until i'm out of breath. i have no idea where i am but i keep going in the direction opposite the place i left baron (133). nneoma's escape was dramatic and even looks as if it has divine connection as baron and his cohorts 90 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 could not locate her ever again. according to nneoma: i roamed the city for two days until a nigerian woman i met chindo okehi, takes me home. she is a university teacher, later she introduces me to a nigerian man, in whose house i live until the police raid. within days, i am deported and brought to oasis (134). efe's own side of the story was almost like nneoma's as she narrates her sad tale to nneoma thus: … my family was poor; it was a struggle to put our meals on the table. only my elder sister and i went to college. my three brothers dropped out before they finished primary school. i have a younger sister and i hope she's still in school. she was ten when i left home. i was nearly nineteen (98). nneoma sighed: she too had been about that age when she left her family. as efe goes on: one day i saw an advertisement in a newspaper while i was on a visit to my cousin in lagos. it asked young men and women who wished to work abroad to come to a certain address to be interviewed. you know how people longed to leave the country, especially during the military regime (99). 'they still do it don't they?' nneoma interrupted. 'sorry for interrupting. please go on'. i responded to the advertisement without my cousin's knowledge. the office seemed perfectly normal. quite a number of people were interviewed the same day. some were rejected, but i was selected. none of the men who were interviewed were taken. this would have alerted me to danger, but i barely gave it thought at the time. anyway, before long, all the girls – ten of us– were given a travel schedule. we took an oath to work for the agency until we had paid our debts. they claimed they had spent a lot of money getting our passports and tickets (99). oh lord, they always have the same story. go on, nneoma breathed well, to cut a long story short, we were taken to italy and ended up in palermo. it was terrible. i was sold to a woman called madam gold, a nigerian. she was vicious. she uses us shamelessly, make us walk the streets every night (99). nneoma saw that efe's story was very similar to hers – they had both been forced to sell their bodies to all comers. tears ran down her face and she took efe's hand, as efe continues with her story: madam gold sold me to a pimp – a white man – after four years of slaving for her. i worked for my 'new owner' for two years before i escaped. then i fled to verona and teamed up with a prostitute i met there and worked independently for about another year, because i wanted to save some money to return home. if i had had money of my own, i would have returned home straight after my escape. then the police arrested me and i was deported, you know the rest (100). there was a bus awaiting the trafficked at the airport which later conveyed them all to the oasis youth centre for skill development (oycsd) premises where they were given accommodation. this centre was owned by four women, though they got support from both government and private sectors. the trafficked were accommodated there and made to have new start in life and become useful to themselves, their families and the whole society at large. hannah, the elder sister to nneoma, was not left out on the part of humiliation; but in her own case, she indirectly brought it on herself because she left home for the house of prophet elias who didn't even pay her bride price, she later went back home to her parents; who were very much against the union right from the onset, after spending futile years with her so – called lover; prophet elias, who subjected her to all manner of humiliation and maltreatment. the family were happy to have her back 91 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 home and wished nneoma could as well come back home someday. hannah narrates her ordeal in the hands of prophet elias thus: “… after whipping us (his so – called wives/ concubines), he asks us to his bed…” (182). while in oasis, the quest for going back to school has been the slogan of nneoma and as such, she learnt so fast at the fashion and designing school. she started making and saving money that will take her back to school. she was later offered admission into the lagos state university of science and technology to study business education and there she saw ofomata whom she was previously engaged to, in the office of dr. chindo okehi. nneoma's family were so happy to see nneoma again when she came back home. efe later left for her hometown when she finished learning her trade in oasis and on getting to benin, she started a new life, got married and settled down. nneoma on her part works so seriously, she encountered a lot of problems that made her move from one place to another in search of jobs she could do to support herself in school. but it has been made known to some people that she was deported from italy where she went for prostitution. yet, she never gave up, she kept on struggling to realize her dreams of going to school and she later succeeded. conclusion in this novel we can't help admiring the considerable skills the author used in portraying the plights of young girls in a merciless world dominated by greedy, irresponsible and often cruel men in their lives. sadly, it is a tale of a diseased society that seems to have lost its hold on the lives of its children. it is a provocative tale of a society that has developed a tragic ability of guiding its young ones, especially the girl child, into a life dedicated to prostituting every conceivable virtue for the sake of flimsy material possessions. akachi adimora – ezeigbo's trafficked is principally the story of nneoma, a beautiful and intelligent teenager who was tricked into going abroad with the promise of a decent job, spurred by the increasingly tightening grip of poverty on her family, she decided to abandon her family and lover and fled in search of the famed green pastures, she found herself forced to serve sex market in europe, and after eight years of abuse, she was deported back to nigeria in shame and without a penny. in nigeria she could not stand the shame of her past, but she later amended it, by gaining admission into a university; thereby actualising her dreams and later went and re – united with her family. this is a wake-up call to us grandmothers/ grandfathers, mothers, but especially fathers. it is not enough to sow the seeds of human life, beyond it the future of our children, of our mortality ancestry awaits our constant vigilance and careful nurturing. no seed grows into harvest of joys without the planter's diligent labour of love. 92 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 works cited achebe, chinua. no longer at ease: heinemann publishers, 1960. adichie, chimamanda. purple hibiscus, farafma, 2000. adimorah – ezeigbo, akachi. trafficked. lantern books, 2008. agary, kaine. yellow yellow: dtalk shop, 2006. agbaisiere, julie. african literature and commitment. ap express publisher, 2007. akubuiro, henry. saturday sun, june 27, 2008. annette, kolody. gender and theory dialogues on feminist criticism, longman, 1988. brown, lioyd. women writers in black africa, longman, 2008 chukwuma, helen. feminism and african literature. new generation, 2011. … "the face of eve feminist writing in african literature ". ap chuma-udeh, ngozi. trends and issues in nigeria nigeria literature. mlchjay, 2011. echezona, ifejirika. introduction to literary theory criticism and practice. awka: mabcom cockburn, cynthia. the way of women ibadan: heinemann, 1994 ezenweke, ebere. a hindrance to women potentials longman 2010 ezeokwu, innocent. “women rights – a global challenge”. the first law students journal, vol. 1, june 2008. nmah, paul. women's right in igbo land. enugu: spectrum books, 1995. ogene, mbanefo. “the rise of feminism in the nigerian novel an overview of nwapa, emecheta st and okoye” in language literature and national consciousness proceedings from the 1 international conference of the department of english, anambra state university, igbariam campus. november, 2012 (99 – 106). okolo, patrick (ed) the fiction of ezeigbo adimora akachi: issues and perspectives. african culture institute. onwueme, julia udofia. “literature and the pressure of women liberation” in luke eya journal of nigerian english and literature (jone) vol. 8. uyo:scholars press, 2010. ujowundu, cornel o. a guide to studies in the novel. sure success publishers, 2009. www.goggle.com/africanresearchreview. vol. 4, july 2010. www.goggle.com/ an international journal of language and gender studies. vol. 1, april-july, 2012. 93 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 http://www.goggle.com/africanresearchreview http://www.goggle.com/ page 95 page 96 page 97 page 98 page 99 page 100 page 101 page 102 text book journal pdf sis. noelle 01 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 abstract in retrospect, diop narrates the rwandan genocide which serves as a corpus for the study of extremist's hatred. this effort examined extremist hatred in murambi, with the aim of understanding the triggers and process. having understood that the task cannot be accomplished with a single theory, the study adopted j. m. berger's « linkages and bundles » (8-9) to demonstrate the process of incitation and daniel kahneman « automatic and deliberative thinking » to interpret extremist hatred. the article has demonstrated extremist hatred as an ideology which may begin in different ways, including incitation which triggers the automatic thinking through the exploitation of conspiracy theories, and force. the actors of this instigation will then be radicalised from suspicion, to the formation of and belief in linkages and bundles, then the construction of ideologies that kill the conscience and legitimizes hatred, until it metamorphoses into violent extremism. key words: extremist ideology, hatred, automatic thinking, deliberate hinking, radicalisation. introduction african francophone writers have in modern times, adopted a narrative that is characterised by extreme conduct which are, according to emmanuel ahimana: “fiction surpolitisée, discours misérabilisé, discours rebelle, forme monstrueuse, écritures de la violence” (6). scholars and authors of african francophone novels have demonstrated violence of different degrees and expression, which have been studied as “des formes variées du discours rebelle” by jacques chevrier, “langage et violence dans la littérature africaine écrite en francais” by mwatha musanji ngalasso, « les violences extrêmes dans le roman négro-africain francophone, le cas du rwanda : étude de langue et de style » by emmanuel ahimana etc. who attest through their research, the presence and probably dominance of violence in the african francophone texts. there is no doubt that the different types of violence exhibited are driven by a force. the force that propels one into such violence is hatred. this study explains how hatred goes beyond limits to become an extremist ideology, demonstrating the strategy and process of building extremist hatred. interpreting extremists' hatred in boubacar boris diop's murambi: le livre des ossements patience ajeibi odeh department of foreign languages university of jos ajeibiodeh@outlook.com coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 02 in boubacar boris doip's murambi le livre des ossement, cornelius returns to rwanda for the first time after a long exile in djibouti to reunite with his only surviving relative simeon hibaneza, four years after the genocide. he returns to unpleasant detail about the genocide: jessica who adopts duty with seriousness and doubles as a spy for her people; faustin cabana an interahamwe militant commander with a strong resolve never to live with the tutsi again; his father dr joseph karekazi, an elite hutu, once moderate ends up organising the killing of thousands of tutsi in murambi; colonel perin, an officer of the french army and his engagements in the genocide; gerald a tutsi survivor who narrates disturbing events that characterized the war. cornelius' reflection as one who discovers, serves as a revelation for the reader about the rwandan genocide. exploiting the extremes of hatred hatred, as seen in murambi, adopts the “extremists” vision. following the reflections of one of the characters, cornelius, he appears to be giving his judgments of the level of hatred displayed in murambi : “cette orgie de haine allait très loin au-delà de la lutte pour le pourvoir dans un petit pays” (214). founding this argument on the duplex theory of hate will place the hate in question under burning hate, which robert sternberg itemise as need for annihilation, (disgust of negation of intimacy + anger/fear of passion + devaluation/diminution of decision/commitment.) however, murambi's depiction of anger/fear of passion is very minimal. the author tries in vain, to describe what could have informed that level of hatred but decided: “il ne voyait rien qui pût justifier une haine aussi féroce” (204). pursuing hatred with such ferocity is an undertaking that requires a huge effort. this is obvious, given the fact that these killings were executed with machetes, requiring physical strength. it is therefore, important to reflect on what feuled the thoughts of the militants to return to their scene of carnage with renewed resolve to continue killing everyday. haroro ingram considers ideology as “a tool that is used selectively by violent extremists to construct their 'system of meaning' in response to psychosocial and strategic factors” (5). in the case of murambi, the factors are more strategic than psychosocial. there seems to be a blatant display of disdain and resentment that appears to be too extreme to be considered reactional radicalism. according to j.m berger, extremist ideology is “a set of justifications that legitimizes an in-group, which is primarily expressed through texts, including both written and spoken word” (7). beyond the struggle for power as cornelius suggests, there appears to be the search for legitimacy. the demonization of the tutsi would have been a necessary evil for the taking of power. it is a strategy. however, exploiting the limits of hatred and pushing the boundaries in the manner diop adopts leaves more questions to be answered. in our corpus, the in-group can be seen as the interahamwe militants and other hutu fighters who found a set of justification to legitimize their existence but also their enemy and their aggression towards the enemy. diop presents gerald, a character that survived the carnage with a lot of memory, who brings us to reflect on the nature of hatred: “j'avais vu des choses absolument insupportable. je ne pouvais plus croire à la bonté des hommes” (193). to buttress gerald's assertion, diop paints a scene through the same character: gerard in page 210-211 recounting how an interahamwe was having sexual intercourse with one of the tutsi 03 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 victims under a tree in broad day light. this display is outrageously humiliating for the woman in question, but that is hardly extreme. a high ranking militant then hails him in the act and encourages him to wrap up as quickly as possible: “depeche-toi de finir tes pompes, on a promis à papa de bien faire le travail” (210), making it more inappropriate. note also that “le travail” here is the extermination of human lives. this symbolism alone makes the act ideological. this ideologisation becomes the basic indicator of the strategies adopted by the extremist for the legitimisation of their hostility. the high ranking militant then returns and smashes the woman's head with a stone while the militant pursue his pleasure undisturbed. according to gerard, “ cela n'a pas interrompu l'interahamwe qui a continué à besogner le corps agité de légers soubresautes. il avait les yeux hors de la tête, tournés vers le ciel, et je crois même qu'il était encore plus excité qu'avant” (210-211). this cruelty represents an illustration of extremist's hatred. how the victim's pain excites and satisfies the aggressors. realities in our corpus show that extreme hatred occupied the minds of these extremists leading to what would be an invention of human pain. “de rue où errant des enfantscadavres aux yeux vifs et afférés. il ne suffit plus de tuer, il faut aussi trapper les esprits. alors, voici les rebelles qui savent si bien inventer de la douleur humaine” (213). humans go to extremes to demonstrate through gruesome executions, their level of hatred towards defenceless victims including children. where does extreme hatred emerge from? why does man explore abominable means to express his lack of affection for a fellow human? why the detailed and thorough strategy for evil? this question seems to be a response to aloys ndasingwa's account of how they invaded and killed people who went to seek refuge at the parish. these victims begged for their lives, begged for a moment of prayers before dying: mes enfants, laissez-moi prier une dernière fois”. une petite vieille toute ratatinée. c'est fou, le nombre de personnes qui demandent depuis hier à prier avant de mourir. notre chef a répondu à la vieille, d'un air faussement étonné : « ah ! maman, ne le savais-tu donc pas ? nous avons passé la nuit au ciel et là-bas nous nous sommes battus jusqu'à l'aube contre le dieu des tutsi ! nous l'avons tué et maintenant c'est votre tour » d'un seul coup de machette, il lui a envoyé la tête au diable (100). the number of people, the various forms of supplication and persuasion to be left alive did not deter the extremists. if it were to be a reaction to something they have done wrong, the victims would have persuaded long enough for a negotiation. the society was already polarized, but the instigation for the killings lies in their 'system of meaning which would have been defined during the preparation phase because according to berger: “in addition to defining general practices, ideology usually defines acceptable tactics for maintaining or increasing the ingroup's legitimacy (such as isolation, proselytization, or violence against an out-group)” (7). berger's assertion further confirms that the hatred that sustained the killings was an ideology. the author caps up this confirmation in what he considers an authentication of the death of the tutsis by the prefect who orders a meticulous verification: d'un geste, il a ordonné à deux de ses hommes de procéder à la vérification. ceux-ci nous ont fait signe de nous éloigner puis ont jeté des grenades lacrymogènes sur les cadavres entassés sous nos yeux. les iyenzis qui s'étaient coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 04 dissimulés sous les corps avaient déjà bien du mal à respirer. avec les lacrymos, ils éternuaient très fort et on n'avait qu'à leur mettre la main dessus. (101). if one were to still be in doubt, the effort put into strategizing the massacre in page 34 will further serve as a convincing factor. but what offence merits such hatred. cornelius recounts how hatred pushes people to kill even animals belonging to their object of hatred (52). stanley expresses the level of shock expressed by foreigners: “alors pourquoi tant de cruauté?” (58). these suggest that the expression of hatred goes beyond logical limits. cornelius recalls briefly the display of hatred in other countries. “et sais-tu qu'en sierra leone, ils se contentent de mutiler leurs victimes? c'est pire que tout. je ne sais pas ou ils trouvent la force de couper les jambes et les bras d'une fillette avant de la laisser repartir” (78-79). to put this manifestation of extremist hatred in perspective, it is worthy of note that the author used the term extremist “les extremists du hutu power” (83), on the same page he also recognises the word “fanatique” (83) but what is responsible for the construction of these extremists and fanatics like ndimbati whose love for lucienne switch into hatred within a short time (84), or extremists like dr karekezi who organized the massacre of millions of people including his wife and children (93)? whereas once a moderate hutu who spare headed a movement against impunity, he later became different “par la suite, il a changé. le docteur joseph karekezi n'était plus le même depuis longtemps, mais personne ne le savait. lui seul peut dire ce qui s'est passé dans sa tête. il ne supportait plus par exemple, d'être marié avec une tutsi” (94). what really happened in his head ? suspicion the author takes to 1959 when it all started with suspicion « depuis 1959, chaque jeune rwandais doit, a un moment ou a un autre de sa vie, répondre à la même question: faut-il attendre les tueurs les bras croisés ou tenter de faire quelque chose pour que notre pays redevienne normal? » (40). in reality, who is the killer? this expected killer was preached in both hutu and tutsi camps based on suspicion. in other words, suspicion prepared both camps for a war; a factless and baseless construction was on course. this suspicion created and fuelled hatred. each member of the community looked behind his shoulder as he lived. the author demonstrates this in the innocence of the victims of the genocide: “après ceux qu'ils appellent des ibyitso, des complices, ce sera au tour des tutsi. eux, ils sont coupable d'être eux-mêmes, donc interdits d'innocence de toute éternité” (38). considering a tutsi guilty of whatever was considered the wrong doing just because they are tutsi, comes from an ideology. the extremists system of meaning must have named the tutsi as the out-group and thus considered the enemy. this is the only way one can explain the killing of men, women, children, and even old people. suspicion created a polarized society. manipulation or coincidence, the very event that was going to complicate the already tensed situation occurs: “le falcon 50 du président juvénal habyarimana avait été abattu… en pleine vol. cyprien ntaryamira, le chef de l'etat burundais, se trouvait aussi dans l'avion. il n'y avait aucun survivant et on accusait tout le monde d'avoir fait le coup : les belges, les français, le fpr et les extrémistes du hutu power » (83). suspicion made everything worse. the president is dead, everyone is being accused and 05 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 the tensions became even higher. dr joseph karekezi predicted that “les voyous et les fanatiques vont en profiter pour attaquer des innocents” (83). there lies the problem. diop seems to point his readers in the direction of what will follow. first we deduced that the mind of everyone, hutu and tutsi was preconditioned to expect a war, it is not clear who declared the war. just as everyone was suspicious of the other, cornelius wonders “c'était peut-être absurde de la part des victimes de continuer à clamer si obstinément leur innocence. et si ce châtiment radical -le génocideétait la réponse a un crime très ancien dont personne ne voulait entendre parler? (81). diop deliberately or unconsciously leaves out the details of this suspicion. probably because there were various conspiracy theories that hinged on suspicion. cornelius acknowledges that he tried to verify from history, how and why the suspicion existed and declared “pourtant, je n'y ai trouvé aucune réponse. les documents prouvent que les hutu et les twa ont été opprimés jadis par les tutsi. je suis hutu mais je ne peux pas vivre avec cet héritage. je refuse de demander au passé plus de sens qu'il n'en peut donner au présent » (81). cornelius' analysis shows that the history books would have been exploited to form the high level constructs. one will also ask: if it was the hutu and twa that was oppressed, why is it only the hutu that is executing the tutsi? what is the crime? who commits this crime? against who was this crime committed? it is easy to deduce that diop leaves this gap as resonance into the reader's mind that it is simple suspicion. what remains unclear however is the instigator of these suspicion, insecurities, victimism, or selfish inventions. the possibility of pure invention cannot be ruled out as shown in a previous study that extremist's ideologies can be born out of victimism. “comme nous l'avons vu, la construction d'idéologies extrémistes telles que le chauvinisme, le défaitisme, l'ethnocentrisme, la xénophobie, et la vengeance ; est issu du victimisme et de la radicalisation''(odeh 188). linkages, bundles and high level constructs these come after suspicion is established. according to berger, extremist ideologies begin with “linking concepts” (7). extremist's ideologies thrive through these linkages to facts. for the hutus, they linked this suspicion to history “les documents prouvent que les hutus et les twa ont été opprimes jadis par les tutsis” (81). linking their suspicion to historical records according to berger, these linked concepts are then “bundled into high-level constructs, in which several concepts are connected to one another and then conflated into a single idea” (8). the author shows a presumed level of tension between the tutsi and the hutu. this tension came from suspicion. it is however, not clear if the fears and apprehension have tangible links and sources. we have shown in previous studies that “il se peut qu'ils le présument réellement, en raison d'un décalage palpable, ou simplement un exercice d'invention (171). invention of perceived enemies is the fourth stage in borum's process of radicalization. dr karekezi raised the same concerns to his son that after the death of president juvenal habyarimana, fanatics were going leverage on his death to attack innocent people. (83) diop validates our view by demonstrating clearly in the following declaration. “pour certains d'entre eux, la situation est simple: ils ont tué les tutsi que, pour une raison ou une autre, ils détestaient et, sans oser le dire ouvertement, ils aimeraient rentrer chez eux”(124). through this illustration, it can be deduced that the genocide is based on linkages that differ for different individuals. coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 06 the theory of hate as a story applies in various categories based on the hutu-tutsi relationship. it proposes that hate emerges from different kinds of stories. in the case of murambi, the stories vary according to the different linkages. we also find cornelius reflections on rwanda a clear pointer : “au fond, le rwanda est un pays imaginaire. s'il est si difficile d'en parler de manière rationnelle, c'est peut être parce qu'il n'existe pas pour de vrai. chacun à son rwanda dans la tête et ça n'a rien à voir avec celui des autres” (82). for cornelius, on the one part, the different perceptions of rwanda by the rwandans must have created different expectations and of course diverse feelings of entitlement. there lies a problem. on the other part, by the contemplation of an imaginary rwanda, he probably makes allusion to the assumption of enmity along tribal lines. the linkages that fanned the tension created by suspicion were diverse. it is thus right to conclude that the organisers of these heinous crimes like kakerezi took hold of the people's automotive thinking. people made their linkages individually, to take positions in history : “dans cette histoire, beaucoup ont tue par avidité, par sottises, par crainte de l'autorité ou je ne sais quoi encore” (184). the tragic event of “mercredi 6 avril 1994” (13) already had suspects, due to linkages. the linkages are bundled up to more complex concepts, where people go to history to make a resolution. we find a very good example in faustin gasana who says: « j'ai étudié l'histoire de mon pays et je sais que les tutsi et nous, nous ne pourrons jamais vivre ensemble. jamais. des tas de fumistes prétendent le contraire, mais moi je ne le crois pas » (26). this is a deadly resolution. it probably represents other perceptions such as potrayed in colonel musoni's conversation with dr karekezi: “demain, il pourrait dire: au moment ou tout le monde ne pensait qu'a sauver sa peau, j'étais au coté du président karekezi, nous étions au milieu de la tempête, nous avons fait face aux ennemis de la nation rwandaise, c'est nous deux et personne d'autre qui avons sauvé le pays » (128). certainly, the tutsi, old and young, were considered enemies of the nation. let us not dwell on the lack of logic in that bundle and consider how extreme that is. this was a bundle that every hutu needed to accept before extremist hatred is established. this bundle is an important part of the ideological construction that is going to ensure the extermination of every tutsi alive. during the propaganda that reinforced this hatred, a story was told that demonstrates deliberative thinking on the part of the organizers to provoke automatic thinking and also thoroughness in execution: it is about the head of the fpr being a tutsi child whose parents were executed in his presence during one of the previous conflicts. the narrator claimed that he was not killed because he was a child. the story sought to provoke regret on the actions of those who spared the boy, but to also ensure that no tutsi is spared. this bundle is a propaganda that constructs an extremist ideology that defies any form of decency and human value. it is a bundle that would have encouraged the destruction of even a tutsi fetus. high level constructs -ideology the conceptual linkages and bundles in murambi were further bundled into high level constructs. these constructs served as a tool for brain-wash, and for incitation. the organizers of the genocide needed people to execute a well calculated (deliberately thought out) decision. their aim is to usher themselves into the corridors of power as this was obvious to michel 07 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 serumundo who declares: “il y a longtemps que ce pays est devenu complètement fou. de toute façon, cette fois-ci, les assassins avaient un prétexte en or: la mort du président. je n'osais pas espérer qu'ils se contenteraient juste d'un peu de sang » (18) this high level constructs were ideological like in page 25 gasana's father links the genocide they were preparing for, to the hitler's genocide against the jews “tu a surement entendu parler de ce français qui a voulu tuer tous les iyenzi blancs pendant leur grande guerre là-bas”(25). faustin gasana's high level construct was based on history : « jai étudié l'histoire de mon pays et je sais que les tutsi et nous, nous ne pourrons jamais vivre ensemble. jamais (26). this assertion is a product of many linkages leading to the consideration of the tutsi enemies of the rwandan state. nous avons fait face aux ennemis de la nation rwandaise' (128). this consideration legitimatizes the killing of the tutsi. according to berger, high level construct involves developed thinking such as “elements of in-group and out-group identity (perceived beliefs, practices, expectations, etc.) are linked to source knowledge (news, history, folklore, scripture, myth, conspiracy theories, etc.)” (8). diop seems to adopt a predilection that does not only narrate the crimes; he went as far as adopting a narrative that makes the ideologies glaring of extremism. the taking of power did not seem to have been the only aim of the genocide. there appears to be a quest for legitimacy. this legitimacy is not unconnected with the power. it is possibly a means of retaining power after taking it. berger asserts that “in-group demands more and more recognition of its claimed legitimacy and treats lack of adequate recognition as a threat” (4). the need for power would have started the spouts of killings as recognised by simeon habineza, but the demand for that recognition (legitimacy) seems to be the real framework for the extremist hatred. peter neuman puts this category of extremism this way: “in the context of liberal democracies, this could be applied to any ideology that advocates racial or religious supremacy and/or opposes the core principles of democracy and universal human rights” (citedbyborum radicalization 10) for dr karekazi “c'est juste l'histoire qui veut du sang” (129). we find this aligning with the belief, whose real source is unknown to us, that “l'arbre de la liberte ne s'arrose que par le sang”. that is the high level construct that the dr karekazi adopts to legitimize the killing of his own family. it is only possible after achieving borums's last step of ideological development: demonization of the victim. this is no doubt a manifestation of extremism, as the macmillian dictionary of political thought considers extremism methods through which political actors attempt to realise their interests and aims, “adoption of means to political ends which disregard accepted standards of conduct, in particular which show disregard for life, liberty, and human rights of others”. the methods adopted by karekezi and his likes are aimed at realizing their aims through undemocratic means. however, to sell the idea to the hutu they needed a construct that will trigger anger and stimulate automatic thinking, as demonstrated by borum: this ascription has three effects that facilitate violence. first, aggression becomes more justifiable when aimed against 'bad' people, particularly those who intentionally cause harm to others. second, extremists describe the responsible party as 'evil'; dehumanizing a target in this regard, further facilitates aggression. third, those suffering adverse conditions in the hands of others do not see themselves as 'bad' or 'evil'; this further identifies the coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 08 responsible person or group as different from those affected and, thus, makes justifying aggression even easier (“understanding the terrorist mind-set” 8). these legitimise extremist hatred. in the case of rwanda, it was imperative for the organisers of the genocide to broadcast the image of the tutsi as enemies of the state. we remark in murambi, that diop presents high level constructs as a product of deliberative thinking. he however, demonstrates through the interahamwe militants, how the deliberative thinkers leveraged on automotive thinking to incite the hutus. propaganda is a vital tool for initiation. diop presents this assertion through dr karekezi. he considers the whole cruelty a duty. he presents the same ideology to the interahamwe, this ideology considers his actions as duty “quoi qu'il arrive, j'aurais fait mon devoir. le devoir. un mot simple et que j'aime bien. la journée n'a pas été facile. pour réunir les hommes nécessaires au travail, il m'a fallu aller jusqu'à butare et de là remonter ver muciro et rusenge un peu plus au nord” (121). as if to confirm what he considers work, he says “je suis toujours sur le terrain depuis le début de la guerre et ils savent aussi que je ne plaisante pas avec le travail. et, naturellement, quand je suis dans les parages, ils font du zèle” (123). “ils” as he employs here refers to the interahamwe. diop finds a subtle and interesting way to introduce the brains behind the genocide when he gives an account of dr karekezi reflections: je n'ai jamais été aussi inquiet depuis le debut de ces événements. la vérité toute nue est celle-ci: nos hommes sont fatigués. cela se lisait nettement sur les visages de ceux que j'ai vus. la fatigue et la lassitude. nos interahamwe ont certes reçu un bon entrainement mais nous avons peut-être sous-estimé l'effort physique que cela représente de tuer tante de gens avec des armes blanches” (124). here dr karekezi appears to take responsibility for deliberately organizing the genocide, inciting the interahamwe, equipping them with logistics for the genocide. what follows in page 125 will be dr karekezi's admittance to deliberate thinking, manipulation, enforcing further our conclusion of exploiting automative thinking by these extremists: “ils savent que si toute cela se termine bien ils retourneront dans leurs taudis et que nous ne viendrons pas boire la bière de banane avec eux. les tapes amicales, la fraternité entre les pauvres et les puissants, tout ça sera vite oublie. un drôle de cercle vicieux”(125). these are clear indications that the organizers of this rare cruelty were manipulators. colonel etienne perrin's description of dr karekazi shows a disguise “ rien ne laissait soupçonner chez lui un individu bassement haineux et fanatique” (140). he disguises his extreme hatred, trained and transmitted it into the interahamwe militants who manifested his form of extremism. we acknowledge manipulation. according to borum, “ideology and action are sometimes connected, but not always. most people who harbor radical ideas and violent justifications do not engage in terrorism” (radicalization into violent extremism 30). that describes dr karekazi. he propagates his extremism and camouflages himself into the elder states man everyone perceived him to be. while in reality he is : “bassement haineux et fanatique” (140). he indoctrinates this hatred into the militants and thus they resolved: “nous ne pouvons pas les éliminer tous, mais que les survivants soient au moins morts de douleur pendant le reste de leur vie” (136). the hatred 09 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 here is pushed to unimaginable extremes. they conceive a mutation and a long term effect on the survivors. their only crime is going to be surviving the genocide. the extremist hatred is targeted to trigger both immediate pain and slow violence, described by rob nixon as: “the long dyings –the staggered and staggeringly discounted casualties, both human and ecological…often not just incremental but exponential, operating as major threat multipliers” (www.chronicle.com/article/slow-violence/127968). this kind of incitation was carefully calculated according to the ingram's assertion that: “the potential appeal of extremist propaganda is largely dependent on how such messaging is strategically designed to leverage psychological forces and strategic factors that are pertinent to its targeted audiences”(4). the extreme hatred was spread through propaganda of high level constructs that triggered extreme hatred as an automated effect on the hutu youth. conclusion murambi traces the way ambition and emotional disposition escalates into full extremist hatred. this we have followed from baseless suspicion to linkages and bundles into high level constructs which formed the fabric of propaganda by the real extremist: organizers of the genocide. we have also pointed to the fact that these organizers employed deliberative thinking to incite and manipulate a large number of people into extreme hatred while they themselves maintained their images as law abiding statesmen. the people's automatic thinking was exploited to commit some of the wildest display of cruelty while in reality, they stand to gain nothing. the study attests to the manipulation and disguise adopted by the propagandists of extremist hatred. it is also drawn from our corpus that the real extremists are calm and collected. they are strategic and tactful and leave no room for suspicion on their true nature such as dr karekezi, faustin etc. while the mediocre incited members do the dirty job without any deliberate thinking. this category commits the crimes but in reality is made up of misinformed over-zealous peasants. the level of lunacy they exhibited in carrying out their duties attests to their emptiness and lack of ideology. works cited ahimana, emmanuel. « les violences extrêmes dans le roman négro-africain francophone, le cas du rwanda : étude de langue et de style » thèse. u. michel de montaigne bordeaux 3/france, 2009. berger, j.m. "extremist construction of identity: how escalating demands for legitimacy shape and define in-group and out-group dynamics". the international centre for counter-terrorism the hague 8, 7 (2017). borum, randy. “understanding the terrorist mindset”. fbi law enforcement bulletin 72. 7 (2003): 7-10 ---. “radicalization into violent extremism i: a review of social science theories”. journal of strategic security 4, 4 (2012): 7-36. coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 10 chevrier, jacques. « des formes variées du discours rebelle », notre librairie, paris 148, (2002) :64-70. diop, boubacar boris. murambi, livre des ossements. abidjan : nouvelles editions ivoiriennes, 2001. ingram, haroro j. “a “linkage based” approach to combating militant islamist propaganda: a two-tiered framework for practitioners”. the international centre for counterterrorismhague 7, 6 (2016). odeh, patience ajeibi. “du victimism, la radicalisation à la construction d'idéologie extrémiste dans black bazar d'alain mabanckou''. journal of language and linguistics (joll) 6 july (2019): 171-189. rd scruton, roger. the palgrave macmillian dictionary of political thought, 3 edition. new york: palgrave macmillian, 2007. ngalasso, mwatha musanji. “langage et violence dans la littérature africaine écrite en français”.centre d'etudes linguistiques francophones et africaines. incomplete information. nixon, rob. slow violence. www.chronicle.com/article/slow-violence/127968consulted 5/2/2020. sternberg, robert j. “a duplex theory of hate: development and application to terrorism, massacres, and genocide”. review of general psychology. 7 3 (2003): 299-328. page 1 page 2 page 3 page 4 page 5 page 6 page 7 page 8 page 9 page 10 text book journal pdf sis. noelle abstract the cameroons was originally a german colony starting from 1884. however, during the first world war (1914-1918), the combined british and french forces invaded the territory, defeated the german troops and divided the colony into british and french spheres. in 1919, the league of nations upheld this arrangement and entrusted the cameroons to britain and france as mandate territory. thus, from 1919 to 1961, the british sphere of the cameroons was governed as a part of the southern provinces of nigeria. as a former german colony, it harboured substantial amount of german subjects and properties. these properties included plantations, legal estates, factories, companies, missions and privately-owned properties. available studies on the colonial nigerian history have omitted the cameroons province, most especially the german subjects and properties in the territory. the result of this omission has been the lop-sidedness in the historiography of the place of cameroons in the nigerian history during world war ii. this study, therefore, corrects this lop-sidedness in the historiography of colonial nigeria by examining the control and management of the german properties in the cameroons by the british colonial authorities in nigeria during world war ii (1939-1945), with a special concentration on the plantations. archival materials provided data for this historical reconstruction. the history of the german plantations in west africa is the history of possession, dispossession and repossession, as well as mutation and transpositions. introduction the second world war (1939-1945) was an implosion between the allied powers (britain, france, the usa and russia) and the axis (germany, italy and japan). although it started from europe, it spread and involved virtually all continents of the world. it reinvented most of the restrictions inaugurated during the first world war, 1914-1918, such as measures against enemy aliens and their properties. scholars like eric lohr (2003) have argued that no rule of international law was more strongly held than the one protecting the person and property of foreign citizens in wartime. rubin (1945:167) puts it differently and arrives at the same conclusion: “probably no rule of international law was regarded in 1914 as more firmly established than the rule that private property within the jurisdiction belonging to citizens of the enemy state is inviolable.” however, on the outbreak of the first world war in 1914, nearly every belligerent country hosted vast amounts of property, both real and personal, owned by persons of enemy nationality. besides, enemy persons were the shareholders in many business and industrial enterprises, corporations, partnerships, etc. in order to prevent such property from being used or such business from being conducted in a manner detrimental to the national defence or in favour of the enemy, the governments of all the belligerent countries adopted measures for placing enemy-owned property and enemy business enterprises under the control or supervision of the public authorities (garner 1918: 744).these measures against enemy coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 01 olisa godson muojama department of history university of ibadan olisamuo@gmail.com 08085576175 the british control of the german plantations in the cameroons province of nigeria during world war ii, 1939-1945 subjects and properties inaugurated during world war i became more systematic and brutal during world war ii. 1939-1945 (lohr 2003) for instance, in the british empire, including west africa, properties belonging to the enemy subjects, most especially germans, were confiscated and controlled by the british colonial authorities as part of the war efforts. this study examines the control and management of the german plantations in the cameroons by the british colonial authorities in nigeria during world war ii (1939-1945).it deals with the continuity and change in the existence of the german plantations in the cameroons, with a view to exploring the dispossession of these german-owned plantations following the outbreak of world war i in 1914 and the repossession of these plantations by their former owners from 1925 to the outbreak of the second world war in 1939, when further dispossession was effected. it argues that, although it runs counter to the rule of international law protecting the person and property of foreign citizens in wartime (lohr 2003), the takeover of the german plantations and other german properties in the cameroons and their placement under the control and supervision of the public authorities by the british colonial government in nigeria during world war ii was in order to prevent such property from being used or such business from being conducted in a manner detrimental to the national defence or in favour of the enemy (rubin 1945: 167). the significance of this study is in the extension of the literature on the german colonialism in africa, second world war, and plantation economy as concerns the cameroons province of nigeria. for instance, the literature on the german-african relations has focused more on the german official colonialism in africa, which covers from the 1880s (when german colonial acquisition began), up to the period of world war i (1914-1918), when the german official colonial rule in africa ended. this is the subject of the works of rudin (1938), cornevin (1960), gifford and smith (1967), louis (1967), bley and ridley (1971), gann and duignan (1977), and lindner (2011). thus, not much has been done about the german presence in africa after 1918, most especially the status of german subjects, properties and trade in africa during the inter-war years (1919-1939) and second world war (19391945).similarly, studies are legion on the history of the cameroons (osuntokun 1975, amazee 1993, heinzen 1983, mcpheeters 1960, ardener1962, amazee1994, landis 1960).they have, however, paid scanty attention to the impact of world war ii on the cameroons. those that have dealt with the second world war and the cameroons, even though tangentially, have paid little attention on the impact of the war on the german plantations (ndi 1968, goodrigde 1996). in addressing this lop-sidedness, the study relies essentially on primary sources for its analysis. files of the central secretary's office (cso) on the colonial nigerian economy deposited in the national archives at ibadan (nai) provided the data for the historical analysis. they include files of the department of commerce and industry as well as department of agriculture and intelligence reports on the cameroons province of southern nigeria. the approach is historical, intersectional, and structuralist. german plantations in the cameroons to the eve of world war ii the most important of the german properties in the cameroons were the plantations, with a total area of about 246,000 acres and a total area under cultivation of about 50,000 acres and valued in 1917 very roughly at £853,500 (nai 01435/i, 1919-1925). by 1939, it was quoted as a total area of about 250,000 acres: that under cultivation was 80,000 (nai cso 35679/9, 02 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 1939).the plantations included: a. debundscha plantation which was registered in grundbuch covering area 1681 hectares (4153 acres) and ownership was thus recognized by the german government. there was a deed of additional 500 hectares (123 5-55 acres). it was crownland bought from the government (nai 01435/i, 1919-1925). b. idenau plantation: valid deed of sale of september 1898 for 2000 hectare (4942 acres). property not registered in grundhuch (nai 01435/i, 1919-1925). c. tobacco properties: the new anglo-french boundary reduced the size of essosung plantation but from a report by mr hunter, it would appear that njombe, ehinsi and njongo plantations comprising some 13,000 acres were within the british spheres (nai 01435/i, 1919-1925). d. west african plantation company—bibundiwith the area 14,000 hectares. e. the mukonjo (cameroons rubber co.) plantations consisted of (1) part of jantzen and thormaehlen property which was registered in grundbuch. it had an area of 426 hectares or 1052.68 acres (ii) part of dr scharlach properly with the area 1602 hectares or 3958.7 acres (iii) portion of the land leased from crown, for 20 years as from 1 january 1909 with an option to purchase, joining the other two. it had an area 492 hectares or 1215 acres (nai 01435/i, 1919-1925). f. company farms: there were farms owned by some of the companies. for instance, c. woermann with the acres of about 10,000 hectares or 24,711 acres contained bimbia farms, one of the oldest plantations. there were also victoria farms as well as farms in malende, missellele, moliwe plantations of area 15,000 hectares or 3 7.065 acres. there was also oechelhaeuser plantation of area 2375 hectares (nai 01435/i, 1919-1925). these plantations contained oil palm, cocoa, rubber, banana, plantains, tobacco, among other crops. during the first world war (1914-1918), soldiers from the west african frontier force were mobilised for cameroon expedition (nai n1171).the british and the french being the major allied powers in west africa were to prosecute the war. however, unlike the german territory of togoland which fell in 14 days, the larger german colony of cameroons fought and held out until january 1916 (koller 2008). this, according to killingray (1998:92), was because the cameroons required more effort involving naval and military forces against much stiffer german resistance. thus, by february 1916, anglo-french troops jointly defeated the german troops in cameroon. in march 1916, brigadier-general charles m. dobell and general joseph aymerich partitioned the territory into british and french spheres (mbaku :x). since 1915 when the cameroons were liberated from germany by the allied forces in west africa, mr f. evans had been placed in charge of all enemy-owned property in the british sphere of the cameroons, including the plantations. in the first instance, he was appointed director of plantations by the military authorities, and was subsequently confirmed in the appointment (with the title of supervisor of plantations) by the governor-general of nigeria after the military commander-in-chief had handed over the government to the civil authorities (nai 01435/i, 1919-1925).mr evans kept the plantations and numerous others coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 03 open and he maintained and controlled a labour force of over 10,000 labourers, with the aid of nine (9) european assistants. in german times (before the outbreak of world war i) some 130 europeans were employed upon purely plantation work in the cameroons. after the end of the first world war in 1918, notwithstanding the “firmly established” rule of inviolability of enemy private property within the jurisdiction, the framers of the treaties of peace terminating the first world war made specific provision for the retention of such property, either directly as compensation for the claims of nationals of the allied nations or as security for such claims. article 297 of the treaty of versailles reserved to the allied powers “the right to retain and liquidate all the property rights and interests” belonging to german nationals in allied territory. the proceeds were to be applied to certain claims of the allied nationals against germany. the surplus, if any, could either be applied against the reparation account or turned back, at the discretion of the individual country. germany was required to compensate her own nationals for this loss of their property. thus, the british sphere of the cameroons, as well as the german properties thereof, was governed as a part of southern provinces of nigeria. since the owners of these properties were not allowed to return due to the immigration restriction on the ex-enemy subjects, there were so many concerns about the fate of these properties, both privately-owned properties and legal estates of the enemy subjects. there appeared to be three courses open to the government as to the future management of these plantations, namely, (i) to sell them to the highest bidder, (2) to hand them over to native, excluding europeans, (3) to retain them in part or in whole as a possession of the crown or state. but there was the need to ascertain the enemy properties through inventory and deeds. of all these courses of action, to sell the properties to the highest bidder became more popular (nai 01435/i, 1919-1925). however, no action could be taken until a complete list of and particulars concerning the titles to the various properties, most especially the legal estates, were discovered. no register of the land alienated to the plantations had been so far discovered; and all that could be done was to piece together the information which could be obtained from the files dealing with the individual plantations. the only maps in existence which showed the position of the various plantations were not complete and were on a comparatively small scale. owing to the loss of title-deeds, records, etc., it was uncertain whether a particular property was freehold or leasehold, or the exact terms of the freehold and it was not possible to give purchasers a title which they would accept. a clear title should be provided by a further proclamation on the lines of section 3(1) and (2) of the nigeria enemy property (disposal) ordinance of 1917(nai 01435/i, 1919-1925). thus, mr nichole of agricultural department, who knew a little german, was detailed for the work of examining the local records, and he had succeeded in sorting out a number of the files which dealt with the titles and affairs of a number of plantations. similarly, mr evans was also asked to prepare a report on the plantations. the report should contain a complete list of the buildings, plants, etc., with full description and photographs where possible, particulars as to acreage, the area under cultivation, the nature of the crops, their conditions, their watersupplies, and the character of the uncultivated areas; means of transport, etc. he was able to supply information of 2 out of 27 estates under his charge (nai 01435/i, 1919-1925). it was not until 1921 that substantial amount of the documents of the properties were available. for instance, in april 1921, mr whiteman's report was presented showing the present position regarding the german documents available and in how far they were translated and completed. by so doing, 16 properties aggregating approximately 127.506 acres were now ready to be put 04 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 up for sale, while there were 44 properties aggregating approximately 123,530 acres for which the titles were said to be doubtful or could not be traced. this provided the grounds for the commencement of the disposal (nai 01435/i, 1919-1925). however, it happened that by 1923 when the immigration restriction of the enemy subjects had been lifted, the properties could still not find market in europe, which ultimately led to the purchase of those properties back by the german subjects. this was described by daily courier correspondent as “german recolonisation (nai 01435/ii, 1919-1925: 150155)”. it noted that the german delegation to the security pact would spring a surprise on the other delegations. harr stressemann would disclose that german planters had already repurchased former possessions in the cameroons, and he would contend that the league, therefore, was no longer justified in withholding the cameroons from germany. it was learned that german owners and agents re-bought the cameroon plantations during the london auctions of 1924-25(nai 01435/i, 1919-1925).thus, on the eve of world war ii, the plantations were in the hands of the germans. world war ii and the control of german plantations in the cameroons although the second world war began in september 1939, preparations for war and its outcome had started few months before then. for instance, in may 1939, about five months before the outbreak of world war ii, there was the question of the control of the german plantations in the event of another war with germany. the chief secretary to the nigerian government was requested to report what control was exercised during the first world war (1914-1918) in order to enable the governor of nigeria address the secretary of state for the colonies in dawning street, london, on the subject (nai cso 35678, 1939: 1). it was observed that during the first world war, these properties were placed in charge of a supervisor of plantations (mr evans) appointed by the government. it appeared, however, from the report of the supervisor that the arrangement was not altogether satisfactory and was ill adapted for running the plantations as a commercial concern. in paragraph 7 (3) of his report, the supervisor recommended (on the assumption that the crown wished to retain its interest in the properties and participate in profits accruing therefrom) that the management should be entrusted to an independent professional commercial agency. he explained the advantages of adopting such a course and it was the course which should be adopted in the event of another war. as to the selection of a commercial agency for the purpose, one of the large trading concerns with connections in west africa, e.g. the united african company (uac), would appear to be very suitable or alternatively the jamaica banana producers' association, which had had banana trading connections with the cameroons (nai cso 35678, 1939: 3-4). while the secretary of states agreed that under normal conditions the plantations would be likely to be more efficiently and economically managed by a commercial company than by a government department, he felt that under the peculiar conditions which would prevail in the event of war, the importance of this particular consideration would be found to be minimised. for instance, the cameroons would be cut off from their principal market: the ships, also german, by which the produce of the plantations was at present carried, would no longer be available and the demands for cargo space in other ships for essential products would have to be given precedence over most, if not all, of the cameroons products (nai cso 35678, 1939: 10). whether, therefore, the plantations were to be managed directly by coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 05 government or through a commercial agency, it seemed unlikely that it would be found practicable to carry on the plantations on a scale much in excess of the minimum required for essential maintenance (nai cso 35678, 1939: 10-11). he suggested, therefore, that, unless the governor of nigeria saw any serious objection to this course, he should make provisional preparations for taking over direct management of the german plantations under such general conditions as might be laid down by his majesty's government with regard of the treatment of enemy property and of resident enemy subjects on the outbreak of war with germany. it would also appear advisable that such preparations should be made in the expectation that it would probably be necessary for a large proportion of the total labour force at present employed to be discharged during the war period, which, so far as the products of the cameroons were concerned, might be expected to be, at any rate for some time, a period of depression. by so doing, the custodian of enemy property, lagos, would in all probability take over all such plantations. roebuck, senior agricultural officer, who would be appointed supervisor of plantations, would be under director of agriculture's directions for agricultural maters and under those of custodian for all others (nai cso 35678, 1939: 12). the second world war broke out on 3 september 1939. like during world war i (1914-1918), all german subjects in nigeria (apart from those in the cameroons province) were arrested and interned (nai cso 36117/i, 1939-49) and their properties confiscated and vested in the office of the custodian of the enemy property (nai cso 35868, 1939-45). it was not until 19 june 1940 that all the germans in the cameroons under the british mandate were taken prisoners (nai cso 36117/i, 1939-49: 67). although the german subjects in the cameroons were not taken prisoners immediately the war broke out, the german plantations were immediately confiscated and placed under the control of the custodian of the enemy property. for instance, in a telegram to the resident, cameroons province, dated 3 september 1939, the chief secretary to the government of nigeria noted that plantation staff and managers should be informed that all german property in the cameroons had passed into the ownership of the custodian of enemy property, and the arrangement outlined in the memo of 27 august 1939 (which has been described above) should now be put into effect (nai cso 35678, 1939: 17). in the said arrangement, it was proposed that in the event of war, german plantations in the cameroons should be managed directly by government with agricultural department's assistance. custodian of enemy property, lagos, would take over all such plantations. roebuck, who would be appointed supervisor of plantations, would be under director of agriculture's directions for agricultural matters and under those of custodian for all others. as far as possible, german planters (who were yet to be interned) would be employed to run their own plantations, the policy being to maintain those plantations in full production. supervisor would receive market price for all produce from approved buyers to whom the produce would be handed over and he would meet all expenses of plantations. custodian would fix salaries to be paid and current estates books and accounts on plantations would be opened to inspection by supervisor(nai cso 35678, 1939: 9).the resident, cameroons province at buea, should take inventories, take over cash, stores, products and movable property, and exercise whatever supervisory control he could over the work of the plantations and communicate with the financial secretary, lagos, directly (nai cso 35678, 1939: 17). the chief secretary also directed the resident, cameroons province, to take possession of all properties, offices, and other establishments belonging to enemy trading organizations in the cameroons, in addition to plantations, as all german properties were automatically vested in the custodian of the enemy property. the resident should also take a 06 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 rough inventory of all belongings, stocks and cash. premises should be locked and sealed and put under guard if necessary. personal property and dwelling houses of enemy aliens living under licence needed not be disturbed. the resident should also send a recommendation as to the person to act as local agent for the custodian of enemy property and a brief report of the action taken should be sent to the financial secretary, lagos (nai cso 35678, 1939: 18). in a telegram from the resident, buea, to the chief secretary dated 4 september 1939, it was suggested that bank balances of all plantations should be pooled and that henry roebuck should be authorised immediately to operate this account and to sign cheques for expenditure which was necessary. this was urgent as the labourers' wages for august were due for payment (nai cso 35678, 1939: 21).in a letter to the manager, barclays bank, lagos dated 5 september 1939, the custodian, f. e. stafford, noted that he should be grateful if the bank manager would open an account with the branch at victoria in the name of the “custodian of enemy property” and would allow mr henry roebuck, senior agricultural officer in the cameroons, to draw on it. it would for the time being, be necessary for the account to run on an overdraft, the security for which was the combined total of the enemy alien accounts in the bank's branch at victoria, the ownership of which, under the defence regulations, was vested in the public custodian (nai cso 35678, 1939: 22).in the same vein, the financial secretary informed the resident buea that he had opened account and arranged sufficient credit with barclays bank victoria in name of custodian of enemy property and had authorised bank to accept cheques drawn by henry roebuck. he might draw on this account on behalf of custodian but his drawings should be restricted to payment of labourers' wages and should other expenditures be necessary, he should obtain approval of the custodian (nai cso 35678, 1939: 23). on 19 june 1940, the germans in the cameroons who were on parole and employed in the plantations were arrested and interned. in a telegram to the custodian, lagos, dated 13 july 1940, west, at buea, noted that he fully appreciated difficulties of the general situation but advised earnestly to warn government that additional staff was essential if this business was to continue. cost of more staff would be negligible compared to value of exports. without more staff probable breakdown present organisation with produce critical situation (nai cso 36726/i/41).in a memo to the director of agriculture dated 1 october 1940, the custodian of enemy property noted that the administration of the enemy plantations in the cameroons should be altered so as to meet the changed circumstances consequent upon the withdrawal of the germans and the restricted sale of the plantations produce. there was now no need for the maintenance of the two parallel posts of supervisor and management and with the departure of the germans the importance of a political, as distinct from commercial, control of the plantations had considerably lessened. he was satisfied that the administration of the plantations subject to his general control could now safely be left to the plantation manager, mr r.b. longe, who had already demonstrated his capacity since he assumed full control of the banana side of the estates on the departure of the germans (nai cso 36726/i64a). thus was the arrangement and the control of the german plantations in the cameroons by the british authorities in nigeria throughout the second war. conclusion in most of colonial west africa, the production of cash crops was carried out by the peasantry. thus, the conventional wisdom has been that colonial west africa was integrated into the orbit of the capitalist world economy through the expansion of peasant commodity production in agricultural produce and mineral resources. but this generalisation is not applicable to the german territories where plantation agriculture was the mainstay of the colonial economy. in coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 07 both togoland and cameroons (the two german territories in west africa), plantations were used rather than peasant agriculture as was the case in the british and french territories. during the first world war (1914-1918), german territories in west africa were invaded and occupied by the allied forces of britain and france and the plantations therein were confiscated. after the great war, these territories were entrusted to the allied powers by the league of nations as mandate territories in 1919 and german subjects were barred from entering west africa until 1923. the german-owned plantations in the cameroons were, therefore, put up for sell. however, by 1925, these plantations could not attract buyers and could, therefore, not be sold, such that their earlier owners (who returned to west africa after 1923) bought and repossessed them. in 1939, the second world war broke out, leading to yet another turn of dispossession. thus, the history of the german plantations in west africa is the history of possession, dispossession and repossession, as well as mutation and transpositions. references primary sources nai cso 35678, “control of german plantations in the cameroons” nai cso 36117 vol. i, “internment of enemy subjects (1939-49)”. nai 36117 vol. i, “internment of enemy subjects: miscellaneous correspondence.” nai 35868, “public custodian enemy property (1939-1945)” nai cso 36726/i, “cameroons plantations, staff arrangement”, 1940 nai 01435/i, “disposal of german properties in the cameroons (1919-1925)” nai n. 1171. 'cameroon expedition casualties, native ranks, nigerian regiment” secondary sources amazee, v. b. (1993). the british versus pro-germanism in the british southern cameroons, 1916-1922. trans african journal of history,22, 55-73 amazee, v. b. (1994). the role of the french cameroonians in the unification of cameroon, 1916-1961. trans african journal of history,23, 195-234 ardener, e .(1962).the political history of cameroon. the world today, 18(8), 341-350. bley, h. and ridley, h. (1971). south-west africa under german rule, 1894-1914. heineann. cornevin, r. (1960). the germans in africa before 1918.colonialism in africa, 1 gann, l. h. and duignan, p. (1977).the rulers of german africa, 1884-1914. stanford university press. garner, j. w. (1918). treatment of enemy aliens. american journal of international law, 12(4), 744-779. gifford, p. and smith, a. (1967) britain and germany in africa: imperial rivalry and colonial rule. new haven: yale university press. 08 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 heinzen, barbara j. (1983). the united fruit company in the 1950s: trusteeship of the cameroons. african economic history,12, 141-156. mbaku, j. m. (2005). culture and customs of cameroon. greenwood publishing group. killingray, d. (1998). the war in africa. the oxford illustrated history of the first world war. knoll, a. j., and gann, l. h. (1987). germans in the tropics: essays in german colonial history. (no. 24.) greenwood pub group. koller, c. (2008). the recruitment of colonial troops in africa and asia and their deployment in europe during the first world war. immigrant and minorities, 111-133. landis, e. s. (1960). cameroons in chaos. africa today, 7 (1), 7-8 lewin, e.(1914). the germans in africa. oxford: oxford university press lewin, e. (1915). the germans and africa: their aims on the dark continent and how they acquired their african colonies. frederik a. stokes company. lindner, u. (2011). koloniale begegnungen: deutschland und groß britannienals imperialmächte in afrika 1880-1914, 10, campus verlag. lohr, e.(2003). nationalizing the russian empire: the campaign against enemy aliens during world war i, 94), harvard university press. louis, w. r.(1967). great britain and germany's lost colonies, 1914-1919. clarendon press. mc pheeters, a.a. (1960). british cameroons development programme and selfdetermination. phylon, 21 (4), 367-375. ndi, a. (1986). the second world war in southern cameroon and its impact on missionstate relations, 1939–50. in africa and the second world war (pp. 204-231). london: palgrave macmillan. osuntokun, a. (1975). anglo-french occupation and the provisional partition of the cameroons, 1914-1916. journal of the historical society of nigeria, 8 (4). goodridge, r. a. (1996). in the most effective manners: britain and the disposal of the cameroons plantations, 1914-1924. international journal of african historical studies29 (2), 251-277. rubin, s. j. (1945). inviolability of enemy private property. law & contemp. probs. 11, 166. rudin, h. r. (1938) germans in the cameroons 1884-1914: a case study in modern imperialism. yale: yale university press. vedder, heinrich. (1936). the germans in south-west africa. cambridge history of the british empire, 8, 694-702. coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 09 page 1 page 2 page 3 page 4 page 5 page 6 page 7 page 8 page 9 jonal vol. 5 no. 4 new2.cdr the rhetorics in chinua achebe's things fall apart and lessons for writers in a digital age by anselm nnamdi achebe department of linguistics/igbo language chukwuemeka odumegwu ojukwu university, igbariam campus e-mail: an.achebe@coou.edu.ng tel: 0803 5494 864 abstract iterature as work of art in nigerian language is always society oriented. this is predicated on lthe fact that art in african society can be said to be society relevant and functional. the objective of this study therefore presents some of the rhetoric's chinua achebe employed in his writings especially in things fall apart which writers of this age should emulate to bring about beautiful works of art. to do this, the study adopted the survey method to analyse the book in reference, backed with some selected literature in this area of study that was reviewed. findings show that achebe in this work gave an oral record of igbo life. in an attempt to present this account in an interesting manner, he employed a lot of rhetoric which ranged from his good use of igbo words, proverbs, flashbacks to storytelling. it is recommended that writers of this age employ these literary styles to embellish their works. keywords: rhetorics, proverbs, arts, storytelling, lessons, igbo, writers, digital, age introduction the word rhetoric comes from the greek. it is oratorical which means public speaker. it is ultimately derived from the verb speak. rhetoric is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade or motivate particular audiences in specific situations corbett (1990). aristotle defines rhetoric as “the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion”. rhetoric typically is heuristics for understanding, discovering, and developing arguments for particular situations such as aristotle's three persuasive audience appeals: logos, pathos and ethos. aristotle o., (2008). rhetorics have from the beginning meant two thingsornamental speech and persuasive speech. these two things seem psychologically opposed to each other as the desire to ornament is essentially dis-interested and the desire to persuade, essentially the reverse. in fact, ornamental rhetoric is applied literature, or the use of literary art to reinforce the power of argument. ornamental rhetoric acts on its hearers statistically, leading them to admire its own beauty or wit (like in achebe's things fall apart. persuasive rhetoric tries to lead people kinetically towards a course of action. one articulates emotion, the other manipulates it. therefore, rhetoric began by reflection on speech making and came to focus by oratory. the constituents of public oratory are ornamentary figurative expressions. rhetoric is not only ornamental but also instrument of persuasion. it is concerned with ensuring that the language of literature is appropriate. one would therefore say that rhetoric is the raw material with which oratory is made possible. this can be achieved through the traditional sayings, expressions that have 130 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 become so traditional, recurring and universal to the user. sayings in rhetorics come in form of proverbs, idioms, nuances and the likes rhetorics in achebe's things fall apart the work things fall apart is an oral record of igbo life. the legendary of okonkwo of umuofia is recounted by the oral teller of tales whose conception of history is very different from ours. he takes into account not only what has happened but also what is fabled to have happened. he reconstructs the history of his people largely by drawing on myth and legend. achebe is painstakingly accurate and precise in recording the legend, penetration into the bush land of umuofia and nearby communities. despite their absolute fidelity to historical truth, the colonial experience is presented from the perspective of the igbo. the lives and feeling of an average igbo man was x-rayed in okonkwo who from the beginning through the end of the novel was conscious and afraid of failure unlike his father unoka who was known throughout the village for the weakness of his matchet things fall apart. pg.13). although edema (2000) in his article rhetorical implications of achebe's things fall apart summarized the rhetorics in three words ethos, pathos and logos as shown below. his use of ethos, pathos and logos achebe in his historical fiction text things fall apart emphasises that “there is no story that is not true” (things fall apart 141). this is because according to him, that culture is unique does not make it bad or wrong. achebe wants to reduce the amount of shown ignorance to anyone different and offer insight to the nigerian people. he assumes a sympathetic tone to ụmụọfịa by connecting his characters to his audience, the europeans and western civilisation. he uses ethos, pathos, and logos to connect the themes of family and government. achebe employs rhetorical devices to introduce the aspects of family and government. ethos is used because it gives achebe more credibility due to the fact that he is a nigerian. the reason that family is mainly focused on is that okonkwo is staying outside of the clan with his mother's kinsmen. okonkwo's families have to establish a new farm and therefore were working very hard. pathos is used by making the readers sympathetic towards the family. “okonkwo and his family worked very hard to plant a new farm” (131). by doing this achebe is able to draw the readers in, to fully connect them, whether it's for good or bad. now that the readers have a better connection with okonkwo's family and know that nwoye was thought to be like okonkwo's father, achebe brings forth the feeling of betrayal. “what moved obierika to visit okonkwo was the sudden appearance of the latter's son, nwoye among the missionaries in ụmụọfịa (143). with his quote it is known that okonkwo will feel betrayed, and since the audience is connected to him, they know that he will feel betrayed. achebe once again uses pathos to portray the feeling of betrayal. “how could he have begotten a son like nwoye, denigrate an effeminate?”(153). it can be seen from this that okonkwo believes that nwoye has disgraced the family name, and okonkwo regrets having him as a son. okonkwo comes back to find he has lost his spot in the higher-ups of the clan. “he had lost the chance to lead his war clan against the new religion, which he was told, had gained ground (171). achebe uses logos in this in order to give an understanding of what happens on the punishment side of life. in this portion of the novel, okonkwo is back in ụmụọfịa, and he finds the tribe has been taken over by the missionaries. “the white missionary was proud of him and he was one of the first men in ụmụọfịa to receive the sacrament of holy communion, or holy feast as it was called in igbo”. (174). 131 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 ethos occurs in this section because of what is meant to convey. achebe wants to get his point across to europeans and the western world, however, they would not read this if the white men were portrayed as evil and inaccurate. by using celebrations and sacraments that actually occur, achebe gains credibility for his work. earlier in the book, achebe talked about how ụmụọfịa was feared by the other clans. by letting the missionaries in and granting them the land to stay, they have lost some of that respect. “if ụmụọfịa decides on war, all would be well. but if they chose to be cowards, he (okonkwo) would go out and avenge himself” (119). achebe helps the audience understand that some people in the tribes need to be the strongest. however, edame did not exhaust the rhetorical expressions achebe employed in the work. some others were left untouched. they include: his use of igbo words, economy of words/use of proverbs, poems, hyperbole of exaggeration, flashbacks, short stories. his use of igbo words achebe in his things fall apart translates igbo expressions literally as they are said in igbo language. for instance, when fear gripped okonkwo that the reputation and wealth he had built up for years would pass on to a worthless son, nwoye. he threatens nwoye with; i will not have a son who cannot hold his head in the gathering of a clan. i would sooner, strangle him with my own hands. as nwoye continued staring at him, he came with this outburst: “and if you stand staring at me like that, amadiora will break your head for you. amadiora is an igbo representation of an evil spirit and this is what achebe lifted and used exactly to express the same feeling of great misfortune falling on nwoye. also while restive as the general reaction to the christians seen to be gaining acceptance, okonkwo had this to say: “it is not our custom to fight for our gods” let us not reason like cowards “if a man comes into my hut and defecates on the floor, what do i do? do i shut my eyes? no! i will take a stick and break his head. these people are daily pouring filth over us, and okeke says we should pretend not to see? okonkwo made a sound full of disgust... this expression is typical of the igbos. it could be framed in a better grammatical expression but okonkwo wants the igbo voice of the novel to perceive and recreate the igbo experience in the language of myth and legend even on the eve of his departure from mbata, okonkwo could not conceal his hatred for the new religion and he had this to say, “an abominable religion has settled among you. a man can now leave his father and brothers. he can curse the gods of his fathers and his ancestors, like a hunter's dog that suddenly goes mad and turns on its master.” achebe numerous use of igbo words and even names in presenting his expression as against its english counterpart is also of interest. for example … they called him the little bird, nza (instead of wren) who so far forgot himself after a heavy meal that he challenges his chi (instead of god..) (things fall apart pg. 22) and also in pg. 58: … and why did you not say so, you wicked daughter of akalogoli (instead of a hoohgan or useless child etc). other igbo words he employed in adding flavour to his work include agadi-nwanyi, agbala, efulefu, egwugwu, ekwe, eneke-ntioba,inyanga, iyi-uwa, isaifi, kotima, obododike and a host of others. economy of words/use of proverbs achebe uses very simple and short sentences. many writers have commented and praised his skills especially in things fall apart which makes for its ease in reading and understanding. both are deliberate and enabled achebe to pass on his point without having to confuse his subject. sometimes, economy of words and proverbs invoke the atmosphere of sacredness. listen to this, “we cannot bury him. only strangers can. we shall pay your men to do it. when he has been buried, 132 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 we shall then do our duty to him. we shall make sacrifices to cleanse the desecrated land” there is also his style of economy not only economising words and praises but also of narrative. if one looks carefully, one would see the stitches where achebe has been sewing the different bits of his narratives together. these apparent stitches do not jar but they serve as it were to bring the colours together. early in things fall apart, achebe writes, “among the igbos, the art of conversation is regarded very highly, and proverbs are the oil with which words are eaten. this sentence is a key and complement to achebe's skill as a novelist. in all his novels especially things fall apart, he uses proverbs with the art of a traditional conversationalist. sometimes, it seems a pity, that achebe has, of necessity, to explain his proverbs. achebe employed the use of proverbs greatly in things fall apart. some of the examples are during his visit to nwakibie, kolanut was presented and while celebrating it the following prayers were made … “let the kite perch and let the eagle perch too. if one says no to the other let his wing break.” (pg. 14). also in page 15, one could see the two proverbs below; “a toad does not run in the day time for nothing”... an old woman is always uneasy when dry bones are mentioned in a proverb and, “the lizard jumped from the high iroko tree to the ground, nodded his head and said, he would praise himself if no one else did. also in pg. 16, the proverb eneke the bird says that since men have learnt shooting without missing, it has also learnt to fly without perching. as our fathers said you can tell a ripe corn by its fruit... was said by nwakibie to explain to okonkwo why he has decided to say no to people who always come to him for help. this articulate use of proverbs runs the novel in review. the proverbs as seen above are: (i) let the kite perch and let the eagle perch too. if one says no to the other let his wings break. (ii) a toad does not run in the day time for nothing. (iii) an old woman is always uneasy when dry bones are mentioned in a proverb. (iv) the lizard jumped from the high iroko tree to the ground nodded his head and said, he would praise himself if no one else did. (v) eneke the bird says that since men have learnt shooting without missing, it has also learnt flying without perching. poems twice or more, achebe engaged the use of poems to settle matters in one's mind just like ikemefuna did when they were taking him to kill thus: ezeelina, elina sala ezeilikwaya ikwabaakwaoligholi ebe dands na-echieze ebe uzuzu na-eteegwu sala. also, when okafor threw his opponent in a wrestling bout, the women sang this song in honour of okafor. who will wrestle for our village? okafor will wrestle for our village. he has thrown a hundred men. he has thrown four hundred men. 133 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 hyperbole or exaggeration achebe is quite abreast of his expressions. in so many instances, he uses hyperbole or exaggeration to drive home his mind in the novel. for instance, in page. 26 there is the story he told about a wealthy man who sets before his guests a mound of foofoo so high that those who sat on one side could not see what was happening on the other, and it was not until late in that evening that one of them saw for the first time his in-law who had arrived during the meal time and had fallen on the opposite side of the food. this story sound incredible but achebe employed it to explain how mountainous the foofoo was. this is also compared with the story on page. 51 where one whiteman was said to be as white as a white chalk. flashbacks he also employed regular use of flashbacks and most times, he suspends his for a short while before continuing the story. a good example is on page. 76, when okonkwo went to meet ekwefi at the mouth of the shrine where chinelo (the agbala priestess) took ezimma to, instead of telling the readers what happened when chinelo came out and met okonkwo and ekwefi, he turned the story to how okonkwo and ekwefi met for the first time before they got married. the former story was however continued on page. 77. also, flashback was used on page. 84 when okonkwo heard the news of the death of ogbuefi ezeudo. he remembered the last time he visited ezeudo's house and his words to him was; “that boy calls you father, bear no hand in his death.” short stories for clarity and easy understanding, achebe illustrates some of his points with short stories. this is an art he employed greatly in things fall apart. for instance, while discussing about the foolishness of abame people for killing the whiteman, he told this story: mother kite once sent her daughter to bring food; she went and brought back a duckling. you have done well, said mother kite to her daughter, but tell me, what did the mother of this duckling say when you swooped and carried its child away?”. “it said nothing,” replied the kite. “it just walked away”. “you must return the duckling,” said the mother.” there is something ominous behind the silence ...” (page. 98). this story is also rendered in very short sentence; an art which is peculiar to achebe. the lessons the writers of this age should try to rekindle the interest of the readers by writing about the culture and tradition of the people like achebe did in his works. it is only when this is done that literature will contribute meaningfully towards social and political changes in a society. also, igbo writers should as a matter of fact employ the language at every point where it is necessary. this will help the language to withstand the threat of extinction which it faces now. authors can have an english interpretation for such words provided the message is conveyed. proverbs bring about beauty in a literary work. adequate use of them to a great extent attracts readership and at the same time makes a case for igbo language. igbo proverbs are very rich and meaningful. conveying certain innate meanings with them makes a work very robust and ornamental. it equally makes for economy of words. instead of a very long explanation; one can capture the explanations with one short proverb. writers of this age are advised to read verbously and understand what they are writing about. in this situation, they can now choose the best means and languages to convey the message in a beautiful way like the writers of the old. a good work is one that spikes interest in the readers. nothing more than the use of these ornamental words does the job more than any other thing. 134 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 conclusion achebe as a novelist knows how to convey his message in a most subtle way. he gave a true account of his artistry in the use of words by employing a whole lot of rhetorics in things fall apart. since he was giving an oral account of igbo life, he engaged a whole lot of igbo proverbs, idioms and a host of others. this gave the work the flare it has among all other novels written by him. references achebe,c. (1958) things fall apart lagos. academy press. achebe, c. (1966). a man of the people. ibadan: heiman educational books aristole o. (2008). rhetoric 1.2.1. retrieved 19 october, 2011. corbett, e. (1990). classical rhetoric for the modern student. new york: oxford university press. edame, e. (2000). rhetorical implications of chinua achebe's things fall apart: lanham, md university press of america. emenyeonu, e. and oguezie, b. (1980) literature for schools and colleges. ibadan: university press plc. henry, g. and robert, s. (1980). a greek english lexicon. perseus tuftsedu.tufts watt,i. (1957).the rise of the novel. harmon's worth: penguin 135 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 page 139 page 140 page 141 page 142 page 143 page 144 text book journal pdf sis. noelle 01 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 abstract studies have shown that many people are faced with identity crisis; theycannot identify their personhood especially when such people are not in their place of origin or as a result of acculturation. such people do not know whether they belong here or there and so they tend to search for their personhood. this work, therefore, examines the issue of search for identity in v.s naipaul's a house for mr biswas and samuel selvons's the lonely londoners. critical evaluations of the novels reveal that life is full of constant movement in search for better conditions. naipaul is one good writer who searches for self. one reading his works will find out that almost all his works dwell on colonialism and its effect on his people. his writings reveal the inner most mind of a caribbean people. also in samuel selvon's the lonely londoners, the writer explores the issue of racial discrimination and confrontation which is invariably reflected in the condition which the blacks were forced to live; their persistent struggle to be recognized and be identified with the rest of the world. the data for this study is extracted from both primary and secondary sources. postcolonial criticism is the theoretical anchor of the study. this study reveals these two novels as works of art that deal with the problem of isolation, frustration, nostalgia, quest for identity and negation of an individual. findings also reveal that it is a peculiar problem in the west indies as well as all the third world countries. keywords: identity, life, existence, struggle, individual, colonialism introduction caribbean literature is regarded as a new literature because when compared to english literature, it is relatively new. it was until the late 1960s that books were published in the west th indies. paul gilroy, states that, “creative writings form this region dated back to the 18 th century, it is at the last quarter of the 20 century that writers of repute began to emerge on its literary scene” (58). caribbean literature is not just an entertainment literature, its genres encompasses the historical issues of enslavement and forced migration (the trans-atlantic dehumanisation), the related themes of home and exile, colonization, and decolonization, poverty and sufferings, colour and racism, longing for freedom and justice, nostalgia etc. the theme of cultural identity also frolicked in the literature of the caribbean-the feelings of “belonging”. they were cut away from their root and they were not accepted by the mother countries (gikandi, 23). obi, gladys nwakaego department of english chukwuemeka odumegwu ojukwu university igbariam campus nwakaegoobi@yahoo.com 08035522897 a search for identity and personhood in v.s naipaul's a house for mr biswas and samuel selvon’s the lonely londoners coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 02 and so, there is in caribbean literature the predominance of the alienation theme in various forms: homelessness, rootlessness and exile. julia udofia remarks that: “ it is a situation of being a part of what you could not become. so, the primary cultural commitment of caribbean writers like derek walcott, v.s naipaul, samuel selvon, george lamming, roger mais and others remains the search for identity and self-discovery” (60). ngozi chuma-udeh opines that caribbean literature “is a search into the gory story of bloodshed, slavery, the brutality of conquest, and colonialism” (11). she stresses further that the literature is “a look into the historical scares of imperialist subjugation and its attendant torture and suffering of the group of people that make up the caribbean. it is a leap into the dissonance of racial prejudice, cultural dislocation, ancestral enslavement and the agonizing condition of exile (12). consequently, this literature has to do with literary works written by people who were born or grew up in the caribbean islands or west indies that reflect the emotional, cultural, economic and socio-political realities of the caribbean people. west indies literature are more or less protest and satirical in nature. the primary import of the west indies literature like that of other regional and national literatures is to bring to fore the national consciousness through personal experiences. all the afro-caribbean experience is reflected in their literary works especially in their novels. the novels show their response to the colonial situation. but despite the background, there was the zeal among the twentieth century writers to establish their desire for the restoration of individual self and to disapprove the notice that the blackman is faceless and rootless. the study of caribbean literature is important to us africans because most of the people are blacks like us, taken into slavery and afterwards released. they were also colonised like us and so we share similar experiences of poverty, alienation, discomfort, disillusionment after colonialisation, the struggle for survival and unity. this paper therefore, using postcolonial theory is an attempt to probe v.s naipaul's a house for mr biswas and samuel selvons's the lonely londoners to establish the fact that literary works do not just mirror reality but act as a prism that reflects the distorted but clearer image of reality in its representation of the colonized blacks and their experiences. at this point, there is therefore, the need to first understand what identity is. identity can mean so many different things different people; suffice it to say that everyone has a different opinion on it. the researcher sees identity as who you are – the real you, your root. merriam-webster's encyclopedia of literature states that: “identity is who someone is: the name of a person, the quality, beliefs etc., that make a particular person or group different from others” (1274). one may also define identity as the distinctive characteristics belonging to any given individual or shared by all members of a particular social category or group. developing a sense of self is an essential part of every individual becoming a mature person. each person's selfconception is a unique combination of many identifications; such as broad as this or that, man or woman, christian or muslim, or as narrow as being a member of one particular family. beyond the basic need for a sense of control, david straker states that “we are deeply driven by our sense of identity or who we are. we are in the middle of our individual world, where we place central importance on our sense of individual self”. (24) here, we talk of personhood which simply means the quality of being an individual person. post colonialism as theoretical anchor of this study the theoretical framework for this study is postcolonial theory which looks at issues of power, economics, politics, and culture and how these elements work in relation to colonial 03 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 hegemony. a post-colonial critic is therefore, concerned with literature produced by colonial powers and works produced by those who were colonized. violet bridget lunga states that: postcolonial theory represents a complex field of study, encompassing an array of matters that include issues such as identity, gender, racism, and ethnicity …focuses on exploding knowledge system underpinning colonialism, neocolonialism, and various forms of oppression, exploitation present today…challenging epistemic violence; that is, it questions the undervaluing, destruction, and appropriation of colonized people's knowledge and ways of knowing, including the colonizer's interest (193). the above shows that postcolonial theory features racism, loss of identity, hopelessness, disillusionment, cultural differences experienced by the colonized. we see this in caribbean, asian, indian, african and in the works of any continent or country that has ever and is still experiencing any form of diaspora. we see this portrayed in taiye selasi's ghana must go (2013), ndubuisi george's woes of ikenga (2014), samuel selvon's the lonely londoners (1991), chimamanda adichie's americanah (2013) to mention a few. the ultimate results of the social and economic challenges faced by the major characters of the above-mention novels include constant police surveillance and harassments which led to frustration, dejection, lawlessness, isolation, loss of identity, drug addiction and abuse, emotional and psychological deterioration and degeneration. it is based on this premise that ndubuisi george opines that: “life outside one's country can be adventurous but life as an economic migrant in the western world is best understood by those who have lived it” (104). it is important to note that most characters in caribbean novels are loners and hustlers. the themes of loneliness and alienation are depicted in v.s. naipaul's a house of mr biswas and samuel selvon's work never ceased to engage with the alienation of migration, the trials of everyday survival, and the larger ironies of empire, in various narrative modes ranging from sober realism to exuberant satire, from standard to creole englishes, and shifting settings across the atlantic. selvon was confronted with the task of having to assert a black humanity and identity for west indian migrants in london largely without black literary models, within and against a world of anglophone letters which still abounded with white “legends, stories, history” of “tom-toms, cannibalism, intellectual deficiency, fetishism, racial defects, slave ships.” (fanon, 111–112) caribbean literature then, was to celebrate a new ethos and identity. it established the west indian identity as different from the european, and neither is it african, chinese nor indian but a strange and pleasurable mixture of all these. the writer in the new world then, is engaged in an attempt at articulating a trueness of being. search for identity and personhood in a house for mr biswas the novel paints a poignant picture of mr biswas as he struggle to preserve his own identity in an alien environment and he also tries to forge an authentic selfhood. besides, focusing on his dark world, the novel introduces brief glimpses of ethnic and social history of the marginalised east indians community in trinidad. the narrative tries to maintain equilibrium between mr biswas's inner self and disinterested outer view. paul theroux opines that: “the life of mr biswas resembles the life of naipaul himself whose series of experiences of exile and alienation while living in trinidad seem to be portrayed through the characters of his coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 04 protagonist, mr biswas” (45). yet, the tone is not negative, nor do the readers find a pessimistic approach on the part of the novelist in his dealing with constructing his own imaginary homeland, a theme found also in naipaul's other novels. he presents mr biswas’s relentless struggle against the forces that try to subdue his individuality. his struggle is long and tiresome, but in the end, he is successful in having a space he can call his own imaginary homeland. v.s. naipaul creates the novel out of what he saw and felt as a child. this famous novel of his, a house for mr biswas, depicts in extreme extent the desperate struggle for mr biswas to acquire a house of his own which is symbolic of an individual's need to develop an authentic identity. a careful study of the novel as a work from a third world country reflects the experiences of the people of caribbean. though written in the 1960s, it captures the literary responses of modern writers and the lives of our present society. a house for mr biswas reflects the problems of the middle class populace in the west indies as well as in africa. it deals with problem of search for a house (identity) which connotes comfort and search for better conditions of existentiality which ends with death. just like the title of the novel indicates the protagonist, mohen biswas moves round the country looking for a house of his own and better condition of living. at the end of the novel, the writer reports that he dies in his house. the novel is divided into two parts, the first part deals with the major character mr biswas's birth and struggle to adulthood. the second part that concerns this paper brings mr biswas in focus as he moves from his mother's house in search of somewhere else to stay. he looks confused, not knowing where exactly he wants to go. it is the bus boy that even informs him that he is on his way to port of spain. in the bus to port of spain, mr biswas wishes that the bus goes on and on without stopping but finally he reaches there. here, the writer portrays a man in a confused state of mind. he decides to live with dehuti and her husband. his sister and brotherin-law advise him to rest for a while before looking for a job. as a lonely man and uncomfortable, after a few days he decides that his resting time is over. later, he goes out looking for a job. his search lands him in the sentinel. the editor at the newsroom tells him to come the next day for a trial. this is captured in these lines, “come tomorrow if you are serious. we give you a month's trial but no pay” (339). the portrayal of man in search for identity leads naipaul to create mr biswas as a man constantly on the move. as the writer rightly puts it: “a chance encounter had led him (mr biswas) to sign writing had taken him to hanuman house and the tulsis; sign writing found him (into marriage) place on the sentinel. and neither for the tulsis store signs nor for those at paid” (340). this is a clear indication that the man is always on the move in search of his basic need. mr biswas wants to be his real self. for him to keep his job at the sentinel, he works with enthusiasm. he makes up his stories and turns them up to the editor. the stories make him famous as he keeps appearing in the newspaper every day. a settled man in port of spain, mr biswas goes back to hanuman house to reconcile with his wife and in-laws because he left without telling them. this move of reconciliation is also one of search for comfort, to be identified with his people/ family. now he has a job, he wants them to love and respect him for what he is. mrs. tulsi allows him take his family back to port of spain but she also wishes to live with them and so she offers them her house while she 05 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 lives with them. now in the new house, naipaul pictures mr biswas in a life of luxury. for four years as recorded by the author: “the newspaper delivered free, still warm, the ink still wet water ran clear in the gutters already cleansed by the sweeper. he naps at noon, had tea in the back veranda”.(353) this luxurious living makes mr biswas imagine ownership of the house and lots of other good things follow these four years. changes are normal with man, so life changed for mr biswas again after the comfortable four years. one of the tulsi's sons owad is to leave for the united kingdom for studies to be trained as a medical doctor. because of this, mrs. tulsi too is to return to hanuman house back in arwacas. this is again to move mr biswas, on his own part, he has no job satisfaction, and fear sets in because at the sentinel, his boss is to leave and no certainty for job security for him. mr biswas is seen on the move again in another search for a house and job. here, naipaul reflects life as a journey and search for comfort and identity. in another incident in the novel where the writer shows us the movement of the tulsi's to another location, shorthills, the estate is located at the north-east of port of spain, among the mountains of the northern range. the movement to the house is awaited with great expectations and the promise of many good things. for instance, the availability of a swimming pool, a sheep, horses and a good light supply. movement is normal with man as shown by the writer so the tulsis also “never considered themselves settled in arwacas or trinidad” (412). this is also seen in the life of slaves in the west indies who intended to go back to their countries after their release but could not. as seen in the novel, the indians keep ties with their homeland and feel they will soon go back. it is also normal for one to keep moving as long as one is searching for a better condition of living, a real identity of his personhood. the movement to shorthills enthrals the family in such a way that they imagine only good things in the new house. thus, they say, “life could be rich at shorthills” (414).mr. biswas moves with the family into the house at shorthills basically to save his salary and eventually builds his own house. their experience there is far from the fantasy earlier anticipated. hope for happier and smoother days elude them. they wait for the “sheep, horses, swimming pool to be repaired, the drive weeded; electricity plant fixed the house repainted in vain” (424). mr. biswas too waits for improvement on his part in terms of his savings but finds none. as a result of the discomfort at shorthills, it is evident that another movement is going to come in a short while. again, mr. biswas begins another search for a house. he finds a house not far from the estate at shorthills; a place full of possibilities, isolated and unused. he now owns a land of his own. he sinks his earnings into the land and builds his own house in haste and moves in. here in his house he finds no rest too in a haste to build his house, his long time savings run down as a result of that he has no satisfaction or comfort again; he burns his own house accidentally. this finds him back in the house at shorthills. back in the house at shorthills, mr. biswas finds no rest and because it is his second return to the house and the writer puts it thus: he could not simply live the house... he had to be released from it. and presently this happened. transports become impossible. the bus service deteriorated, the sport car began to give as much trouble as its predecessor and had to be sold. and just about this time mrs. tulsi's house in port of spain fell vacant. mr. biswas is offered the room in it and he immediately accepted (458). coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 06 this is how he escapes another trouble. after a short while, in port of spain, mr. biswas faces a new kind of discomfort /hardship. he is later appointed the investigator of the destitute. the appointment requires him to investigate the living conditions of the destitute and provide deserving destitute with their basic needs. while still working with destitute, mr. biswas gets another job with the government. naipaul recalls that he gets this job accidentally. the new job is “community welfare officer at a salary of fifty dollars a month higher than the one he was getting from the sentinel” (525). he is in addition given a new car on government loan. he and his family enjoy occasional rides to different places but the experience is short-lived because owad is soon to be back. the return of owad to port of spain brings mr biswas back to his sense. he has to look for a house before it is too late. this is because mrs. tulsi is to come back. she comes back and moves mr. biswas to occupy one room. again mr. biswas is out looking for another house. he starts announcing to people that “i am given a quit notice”. he again finds solace in cafes drinking. it is in the process that he meets a man who offers him his house for sale to enable the man buy another house. the man compares looking for a house and being sick. in the writer's words he says: “is like sick when you sick you forget what it is to be well. and when you are well you don't really know what it is to be sick. is the same with not having a place to go back to every afternoon?” (592). the man persuades mr. biswas in such a way that at the end he buys the house. it is then that he discovers that the house is not worth what he buys it with. but for whatever reason mr. biswas now owns his own house, a long search for possession, for identity. in summary, one sees that one major theme in the novel is search for self-identity. the protagonist searches for personhood. in the search for his own identity, mr. biswas shifts from village to town and from joint family to nuclear family but fails to find his own roots amidst socio-cultural change, just as the individual is both a construction and a fixed entity, so the town is an imaginary element in the structure of identity. a home for mr. biswas is therefore, individual attempts to overcome “homelessness”. the novel delineates the traumas of a tainted and troubled past and attempts to find a purpose in life, beautifully analysing the sense of alienation and the pangs of exile experienced by the character (s). search for identity and personhood in samuel selvon’s the lonely londoners. samuel selvon's the lonely londoners focuses on the immigration of west indians to britain in the 1950s and 1960s, and the cultural differences which are often subtle and implicit to the dying empire's fantasy of a 'white nation'. selvon also illustrates the panoply of different cities, due to class and racial boundaries. in the novel the lonely londoners, the author through the use of plausible, realistic and / or believable characters portrays the lives of the black people among the white, the segregation and the discrimination of people with black skin. the west indian migrant finds himself grouped or categorized as non-white, which means he is a black person and cannot be allowed equal right with the white. the caribbeans that migrate to london pass time by hanging around with friends, eating, talking, drinking or smoking and some of their talk is “old talk”, reminiscences of their previous lives in the west indies and exchange of news from home. moses says: “and i surprise that so many years gone by looking at thing in general life really hard for the boys in london. this is a lonely miserable city, if it was that we didn't get together now and then to talk about things back home; we would suffer like hell” (114). the lonely londoners is one of selvon's best published novels because it brings together in one minor classic, the experiences of the afrocaribbean. the author narrates his 07 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 personal experience using outside character(s). a recurring theme in selvon's character development addresses upward social mobility. this mobility, however, is clouded by the character's designation as the 'other'. the accents and skin colour mark them as outsiders and force them to form a 'group identity' based on the principle of congregation via segregation. the caribbeans voice out their bitterness: “nobody in london does really accept you. they tolerate you, yes but you can't go in their house and eat, sit down and talk. it ain't have a sort of family life for us here” (114). as a result of their sufferings, they are forced to eat birds and even pigeons just to survive. galahad, one of the characters, try to catch a pigeon in the park to eat but moses tries to explain to him that, “in this country, people prefer to see man starve than a cat or dog want something to eat (107). moses further explians: “boy, you take a big chance, moses said. you think this is trinidad? then pigeons there to beautiful the park, not to eat. the people over here will kill you if you touch a fly” (109). the west indians are segregated in all aspects of life and this brought about the theme of 'self-assertion' and 'black identity' in the novel. the novel successful conveys the discrimination of jobs and other social things of life. the condition which irreparably twist the social and spiritual development of the victims, point out the brutalizing and dehumanizing emotions on the individual concerned within an alienating environment. the alienation is as a result of west indian's past with which he cannot find reconciliation and his immediate world in which he is a stranger. this no doubt produces the need for selfassertion, cum identity in the caribbean black person in order to give meaning to his deculturated life and also motivate others for general resurrection, participation and restoration of the part of human dignity. in defining these conditions and the individual struggle for self-identity, selvon focused attention on three control pairs in the novel. moses aloetta, galahad and captain. in the novel, the lonely londoners, the writer is compelled to deal with blackwhite confrontation, the west indian emigrants' situation. the west indian emigrants find themselves discriminated against in jobs, housing, and ever treated with deliberated disgust and rudeness in the ordinary ground of social contract. for instance, moses' situation at his work place and the writer says: moses was sorry, it was the first time he ever really gets a good chance to say his mind and he had a lot of things to say. though one time they wanted to take out his photo. it happened while he was working in a railway yard, and all the people in the place say they go strike unless the boss fire moses... a few day after that the boss call moses and tell him he is sorry, but as they cutting down the staff and he was new he would have to go (13). though the author stresses not only the individual characters’ odd experiences, also the interrelated perception. selvon portrays moses as an independent person capable of making good use of his idea within the alien environment he finds himself. notably, he does not allow himself to be used ordinarily rather he explores every situation around him reasonably. this is the reason he asserts himself before the white at his work place despite the fact that they threaten that they would embark on strike if the boss fails to sack him. for him, the threat does not give him sleepless night rather he still maintain his lawful right at his workplace by even refusing a journalist from taking him a photograph, despite all the threats: “it was a big balled in all the papers they put in under a big headlines saying how the colour bar was causing trouble coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 08 again, and a fellar came with a camera and wanted to take moses photo, but moses say no” (13). the black white confrontation depicts pains, agony and hatred. galahad while searching for a house: “i went to look at that room that ram tell me about in the gate, and as soon as the landlady see you she say the room let already. she ain't even given me a chance to say good morning” (73). galahad talks to the colour black, as if it is a person; he went to moses and tells him; “is not we that the people don't like, is the colour black”.(73) given this as it may, black are not completely ignorant of the whites. for them (black) as a phenomenal challenge cannot gowithout self-awareness and determination in the socio-political and economic life. it is this social awareness that leads moses refusing the white journalist from taking his photo. he knows that a white man does not have good intention for him and he knows that his image will be used in the end for caricature. one would note that it is the author's unique way of saying that after all blacks at any point in time knows their right even though such right does not exist within their confine but the fact here is there are blacks. galahad also remembers this experience while working at lavatory: “and galahad would take hand room his under the blanket, as he lay there studying... lavatory and two whites fellars come in and say how these black bastards have the lavatory dirty, and they didn't know that he was there, and when he come they say hello mate have a cigarette” (72). they pretend to be friendly but have so much hatred for blacks this commentary makes galahad imagine the misery in the colour, back. and after all, he does not see anything wrong in possessing the black colour: “and galahad watches the colour of his hand, and talk to it saying 'colour'. is you that causing all these, you know why the hell you can't be blue or red or green, if you can't be white? you know is you that cause a lot of misery in the world” (72). the lonely londoners draws our attention to the problems of alienation and racial injustices that the blacks suffered in the hands of colonial masters. the caribbean novels have a flavour of social realism, protest tradition and a reflection of a divided cultural heritage. it is important to note that most characters in caribbean novels are loners and hustlers. loneliness is something that can almost push somebody to wonder aimlessly in thought. selvon's characters are all loners' individuals though it does not stop them from hustling to survive in a hostile environment. it is the bid to identify themselves as somebody that make them to migrant to london to hustle. according to the writer: “…to tell truth most of the fellars who coming now are real hustlers, desperate; it not like long time when forty or fifty straggling in, they invading the country by the hundreds” (8). the rate at which the west indians migrate to london makes the white feel bad and they begin to treat them indifferently. the writer mentions that moses who almost receives them in london as an old sojourner feels somehow and laments on it; moses tells his friend harris: “i never see things so. i don't know these people at all, yet they coming to me as if is some liaison officer, and i catching my arse as it is, how i could help them out” (8). in brief, it is clearly evident that these people move to the ‘little world’, a city where they believe that they will survive. this also tells us more about the people of the caribbean. these people cannot be said to be people of a race since they are a mixture of whites, indians, blacks, spanish, aboriginals, mulattoes etc. these people found their way on the caribbean island as slaves but after the abolition of slavery, they found for themselves home on the islands of haiti, dominican republic, and trinidad etc. they could not go back to their original countries, hence this struggle to survive and to identify themselves. 09 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 conclusion by successfully going through the novels, a house for mr. biswas and the lonely londoners, one sees the life of average west indian as a life that is guided by one basic principle; the struggle for survival. for mr. biswas, this begins on the very day of his birth. he is declared a bad omen, surrounded by evil and everywhere he goes, whatever he does, he seems not to fit in, with members of his family. at pundit jairams, at the shop with bhandat at hanumans house and even with his wife and children, he still could not fit in. he is so detached and aloof, it is not an exaggeration to say that throughout his life, he had no friends. hence mr. biswas is alienated and lonely and this struggle for his personal identity. a house for mr. biswas, metaphorically is a miniature world which symbolises the colonial world. mr. biswas's personal battle with the stronghold of the tulsi household is a guest for existential freedom and the struggle for personality. the feeling of deracination (uprooting), displacement and lack of a national community in trinidad are the fundamental themes in this novel as portrayed in mr. biswas as they were for naipaul personality. both mr. biswas and naipaul are in search of a home by which they will be able to find their identities. this theme has become common in caribbean literature. it is clearly seen in samuel selvon's the lonely londoners. here are group of west indians who went on exile to london in search of a better life and who were not only deprived of lucrative jobs but were also discriminated against as a result of their skin colour. it is a peculiar problem in the west indies as well as all the third world countries. these people become jobless, hopeless and lonely. they too, seek to be identified. in the lonely londoners, one sees that selvon's characters are on their own in an unfamiliar world that does not want them and so they are propelled to constantly struggle for their survival and identity. works cited chuma-udeh, ngozi. caribbean literature. text and context. nkpor: base 5 press ltd, 2007. dobie, ann. theory into practice: an introduction to literary criticism usa: wadsworth cengage learning, 2009. fanon, frantz. black skin, white masks. trans. richard philcox. new york: grove press , 2008. gikandi, simon. writing in limbo: modernism and caribbean literature. ithaca, ny and london: cornell university press, 1992. gilroy, paul. the black atlantic: modernity and double consciousness. london: verso, 1993. lunga, violet bridget. postcolonial theory: a language for critique of globalization? perspective on global development and technology. haarlem, 2008. ndubuisi george. woes of ikenga. abuja: kraftgroits publishers, 2014. naipaul v.s. a house for mr. biswas. london: andre dentsch, 1961. romanticism in literature. lagos: open university press, 2002. selvon, samuel. the lonely londoners. essex: longman drumbeat, 1956. straker, david, changing minds. bradford: syque publisher, 2008. theroux, paul. v.s. naipaul. an introduction to his work: london: andre dentsch, 1972. udofia, julia. “the history and shaping of caribbean literature” american journal of humanities and social sciences vol.1, no2, 2013, (56-62). page 1 page 2 page 3 page 4 page 5 page 6 page 7 page 8 page 9 text book journal pdf sis. noelle coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 01 abstract “it's 6 rooms, each is supposed to be scarier than the last but it's psychologicalgets in your head. everybody who goes in describes it totally different. most people don't even make it to the sixth room, and the people who do are never seen again” ("this isn't real" 12:17-12:34). such are the first urban-legend like pieces of information given by one character on the noend house, the second season title and the cornerstone around which the plot of the tv series channel zero revolves. aired on the syfy channel in 2017, the series lived true to its ambition of spiralling around the topics of imagination and the supernatural. appearing and disappearing in diverse locations around the world, the house gives birth to an alternate reality where the border between rationality and irrationality is shattered. it occupies an omnipresent position as an object of fascination, as the centre of the gaze. in lacan's wake, the gaze is the point at which the object looks back. the outcome is an interpretation that shatters the observing subject's sense of control. the desire to see what is being shown and what is not ubiquitous. the notion of desire will be developed; at the core of the house lays a fundamental lack that cannot be filled in. the house is a reflection of the fissures that crack open our lives when the real disrupts them; holding a relatable force for everyone. key words: tv series, house, desire, psychoanalytic approach, psychological introduction “it's 6 rooms, each is supposed to be scarier than the last but it's psychologicalgets in your head. everybody who goes in describes it totally different. most people don't even make it to the sixth room, and the people who do are never seen again” ("this isn't real" 12:17-12:34). such are the first urban-legend like pieces of information submitted by the character jt to three other major characters, margot, jules and seth, and to the audience on the no-end house, the second season title and the cornerstone around which the plot of the tv series channel zero revolves. the second season which aired on the syfy channel in 2017 lived true to its ambition of spiralling around the topics of imagination, the supernatural and horror. the producer, nick antosca, made of the unfathomable the leitmotif of the four seasons composing channel zero by giving life to storylines based on popular creepy pastas, horror short stories published on the net. the first season focused on a children's television program connected to a series of murders. season 3 intermingled mental illness and cannibalism while season 4 exposed newlyweds' secrets following the discovery of a door in their basement. the second season, which is under scrutiny here, narrates the adventures of the protagonist margot and her best friend, jules. margot is introduced to the viewers as a character trapped in an uncompleted work of mourning and clinging to the memories of her dead father. jules suffocates under her guilt feeling mainly originating from the distance that settled between her sister, mother and herself. under the incentive of a common friend, jt, and along with seth, a young man met at a bar and jessica folio (phd) université de la réunion 15 avenue rené cassin 97744 saint-denis cedex9 france phone number: 00262 692 354931 a psychoanalytical approach to the tv series the no-end house: the fascinating house of desire 02 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 with whom margot quickly establishes a connection, the four of them decide to get a closer look at the no-end house. it is presented as an auxiliary of the irresistible appeal for the unknown, for the exploration of boundaries but also deception. appearing and disappearing in diverse locations all over the world, the house occupies an omnipresent position as an object of fascination, as the centre of the gaze, both observing the characters and being observed. it gives birth to an alternate world which mimics margot's reality; her father is for instance brought back to life, thus annihilating the border between life and death, between rationality and irrationality. this article aims at accounting for the fascination effect the house exerts on the characters and on the viewers by referring to the french psychoanalytical theorist jacques lacan's approach on desire. the path of interpretation will first lead to the hypnotic rhythm engendered by a process of repetition: a repetition of places, persons, objects or events. however, in the no-end house, what is repeated is similar but not totally identical to the primary element, making it hard for the characters and the audience to cling to reality. this hypnotic rhythm is linked to the "medusa effect" defined as the "simultaneous reactions of intense attraction and repulsion" and that captures the gaze.the medusa effect both elicits the petrifying power of the gaze and the mingling of attraction and repulsion. the combination of attraction and repulsion is reminiscent of the components of the sublime, fairly reminded by bjorn k. myskja in the sublime in kant and beckett."to fascinate is to immobilize by the power of the gaze", hence the emphasis laid in the second part of this article on the action of seeing and being seen(encyclopedia of lacanian psychoanalysis). for lacan, the gaze was primarily related to the mirror stage when after viewing himself in the mirror the subject establishes a stable version of the self. in his later essays, the gaze refers not to the look of the subject at the object but to the point at which the object looks back. the outcome is an interpretation that escapes the observing subject, shattering his/her sense of control. this is reinforced by the theme of the inverted mirror stage and even a regressus ad uterum in a house assimilated to a womb. the desire to see what is being shown and what is not ubiquitous. the notion of desire will be developed for at the core of the house lays a fundamental lack that cannot be filled in. the house is a reflection of the fissures that crack open our lives when the real disrupts them; the catch phrase 'this isn't real" used in the series holds a relatable force to each and every one of us. the spell of repetition the title of the series prefigures the pattern of repetition pursuing the characters and the viewers. what returns is what is repeated and what is added have to be considered for what matters, is the different factor between the original element and the repeated one. lacan states that repetition inevitably leads to a gap, a loss of meaning. after seemingly stepping out of the no end house, margot returns to a perfect replica of her home but the signs of otherness lead margot and jules to understand that they are actually imprisoned in the sixth room of the house; the neighbourhood where they live has been identically reproduced. the apparent sameness of their neighbourhood is disturbed by the addition of a unique flower, the orchid, replacing the marigolds normally present in margot's garden. inside her house, margot is greeted by her dead father. the house is an auxiliary of the loss of meaning by introducing the real -what cannot be grasped by the logosinto the symbolic order of language. for lacan, the psyche is structured through a triad: the real is a state where only need exists. it cannot be expressed in language. the imaginary order corresponds to the mirror stage while the symbolic order marks the acceptance of the name-of-the-father, that is, the rules of society coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 03 controlling desire and communication. the resuscitated father is a figure of the impossible whose existence is prohibited in a law-organized society. the streets and houses are reproduced but additions are made: a new road appears out of nowhere with signs in french when the house shows itself in quebec in the sixth episode. it seems to digest elements in the characters' everyday reality while defying the rational possibility of having a street and houses built overnight. in margot's fridge, egg cartons are reproduced from one second to the next. the first room in the house is an exhibition room where eight busts are displayed; they are clay replicas of the group-margot, jules, jt and seth have joined when entering the house. the agreeable aesthetic experience of seeing their flawless busts, is shattered after the lights come out to reveal the clay busts, pulled apart in two, with the head opened by two hands defying gravity and a third hand splitting open the chests; it is proleptic of the shattering of the characters' identity and loss of meaning. the experience in room 1 is repeated in episode 4 when margot and jules re-enter the house in order to step back into reality. the different factor then lies in the display of the busts. another dark colored face is seen emerging from the top of each head, highlighting the quasi annihilation of their identity devoured by the house. room 2 is an empty blue room which exposes a man wearing a suit, a black mask and black gloves. the camera accompanies the hypnotic circular walk of the mysterious man around the characters and more intensely close to margot. he vanishes after the lights are turned off and on again and a trace of blood is visible on the floor. the setting remains unchanged the second time; the masked man is no longer there but jules has to jump over spreading pools of blood before they close on them, emphasizing the widening role played by the house in the taking over of the characters' identity. in room 3, margot is placed in the corridor of a hotel. the process of repetition begins with the wallpaper motif on the walls and the identical lamps set on each side of them. a mirror stands at the end of the corridor; a hand popping out holding the mirror frame and two feet can be seen. a mad sound mingling crying and laughing is heard. the viewer's discover at the same time margot does when she walks past the mirror a man with gaunt eyes and a crazy smile. the presence of the mad man confirms the immersion into the irrational. he is the only element repeated on margot's second passage in the room; the experience is then displaced to an old school of hers. writing endlessly the imperative sentence "don't go" in chalk on a board, the mad man then dressed up as a female teacher conforms to the motif of repetition haunting the series. an attic, empty except for a video projected on a screen, is the locus of the fourth room. the video repeats margot's discovery of her father's dead body. the father figure is reproduced on margot's second passage in the room with only his face on a stand, eyes closed, with the sound of breathing. the discrepancy factor which provokes the intrusion of the real is that the face seems to be "an autonomous partial object, an organ which can magically survive without the body whose organ it is" (zizek xi). in room 5, the confrontation with the real takes the form of the reunion with the fatherly figure whose facial features are a vague echo of the true one. the video played on tv is the same watched by margot in episode 1. sequences and sentences from this video are themselves repeated. the intertwined repetitions are visible when margot enters the room a second time. the same scene unfolds with the difference being the deformed faced father playing with water in a bathtub echoing jules's scene in a tub in episode 2. the repetition compulsion conjures up uncanny elements that "shatter the coordinates of our common reality" (zizek xv). margot's father dies three times in the alternate reality. the difference factor is the way he dies; margot's presence is the common denominator in all three 04 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 cases. the repetition process and the discrepancy factor concur to the oppressive feeling of anxiety conveyed through the over proximity of the real. the cars look like cars but have no engines. the orchids are actually orchid mantis, luring insects to feed on them. the swimming pool at margot's house is bottomless. the 24 hours of a day are shortened: "how did they do it so fast?" (22:50) jules asks in episode 1 after their busts are created within seconds. "how is it night already?" (the reflection 12:07) she asks again in episode 4 when they are looking for a way out. the entrancing repeated rhythm of the music tune accompanies the conjuring up of the unfathomable. reminiscent of a hammer falling down mingled with a shrilling tune; it enlightens the characters' engulfment in the loss of meaning as well as the addition of the discrepancy factor. it is first heard in episode 1 when the camera zooms in and out on the house after the characters step inside it or in episode 2 after margot sees a mask-like version of her mother's face in the kitchen bin. the house mirrors ackbar abbas's concept of "the deceptions of fascination." it refers to "any experience that captures our attention without at the same time submitting entirely to our understanding" (abbas 348). the repetition of the discrepancy factor "makes what is ungraspable inescapable" (blanchot 25). the house is incessantly gazed at by the characters and the viewers while being, at the same time, a beholder of "the gaze of the incessant and interminable" (blanchot 25). this is blanchot's very definition of the term fascination; it reveals the motif of the gaze as a key element in understanding the power of the no-end house. the petrifying lureof the house the term "lure" connects the theme of deception with the ideas developed in part 1 but also with the hypnotising vampirish power of the house which petrifies its victims, hence the advanced idea of the medusa effect. the expression is borrowed here to indicate the medusa effect of the house and its creatures, the theme of deception and it hints at the mingling of attraction and repulsion at the heart of fascination. these elements are mingled with the motif of the gaze, not only in the sense of the act of seeing and being seen or who is holding the eye of authority but more decisively in lacan's wake. for the latter, the gaze is "a point of failure in the visual field, where, because the subject cannot see or be seen properly, s/he is discommoded, made anxious" (krips 95). it is also linked with indeterminacy, elusiveness: "the source of the gaze is a 'stain', a point where what 'we try to apprehend... seems to elude us.'" this stain is precisely indeterminate, "totally lacking a precise identity" (krips 97); it can evoke any interpretation and this provokes anxiety. at first, the house appears as the object of the act of observation but when it vanishes, it leaves an emptiness in the visual field, also making the characters inside it vanish from the common reality. the house is the central point of observation, suffocating by its overwhelming presence. the act of observation is omnipresent and a repetitive pattern lies at its core. the characters react the same way when they discover their clay busts in the first room. they use the sense of sight and touch: the upward and downward movement of the eyes that follow the harmonious lines of the replicas, the slight parting of their lips, the slow circular movement of the body around the busts to thoroughly realise them, the halting position to focus on the details and the light touch with their fingers. all the gestures reveal an attempt at grasping the unconceivable (the creation of perfect replicas of their faces in a matter of seconds) but the prolonged act of observation is also a marker of seduction by the uncanny. the observation of the ungraspable follows the same pattern: the camera lingers on the characters' faces, shows their reaction before widening the scope and revealing to the viewers what they are transfixed with. the first episode analeptically shows margot's discovery of her father's body. through a close shot on her face, her unblinking eyes and immobility, the camera coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 05 reveals her disbelief and a need to understand before disclosing the object of margot's gaze. the father's face is deformed, not precisely a lacanian "stain" but certainly a point of indeterminacy as it lacks a precise identity. the moment of confrontation with the real is invariably connected to the sense of sight and the slow change to immobility that expresses "an experience of trauma, dislocation and fascination all at once" (abbas 349). it is the trauma of having "seen too much," of entering "a forbidden territory of what should have remained unseen" (zizek xv). it is the dislocation ensuing from the sensation of being "outside human coordinates, outside our human reality" (zizek x). trauma and dislocation rime with fascination because the very force of the discrepancy factor is mesmerising. when, in episode 2, jt sees his double in his duplicated house, his body reacts the same way margot's does: the camera focuses on his face (unblinking eyes) and quasi immobility. it is for jt impossible not to look at his double kissing a girl. the hypnotic force of the house has the characters accept the improbable by transforming them into passive observers. the house is an omnipotent living entity vampirishly feeding from the characters' identity and memories. vampires' mesmerising and luring force endures because of their "ability to reshape [themselves] continuously according to the time period's values or morals" (buckley 1). the no-end house is both a dead organism (dormant when it is full and does not open the front door to visitors) and a living entity creating different experiences according to each character's memories. it feeds from memories and gives birth to other vampiric creatures referred to as "cannibals". the question of the authority of the gaze is central: "to the vampire's victim, the vampire seems all-powerful, compelling, hypnotic" (punter 104). this is the effect the house exerts on the persons who live in it: they lose their individuality. the house is not a stain per se but it eludes interpretation for it is the vehicle of negation. it keeps changing location and in those moments becomes a point of failure in the visual field. likewise, the masked man in room 2 is a point of failure. object of the characters' and the viewers' gaze, he gazes at the characters at the same time. their quasi immobility illustrates medusa's petrifying gaze: "there is a fear of physical petrification when faced with horrific circumstances, a deep-rooted and uneasy concern the body might not flee as it is supposed to when being attacked" (kaplan 77). the characters are not attacked but the man's physical closeness creates anxiety. the absence of a face makes him a point of failure even if he appears as the eye of authority in the scene. he is an auxiliary of the scopic drive of the house. the medusa effect the house engenders transfixes both the characters and the viewers thanks to the zoom-in / zoom-out movement of the camera. the camera is the eye of the house showing the viewers what takes place inside. the play on closeness and distance equals a vampire and prey game. this close-up and zoom-out alternation contributes to "the tension between representation and elusiveness" (baumbach 8) that accounts for the fascination effect. as the eye of authority, the house controls the balance between monstration and absence, hence the theme of deception. the cars have no engines, the orchids are cannibal flowers, the swimming pool is an entrance into a bottomless world, margot's wardrobe opens on the swimming pool, but the window of her bedroom does not open. once in the house, the characters' status changes from "i see" to "i am seen by". the mesmerising force of the house leads the characters to cohabit with the impossible: seth is a permanent resident in the house, luring people into entering and staying inside, bringing new girls in as a food source, then having them lived confined in different houses surrounding a cage. five people are kept prisoners in it, the family the house created for him and that he accepted as such. this normalised situation parallels margot casually having 06 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 breakfast with her fake father and jt telling his double he could give him advice on girls. the house fragments the characters' mastery of perception of the surrounding world, of rationality and of their own identity, slowly filling them with the same void the house is actually made of. it is linked to the observation of the self. the series highlights the path from identity deconstruction to reconstruction. in room 3 (episode 1), a mirror stands in the middle of a corridor; a single hand is seen on one side of its frame and two feet. margot's eyes are fixated on the mirror, on the hand and feet. the vision of these body parts conjoined with her vision of her father's face exposed on a stand (room 4) or her mother's face in a bin show the emphasis laid upon the body fragmentation. margot's alternate reality is a place of regression to childhood. in the no-end house, lacan's mirror stage seems reversed. it is the process of identification for a child between his body and his image in a mirror. for margot, room 6 is the place of the disunification of the self: "it's like he took the memory in and ate it" (beware the cannibals 24:35-24:37). the self is fragmented because the characters are subtracted from the power of the eye/i, from the symbolic triggered by the confrontation with the real. the fragmented self is connected to the multiplicity of viewpoints on the same element: each visitor sees different things in rooms 3, 4 and 5. in room 5, jt sees the mysterious masked man met in room 2 who takes his mask off only to reveal a second mask that looks identical to him. proleptic of jt's meeting with his double, the mysterious man plays the role of a mirror but the projected reflection is a fake persona created by the house. jt sees a deceiving version of himself which only confronts him with the real. for jules, the process of regression goes even deeper as what she experiences can be assimilated to a regressus ad uterum. in room 3, she comes into contact with a membranous white ball -which seems to play the role of a mirrorand whose hypnotizing force entices her to touch it in order to eat away the memories of her as a toddler with her mother and sister. the beginning of episode 2 films her immerged in a bathtub. with the water as a reminder of the amniotic fluid combined with the sound of a heartbeat, she seems to be regressing to the state of a foetus. this connection to fluids or womb-like elements reaches a climax when she finds herself imprisoned within the ball in episode 6. the ball appears to function as an organ per se. endowed with the medusa effect, it attracts jules, calling on her: "come here... come closer" (the hollow girl 16:13-16:21). this voice coming out of the ball stands for zizek's partial object. the ball stands for the point of failure in her visual field. it is an indeterminate, leaving stains on her memories. the more she touches the ball, the more blurred her vision becomes and the more she even fails to see herself in those memories. instability was already present in margot's, jules's and jt's lives before entering the house but, as a magnifying glass, it pushes the disruption further. the house offers the possibility of fulfilling the desire of filling in the absence that permeates their lives. the fascinating house of desire at the heart of the distinction between desire and want is the satisfaction of a lack which is not possible in desire. for lacan, man lives "according to a permanently unsatisfied desire, a desire that is for this reason inevitably a little painful and awkward, and which continually reminds him of the fundamental lack that lies at the heart of his being" (kesel 3). margot expresses to jules why she won't leave the house: "i can't just walk away right now. you know how long i've wanted a second chance with him" (nice neighbourhood 18:28-18:33). the house reunites her with her father to free her from her guilt feeling and help her understand the reason for his suicide. the fake father confirms this fact when he says to margot: "i was put coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 07 here because i think that's what you wanted." (beware the cannibals 06:17). when jules touches the ball, she can feel the closeness she lost with her mother and sister; the ball satisfies her immediate lack. jt wants a perfect appearance, that is what the house gives him with his bust in room 1 and his double, "the version of you that you want to be; the alpha version" (nice neighborhood 27:4827:54 ). what the house wants is made clear before the characters enter it the first time. the plate nailed at the entrance reads: "unknown artist the no-end house date unknown wood, nails, copper, caulk, you". the house is a kernel of absence which cannot exist without the persons it feeds on. it is a vagina dentata, sharing characteristics with a castrative mother figure. it reproduces persons, animals, objects remembered by margot although they only exist to be torn apart by the father creature to devour the pomegranate-like substance they are made of. margot's desire is underlyingly linked to an absence: "i just wanted to see what you saw and feel what you felt, just anything that would make me feel closer to you again" (beware the cannibals 10:30-10:38). her desire is to fill in the absence the non-recognition of his face left in her memory, to fill in the lack of understanding left by the confrontation with the real, symbolised by the blank left in language itself. her sentence remains unfinished: "i found you, you didn't look like you, your face..." (beware the cannibals 9:26-9:32). she can only leave the blank that haunts her unanswered; she has to accept the attempt at filling in the absence only impregnates her with a bigger absence, that is the blank left by the fading of her dearest memories. likewise, the father creature has to figure out that he is simply an auxiliary of the scopic drive of the house. the scopic drive is "a site for the circulation of both voyeuristic and exhibitionistic impetuses that, working together, create pleasure" (krips 98). the fake father leaves a mark of his cannibalistic act to be seen: what is left of the eaten mother is a face found in the kitchen bin by margot. the camera lingers on the act of devouring intermingling moaning, tearing apart of the limbs, avidity and visible pleasure. the viewers are the observers of this deviant act. only when he admits he is a figure of lack, only made from margot's memories can he die free from any guilt and not be brought back by the house. he slowly becomes aware of his true nature: "there is a gap in my memory and i realize i'm not supposed to be here" (nice neighborhood 14:51-14:58). the ultimate sign of love is to remain an absence; accepting the impossibility of his existence, he reaches a self-awakening and is eventually called by his name "john". the white ball wants to be gazed at and touched by jules to eat away her memories. the more she touches it, the longer her trance lasts, the more attraction and torment are visible on her face. the surrender in episode 3 of her body leaning forward and backward before she faints and falls on the floor can be assimilated to a jouissance, which is close to pain for lacan. the womb-like ball completely engulfs jules in episode 6. she goes through the initiation stages depicted by mircea eliade: the isolation from family members, the trials before facing the ultimate monster and the symbolic death and rebirth when she uses a knife to cut her way out. she emerges from the ball soaked in blood. her symbolic rebirth is possible when she understands that her desire to comprehend the absence left by the distanciation with her family has to remain a blank. seth lives a fulfilled life in the house because it stands for what he desires: to be an absence himself. " i keep waiting for one of you to understand how magnificent this place is, all the gifts that it can give you because memory is a disease and that this house is the cure" 08 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 (the hollow girl 33:00-33:38). seth is offered an absence of memories whereas jt's double is avid for memories; he wants to step into the symbolic: "i just wanna get out of here. i'm real. i feel everything" (the reflection 23:23-23:33). the house is a vehicle of the non. "this house looks like our house but it's not. this street looks like ours but it's not in our neighborhood. it's not in our reality. you don't belong here" (nice neighborhood 23:08-23:17). "this is not your home and that is not your dad [...] it's him but it's not him" (nice neighborhood 18:22-18:25). the eggs margot's fake father cooks "taste like nothing" (nice neighborhood 09:35). it is "an organism, it has instincts, it has an appetite, it has a will to survive" (the hollow girl 12:09-12:20). it is an endless void, an excess of indeterminacy which explains "the very blindness at the heart of vision" (harris 3). this blindness echoes the stain as the source of the gaze. "the emptiness lacan has in mind [...] is and remains empty once and for all. for him, desire never ceases desiring" (kesel 36). the house's object of desire is not so much having a perennial presence in the symbolic as feeding from the characters to fill in the absence that lies at its core. the blank it is made of cannot be filled in, hence the endless displacement on a multiplicity of victims. the exit sign appears when the symbolic castration is performed: margot stabs the fake father with jules's help, cutting the bond with this transitional object to her desire of knowledge of the mysteries of death. jules tears apart the transitional object to her desire of piercing the reasons for familial separateness. only then can margot and jules glance behind them and see what had been there all along: an emptiness they had to accept and are now ready to live with after the correct distance has been installed between them and the object of desire. conclusion this article considered the interconnectedness between the repetition pattern, the power of the gaze, the themes of deception, fragmentation, deconstruction and reconstruction to try and comprehend the fascination effect the no-end house triggers. the discrepancy factor between the original element and the repeated one is the intrusion of the real, leading the characters to be hypnotized by what the house gives them to see. at the image of medusa, it horrifies but equally captivates its victims; it petrifies them, physically immobilizing them and capturing their minds. the house gazes back at the characters and the viewers and questions the reason for their fascination. a shatterer of bodies, a fragmenter of the self and of the sense of sight itself, the house constitutes an excess of emptiness; its existence is only possible thanks to its victims' memories and desires. for the characters, it is about the desire to fill in the absence triggered by an idealized past, and more importantly a desire to obsessively understand the gap left by the confrontation with the real. the house exists through its desire to fill in the non (non place, non time, non experience of memories) that lays at its core. the experiences in the noend house are meaningful to each of us. memories can have a vampiric force; we might want, just like seth, to find a cure. the house is, for the viewers, a projection of their own desire. who would say no to the possibility of filling in the absence left by the loss of a loved one? the house is also a projection of our own moments of insanity when facing trauma, mental stability vacillates and we want to convince ourselves that "this isn't real". it is a projection of all the times we are on the edge of the symbolic. the house will continue to exist, allure and repulse, remaining simply "hungrier and hungrier" (the hollow girl 10:38). coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 09 references abbas, a. (1999). dialectic of deception. public culture,11(2), 29-45. antosca, n. (creator). (2017). the no-end house. nbc universal television distribution. krips, h. (2010). the politics of the gaze: foucault, lacan and zizek. culture unbound: journal of current cultural research, 2, 91-102. baumbach, s. (2015). literature and fascination. basingstoke: palgrave macmillan. blanchot, m. (1982). the space of literature (a. smock, trans.). lincoln: university of nebraska press. buckley, k. (2016). the evolution of the vampire “other”: symbols of difference from folklore to millennial literature (honors thesis). university of mississippi, usa. felluga, d.f. desire. encyclopedia of lacanian psychoanalysis. retrieved from https://nosubject.com/desire eliade, m. (1976). initiation, rites, sociétés secrètes. essai sur quelques types d'initiation. paris: gallimard. felluga, d.f. fascination. encyclopedia of lacanian psychoanalysis. retrieved from https://nosubject/com/fascination de kesel, m. (2009). eros and ethics. reading jacques lacan's seminar vii. albany: state university of new york. harris, o. (2003). film noir fascination: outside history, but historically so. cinema journal, 43(1), 3-24. kaplan, m. (2012). medusa's gaze and vampire's bite: the science of monsters. new york: scribner. punter, d. (1996). the literature of terror: the gothic tradition. london: longman. zizek, s. (2012). foreword. in bond, h. lacan at the scene (pp. ix-xv). cambridge: mit press. page 1 page 2 page 3 page 4 page 5 page 6 page 7 page 8 page 9 text book journal pdf sis. noelle coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 01 abstract in his political liberalism (1993), john rawls attempts to deal with the problem of political power in a modern democratic society with his idea of public reason, which provides a systematic answer to the question: what moral (not legal) limits does civility impose on public political debates and discussions by the citizens of a modern pluralist democracy? at the heart of the problem is that citizens in a modern democratic society, such as nigeria, do not hold one but different and often conflicting comprehensive conceptions of the good (life) which they cherish and want to espouse. a central proposition of rawls' thought in resolving the problem is that respect for others as free and equal citizens of a democracy entails that we accept a principle of equal liberty that allows each conception of the good life to thrive in the society. this paper exposed and interrogated rawls' propositions and claims in order to see the relevance of this thought in today's modern democratic society. through the use of historical and analytic methods, this paper found that, based on the fact of pluralism, it is reasonable for rawls to suggest that to achieve social and political stability in a democratic society, there are certain types of reasons that citizens may and may not adduce to defend their points of view in public political debates, i.e., political discussions must be based on values that other citizens can reasonably be expected to accept and endorsed. the conclusion is that rawls' idea of public reason is a commendable effort towards ensuring social justice, political stability and peaceful co-existence of citizens in a modern liberal constitutional democratic regime. keywords: political liberalism, public reason, modern democracy, citizens, pluralism, society, public debates, free and equal. introduction in his book, political liberalism (1993), as well as in a number of published articles that preceded its publication, john rawls focuses on the problem which the make-up of modern societies possess for a liberal theory. rawls' previous understanding of the problem was formulated based on the classical social contract theories and augmented by david hume's account of the “circumstances of justice.” he now significantly understands this problem as compounded by what he calls “the fact of pluralism,” or “the fact of reasonable pluralism.” in the light of the fact of pluralism, the problem is no longer simply to articulate principles that might serve as a basis for equitable social cooperation among individuals in a society who otherwise share roughly the same moral standpoint. it is now, rather, to do so in a society whose members adhere to a plurality of different and sometimes incommensurable chukwujekwu stephen chijioke (phd) & anowai eugene chukwueloka (prof.) department of philosophy chukwuemeka odumegwu ojukwu university (coou) anambra state, nigeria. an exposé of the “idea of public reason” in john rawls' political liberalism 02 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 “reasonable comprehensive conceptions of the good.” thus, in this new understanding of the problem (of modern society) given the fact of (reasonable) pluralism, rawls' states the problem which “political liberalism,” both as a theory and a book, will tackle as follows: “how is it possible that there may exist over time a stable society for free and equal citizens profoundly divided by reasonable though incompatible religious, philosophical and moral doctrines?” (rawls, 1993, p. xviii). rawls (1993) appreciates the traditional liberal response to the above question, but rejects it all the same in these words: “sometimes one hears reference made to the so-called enlightenment project of finding a philosophical secular doctrine, one founded on reason and yet comprehensive. it would then be suitable to the modern world, so it thought, now that the religious authority and the faith of ages were alleged no longer dominant” (p. xviii). furthermore, the fact of (reasonable) pluralism which rawls is insistent upon implies a rejection of the convergence hypothesis, such as the 'reflexive equilibrium' theory. for, rawls as early as 1974 was already claiming in one of his articles that even should everyone attain wide reflective equilibrium, individuals in a society may still hold many contrary moral conceptions. thus, fundamental moral disagreement is no longer seen as the manifestation of obstacles blocking the full, unfettered manifestation of reason. rather, according to rawls (1993), it is seen as “the normal result of the exercise of human reason within the free institutions of a constitutional democratic regime” (p. xvi). in other word, there can no longer be any expectation that imposing the rigors of reflective equilibrium upon citizens, and particularly restricting them to their “considered convictions,” will yield convergence sufficient for the task of construction of a theory on the basis of shared premises. put differently, observes weinstock (1994), “practical reason, according to the fact of pluralism, speaks with many voices” (p. 174). the search for shred convictions must start elsewhere. rawls (1993) suggests strongly that we look to our shared public political culture as a repository of settled, specifically political values and judgments, such as “the belief in religious toleration and the rejection of slavery” (p. 8). from this perspective, rawls (1993) pin-points and expatiates further the problem that political liberalism seeks to solve in these words: “the problem of political liberalism is to work out a conception of political justice for a constitutional democratic regime that the plurality of reasonable doctrines –always a feature of the culture of a free democratic regime –might endorse” (p. xviii). of course, a liberal conception of justice is the one that includes a principle of equal liberty, that assigns protection of equal basic liberty priority over other social values, and that includes a principle requiring that each citizen has adequate material means to exercise his basic liberty. thus, as de marneffe (1994) rightly observes, a central proposition of rawls' thought in his political liberalism is that “respect for others as free and equal citizens of a democracy entails that we accept a principle of equal basic liberty” (p. 232). the principle of equal basic liberty that rawls (1993) proposes is that each person has an equal claim to a fully adequate scheme of equal basic rights and liberties, which scheme is compatible with the same scheme for all (p. 5). the basic liberties which rawls (1971) has in mind are the same as those found in his earlier work, a theory of justice, and his other writings and the works of other political writers: freedom of political speech, assembly and participation; freedom of thought and conscience; freedom of association; freedom of the person; freedom from arbitrary arrest and seizure as associated with the rule of law (p. 66). however, these liberties are quite abstract, and so disagreement is bound to arise among coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 03 citizens about their precise scope –even among citizens who are fully committed to equal basic liberty in principle. disagreement may inevitably arise, for instance, about whether hate speech and pornography are protected by freedom of speech and thought. again, some people argue that religious reasons should be excluded from public debate; others yet argue for the exclusion of statements that degrade people on the basis of their religions, race or ethnicity. other people still contend that in a public debate, an ideal of political morality should mirror the freedom of expression: all viewpoints should contend in a marketplace of ideas. thus, it becomes necessary to identify principles to guide public debate over the scope of basic liberty. it is primarily to identify such principles that rawls (1993) develops in political liberalism his idea of “public reason” (pp. 212-254). rawls' central proposition and claim as bruce ackerman rightly observes, political liberalism is not merely the name of a book by john rawls. it is rather a distinctive approach to the problem of political power. one can certainly find possible answers in rawls' book. following de marneffe (1994), “a central proposition of rawls' thought is that respect for others as free and equal citizens of a democracy entails that we accept a principle of equal liberty” (p. 232). the principle of equal liberty that rawls (1993) proposes is as follows: “each person has an equal claim to a fully adequate scheme of equal basic rights and liberties, which scheme is compatible with the same scheme for all; and in this scheme, the equal political liberties, and only those liberties, are to be guaranteed their fair value” (p. 5). now the central claim of rawls' idea of public reason is that when the exercise of political power is in question, citizens should take only those positions on the scope of basic liberty (and other matters of basic justice) that are supported by some liberal political conception of justice, using modes of inquiry and methods of inference that are widely understood and endorsed. this is crucial since, according to rawls, the content of public reason is formulated by a “political conception of justice” which he assumes to be “broadly liberal in character.” rawls (1993) explains what he means that the content of public reason is formulated by a political conception of justice that is broadly liberal in character: “by this i mean three things: first, it specifies certain basic rights, liberties, and opportunities (of the kind familiar from constitutional regimes); second, it assigns a special priority to these rights, liberties, and opportunities, especially with respect to claims of the general good and perfectionist values; and third, it affirms measures assuring all citizens adequate all-purpose means to make effective use of their basic liberties and opportunities” (p. 223). furthermore, says rawls (1993): “in saying a conception of justice is political, i also mean … that it is framed to apply solely to the basic structure of society, its main political, social, and economic institutions as a unified scheme of social cooperation; that it is presented independently of any wider comprehensive religious or philosophical doctrine; and that it is elaborated in terms of fundamental political ideas viewed as implicit in the public political culture of a democratic society” (p. 223). one has to underline that rawls' own two principles of justice constitute only one liberal conception of justice. there are equally others. thus, the central claim of rawls' idea of public reason is not that we should take only those positions that are supported by rawls' own “justice as fairness” (jaf). rather, the central claim is that we should take only those positions on the scope of basic liberty that are supported by some conceptions of justice that is both liberal and political. based on this line of thought, rawls (1993) expresses the point of his idea of public reason as follows: 04 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 the point of the ideal of public reason is that citizens are to conduct their fundamental discussions within the framework of what each regards as a political conception of justice based on values that others can reasonably be expected to endorse and each is, in good faith, prepared to defend that conception so understood. this means that each of us must have, and be ready to explain, a criterion of what principle and guidelines we think other citizens (who are free and equal) may reasonably be expected to endorse along with us” (p. 223). rawls' arguments for the above claim in making the above claim, rawls argues that a free and equal person who is reasonable and rational could not accept any position on the scope of basic liberty that is not fully compatible with his equal basic liberty. so, respect for others as free and equal citizens requires that we take only those positions on the scope of basic liberty that are supported by a liberal conception of justice. again, a free and equal person who is reasonable and rational could not accept any position on the scope of basic liberty that is defensible in terms of some comprehensive religious or philosophical doctrine that he rejects. so, respect for others as free and equal citizens requires that we take only those positions on the scope of basic liberty that are supported by a liberal conception of justice. also, a free and equal person who is reasonable and rational could not accept any position on the scope of basic liberty that is supported by modes of inquiry and methods of inference that he cannot understand or endorse. so then, respect for others as free and equal citizens requires that we take only those positions on the scope of basic liberty that are supported by modes of inquiry and methods of inference that are widely understood and endorsed. thus, an ideal of public reason provides a systematic answer to the question: what moral (not legal) limits does civility impose on public political debate and discussion by the citizens of a modern pluralist democracy? solum asserts that in political liberalism, rawls refines his idea of public reason and argues for an “inclusive public reason.” based on his assertion, solum (1994) lists out three main features of rawlsian ideal of public reason as follows: (1) public reasons include (a) the general features of all reason, such as rules of inference and evidence; and (2) the ideal applies (but not necessarily limited) to deliberations and discussion concerning the basic structure and the constitutional essentials. (3) the ideal applies (a) to both citizens and public political debate, (b) to citizens when they vote, and (c) to public action –so long as the debate, vote or action concerns the subjects specifies in (2). (pp. 217-218) as peter de marneffe explains, the general idea of rawls' notion of public reason is that we should take only those positions on the scope of basic liberty that can be adequately defended solely in terms of values that every reasonable citizen could endorse. rawls (1993) identifies those liberal political values as “the values of equal political and civil liberty; equality of opportunity; the values of social equality and economic reciprocity; and let us add also the values of the common good … the values of public reason –fall under the guidelines for public inquiry, which makes that inquiry free and public” (p. 224). however, this does not mean to imply that only these are the liberal political values there are. coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 05 major aim of the idea of public reason bruce ackerman is one of those philosophers who find rawls' treatment of the idea of public reason very enlightening. as he rightly observes, rawls in his political liberalism makes one of his most important breaks with his earlier work, a theory of justice, by renouncing his claim that 'the theory of justice is part of the theory of rational decision.' in his own words, rawls (1993) says: “here i correct a remark in theory, p. 16, where it is said that the theory of justice is part of the theory of rational decision. from what we have just said, this is simply incorrect ….” (p. 53). ackerman (1994) underlines that rawls' new aim now is “to express reasonable grounds for cooperation among parties who differ as to the meaning of the good life” (p. 366). an important question suggests itself in the light of rawls' idea of public reason, namely what is it to be reasonable when citizens differ or disagree on so much? put differently, what is really the aim of public reason? ackerman observes that rawls' answer provides one of the high points of his political liberalism. in rawls' (1993) words: “what public reason asks is that citizens be able to explain their votes to one another in terms of reasonable balance of public political values, it being understood by everyone that of course the plurality of reasonable comprehensive doctrines held by citizens is thought by them to provide further and often transcendent backing for those values” (p. 243). rawls (1993) further insists that in the light of public reason and the idea of democratic citizenship, citizens must display as a matter of duty “a willingness to listen to others and a fair mindedness in deciding when accommodation to their views should reasonably be made” (p. 217). as ackerman rightly observes, the overriding commitment to public dialogue leads rawls in a direction beyond principles already established in western political practice. thus, as far as public dialogue is concerned, rawls challenges the way americans and others understand the electoral process. this is because, in actual fact, when most people step into the voting booth, they believe that they have a right to cast their ballot any way they like –maybe i am voting for “a” because he is of african origin, or because he did my relation a favour, but this is nobody's business but mine. rawls finds this attitude no more acceptable. hence, rawls (1993) affirms, “… the ideal of public reason not only governs the public discourse of elections …, but also how citizens are to cast their votes …. otherwise, public discourse runs the risk of being hypocritical: citizens talk before one another one way and vote another” (p. 215). rawls underlines that the ideal of public reason does not apply to ordinary citizens and various officers of the government in the same manner. according to him, it applies to government officers, the legislators, in their official capacities. as rawls (1993) puts it: “it applies in official forums and so to legislators when they speak on the floor of parliament, and to the executive in its public acts and pronouncements” (p. 216). rawls (1993) also notes how the idea of public reason applies to the judiciary: “it applies also in a special way to the judiciary and above all to a supreme court in a constitutional democracy with judicial review” (p. 216). this so, says rawls, because the justices have to explain and justify their decisions as based on their understanding of the constitution and relevant statutes and precedents. one must agree that rawls has a point in urging us to have a second look at the act of voting, and the official conducts of legislators and judges in a liberal constitutional democracy. as ackerman rightly observes, legitimate government is not based on the unfettered act of personal will, but the collective effort by each of us to justify our political power through public dialogue. for example, the secret ballot is valuable only because it shields us from coercive efforts by others to impose their will when they have failed 06 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 to convince us through argument. however, the salient point in the light of rawls' notion of public reason is that this valuable shield should not be transformed into a sword that allows a majority of voters to impose their will on others in a way they are not prepared to justify in public. critical evaluation rawls' formulation of the ideal of public reason has stirred both interest and criticism. some critics argue particularly that rawls' formulation is “exclusive.” by this, they mean to say that adherence to the rawlsian idea of public reason would result in the exclusion of many groups in the society (especially religious groups) from full participation in public political life. in his essay entitled rawls' exclusively secular conception, garry leads criticises rawls' view that the stability of an overlapping consensus depends on the exclusion of many doctrines from the public discourse. according to him then, for example, rawls would not approve of politically active citizens asserting the truth of any precepts identified with their particular comprehensive religious, philosophical and moral doctrines. thus, the exclusion of religious beliefs from public debate is argued to be both unrealistic and unfair. as quoted by solum (1994), leedes expresses the unrealistic nature of rawls' view in these words: “this kind of discriminatory treatment is unlikely to end the culture wars between many americans and their adversaries including christian fundamentalists, islamic fundamentalists, conservative catholics, and orthodox jews. rawls is in cloud-cucko land if he thinks that religious disagreements will be reduced in number by a political theory that stigmatizes devout persons whose political opinions are consistently aligned with their religious orientation” (p. 218). with reference to the charge that an exclusionary view is unfair, leedes refers to jürgen habermas' conception of discourse ethics and observes that americans (or citizens of any other modern society) conforming to rawls' ideal of public reason must keep their religious beliefs in the closets when they enter the field of politics. he argues that this type of conformity is not in accordance with american traditions, customs and practices. according to him, this restriction violets the principle of discourse ethics that assures adversely affected religious persons full and equal participation in political debates (solum 1994, pp. 218-219). contrary to leedes position, solum believes that rawls has an “inclusive view of public reason” –one that treats religious beliefs fairly and realistically. he argues that whatever position that rawls himself may take, we should adhere to an ideal of public reason that is inclusive. then, for solum (1994), an inclusive ideal of public reason is one that requires citizens to advance public reasons in public debate on political questions, but does not require them to exclude supporting non-public reasons from such debate (p. 219). the exclusionary principle requires “that only reasons accepted by the whole public be allowed as public reason.” solum observes that this would constrict public reason to the vanishing point because there is likely at least one citizen who will deny the truth of almost every conceivable premise of political argument. moreover, says solum, this constriction seems unreasonable as some citizens are products of delusion. in the end, solum thinks that the principle of excluding non-public reasons would be chosen over every other in a political debate. this is because, given the fact of pluralism, that principle does not ensure that reasons offered in public political debate can reasonably be accepted by the public at large. secondly, the principle of excluding non-public reasons would also be chosen over that of excluding “all-contested-reasons” (or all-contestedmoral-reasons). for, as solum observes, if all contested reasons were excluded, public debate would be severely restricted. hence, allowing all public reasons (as defined here) would coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 07 facilitate a more robust and effective role for public debate. thirdly, the principle of “excluding non-public reason” would be chosen over that of “excluding religious reasons”. whereas believers could not accept the principle of (of excluding religious reasons) as fair, they could accept the principle of excluding non-public reasons as fair. this is because the exclusion of all non-public reasons puts the deep belief of both theists and atheists on the same par. in the light of this, one might be inclined to agree with solum that we have a prima facie reason to accept the principle of “exclusion of non-public reason” as the best interpretation of rawls' idea of public reason. however, solum believes strongly that the ideal of public reason might be specified by “principle of inclusion.” according to him, the most promising inclusive principle is the one that requires the “inclusion of public reasons.” this would allow for robust debate but would not be unfair to those with religious views. unlike the principle of “excluding non-public reasons,” the principle of including public reasons would allow citizens to advance non-public reasons in public debates. but non-public reasons would only be allowed if sufficient public reasons were also given. both the exclusive and inclusive versions will result in the giving of sufficient public reasons, but the “inclusive version” will allow a specified role for non-public reason as well. like the principle of excluding non-public reason, the principle of including public reasons would foster civility and the civic virtue of tolerance. according to solum, it would do this in two ways. first, by requiring citizens to give a public reason, the principle of inclusion assures that no citizen will call for the coercion of another citizen without giving a reason the other citizen views as reasonable. second, by requiring citizens to exclude nonpublic reasons, the principle of inclusion assures that no citizen will call for the coercion of another citizen on the basis of grounds the other would view as wholly unreasonable. it seems, finally, that we have to believe that the principle of including public reason might do a better job of fostering civility and tolerance than would the exclusionary principle. in his political liberalism, rawls recognizes the distinction between the “exclusive view” of public reason and the “inclusive view.” according to rawls (1993), the exclusive view forbids, and the inclusive view allows, the presentation by citizens of “what they regard as the basis of political values rooted in their comprehensive doctrine” (p. 247). rawls (1993) prefers the “inclusive view” of public reason, as he sees it to be the correct one “which view best encourages citizens to honour the ideal of public reason and secures its social conditions in the longer run in a well-ordered society” (p. 248). for, surely, giving some circumstances, the giving of non-public reasons (which are not shared) that are the foundations of public reasons (which are shared) will foster a sense of political solidarity and tolerance. this is so because, observes rawls (1993), if i see that i agree about fundamental public values, despite our disagreement about the moral foundations of those values, i may come to see your fundamental views as reasonable – despite my unwillingness to accept them as true “(p. 249). similarly, if i see that you treat my comprehensive view as reasonable, despite your disagreement with aspects of my view, then i may be more likely to treat your view with tolerance and respect”. conclusion rawls is right to assert that the fact of (reasonable) pluralism has compounded more of modern societies. the problem is no longer simply to articulate principles that might serve as a basis for equitable social cooperation among citizens who otherwise roughly share the same moral point of view as obtained in the medieval time. the problem is now rather to articulate such 08 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 principles in a society whose members adhere to a plurality of different and sometimes irreconcilable “reasonable comprehensive conceptions of the good.” thus, given the broad range of comprehensive conceptions of the good life that both do and that might come to coexist in a democratic society, and given the concomitant broad range of debates and disagreements that might emerge, it seems unwise, once fundamental constitutional principles and basic rights have been settled, to prejudge the type of issues about which people can legitimately debate and disagree in the political arena. it is rather more likely that what citizens will come to require is not a more fully marked out theory, but an agreed set of rules on the basis of which they might manage their political debates. it seems to many that rawls comes close to providing us with just such a conception of public dialogue with the idea of public reason to which he devotes lecture vi in his book, political liberalism. on the whole, rawls' idea of public reason is a commendable effort towards ensuring stability and peaceful co-existence of individual citizens in a modern liberal constitutional democratic regime. references ackerman, b. (1994). political liberalism. the journal of philosophy. 91(7), 364-386. ackerman, b. (1980). social justice in the liberal state. new haven: yale university press. daniels, n. (ed.). (1989). reading rawls: a critical study on rawls' theory of justice. standford, california: standford university press. de marneffe, p. (1994). rawls' idea of public reason. pacific philosophical quarterly. 75(3 & 4), 212-254. edward, p. (ed.). (1987). encyclopedia of philosophy. new york and london: macmillan and collier. habermas, j. (1995). reconciliation through the public use of reason: remarks on john rawls' political liberalism. the journal of philosophy. 92(3), 109-180. hampton, j. (1994). the common faith of liberalism. pacific philosophical quarterly. 75(3 & 4), 66-216. rawls, j. (1995). reply to habermas. the journal of philosophy. 92(3), 109180. rawls, j. (1971). a theory of justice. oxford: oxford university press. rawls, j. (1993). political liberalism. cambridge, ma: harvard university press. rousseau, j. j. (1993). the social contract and discourses. everyman: j. m. dent orion publishing group. solum, l. b. (1994). inclusive public reason. pacific philosophical quarterly. 75(3 & 4), 217-218. weinstock, d. m. (1994). the justification of political liberalism. pacific philosophical quarterly. 74 (3 & 4), 65-187. page 1 page 2 page 3 page 4 page 5 page 6 page 7 page 8 text book journal pdf sis. noelle coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 01 abstract this study investigated problems of teaching and learning english language in onitsha north local government area. english is the dominant language in nigeria and it has become almost a necessity for people to learn english language if they are to enter a global workforce. the teaching and learning of the english language, however, has not been so easy due to some difficulties experienced by the teachers and students. descriptive survey research was adopted for the study. the area of the study was onitsha north local government. the population consisted of 15 male teachers, 35 female teachers, 15 male students and 35 female students making it 100 teachers and students from public secondary schools. purposive random sampling technique was used for the study. two research questions guided the study. the instrument for data collection was a questionnaire developed by the researchers. data collected were analysed using the mean rating. results showed that english language teachers and students are facing numerous challenges such as inaccessibility to educational technologies, inadequate professional training and inability to write or speak the english language. the study, therefore, concluded that the challenges encountered by teachers and students of english language are caused by mother tongue interference and low interest to study a second language. based on the findings, the study recommended, among others, that teachers should be acquainted with classroom management and utilise their skills in ensuring that students develop interest in learning the english language. this will enhance effective teaching and learning of the english language. keywords: english language, teaching, learning, teachers, students background to the study language is one of the most important things in the life of man, “it is an indispensable tool used for communication, transmission of culture and socialisation” (udoye, 2019, p. 207). however, in the absence of language, signs and symbols are used, though they seldom communicate the exact meaning like language. undoubtedly, language has a strong binding force of unifying different linguistic groups. throughout the world, language is one of the important features that is used to distinguish people from others. in nigeria, for example, there are many languages in use; this is as a result of different ethnic groups that make up nigeria (fatiloro, 2015). however, english is the central and official language in nigeria (amadi & amadi, 2015). more so, english language has gained worldwide recognition because it is not only the language of scientific, technical, political, educational and literary researches; it is also the ifeoma emmanuela udoye and alia ezinne chituru department of english chukwuemeka odumegwu ojukwu university anambra state problems of teaching and learning english language in onitsha north local government area, anambra state 02 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 native tongue of the british isles, the united states of america, parts of canada, new zealand and australia. in addition, it is the second language of all former british colonies, including nigeria, gambia, liberia, sierra leone, ghana, uganda, kenya (nnamdi-eruchalu, 2012). this is why english continues to “hold sway as the language of development in most developing nations of the world, and even in some developed nations where it is learned and used as a foreign language” (muhammad, ya'u, aliyu & hassan, 2018, p.10). also, english is useful in all spheres of life, particularly in the development of education in nigeria. it is the language of instruction in all institutions of learning in nigeria and it is only learned in schools where it is taught as a subject (nwanyanwu, 2017). the english language is an end in itself for students because a student who does not attain a reasonable degree of competence in english language will not make any remarkable progress in his or her studies; hence, english is a vital medium of knowledge delivery in schools. besides, millions of reading materials such as books, and journals are written in english; even newspaper articles and magazines discuss all the problems, events of this country, international issues and practices in english. furthermore, english language, as a second language in nigeria has remained a very important tool for national development, diplomacy, international communication and other activities since the days of colonization. in addition, the early christian missionaries introduced formal education in nigeria. english was adopted as the official language by the colonial masters to facilitate communication (akujobi & chukwu, 2012). gobir (2018) observes that nigeria has benefitted immensely from the adoption of english as the official language; this has not only put nigeria on the world map, it has also helped in modern education, and advancement in science and technology. for effective communication, one needs to have a mastery of the five components of the language which include: grammar, composition, comprehension, orals which deal with speech, lexis and structure. a student, who has a good knowledge of english language commands respect (umera-okeke, 2019). therefore, teachers at all levels of education must pay special attention to their teachings, so that students would emulate the correct form of pronunciation of words and grammatical constructions of sentences. akujiobi and chukwu (2012) rightly pointed out that “learning the english language equips nigerians to confidently meet other people from other english-speaking nations of the world for all transactions” (p.59). however, the teaching of english as a foreign language in nigeria always demands expertise for many reasons: socio-cultural, economic, psychological, philosophical, educational and pedagogic enlightenment. the knowledge of the above-mentioned factors will help the teacher to be productive in his work. nevertheless, the job of teaching and learning, especially the english language comes with its difficulties. this sometimes makes some teachers quit their jobs while the prospective ones show no interest. this study, therefore, attempts to examine the challenges teachers and students face in the teaching and learning of english language in senior secondary schools in onitsha north local government area. statement of the problem gobir (2018) observed that nigeria had greatly benefitted from adopting english as the official language. this, he noted, not only put nigeria on the map, but also contributed to the advancement of science and technology in modern education. it was further demonstrated that the five language components which include grammar, composition, comprehension, orals, lexis and structure must be mastered for effective communication. several factors ranging from socio-cultural, pedagogical, economic, psychological, physiological and educational issues have been linked to problems of teaching english as a foreign language because it needs expertise. this condition has led some teachers to leave their jobs and those who remain show little interest. therefore, the problem of the study is to find out the challenges that teachers and students face. purpose of the study the main purpose of this study is to find out the challenges facing the teaching and learning of english language in anambra state. specifically, the objectives are to: 1. identify the challenges teachers and students face in the teaching and learning of english language in senior secondary schools in onitsha north local government area. 2. determine the effects of these challenges on the teachers' performance in the teaching of english language in senior secondary schools research questions the study is guided by the following research questions: 1. what are the challenges teachers and students face in the teaching and learning of english language in senior secondary schools in onitsha north local government area? 2. what are the effects of these challenges on the teachers' performance in the teaching of english language in senior secondary schools? review of related literature in recent years, there has been an increasing amount of studies on english language. erdem and tutkun (2016) carried out research on problems in english language teaching according to secondary school students. the goal of the research was to identify the problems faced by secondary school students in teaching and learning english and to evaluate the degree of difference in the perceptions of the problems of the students in this respect. the research population is 24,850 high school students in sultanbeyli, istanbul, while the survey size is 1,261 high school students. among other things, erdem and tutkun (2016) discovered that “teachers get angry at the errors of students” (p.268) and there is no significant difference between the opinions of the students on the problems encountered in english teaching and learning in private or private secondary school, and the occupation and family income of the parents. the study by erdem and tutkun (2016) and the present study are related because both are trying to find out the challenges faced in the teaching and learning of english language. however, the two studies differ to an extent in that the present study dwells on the problems the teachers and students face in onitsha north local government area while, the study by erdem and tutkun (2016) is only interested in the problems of the students in learning the english language in sultanbeyli, istanbul. obiegbu (2016) examined the challenges of teaching english language in nigeria. the purpose of the study was to examine some of the challenges the teacher faces in the classroom ranging from decline in reading culture, lack of adequate attention in the classrooms, cultural and psychological background of the learners, poor motivation of the teachers, lack of exposure to modern teaching methods and teachers' inadequacy in teaching effectively. the findings of the study showed that problems such as mother tongue interference, lack of reading culture, inadequate teaching and learning facilities, lack of instructional materials and coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 03 04 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 ineffective teaching are the major challenges of teaching english language in nigeria. the present study and that of obiegbu (2016) share similarities as both works are based on finding the challenges in teaching of the english language. nevertheless, there are some dissimilarities such as the fact that the present study dwells on problems that teachers and students of senior secondary schools face in the teaching and learning of english language in onitsha north local government area while the study by obiegbu dwells on the challenges of teaching english language in nigeria. similarly, hossain, nessa and kafi (2015) examined the challenges of english language teaching at primary level schools in bangladesh. the study explores the challenges of teaching english language in primary schools in the context of bangladesh. data were collected using interview, classroom observation and questionnaire. the results of the study revealed that students are weak in english language due to lack of skilled and trained teachers; who are trained in modern methods and inadequate teaching materials. the study by hossain et al. (2015) and the present study are related in that both studies are interested in the problems faced in teaching the english language as a second language. the two studies, however, differ in some cases such as the fact that the present research covers teachers and students in onitsha north local government area while the research by hossain et al. (2015) covers only primary schools in bangladesh. in a related study, muhammad, ya'u and aliyu (2018) examined teaching and learning of english language in nigerian schools, its importance and challenges. the purpose of the study was to highlight the importance and challenges of teaching and learning english in nigerian schools. they discovered that learner's perspective, teacher's attitude, language transfer, and lack of interest are the mitigating factors against effective teaching and learning of english in nigeria. the study is insightful and it provides the basis for the present work. however, it is different from the present work because it looked at all the schools in nigeria while the present work deals with secondary schools in onitsha north local government area. finally, akujiobi and chukwu (2012) investigated the challenges of effective english language teaching in nigerian secondary schools. they discovered that poor attitude of students towards the study of english language, few teaching periods, lack of motivation and incentive, poor teaching method, mother tongue interference and inexperienced teachers are the challenges of teaching english language in nigeria. the work is similar to the present work; however, it differs from the present work in theory and context. theoretical framework the study is anchored on bf skinner and glasser's classroom management theory. classroom management theory shows the conditions in which learning best occurs; generally, this means structured environment, demonstration, observation, and classroom activities that focus on team work and behavioral management help the teacher to effectively carry out his/her work without much challenge arising. classroom management theory is constantly evolving; two key theorists stand out when it comes to modern education. throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, experts like b.f. skinner, and william glaser revolutionized the ways that teachers deliver education. in skinner's operant conditioning model, teachers strongly guide learner's behaviour to reach desired outcomes. within the context of classroom management, behaviourism is firmly established in practice. while the glasser choice model views the role of teachers as helpers of those in their learning environment. the idea behind it is that all behaviour is an issue; teachers should merely serve to facilitate the making of good decisions and choices. according to praveen & alex (2017) understanding the theory lets educators identify their management strategies in the classroom and determine how to better handle students' experiences and reduce the obstacles they encounter in learning. this theory is very relevant in the present study as it provides ideas on how the challenges teachers and students face in teaching and learning can be ameliorated. methods the research design adopted for this study was descriptive survey. this was chosen because it studied people's attitudes, belief system, opinions and other behavioural manifestations. the population of the study consisted of 35 female teachers and 15 male teachers; 35 female students and 15 male students from onitsha north local government area making it 100 senior secondary school language teachers and students. purposive random sampling technique was adopted. a self-developed structured questionnaire for data collection captioned “problems of english language teaching and learning (peltl)” made up of 10 items was used. the questionnaire has sections a and b. section a covers personal data of the respondents, while section b provides answers to the research questions raised for the items on a modified likert type scale of strongly agree, agree, disagree and strongly disagree. mean rating was used for data analysis. items that attracted a mean rating of 2.5 and above were accepted. results research question 1: what are the challenges teachers and students face in the teaching and learning of english language in senior secondary schools in onitsha north local government area? table i: respondents' mean rating on the challenges facing teachers and students in the teaching and learning of english language in senior secondary schools onitsha north local government area coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 05 s/n items description decision 1. some teachers and students 358 3.6 agree find writing and speaking the english language difficult. 2. students do not show interest in 303 3.0 agree learning the second language. 3. mother tongue influences the 275 2.8 agree teaching and learning of english language. 06 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 4. teachers do not have access to 282 2.8 educational technologies for teaching and learning. 5. lack of conducive environment for 315 3.2 agree teaching and learning. agree grand mean 3.1 agree table 1 above focused on the challenges teachers and students face in the teaching and learning of english language. five items were presented to the respondents with the mean scores of 3.6, 3.0, 2.8, 2.8 and 3.2 respectively, all above the cut-off mean. the findings further show that the respondents accepted that there are challenges facing teachers in the teaching and learning of english language in senior secondary schools in onitsha north local government area. research question 2: what are the effects of these challenges on the teachers' performance in the teaching of english language in senior secondary schools? table ii: respondents' mean rating on the effects of challenges on the teachers' performance in the teaching and learning of english language in senior secondary schools s/n items description decision 6. the teachers lose interest in their work 290 2.9 7. there is a poor quality of teaching 333 3.3 agree and learning of english language 8. the teachers do not make efforts ` 301 3.0 agree to improve themselves 9. the teachers easily get annoyed at 354 3.5 agree students when they make mistakes 10. the teachers cannot compete favourably 301 3.0 agree with their counterparts in developed countries. agree grand mean 3.1 agree table ii above revealed the effects of the challenges on teachers' performance in the teaching of english language in senior secondary. it reveals that items 6,7,8,9 and 10 have the mean scores of 2.9, 3.3, 3.0, 3.5 and 3.0 respectively, all above the cut-off mean. this shows that the respondents accepted that there are challenges teachers face, and these challenges have effects coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 07 on their performance in the teaching and learning of english language in senior secondary schools. findings 1. the challenges teachers and students face in teaching and learning the english language include difficulties in writing and speaking the english language, lack of interest, mother tongue interference, inaccessibility to educational technologies for effective teaching and learning and unconducive environment. 2. the effects of the challenges on teachers' performance in the teaching and learning of english are loss of interest in professional improvement, inadequate teaching and annoyance at the students when they make mistakes and teachers' inability to compete with counterparts in developed countries. discussion the study revealed the challenges teachers and students face in teaching and learning the english language namely: difficulties on the part of teachers and students to write and speak the english language, lack of interest, mother tongue interference, unconducive environment, and inaccessibility to educational technologies for effective teaching and learning. the findings agree with the earlier findings of obiegbu (2016); akujiobi and chukwu (2012) who noted that mother tongue interference and lack of students' interest are the major factors affecting the teaching and learning of english language in the areas where it is used as a second language. teachers of english language who want to succeed in their jobs would need to enlighten the students on the problems of mother tongue interference and other basic educational skills. this is in line with glasser's choice model which noted that teachers strongly guide learners to reach desired performance level. eighty per cent of what the student becomes in the future can be shaped by a teacher. apparently, it can be deduced that, here, the duty of an english language teacher does not stop at teaching the language, it includes making the learners learn and appreciate the language. also revealed were the effects of the challenges on the teachers' performance in the teaching of english language in senior secondary schools, they are mainly: loss of interest in professional improvement, annoyance at the students when they make mistakes and teachers' inability to compete with counterparts in developed countries. such influences certainly make the teaching of the english language cumbersome to the teachers. the findings are supported by erdem and tutkun (2016); muhammad et al. (2018) earlier findings that teachers get angry at students when they make mistakes which is among the problems teaching and learning of the english language faces. it suffices to say that a teacher who wants to inculcate knowledge in the student must learn behavioural management as proposed by classroom management theory. behavioural management helps the teacher to effectively carry out his/her work without many challenges. behavioural management is one of the standards that should qualify one as a teacher. nigerian public secondary school is poised unendingly with teachers' low professional standards which affect their abilities for personal modification, production, innovation and social placement. these problems are caused by the challenges the teachers face within and outside the school. 08 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 conclusion this study has tried to draw attention to the challenges teachers and students face in the teaching and learning of the english language. the study examined various factors that hinder the teaching and learning of the english language. it was discovered that some factors such as constant use of mother tongue in communication by students, inaccessibility to educational technologies for teaching and learning of the english language, unconducive environment for teaching and learning, students' low interest in learning the english language, and others were largely responsible for ineffective teaching and learning of the english language in secondary schools in onitsha north local government area. based on the above, it is therefore concluded that the challenges facing teachers and students, especially those at the basic level of education are a national issue as the problems arising from such challenges affect the nation's educational development recommendations the following recommendations are made based on the findings: i. government should provide adequate funds; train english language teachers and provide adequate facilities for learning. this will help reduce the challenges that teachers face in their jobs. ii. teachers should be acquainted with classroom management and utilise the skills in ensuring that the students find interest in learning the english language. the skills will make their jobs easier and make the students concentrate and learn fast. references akujobi, o. s., & chukwu, e. (2012). challenges of effective english language teaching in nigeria secondary schools. an international journal of arts and humanities, 1(4), 57 – 68. amadi, d.c., & amadi, a. i. (2015). the challenges of teaching english in extra-mural classes in owerri municipal council, imo state, nigeria. journal of humanities and social science, 20(6), 21-24. erdem, s., & tutkun, o. (2016). problems in english language teaching a c c o r d i n g t o secondary school students. turkish online journal of educational technology. (december)268 -275.retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312450234_problems_in_english_language_teac hing_according_to_secondary_school_students. fatiloro, o.f. (2015).tackling the challenges of teaching english language as a second language (esl) in nigeria. journal of research and method in education, 5(2), 26 – 30. glasser, w. (1997). choice theory: a new psychology of personal freedom. new york: harper. gobir, m.t. (2018). english language in nigeria: a diachronic survey. the journal of communicative english, 18, 131-140. coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 09 hossain, m., nessa, m., & kafi, m. (2015). challenges of teaching english language at the primary level schools in bangladesh. banglavision research journal, 15(1), 7 – 18. muhammad, h.a, ya'u, s., aliyu, u., & hassan, m. (2018). teaching and learning english language in nigerian schools: importance and challenges. teacher education and curriculum studies, 3(1), 1013. nnamdi – eruchalu, g. (2012). the place of english language in the development of nigeria. the nigeria academic forum, 22(1), 1-7. nwanyanwu, a. (2017). effective teaching of the english language in multicultural l2 classrooms: the nigeria perspective. international journal of english language teaching, 5 (4), 26 – 31. obiegbu, i. (2016). the challenges of teaching english in nigeria. journal of modern european languages and literature, 5, 53-60. praveen, m., & alex, a.(2017).class management: a theoretical overview. scholarly research journal for humanity science & english language, 6 (29), 8089-8102. skinner, b. f. (1979). the shaping of a behaviourist: part two of an autobiography. new york: new york university press. udoye, i.e. (2019). challenges of teaching and learning the igbo language at chukwuemeka odumegwu ojukwu university, nigeria. international journal of linguistics, literature and translation, 2(2), 227 – 231. umera-okeke, n. (2019). the sociolinguistic dilemma of the english language users in nigeria: issues in societal multilingualism. an international journal of language, literature and gender, 8(2), 13-24. page 1 page 2 page 3 page 4 page 5 page 6 page 7 page 8 page 9 jonal vol. 5 no. 4 new2.cdr irreligiousness in the name of religion (amos 5:21-24): digital-age experience with particular reference to nigeria by rev. fr. dr. emmanuel u. dim dept. of religion & human relations chukwuemeka odumegwu ojukwu university igbariam campus abstract hat human society has advanced a lot in our day and age – the digital age – is a truism. the trapid progress of humankind in science and technology, especially in the area of communication, has made the world a global village. advantageous as this may seem, it also calls for grave concern, especially in the danger of its abuse or misuse – as in social media or even in the proliferation of weapons, especially atomic weapons. furthermore, these scientific and technological developments, when not properly reckoned with, tend to generate the feeling of undue independence from some people prompting, sometimes, their questioning the need for god and religion in their lives and in the human society at large – ultimately occasioning their abandonment of or indifference to these important realities in irreligiousness. the aim of this paper is to strongly present religion, which is actually part of human culture, as being always important to man and society, including in the digital age. irreligiousness in whatever form is actually a contradiction of man's essence as a finite being essentially dependent on the divine for his satisfactory existence. the method employed in this article is mainly historical – sociological, with the aid also of the historicalcritical method in the exegesis of its biblical section. these methods help to bring out the finding that a deeply religious and, hence, cultured, individual faces life with proper maturity even in our digital age. the recommendation, therefore, is for the true value of religion to be seen in the life of everyone, especially in our country nigeria. proper religious education, particularly for the youth, as well as enduring catechesis for all religionists from the relevant religious leaders are also strongly recommended as ways to achieve this. key words: irreligiousness, religion, culture, society and digital age. introduction our present age and the future are often referred to as a digital age because of the explosion of scientific and technological advancements which have been recorded by humankind especially in recent years, particularly in the area of communication. these developments have actually made the world a global village. good as these advancements actually are, they have, nevertheless, been sources of serious concern for humanity especially regarding the negative consequences in the risk of their abuse or misuse – a situation that stares humanity in the face almost on a daily basis. furthermore, these scientific and technological developments sometimes help to generate the feeling of undue independence from some people who then tend to question the need for god and religion in their lives and in the human society at large, thereby occasioning their abandonment of or indifference to these important existential realities in irreligiousness. 116 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 therefore, this paper strongly presents religion, which is actually part of human culture, as important to man and the society always, including in the digital age. irreligiousness in all its ramifications actually amounts to a beckoning of conflict and crisis in man's life as such an attitude is a contradiction of his/her essence as a finite being essentially dependent on the divine for his/her fulfilled existence. proper religious education, especially for the youth, as well as enduring catechesis from the relevant religious leaders are therefore strongly recommended in this paper as ideally helpful for the maintenance of good religious and maturely human values in the society even in our digital age. the meaning of religion the word “religion” is elusive, meaning that a precise but comprehensive definition or even description of it is difficult. the latin word for religion is religio. but its etymology is also disputed. some scholars have tried to connect religio with other latin terms (relegere, religare, reeligere, relinquere), but each scholar has been influenced by his personal ideas, and no accord has 1 thbeen reached. for example the concise oxford dictionary (9 edition) describes “religion” in five different ways as: 1. the belief in a superhuman controlling power, especially in a personal god or gods entitled to obedience and worship; 2. the expression of this worship; 3. a particular system of faith and worship; 4. life under monastic vows (the way of religion) and 5; a thing that one is devoted to, e.g., football. in the same vein, that dictionary also describes the adjective, “irreligious”, as being “indifferent or hostile to religion” or “lacking in religion.” “irreligiousness”, therefore, means being “indifferent or hostile to religion” or even “lacking in religion” completely. part of the genesis of the problem of precise definition, as noted above, is that religion is as old as humankind, as man is basically a religious being. man, as a rational and social animal, articulates 2 the mysteries of existence in order to find rational explanations for these mysteries. hence, his strong search for god as well a s meaning for his existence are manifested in the diversity of religious expressions that abound all over the world – as in the major religions and philosophies of life, as well as, sometimes, in animism, magic and spiritism. metuh summarizes this difficulty in definition as follows: this is partly because the object of religion for the most part is invisible and spiritual beings who are not subject to observation and are conceived in different ways by different peoples. besides, the study of religion interests people with as widely differing interests as theologians, anthropologists, psychologists, and sociologists, each of whom see it from a 3different perspective. there is little wonder, then, why “hundreds of definitions of religion litter our textbooks in the social sciences and the humanities. and strikingly enough, none of these definitions has been seen 4to be flawless on critical analysis.” be the above as it may, arinze indicates that even though religion refuses water-tight divisions – 1 joseph goetz, “religion”, in new catholic encyclopedia, vol. xii (new york: mcgraw-hill book co., 1967) 240. 2 joseph e. ukpo, “foreword”, in jude e. madu, fundamentals of religious studies (calabar: franedoh publishers, 1996) vii. 3 emefie ikenga-metuh, comparative studies of african traditional religions (onitsha: imico publishers, 1987) 1. 4 jude e. madu, fundamentals of religious studies (calabar: franedoh publishers, 1996) 17. 117 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 being a life thing – there are three characteristics which comprise every religion: beliefs, rites, and laws (dogma, worship and moral). therefore, religion can be defined subjectively and objectively. subjectively, religion is the consciousness of one's dependence on a transcendent being and the tendency to worship him. defined objectively, religion is the body of truths, laws and rites by which 5 a person is subordinated to the transcendent being. from this definition above, one sees that religion brings out the complex relationships between man and the divinity, encompassing all the duties of man towards god. when this relationship is found in the natural order it is called natural religion. but it becomes revealed religion when it is in the supernatural order. therefore, religion is also a moral habit, inclining man to render to god such 6acts that show that he is supreme, whether in the natural or in the supernatural order. the practical implications of religion from the definition above, it is clear that religion is the strongest element in man and it influences him tremendously, from man's moral relations with god which is the relation of a creature to the creator. in this relationship, man acknowledges, internally and freely, his dependence on god. he also expresses, externally, acts of cult either as an individual or in community. thus, in religion, 7 man manifests his beliefs, ceremonies, rituals and officiants. these acts are possible because every religion, apart from providing man a way of life, also provides him with something of the mind, which is a peculiar world-view. the world-view in each case results from the same effort of a people or community to understand the world or reality around them, which ab initio also helped to precipitate the phenomenon of religion itself. hence, the outcome of that effort is always context dependent, and this explains the wide variations and 8narrower nuances that are comparative features of different world-views. therefore, this worldview considers essentially the origin of the universe, its movement and the final destiny of man, helping to provide answers to the people's quest regarding the mysteries of their existence, value systems and attitudinal orientations. it is based on this world-view that religion could highly influence the characters and lives of its adherents through the invocation of the sacred or the supernatural. this is manifested in their entire lives – feelings, acts and experiences – so far as they 9 apprehend themselves to stand in relation to whatever they may consider to be divine. it is in this sense that religion is really unique. religion as part of culture religion is part of culture. this paper would, therefore, dwell a little on that aspect. if “religion” is elusive to define, “culture” is even more so, as it also covers a wide range of fields and things. nevertheless, two main senses of the term are often most commonly spoken of. in ordinary language, “culture” denotes refinement of mind, emotions, manners, and tastes observable in some people but absent in others. in the scientific sense it denotes the ideas, habits, skills, arts, instruments and institutions of a given people in a given period. this second sense is mainly 5 francis a. arinze, sacrifice in igbo traditional religion (onitsha: brothers of st. stephen, 2008) 14. 6 joseph e. ukpo, “foreword”, vii. 7 madu, fundamentals of religious studies , 19. 8 obi j. oguejiofor, “the gospel message, the african world view and the demands of scientific and technological advancement”, in francis a. adedara, ed., church leadership and the christian message (proceedings of the 17th and 18th conferences of the catholic theological association of nigeria) (ibadan: stirling-horden publishers, 2004) 230. 1 alifa samuel, “religious education and national development: the christian perspective”, in religions’ educator: journal of the national association for the study of religions and education, vol 8, no. 2 (2005) 106. 118 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 anthropological and also sociological. by the first definition, an individual can be said to be cultured or refined; by the second that every human being (and not only the refined person) participates in a 10 culture. it is the second definition above which people often summarize as the general way of life of a given people, omenani (or omenala) in igbo language. this is the culture developed by a people and it is 11 this which distinguishes them from every other “people.” it is this second definition that most people see, scientifically, as culture, although as already pointed out, there is practically very little agreement on it. however, on account of the fact that this paper is not on culture per se, one can only emphasize here that culture is dynamic and is not hooked to the past. it is rather a living and changing process which should affect the behaviours of the people who have it as culture and, in that process, be able to move forward. when this dynamism of culture is undermined or even compromised in whatever way and by whatever means, culture loses its progress-oriented drive and may even become self-destructive, being thereby stunted and stagnated in the past. the relationship between religion and culture although religion is fundamentally part of culture, it is, by itself, a serious category of meaning and value in every culture. this emphasis has to be borne in mind always, even when only the word “religion” is mentioned in a particular context. when a religion is part of a particular culture, like african traditional religion in african cultures, there are usually no problems of acceptance and adaption. problems arise when a religion is introduced from outside that culture, as was the case when the christian religion was brought into africa where african traditional religions were already thriving. the result was the clash of the world-views of both religions, as the world-views of all religions are mutually exclusive to themselves. in igboland, for example, madu points out that the incoming world-view was not interested in the people's existing world-view and, therefore, the incoming one tried very much to strangle the existing one. the incoming world-view looked down on the host world-view, calling their culture 12 and traditions all sorts of derogatory names. thus, since all world-views are necessary to the people who own them, the most meaningful interaction between religions, and between religions and cultures, is through mutual dialogue, engendering the mutual enrichment of both. it is in this way that religion and culture could better be of influence and relevance to the society as agents of growth and transformation. 10 nicholas s. timasheff, “culture”, in the catholic encyclopedia for school and home , vol. 3 (new york: mcgraw-hill, 1965) 353. 11cf. for instance, f. chidozie ogbalu , omenala igbo (the book of igbo custom) (onitsha: varisity publishers, 1979) for the informative treatment of the different aspects of igbo cultural heritage. 12 madu, fundamentals of religious studies, 3. 119 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 brief exegesis of amos 5:21-24 13the text 21 i hate, i despise your feasts, and i take no delight in your solemn assemblies. 22 even though you offer me your burnt offerings and cereal offerings, i will not accept them, and the peace offerings of your fatted beasts i will not look upon. 23 take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps i will not listen 24 but let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an everflowing stream. brief historical background the prophet amos, who hailed from tekoa in judah, prophesied in the northern kingdom of israel when jeroboam ii was the king (786-746 bc). under this king, israel enjoyed a period of relative tranquility and economic growth. the negative result was the widening of the gap between the rich and the poor and the relegation of religious practice, when it was not idolatrous, to a second place. amos then appeared at the major national sanctuary at bethel in which his prophecies of doom prompted the priest, amaziah, at the king's behest, to order him off the premises of the sanctuary 14(amos 7:10-13). the prophet's images are colourful and earthy and he delivers oracles that are full of violence and bloodshed – sparing no one on any level of society (amos 7:7-9; 8:1-3; 9:1-4). amos does not speak explicitly of covenant and law, but these concepts underlie everything he says. he is concerned, particularly, with the wealthy classes who disregard and even maltreat their less fortunate 15coreligionists. their excessive wealth led to the creation of a leisured upper class who increasingly adopted a decadent lifestyle (amos 2:8; 4:1; 6:1-6). but other forms of unfaithfulness to the covenant were rampant also, including sexual immorality (2:7) and idolatry (8:14) – and they were hardly limited to any socioeconomic class. yet, it was the exploitation of the poor and defenseless by the rich and powerful that god particularly exposed through amos' oracles and this constitutes a remarkably frequent theme in his book. in the light of the overt references to judicial corruption as well (2:7; 5:10-12), it is evident that a genuine breakdown in the delivery of justice to the citizenry 16had also occurred in the days of amos. towards the middle of the eight century, israel was enjoying peace and prosperity, as already said, as well as some measure of international prestige. a confident nation (6:8) took comfort in its military might (6:13), ignoring its exploitation of the needy and the growing disparity between privilege and poverty, with this unfortunate end result: “religion per se was enthusiastically practiced (2:8; 5:2123) but by a people whose fidelity to the covenant was a sham. the nation was characterized by religious hypocrisy. israel was a people often orthodox in style of worship but disobedient in 17personal and social behavior.” this situation was highly displeasing to yahweh. brief textual delimitation13 all biblical citations in this work would be taken from the revised standard version (rsv). 14 roland j. faley, from genesis to apocalypse: introducing the bible (new york: paulist press, 2005) 128. 15 faley, from genesis to apocalypse: introducing the bible, 128-129. 16 douglas stuart, hosea – jonah, word biblical commentary 31 (nashville: thomas nelson, 1987) 283 all biblical citations in this work would be taken from the revised standard version (rsv). roland j. faley, from genesis to apocalypse: introducing the bible (new york: paulist press. 17 stuart, hosea – jonah, 283-284. 120 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 the text of amos 5:21-24 deals with yahweh's rejection of the cult of israel in preference for justice and righteousness. it is part of the unit of amos 5:18-27 which exposes “the sickness of the nation's 18 religion and what is required to put it right.” thus, amos 5:18-27 is a typical “woe oracle” that normally decries covenant violations, pronouncing judgment. a woe oracle is exclusive to the prophets, as the term, “woe” (hôy) is also 19 “exclusive to the prophets in the bible except for one occurrence in kings (1 kgs 13:30).” the 20woe oracles say in effect: “you are in trouble. here's why and here's what will happen to you.” hence, amos 5:18-27 details the real nature of the day of yahweh which, contrary to the expectations of the israelites, would be a woeful day – of darkness instead of light (v. 18 & 20). its being a unit is shown by the introduction “woe/alas!” (hôy) in v. 18 and the fact that the section ends in v 27. a new passage begins in amos 6:1 with another “woe/alas! (hôy) directed, this time, at the 21capitals of israel and judah respectively. thematically speaking, amos 5:18-27 is a unit as well. in vv. 18-20, the “day of yahweh” is announced without the specification of why israel's expectation of deliverance on that is so completely wrong. vv. 21 to 27 give this specification, explaining to the audience that it is rejection and exile which will rather make up the long-awaited day of yahweh. but with the declaration of yahweh's preference of justice and righteousness in v. 24, the unit of vv. 21-24 becomes distinctly marked out as the main emphasis of that unit whose theme of cultic rejection by yahweh is then made reference to with the rhetorical questions of vv. 25-26, before the unit's conclusion in v. 27. amos 5:18-27 is delineated in detail as follows: 1. vv. 18-20, the real nature of the day of yahweh, 2. vv. 21-24, yahweh's rejection of the cult: injustice, 3. vv. 25-26, yahweh's rejection of the cult: 22 idolatry, and 4. v. 27, the ultimate judgment: exile. amos 5:21-24: exegesis v. 21: in this verse, yahweh expresses his utter rejection of israel's feasts with two strong words, “i hate”, “i despise”. the verb “to hate” (śānē') is usually legally used to indicate formal renunciation or severance of relationship, as in divorce (cf. hos 9:15). the use of these two strong verbs with “i take no delight in” your solemn assemblies means a total rejection by yahweh, aimed not only at the 23 feasts but at the sacrifices offered during the feasts and the people who make the sacrifices. lev. 26:31 warns israel that if they break the laws of yahweh: “and i will lay your cities waste, and will make your sanctuaries desolate, and i will not smell your pleasing odours.” thus, the festivals (ḥagîm) and assemblies (‛aṣərôt) are used here in parallel to denote the three yearly pilgrimage celebrations (exod 23:15-18; 34:22-25; deut 16:10-16) as well as any other occasions like sabbaths, new moon festivals (cf. 8:5; hos 2:11; neh 10:33) and for gathering to eat and to 24worship. yahweh now totally rejects all of them. v. 22: further than the feast aspect of the cult of the northern kingdom mentioned in the last verse, 18 j. alec motyer, “amos”, in donald guthrie, – al, ed., new bible commentary, 3rd edition (leicester: intervarsity, 1970) 735. 19 francis i. anders en – david noel freedman, amos, the anchor bible 24a (new york: doubleday, 1989) 520. 20 stuart, hosea – jonah, 353. 21 stuart, hosea – jonah, 353. 22 stuart, hosea – jonah, 351-353. 23 andersen – freedman, amos, 527. 24 stuart, hosea – jonah, 354. 121 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 this verse specifically mentions sacrifices: burnt offerings (‛ōlōt), grain offerings (minḥōt) and the communion meal or peace offerings (šelem) are now also rejected by yahweh. yahweh's refusal of sacrifices here also reflects the language of leviticus regarding proper and improper offerings (lev. 2519:5-7). v. 23: after rejecting the feasts and sacrifices of the cult in the last two verses, yahweh goes further in this verse to even reject the cult's praise. it is indeed the repudiation of “both the musical culture of 26the palace and the religious culture of the temple.” integral to worship in ot time was vocal and instrumental music (cf. ps 150; ezra 2:65; 1 chr 15:16-24; 2 chr 5:13; 23:13; isa 5:12; dan 3:5-15). 27now yahweh will no longer look at or listen (šāma‛) to israel's worship (cf. deut 13:17, 18; 32:20). v. 24: sacrifices and other elements of worship were rejected in vv. 22 and 23 because they were only occasional, intermittent righteousness and also not complemented by proper living in general. “justice” (mišpāṭ) comes from “judging” (špāṭ), which “designates an action that restores the 28disturbed order of a (legal) community,” in order to preserve the good among the israelites. e 29 “righteousness” (ṣ dāqâ), is the action which results from the verb “to be right” (ṣādēq). yahweh's people, who should be in harmony with him must therefore practice justice (mišpāṭ) and e 30 righteousness (ṣ dāqâ) always and everywhere, as israel's covenant with yahweh has to be so kept. hence the two expressions, “like waters” (kammayim) and “an everflowing stream” (naḥal 'êtān), specify this continuity by forming a combination in which the torrential waters of an ever-flowing 31wadi are specified. in resumé, this unit of 5:18-27 is also related to amos 4:4-5; 5:5, 8:14 where the prophet makes similar emphases. the priests (7:10-17) with the people (7:10b) did not like this preaching by amos. hence, amaziah tried to gag him (7:16). the people of israel had deceived themselves into believing that their worship assures yahweh's presence (v. 14) and their safety (9:10b). they were, therefore, looking forward to the “day of the lord,” the great day of rejoicing, when yahweh would destroy its enemies and bring victory to the chosen people. but they were wrong. as a consequence, amos turns the whole thing upside down. “the day of the lord will be a day of defeat, gloom, and sadness (5:18,20), of mourning in the city streets and lamentation in the vineyards (5:16-17). false 32 security in the day of the lord as well as in a hollow cult (5:21-24) are ruled out.” hence, the text emphasizes one thing: because the israelites were faithful to yahweh only selectively, doing only the very things they wanted to do and ignoring the weightier matters of justice and righteousness – and believing, at the same time, that the little they were doing was enough for yahweh's blessing and favour – they would be punished: subjugation in war and exile. in short, “israel's worship displeases yahweh because it is offered as a substitute for the demands of the 33covenant.” 31 andersen – freedman, amos, 528. 32 rui de menezes, “amos”, in the international bible commentary (collegeville: the liturgical press, 1998) 1138. 25 stuart, hosea – jonah, 354. 26 andersen – freedman, amos, 525-527. 27 stuart, hosea – jonah, 354-355. 28 g. liedke, “ špāṭ” in ernst jenni – claus westermann, theological lexicon of the old testament , vol. 3 (peabody: hendrickson, 1997) 1393. 29 k. koch, ”ṣdq”, ” in ernst jenni – claus westermann, theological lexicon of the old testament , vol. 2 (peabody: hendrickson, 1997) 1049. 30 stuart, hosea – jonah, 355. 122 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 jesus takes up this same theme in the nt with a serious emphasis, strongly rebuking the pharisees and the scribes: “woe to you, scribes and pharisees, hypocrites! for you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and faith; these you ought to have done, without neglecting the others” (matt 23:23). amos maintains in 5:21-24 that true covenant keeping for the israelites should go beyond special, discrete acts of devotion to steadfast loyalty to yahweh: jesus also emphasizes it even more strikingly in the nt (cf. also acts 7:41-43, 51): not every one who says to me, “lord, lord” shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my father in heaven. on that day many will say to me, “lord, lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name? and then i will declare to them, “i never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers (matt 7:21-24). the digital age experience tha digit, according to the concise oxford dictionary (9 edition), is “any numeral from 0 to 9, especially when it is forming part of a number.” thus, for something to be described as “digital”, it means that the thing in question is “designating, relating to, operating with, or created using, signals or information represented by digits.” this is only possible through scientific and technological advancement. a “digital age” is, therefore, largely descriptive of an age that has attained an appreciable level of development in science and technology, relating especially to the area of social communication. this applies to our present age, the age of “more modern and technological 34 explosion,” as well as to the future. it is common knowledge that the rapid developments in science and technology in this age have made life easier, richer and less cumbersome in almost all fronts. in the digital world, especially, humankind “is faced with the net culture which is characterized with the ability to upload and download, surf and chat, post and design and in fact with exposure to vast amount of incoming information and the struggle of ensuring balance between the digital and physical worlds in terms of 35 values and ethos.” this development in scientific knowledge and its application in technology are generally seen as good for humankind. this is because it is what humanity in general would prefer to have rather than not have – and this has been a constant feature of man's earthly striving right from the very early times. even though some sections of our world are more scientifically and technologically advanced than others, yet, practically speaking, no community or group or nation can really lie completely outside the striving for advancement or away from the ease acquired from the fruition of 36 this striving. it is, in fact, part of god's blessing for humankind because according to the biblical account of creation, god created the first human beings, adam and eve, blessing them and instructing them to “subdue the earth” (gen 1:28). thus, the improvement and ease which the 33 michael l. barré, “amos”, in the new jerome biblical commentary (bangalore: theological publications, 1994) 214. 34 oguejiofor, “the gospel message, the african world view and the demands of sci entific and technological advancement”, 229. 35 inaku k. egere, “social media and youth formation: participative technology and ecclesial transformation”, in luke e. ijezie – stephen audu – agnes i. acha, ed., youth formation and globalisation in the nigerian context (port harcourt: cathan publication, 2018) 497. 36 oguejiofor, “the gospel message, the african world view and the demands of scientific and technological advancement”, 229. 123 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 advancement in science and technology has engendered in life is seen as the fulfillment of this divine 37command. so far so good. but these rapid developments in science and technology also confront humankind with manifest dangers, enough to cause serious concern and anxiety: the uncontrolled arms race between the more developed nations of the world, which has escalated since after world war ii, is undoubtedly an alarm signal; as the world still shudders at the astronomically catastrophic effects of the atomic bombs which were dropped by the allied forces at hiroshima and nagasaki respectively towards the final stages of that war. this fear becomes more potent these days in the face of the present devastating war between russia and ukraine where the actual deployment of such weapons is proximately acute. the mobile telephone which is today in the hands of most adults and which facilitates communication in all sectors of human interaction, is also used, sometimes, for sinister purposes like fraud, kidnappings, ambushes and wanton terrorism, to mention but these. what of the internet which has today made the social media unrivalled sources of information and development? its flagrant abuses stare us in the face including cyberbullying, cybercrime, cybersex trafficking, 38 malaware, sending spam mails and the dissemination of false and damaging news items – generally termed “fake news” in today's common parlance. it is this disturbing dichotomy which tends to create serious confusion and dilemma for humankind in this digital age: in the light of the foregoing factors there appears the dichotomy of a world that is at once powerful and weak, capable of doing what is noble and what is base, disposed to freedom and slavery, progress and decline, brotherhood and hatred. man is growing conscious that the forces he has unleashed are in his own hands and that it is up to him to control them or be 39 enslaved by them. here lies the modern dilemma. part of this confusion and dilemma is sometimes the wrong feeling of undue freedom and independence on the part of some human beings. many people these days, especially abroad, tend to think that god is now irrelevant and can be done without. the same also goes with religion. at best they are indifferent. this is irreligiousness at its peak! it is a situation which, unfortunately, is prone to bring about personal conflicts for many people, sometimes even leading to suicide, as they are, by their irreligiousness, trying to deny something which is basic to their nature and existence as human beings. but has religion really much to offer to the society, one may further ask? the importance of religion to the society that religion is part of culture has already been underlined above. hence, what is said of religion here, presumes that close relationship between it and culture. generally speaking, religion is very important to any society. the proper understanding of religion and its practice would, therefore, 40help a lot in man's existence. its influence on the society could further be itemized as follows: 1. cultural identity: religion plays a very important role for a person in giving him/her a cultural identity. this comes from the fact that each religion has festivals, traditions and mythologies which form a part of the tangible and intangible heritage of the country or society in question. to that end, religion contributes in protecting this heritage and also adds to the diversity in the given society in question. 37 catechism of the catholic church, no. 2293. 38 https://www.en.m.wikipedia.org (accessed on may 30, 2022). 1 vatican ii, “pastoral constitution on the church in the modern world, gaudium et spes”, no. 9. 1 cf. https://www.tutorialspoint.com//what-is-the-importance-of-religion-in-our-lives (accessed on may 29, 2022). 124 2. values and ethics: religion helps in creating an ethical framework and also a regulator for values in the day to day life of people in every society. it thereby acts as an agency of socialization. therefore, religion helps in building values like love, empathy, respect and harmony in any given society. 3. spiritual connect: the quest to fulfill the economic and material pursuits in the world of today is what preoccupies people most of the time. but it is religion which plays the crucial role of establishing our connection with the divine and developing the belief that there is a supreme energy that acts as regulator in our day to day lives and occupations. thus, the components of prayer, chants, hymns and other religious exercises create the spiritual bond between the adherents and the divinity on the one hand and between the adherents themselves, on the other. 4. the idea of welfare: every religion promotes its philosophy and the crux of it has always been the welfare and wellness of the people. for example, in the christian religion, the emphasis is on the love of god which manifests and proves itself also as the love of neighbor. in this way, the spiritual and the bodily welfare of all the adherents is greatly taken care of. thus, religion remains truly a great influence, as already said, on human beings and on society at large. the quest then is how to optimally harness this influence, to reduce irreligiousness as much as possible. this would be important for all human beings but, as seen from our biblical exegesis above, this paper would highlight this influence a little more to those who use the canons of the ot and nt – the jews and the christians. some observations and pertinent suggestions for the future as has already been said, this digital age has its special appeal on the youth. since the youth make up a high percentage of every society, training them properly would be certainly for the benefit of everyone – and religious/moral education contributes immensely in this direction. religious education aids “the growth of young people to mature so that they can develop self-understanding, good relationship with other people and the world around them; and become capable of responding 41 to what they believe to be divine.” in other words, they would be more “cultured” or “refined,” according to our first definition of culture above. being, thus, more disciplined and resourceful, they would be better able to adapt more maturely and suitably to life in a digital age – to the betterment of the general society. sadly, though, religion could sometimes also be used or “exploited” to create problems in the society. this is sometimes caused by ignorance on the part of some of the adherents of the particular 42religion, with regard to its teachings and tenets, leading to fundamentalism or religious fanaticism. madu has some words on this: in discussing the social integrative function of religion, he outlines the positive aspects, which are also largely similar to the ones already detailed out above in this discussion on the importance of religion to society. but he also adds: “religion may help to 43 preserve a social order which from state value premises is bad.” he goes on: “certain conditions weaken, or even reverse the place of religion in social integration. in some times and places it becomes involved, as symbol and cause in social conflict and the reduction of order. again, whether this is desirable or undesirable can be stated only with reference to certain stated values and 44 cannot be determined 'in general.'” hence, by the use of the scientific and technological advances in our digital age, especially the social media, this “social conflict and the reduction of order” often becomes more wide spread and 41 samuel, “religious education and national development: the christian perspective”, 106. 42 for more on this, cf. emmanuel u. dim, pentecostalism and its challenges: the pertinent question (lagos: sovereign prints, 2012) 82-85. 43 madu, fundamentals of religious studies, 31-32. 44 madu, fundamentals of religious studies, 32. 125 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 devastating. the recent case of the gruesome hacking to death and burning of late miss deborah samuel, the student of the shehu shagari college of education, sokoto, by her school mates in the name of religion – which went viral in the social media – is one that is still sending shock waves to well-meaning human beings both here in nigeria and abroad – and this is not just an isolated case! the nigerian situation that the youth are seriously influenced in this digital age, has already been noted – and this case applies equally to nigeria. in the area of religion, for example, many of our youth these days are making a “u-turn” from their christian religion and orientation to the traditional religion in what is sometimes termed neo-paganism. some even go to the extent of attacking the church and disturbing 45religious worship in some cases. unfortunately, many of these young people also end up in heavy personal conflict because, as they are not really groomed in their “new” religion, they never worship at the shrines of the gods in question. rather, they only attend the eating festivities. owing to the fact that there is actually no true conviction for most of them regarding their “new” religion, their behavior ultimately amounts to irreligiousness. from the example given above, this writer thinks that even the same digital world could be positively harnessed for these young people who are actually at a very impressionable stage of their lives. yes, they are said to be “digital natives,” because many of them, if not actually most of them, spend more than half of their day in the virtual world with their virtual families and friends connecting, interacting and sharing meaning with one another. thus, the world of digital communications becomes a veritable instrument for the proper religious and moral education and formation of these young people so that the modern technological and digital boom would be truly 46 seen to be the blessing, which it is actually meant to be, for society at large. this is really imperative for everyone but more especially for all educationists and religious groups, particularly the more established churches who have large numbers of these youths as their members. it is on this note that immense thanks must go to mr. peter obi, the former executive governor of anambra state, for handing schools back to the churches and the voluntary agencies who founded them. this is because it was actually after the state take-over of all schools immediately after the civil war in 1970, that our present decadence generally commenced. the overall positive outcome of this noble and courageous gesture by mr. obi, is already clear and incontestable, and, happy enough, many other states in the country have also followed suit in doing the same. in fact, no sensible government should leave the education of its citizens only in its own hands. that said, the special and ambivalent religious situation of nigeria, whose citizens are internationally acknowledged to be very religious, also begs for some attention. tasie describes the rather puzzling situation as follows: “today in the country, every nook and corner is littered with shrine, mosque or church. in a society with such a religious tradition one expects a high sense of morality and decorum in both public and private lives. but nigeria is an enigma; so religious yet so 47 morally depraved.” nwankwo situates the cause of this ambivalence in what he describes as the “compartmentalization of life” – the “tendency to undertake religious practices without allowing them to influence everyday life.” he then concludes: “that is why some claim that there is so much 45 for a more detailed view on this phenomenon, cf. emmanuel u. dim, “abraham the father of faith (gen 12-17) – challenge to christians in nigeria,” global journal of arts, humanities and social sciences , vol. 10, no. 1 (2022) 61-63. 46 egere, “social media and youth formation: participative technology and ecclesial transformation”, 502503. 47 george i. k. tasie, “religion and moral depravity in contemporary nigeria,” in the nigerian journal of theology, vol. 19 (june, 2005) 89. 126 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 religion – with its formal and public practices – but very little spirituality, that is, that transformative 48inner connectedness with the divine.” the general result is, naturally, this rather pessimistic picture: the overall picture is that of a country that is highly religious and whose citizens know no religious vacuum both in private and public lives. what is baffling, however, is that it is this (sic) same nigerians burning with religious zeal that are engaged in money laundering; smuggling of contraband goods, child and human trafficking, importation and 49 manufacturing of substandard and fake drugs and all manner of vices. in furtherance of the above view, molagun admits that nigeria is now going through “a period of the highest occurrence of features of moral bankruptcy” in which, regrettably, our institutions of higher learning are also fully involved. hear her: “moral decadence is not limited to the government circle in form of corruption. our institutions of higher learning are also full of several heart-breaking 50immoral activities.” she lists these disturbing activities to include examination malpractices, which are totally against the national policy on education in nigeria, promiscuity and sex-related misbehaviours as well as cultism – all having very grave consequences on the nigerian nation, the 51 family system and our educational development. this general situation is really a sad one, even up to the point that places of worship may today be deceitfully set up, just in camouflage, for pure business enterprises: “and increasingly, churches are being set up solely as business concerns rather than to win souls or to depopulate the kingdom of darkness as pentecostals like to say. many pastors are no better than common thieves who turn to the 52 job because they cannot find any other job to do.” serious indeed and really concerning! yet, depressing as these observations are, they, nevertheless, constitute clarion calls, in my opinion, for a personal decision and carefulness on the part of everyone – as no situation, in any place, is really without some difficulties. religion, when seriously practiced, brings a lot of benefits both spiritual and corporeal. irreligiousness helps no one. rather it breeds problems and personal conflicts for the people involved – as is the case in our country today. it is, therefore, strongly condemned by amos, the prophets and jesus christ himself. strong catechesis is highly recommended for all religious groups to help their believers to avoid selective faithfulness to god which also helps to breed irreligiousness on the part of their members. this should also involve the youth and all institutions of learning in the country. a convinced motive on the part of those who preach the word of god to all religious adherents would also eliminate deceit and outright irreligiousness from the part of those preachers and the other religionists. this is actually imperative for our country nigeria. conclusion 48 lawrence nwankwo, “religion, culture and social regeneration”, in anthony b.c. chiegboka – al, ed., a bountiful harvest: festschrift in honour of very rev. msgr. prof. j.p.c. nzomiwu (nimo: rex charles and patrick, 2012) 363. 49 tasie, “religion and moral depravity in contemporary nigeria,” 96. 50 h. m. molagun, “the role of education and religion in the promotion of decency and moral uprightness in nigerian tertiary institutions”, in religions’ educator: journal of the national associaation for the study of religions and education, vol. 8, no. 2 (2005) 144. 51 molagun, “the role of education and religion in the promotion of decency and moral uprightness in nigerian tertiary institutions”, in religions’ educator, 145-147. 52 b. kolade-otitoju, “profiteering pastors”, in the news, vol. 32, no. 23 (june, 2009) 19. 127 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 this paper has amply dwelt on “irreligiousness in the name of religion (amos 5:21-24): digitalage experience with particular reference to nigeria.” in doing this, it looked closely at the words “religion” which is actually a part of “culture”. it also noted the close relationship between them: both affect the human person at the deepest level of his/her being by the provision of a particular world-view which deeply relates him/her with the divine and with others in the society. as a result of the solidly formed conscience, character and behavior, the human person becomes maturely suited in life in the society, even in a digital age having serious scientific and technological developments, especially in the field of communication. that “digital age” is actually our present day society and age as well as the future – as already noted. the healthily formative education, which the individual has received, would go a long way to minimizing the undue abuse of the scientific materials in question. it would also reduce irreligiousness in our society, especially among the youth – the leaders of tomorrow. hence, good religious education and orientation are strongly recommended for everybody, especially the youth who are very much at home in the social media. the active participation of the government, churches and voluntary agencies in the field of education – which is today the case in many parts of nigeria – is, therefore, a very welcome development. the situation of selected faithfulness to yahweh on the part of israel was explained in the exegetical section of this article. it displeased yahweh greatly. it also displeases him today, as the trend is found among us here in nigeria, as well. hence, the call for greater effort and conviction on the part of all religious educationists and on continuous catechesis is also made in this paper. irreligiousness displeases god and precipitates disorder in the society. it does no one any lasting good. references andersen, francis i., and david noel freedman. 1989. amos, the anchor bible 24a. new york: doubleday. arinze, francis a. 2008. sacrifice in igbo traditional religion. onitsha: brothers of st. stephen. barré, michael l. 1994. amos. in the new jerome biblical commentary, 214. bangalore: theological publications. de menezes, rui. 1998. amos. in the international bible commentary, 1138. collegeville: the liturgical press. dim, emmanuel u. 2012. pentecostalism and its challenges: the pertinent question. lagos: sovereign prints. _____ 2022. abraham the father of faith (gen 12-17) – challenge to christians in nigeria. global journal of arts, humanities and social sciences, 10, no. 1: 61-63. egere, inaku k. 2018. social media and youth formation: participative technology and ecclesial transformation. in youth formation and globalisation in the nigerian context, ed. luke e. ijezie, stephen audu, and agnes i. acha, 497. port harcourt: cathan publication. 128 faley, roland j. 2005. from genesis to apocalypse: introducing the bible. new york: paulist press. goetz, joseph. religion. in new catholic encyclopedia, vol. xii, 240. ikenga-metuh, emefie. 1987. comparative studies of african traditional religions. onitsha: imico publishers. koch, k. 1997. ”ṣdq”. in theological lexicon of the old testament, vol. 2, ed. ernst jenni and claus westermann, 1049. peabody: hendrickson. kolade-otitoju, b. 2009. profiteering pastors. the news, vol. 32, no. 23 (june): 19. liedke, g. 1997. “špāṭ”. in theological lexicon of the old testament, vol. 3, ed. ernst jenni and claus westermann, 1393. peabody: hendrickson. madu, jude e. 1996. fundamentals of religious studies. calabar: franedoh publishers. molagun, h. m. 2005. the role of education and religion in the promotion of decency and moral uprightness in nigerian tertiary institutions. religions' educator: journal of the national association for the study of religions and education 8, no. 2: 144. rd motyer, alec j. 1970. amos. in donald guthrie, – al, ed., new bible commentary, 3 edition, ed. donald guthrie, – al, 735. leicester: inter-varsity. nwankwo, lawrence. 2012. religion, culture and social regeneration. in anthony b.c. chiegboka – al, ed., a bountiful harvest: festschrift in honour of very rev. msgr. prof. j.p.c. nzomiwu, ed. anthony b.c. chiegboka and others, 363. nimo: rex charles and patrick.. ogbalu, chidozie f. 1979. omenala igbo (the book of igbo custom). onitsha: varisity publishers. oguejiofor, obi j. 230. the gospel message, the african world view and the demands of scientific and technological advancement. in francis a. adedara, ed., church th thleadership and the christian message (proceedings of the 17 and 18 conferences of the catholic theological association of nigeria), ed. francis a. adedara, 230. ibadan: stirlinghorden publishers. samuel, alifa. 2005. religious education and national development: the christian perspective. religions' educator: journal of the national association for the study of religions and education 8, no. 2: 106. stuart, douglas. 1987. hosea – jonah. in word biblical commentary 31. nashville: thomas nelson.asie, george i. k. 2005. religion and moral depravity in contemporary nigeria. in the nigerian journal of theology, 19 (june): 89. the catechism of the catholic church, no. 2293. timasheff, nicholas s. culture. in the catholic encyclopedia for school and home, vol. 3, 353. vatican ii, pastoral constitution on the church in the modern world, gaudium et spes, no. 9. 129 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 page 125 page 126 page 127 page 128 page 129 page 130 page 131 page 132 page 133 page 134 page 135 page 136 page 137 page 138 jonal vol. 5 no. 4 new2.cdr religion and culture in the digital era: emerging issues in nigerian society by rev. fr. dr. humphrey chinedu anameje lecturer, department of religion and human relations chukwuemeka odumegwu ojukwu university, anambra state, nigeria the abstract he nature of today's society has become so complicated that it raises the question of the tessence of religion and culture and their relevance in our society. some of the cultural outlooks of the present time constitute a mockery to our society and the religious boisterousness of the present time seems not to have much impact. the prevalent situation tends to present religion and culture as being in opposition to each other. using the historical critical method, as well as the socio-cultural method, this paper investigates the nature of religion and culture, their relationship and what impact they can make in a society. the research findings reveal that religion and culture can be seen as human beings' greatest assets as they co-exist together with human beings right from creation. hence, culture and religion are essential instruments that contribute much to the shaping and building up of any society. both help to regulate society and help people to be ordered; thus, culture and religion have inherent values that serve as tools for peaceful coexistence among the indigenes of every community. culture can neither be separated from religion nor religion be separated from culture, they go side by side. every religion incorporates some elements of culture and culture on the other hand incorporates some elements of religion. where there is no culture, there is no religion. this paper, as a panacea to the present situation, suggests a reorientation of the youth starting from primary school, through secondary school and university education till old age, creation of employment opportunities and active involvement of the youth in politics. key words: religion, culture and digital age introduction the issue of religion and culture can be seen as one of humanity's great assets right from creation. it is often said that humans, religion and culture co-exist. religion and culture seem like complex ideas to study from the perspective of international relations. scholars have long debated the meaning of these terms and the impact they have had on our comprehension of the social world around us. religion is an essential element of the human condition. hundreds of studies have examined how religious beliefs mould an individual's sociology and psychology. while some researchers have asserted that religion is an essential part of an individual's culture, other researchers have focused more on how religion is an element of a culture in itself. the key difference is how researchers conceptualize and operationalize these terms. moreover, the influence of communication on how individuals and communities understand, conceptualize and pass on religious and cultural beliefs and practices is integral in understanding exactly what religion and culture are. it is through exploring the nature of religion and culture that we can best understand how they shape the world in which we live. therefore, this work will throw more light on religion and culture, assess how they have evolved over time and also appraise how they have been lived out in the past and in the present. in addition, this work, above all, will give insight on how the religion and culture have been influenced by the digital age. 94 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 conceptual analysis culture in common parlance, culture is understood as a people's way of life. culture (derived from the latin word, cultura, literally translated as “cultivation”) is a modern concept based on a term first used in classical antiquity by the roman orator, cicero: “cultura animi”. the term “culture” appeared first in its current sense in europe in the 18th and 19th centuries, to connote a process of cultivation or improvement, as in agriculture or horticulture. for the german non-positivist sociologist, georg simmel, culture refers to “the cultivation of individuals through the agency of external forms which have been objectified in the course of history” (simmel 1971: xix). in the 20th century, 'culture' emerged as a central concept in anthropology, encompassing the range of human phenomena that cannot be attributed to genetic inheritance. generally speaking, culture refers to the pattern of human behaviour in a particular society (chapel, 2021). it concerns how we eat, think, and behave based on the shared values of our society. religion the term religion is derived from the latin word, religare meaning to bind. it has its root to the latin noun, religio, meaning respect for what is sacred, reverence for the gods, sense of right, moral obligation, sanctity and the bond between man and the gods. (harper, 2000). religion is an organized collection of belief systems, cultural systems and world-views that relate humanity to spirituality and to moral values. many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or explain the origin of life or the universe. from the ideas about the cosmos, they tend to derive morality, ethics, religious laws or a preferred lifestyle. many philosophers and non-philosophers alike have tried to give a monistic definition to religion. however, that has not been possible. religion is one of the most misconstrued and misunderstood words. various individuals have defined religion in varying ways, according to their various backgrounds, personal biases and school of thought. in his work, toy defines religion as “man's attitude towards the universe regarded as a social and ethical force; it is the sense of social solidarity with objects regarded as powers, and the institution of social relations with them” (toy 1924:1). for him, these powers are regarded as mysteries which are higher than living men. in the mind of whitehead, and corroborated by williams (1984:89), religion is seen as “whatever an individual does with his own solitariness, and if you were never solitary, you were never religious”. for feuerbach (1881), religion is what differentiates man from the brutes, and being identical to man's distinctive characteristic, it is also identical with self-consciousness, that is, man's consciousness of his own nature. thus for him, religion generally understood, is consciousness of the infinite; thus it is and can be nothing else than the consciousness which man has of his own infinite nature. hence, it is the relation of man to his own nature, the end of which is the wellbeing, the salvation, the ultimate happiness of man. schleiermacher (2006:29) postulates that religion can be seen on the one hand, as “a way of thinking, a faith, a peculiar way of contemplating the world, and of combining what meets us in the world”, and on the other hand, it could be seen as “a way of acting, a peculiar desire and love, a special kind of conduct and character.” affirming that religion is essentially contemplative, he goes further to say that “religion is to seek this (contemplation of the pious) and find it in all that lives and moves, in all growth and change, in all doing and suffering. it is to have life and to know life in immediate feeling, ,only as such an existence in the infinite and eternal” (schleiermacher 2006:37). 95 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 for geertz (1993:90), “religion is a system of symbols which acts to establish powerful persuasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations in (people) by formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic.” also, livingston (2001:11), having examined the definitions of other authors such as i. kant, s. freud, e. durkheim, geertz, p. tillich, m. spiro and others, and finding them deficient, postulates that “religion is that system of activities and beliefs directed toward that which is perceived to be of sacred value and transforming power.” in line with this, omoregbe (2014:46) avers that “religion is something that links or unites man with a transcendent being, a deity believed to exist and worshipped by man, it is a bi-polar phenomenon”. the above express that there are varied definitions and understandings of religion postulated by different persons, each stemming from his stance. such definition also takes consideration of a christian definition of religion that incorporates the trinity: god the father, son and holy spirit, and a muslim that includes the idea and notion of allah and in extension prophet mohammed in his understanding and definition of what religion is all about. in summary, religion is man's consciousness of himself in relation to the ultimate being, the transcendent one. however, both culture and religion have been confronted by recent development in the society of today engineered by digital age. digital age the digital age is the era we live in today. computers began to penetrate the business world in the 1960s and 1970s; personal computers in the 1980s and computers combined with the internet in the 1990s dramatically increased the presence of digital devices. in the 2010s, a revolution occurred with smart phones, placing a full-fledged computing device into nearly everyone's pocket. the digital age, also called the information age, can be viewed as the period starting in the 1970s with the introduction of the personal computer, and with subsequent technologies introduced, thus, providing the ability to transfer information freely and quickly. it is the period that has brought about an advanced scientific and technological development. with the emergence of digital age, different societies began to experience changes in the area of culture. types of culture sociologists describe two interrelated aspects of human culture: the physical objects of the culture (material) and the ideas associated with these objects (non-material). material culture material culture refers to the physical objects, resources, and spaces that people use to define their culture. these include homes, neighbourhoods, cities, schools, churches, synagogues, temples, mosques, offices, factories and plants, tools, means of production, goods and products, stores, and so forth. all of these physical aspects of a culture help to define its members' behaviours and perceptions. technology, for example, is a vital aspect of material culture in the developed world. students from these areas are expected to learn to use computers to survive in colleges and businesses, in contrast to young adults in the yanomamo society in the amazon who should learn to build weapons and hunt. non-material culture non-material culture refers to the non-physical ideas that people have about their culture, including beliefs, values, rules, norms, morals, language, organizations, and institutions. it is the intangible things produced by the culture (chapel, 2021). for instance, the non-material cultural concept of religion consists of a set of ideas and beliefs about god, worship, morals, and ethics. these beliefs, 96 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 then, determine how culture responds to its religious topics, issues, and events. when considering non-material culture, sociologists refer to several processes that a culture uses to shape its members' thoughts, feelings, and behaviours. four of the most important of these are symbols, language, values, and norms. elements of culture a culture has various elements or components. these include behaviour patterns, literature, art, religion, educational and recreational institutions, government and economy. the behaviour patterns of a group consist of things such as mores, folkways, customs, traditions, laws, morals, stereotypes, taboos, legends, fashion, myth etc. while literature includes prose, poetry, drama, story, etc.; art articulates the material expression of beauty, emotion and belief. it includes music, dance, sculpture, paintings, architecture, photography etc. religion demonstrates a society's morals and beliefs about humanity's spirituality and reason for existence (chapel, 2021). it includes worship, observance of rituals, sacrifice, prayers etc. educational and recreational institutions comprise of such things as library, museum, school, cinema, theatre, and cultural clubs. government explains the structure created by society to maintain order, and economy entails the rules of buying, selling, trading and assigning of values to things. characteristics of culture (chapel, 2021) i. culture is the sum total of acquired traits which man acquires by socialization process. thus, culture comprises behaviour patterns of people in the society. ii. culture is transmitted from generation to generation. each generation is free to modify the cultural heritage and then transmits it to the next generation. iii. culture is a social heritage of human beings. it represents group's expectations. humans cannot create a culture bereft of group's influence. iv. a culture which does not meet the recurring needs and demands of mankind is obsolete and outmoded. as such, a culture is good if it gratifies the social and ethical needs of a people, group or subgroup. v. culture is not static but dynamic. it receives good things from other cultures. thus, there is a cultural synthesis or integration. as a result, culture gets refined and influences the life styles of individuals. it is subject to change and growth. so, culture is adaptive in nature. culture changes as civilization changes. vi. culture has the quality of becoming integrated. various parts of culture are integrated with each other. it welcomes new elements and incorporates such elements into a culture. vii. culture is the manifestation of people's or groups reaction to their environments and circumstances. humans are interwoven with cultural mainstreams and they become part and parcel of them. viii. culture is modified and renewed in the light of new experiences. conflicting values of the past and present human society is dynamic not static and as societies change from simple traditional societies to complex modern societies, people, values, trends and activities also change. traditional african societies, for instance, were relatively simple with no literary heritage. oral transmission was what was in vogue as opposed to the modern african societies which have been greatly influenced by the western world that is more advanced with lots of literary collections on an array of subjects. globalization and colonialism have made it possible for african nay nigerian society coming in contact with many cultures. as it is always the case, such cultural contacts bring about new realities. 97 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 just as societies have developed, values have also continued to change to suit the trends of a changing world which have created an increased wave of moral decadence and laxity in present day societies. values of the past some of the cherished and upheld moral values of the past include truthfulness, respect, tolerance and cooperation, hard work and functionalism, respect for human life and dignity of persons. truthfulness truthfulness can be defined as being honest. honesty implies being frank, direct, open or even straight. it entails standing up for what you believe in no matter whose pride gets in the way. it means not contradicting oneself in thoughts, words and actions. isichei and bolaji (2010) define honesty as “the awareness of what is right and appropriate in one's role, one's behaviour and one's relationship”. honesty is the foundation of integrity; having moral standards. traditional societies were founded on this value and truthfulness was a quality pursued by all especially by leaders who were looked up to for direction by followers. leaders valued truthfulness because they believed in personal reputation. they cherished the saying in proverbs chapter 22:1 that “a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver or gold”. they lived in accordance with this principle even when they had not read the bible. respect respect is an acknowledgement of the inherent worth and innate rights of the individual and collectivity (isichei and bolaji, 2010). the value of respect was cherished in the past, especially respect for elders. this is because it was assumed that elders were more knowledgeable and wiser than young persons. respect was also given to elders as they comported themselves in manners worthy of emulation. respect comes with honour and dignity as the individual or group of individuals are regarded as important personalities in their own rights. tolerance and cooperation can two people work together if they do not agree? the most logical answer is no. this is because one person will always drawback the other. for persons to work together to accomplish set objectives, they must learn to appreciate their differences, accommodate their weaknesses and pool together their strengths. tolerance means being receptive to the beauty of differences while cooperation is simply identified as team work. tolerance involves mutual understanding resulting from mutual respect while cooperation involves mutually beneficial relations. traditional societies were tolerant and extremely cooperative. they appreciated diversity in nature and realized that though they were different; they had to work together to promote human life and existence. hard work and functionalism traditional societies cherished the virtues of hard work and functionalism. everything these societies did was geared towards inculcating these values in the younger generations. traditional african education was very functional in its approach as it comprised basic education for living in conformity with the traditions of the community; education for occupation and economic selfreliance for equipping members with appropriate skills for survival and education for special occupation with regards to particular families –family crafts, medicine etc. (kosemani & okorosaye – orubite, 1995). traditional societies did not support laziness and as such did not encourage it. individuals had to learn to value hard work as a channel for an improved life. members were encouraged to be functional by contributing wholly to the growth of their societies. societies 98 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 encouraged members who were committed to their values by rewarding them in various ways especially with leadership positions. respect for human life and dignity of persons human life has always been sacred or sacrosanct. life has always been important and the dignity of persons has been pursued because the origin of life has been linked with “gods” or “deities”. human belief in the ultimate power of “immortal gods” has caused people to have great respect for human life and treat persons with dignity. traditional societies promoted the security of life because of their beliefs in the sacredness of human life. before life was taken, it had to be a necessary sacrifice after a series of interventions of the people for adequate cleansing. traditional societies as already stated were very simple societies. they believed in character development and functionalism of members and they pursued this cause with utmost sincerity. most of their determination to pursue just causes arose from their religious beliefs in the supremacy of their “gods” and the punishment(s) that could arise as a result of their disobedience to the “gods”. in the words of kosemani and okorosayeorubite (1995) again, “the yardstick for measuring an educated man is his morals, manners, obedience to authority and respect for the customs, conventions, superstitions and laws of the land”. values of the present with civilisation and the advent of digital age came a lot of changes both positively and negatively. one negative change that came with the dawn of the new era was moral decadence and laxity. society has witnessed a fall in moral standards and an increased interest in mundane as opposed to the spiritual or more serious things. moral decadence has resulted in indiscipline at all levels in the society and its resultant effects are seen in our lackadaisical attitude to work; our readiness to cheat and embezzle, lack of dignity and respect for human life and the monster of corruption. instead of values, vices are being pursued today (as if they were values) and they include dishonesty, disrespect, intolerance and lack of cooperation, profit oriented relationships, profanity of life and abuse of human dignity, loss of pride in hard work and an increased interest in the pursuit of injustice and other crimes, all in a bid to acquire wealth by adopting the philosophy that “the end justifies the means”. modern societies are experiencing a wave of corruption driven by the “get rich quick syndrome”. public goods and resources are audaciously stolen by individuals who are in leadership positions in a bid to acquire wealth for themselves and secure the future of their families caring less about the pain and burdens to be borne by other members of the society as a consequence of their actions. today, people take pride in telling lies, engaging in ungodly practices and embellishment of various criminal acts. integrity is lacking in the interactions of people with one another and flagrant abuse of the laws and of human rights is the order of the day. hence, it has become obvious that in the digital age the prime values of our culture held to great esteem in the past has been eroded by the vices of the present time. most shocking is that these vices are celebrated in some ways by the society as if they were values. moreover, the religious domain is not immuned from the emerging influence of digital age. different views of religion the objective view objectively, religion is the body of truths, law and rites by which the human person is subordinated to the transcendent being (arinze, 2008). objectivity is the idea that unbiased scientific or social scientific knowledge can be reliably obtained through systematic observations of an external reality. this view on religion tries to remove any form of bias in the understanding of religion. the human 99 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 person is removed from the picture, together with their personal beliefs, customs and other conventions which can form any obstacle to the comprehension of religion. every attention is focused on the transcendent being for a more universal view and understanding of the word, religion. religion is an element in our life's experience dealing with our relation to a supreme being, whether in worship or in acts of piety. thus, it would seem a foregone conclusion that anyone having religion must be moved or directed someway, either from within or without, by a supernatural power, or a claim thereto. but where he without an objective standard received from this supreme being, each one, having different backgrounds, would be moved differently both in his worship and in his act of piety, would indicate a totally subjective experience which would be unreliable. hence, the human persons must be guided religiously by something outside of themselves. if not, the person, left to a subjective experience, would produce as many forms of religion, as there are individuals (christensen, 1995). the subjective view subjectively, religion is the consciousness of one's dependence on a transcendent being and a tendency to worship him (arinze, 2008). religion can be said to be subjective in at least two senses. first, the practice of religion involves inner experiences and sentiments, such as feelings of god guiding the life of the devotee. here, religion involves subjectivity in the sense of individual experience. religion may also be thought to be subjective because the criteria by which its truth is decided are obscure and hard to come by, so there is no obvious “objective” test, the way in which there is for a large range of empirical claims in the physical world. as to the first sense, one of the challenges to the student of religion is the problem of evoking its inner, individual side, which is not observable in any straightforward way. with that as a standard, everybody determines what religion is for him. on the second note, the challenge may be that the promoters of a religion try to define what they personally understand religion to be, thereby, bracketing off the universal meaning of religion. this is, thus, seen in the rules, laws and principle they promulgate as what guides their religion. however, despite the objective and subjective sides of religion, there is no gainsaying that religion has impacted much in human lives and societies. what religions have been able to achieve in our society so far the practice of religion is a powerful antidote to many of our nation's pressing social ills, many of which have reached historically high proportions. yet, despite the societal benefits of religion, the expression of faith in the public square has faced many challenges. social science research indicates that permitting and accommodating free religious practice is necessary to moving society in positive directions. in as much as islam and african traditional religion cannot be denied of any contribution to nigeria society, much of what we are to say here, due to the scope of this paper, pertains to christianity. still the little preamble here will concentrate on catholicism since there exist in nigeria multiple christian denominations. profound christian religious presence catholicism in nigeria is well over 151 years old. the church in nigeria can be likened to the biblical mustard seed, which began in a very small way at different parts of nigeria at different times but has now grown to an enviable height. in the northern part of nigeria, the very first roman catholic th mission was established at shendam in plateau state on 12 february 1907 by the missionaries of the society of african missions (sma) led by fr. oswald waller and his companions. the humble beginning in shendam in 1907, directly or indirectly, gave birth to the dioceses of kano, bauchi, yola, maiduguri, jalingo, kafanchan, lafia, archdiocese of jos and other dioceses in the north. 100 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 (o'connor: 2009) in the west the same congregation of society of african missions (sma) established the roman catholic mission first at lagos in 1868 under the leadership of fr. bouche. other dioceses in the west owe their origin to lagos (makozi, 1982). the holy ghost congregation led by fr. lutz founded the roman catholic mission in eastern nigeria, particularly at onitsha in 1885. from onitsha, the faith spread to other parts of south east and south south regions (makozi, 1982). at these early times, the lay faithful assisted in the planting of the faith by functioning as interpreters and catechists. numerous lay organisations emerged in the post-war period that supplemented the catholic church's missionary efforts, its charitable work, and which increasingly gave the church an indigenous and africanised flavour. some of these lay organisations included st. anthony's guild, st. jude's society, the legion of mary and the block rosary crusade. lay societies provided an important space for internal dialogue and external interface between the church and followers of indigenous religious traditions. those years witnessed an almost unbelievable growth in members, parishes, dioceses and church institutions. today, one can feel the influence of catholic church everywhere in nigeria. in 2005, it was estimated that nigeria has 19 million baptised catholics. in 2010, the number rose to 52.6 million. in 2019, one can estimate that the figure might have risen above 70 million. today in nigeria, we have 9 archdioceses, 43 dioceses, and 2 apostolic vicariates. (catholic hierarchy, nigeria website). this brief excursus is to show how gradually christian religion penetrated into our varied communities with its concomitant benefits. education education was one of the missionary strategies adopted by the early missionaries in the evangelisation of nigeria. because education is important in so many ways for all citizens, any factor that promotes literacy is important to the common good. the missionaries capitalized on such thinking and invested a lot in education (clark, 1980). they built schools and left consolidated legacy on education to their successors. the missionaries adapted education to help the converts to acquire knowledge to improve themselves spiritually and materially (nwosu, 1982). most of the prominent nigerian elites are products of those schools established by the missionaries and sustained by their successors. most often, mission schools are preferred to government schools because of their high standard. academic expectations, level of education attained, school attendance, and academic performance are all positively affected by religious practice (glanville et al, 2008). parents' religious practice also affects their children's educational outcomes. the greater the parents' religious involvement, the more likely they will have higher educational expectations for their children, and the more likely they will communicate with their children about schooling (glanville et al, 2008). their children will be more likely to pursue advanced courses, spend more time on homework, establish friendships with academically oriented peers, avoid cutting classes, and successfully complete their degrees. students in religiously affiliated schools tend to exhibit a higher level of academic achievement than their peers in secular schools, particularly in low-income urban neighbourhoods. studies continue to find that inner-city students in public schools lag behind in educational achievement, compared with students in catholic schools. the cultural values of a religious community are also a significant pathway to academic success for adolescents. to earn a high school diploma or take advanced 101 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 mathematics courses, children must plan for the future and structure their activities accordingly. religious communities typically invest in forming an ethic of such discipline and persistence. a recent study confirms both this indirect contribution of religious community values and the direct influence of the students' own religious activities in promoting academic achievement (muller and ellison, 2001). earlier studies found this same relationship between religious practice and academic discipline. in 1985, the ground-breaking work of richard freeman of harvard university revealed that attendance at religious services and activities positively affected inner-city youth school attendance, work activity, and allocation of time – all of which were further linked to a decreased likelihood of engaging in deviant activities. youths who frequently attend religious services were five times less likely to skip school, compared with peers who seldom or never attended. the above findings have proved valid for all ages across the globe. charity religious practice is linked to greater generosity in charitable giving and volunteering. in an extensive research documenting the relationship between religion and philanthropy, arthur brooks of the american enterprise institute found that religious people were 25 percent more likely than their secular counterparts to donate money and 23 percent more likely to volunteer time. even when .. it came to nonreligious causes, religious people were more generous (brooks, 2003) brooks also demonstrated that religious practice correlates with a higher rate of care and concern for others. compared with peers with no religious affiliation, religious respondents were 15 percent more likely to report having tender, concerned feelings for the disadvantaged. this gap was reduced by only 2 percent when the effects of education, income, marital status, sex, race, and age were taken into account (freeman, 1985). the high propensity for the care and concern for another experienced amongst christians cannot be unrelated to the injunction of christ as expressed in the requirement for the last judgment (matthew 25:31-46). thus, in the christian purview, charity has become the oil that lubricates the society. health in a 2002 systematic review of the academic literature on the effects of religion, majority of research revealed that religious commitment and practice can lead to increased self-esteem and well-being (johnson, tompkins & webb, 2005). religious practice is also related to greater longevity, and a reduced risk of a number of health complications such as colitis or different forms of cancer (levin and schiller, 1987). family relationships the practice of religion not only stabilizes marriage, it also improves its quality. scholars found that the more frequently husbands attended religious services, the happier their wives said they were with the level of affection and understanding that they received and the amount of time that their husbands spent with them. similarly, religious participation tends to foster an authoritative, warm, active, and expressive style of parenting. parents who attend religious services are more likely to enjoy a better relationship with their children and are more likely to be involved with their children's education. moreover, the greater a child's religious involvement, the more likely both the child and parent will agree about the quality of their relationship, the more similar their values will be, and the greater their emotional closeness will be (aquilino, 1999). however, some researches also show that religious differences within families can detract from the parent-child relationship. 102 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 how the contemporary age has influenced religion religion has historically been an impetus to social change. on the other hand different societal factors have also affected religion. liberation theology liberation theology began as a movement within the roman catholic church in the 1950s and 1960s in latin america, and it combines christian principles with political activism. it uses the church to promote social change via the political arena, and it is most often seen in attempts to reduce or eliminate social injustice, discrimination, and poverty. a list of proponents of this kind of social justice (although some pre-date liberation theory) could include francis of assisi, leo tolstoy, martin luther king jr., and desmond tutu. begun as a moral reaction against the poverty caused by social injustice in that part of the world, liberation theology has become an international movement that encompasses many churches and denominations. liberation theologians discuss theology from the point of view of the poor and the oppressed, and some interpret the scripture as a call to action against poverty and injustice. in europe and north america, feminist theology has emerged from liberation theology as a movement to bring social justice to women. this has given rise to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (lgbt) consciousness, all claiming rights in different religious settings. some religious denominations assert that homosexuality is incompatible with their faith, while others feel this type of discrimination has no place in a modern church. as the lgbt community increasingly advocates for, and earns, basic civil rights, how will religious communities respond? many religious groups have traditionally discounted lgbt sexualities as “wrong.” however, these organisations have moved closer to respecting human rights by, for example, increasingly recognising females as an equal gender. this has not come to pass, but some scholars believe these changes are a matter of time. no matter the situation, most religions have a tenuous relationship with practitioners and leaders in the gay community. in an attempt to seek for more freedom, many groups left many traditional religious organizations and joined more liberal ones. oppositions to religion and religious authorities the internet undermines religion in a number of ways. it does so by undermining religious claims to truth through exposure to competing claims, by granting access to dissenters and to those who present opposing ideas. it also does so by undermining the monopoly of access over national broadcast media, and by destroying the effectiveness of the teacher-student model. all these threaten religion simply because truth and debates there from can be accessed by all, unhindered by restrictions that religion can impose locally, and the proliferation of new or alternative movements weakens the sustainability of all of them, great and small. this is why as modernism continues, large religious institutions are failing and smaller ones are in popularity. all religions are now brought into close contact with each other through communication technologies. the internet has an effect on religion similar to multiculturalism by opening up all religious claims to comparison with other contradictory claims. it can be seen that as most of these claims are different, most of them are often wrong. critics of religion and scholarly analyses of religious texts often damage the reputation of sacred texts, and now, such research is not only easily obtained online, but, it is often hard to ignore. critics sometimes seek out the 'gullible' and make it their mission to inform them of the shortcomings of their religious doctrines and theological stances. exposure to contradictory opinions is one of the causes of the decline of religion in the globalized world. 103 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 previously, large and established traditional religious organisations could dominate national broadcast media and sometimes enact censorship with their greater output power, finance, and access to national media. but now, dissenting sects and individuals can explain their own points of view relatively unhindered. those who have been expelled can move abroad if they have to, and broadcast their own arguments back to their home country from a safe place abroad, over the internet. in pakistan and indonesia, for instance, organized atheism is impossible and effectively illegal, but, online groups representing atheists have flourished. many religions imbibe a teacherstudent model, where successively more profound truths are revealed to a student as they are ready, such as the roman mystery religions. outer mysteries and public rituals have a secret meaning that is revealed by teachers to initiates. even in non-mystery religions, such as buddhism, a student is expected to learn things in a structured order – a student must first be taught the most superficial doctrine, then the less superficial, and 'gradually' led them up to the profound. but the internet has undermined such carefully-managed apprenticeships because of the free availability of teachings online. even traditional christian organizations where churches are the focal point, rather than teacherstudent pairs, are worried. the reason for the worry is that now everyone can freely read the bible online, complete with varied commentaries. such situation diminishes and in some instances excludes references to the appropriate religious leaders such as the priests and bishops, for guidance and directives in matters of faith and morals. hence, care should be taken not to allow the digital era, with its new technology to herald the demise of organized christianity. social media with the digital age, the availability and use of the social media have a common place. as there are many positive impacts created by the usage of the social media, so also are the negative impacts. the social media have made it possible to disseminate religious messages to different parts of the world. one can access religious messages from any part of the world and in so doing come to terms with the values and beliefs/faith systems of other religions. this could help in religious tolerance and respect. apart from this, the social media have been used in disseminating false information, bias and prejudices against a particular religion or religious authorities. this has contributed to a lackadaisical attitude of our youths to religion in the recent time. evaluation and recommendations it is obvious that culture encompasses religion. the human person is a religious being and as well can be said to be a cultural being because no one falls from the sky. everyone is born and brought up in a particular culture which they uphold and value so dearly. culture can neither be separated from religion nor religion be separated from culture; they go side by side. every religion incorporates some elements of culture and culture on the other hand incorporates some elements of religion. where there is no culture, there is no religion. culture precedes religion. culture is as old as human beings, so it can be said that religion is an aspect of culture (non-material culture; which are seen as ideas of our beliefs). since religion is an aspect of culture, it is, therefore, dependent on culture and cannot thrive where there is no culture. be that as it may, culture and religion help to regulate the society and help people to be ordered, thus, both culture and religion serve as tools for peaceful coexistence among the indigenes of a community. however, social change is inevitable. there are demographic changes, technological changes, changes in the natural environment, and more. social groups are constantly rising up against one another, infringing on territory. some groups suffer from environmental impacts made by other groups. new technologies and social institutions create 104 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 lifestyle changes. traditionalists are more likely to resist the changes, while modernists are more likely to advocate and adapt to change. the tension between tradition and modernity can lead to constructive change and/or adaptation. this depends on the people involved, and whether they are willing and able to adapt. whether people have a traditionalist or a modernist orientation, they can act peacefully or violently based on the maturity of their social consciousness. it is pertinent to note that both culture and religion have been impacted by the digital age. there is that urgency for a wakeup call in both areas. this paper, therefore, makes the following recommendations in order to make the present era a decent and enjoyable era. 1. there should be a reorientation of the youth starting from the primary, through secondary and tertiary levels of education and up to old age as well. such reorientation should aim at going back to the root and engender healing from the root. 2. creating more employment opportunities given that an idle mind is the devil's workshop. both the government and the private sectors should strive in this regard. 3. active involvement of the youth in politics and a positive mobilization of the masses for political consciousness should be encouraged. 4. all hands must be on deck for concerted efforts towards instituting an authentic practice of religion. references aquilino w. s. 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(1984). religion, what it is. new york: c.b.s college pub. ltd. catholic hierarchy, nigeria. nigeria, statistics by province, by catholic population. retrieved from http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/country/spcng1.html 106 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 https://www.etymonline.com https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/951272809 page 103 page 104 page 105 page 106 page 107 page 108 page 109 page 110 page 111 page 112 page 113 page 114 page 115 text book journal pdf sis. noelle 01 abstract poverty is a perennial human problem which has spiritual, social and economic dimensions. however, extreme poverty which manifests itself in hunger, that is, food insecurity, and the lack of other basic necessities of life, is an assault on human dignity and an infringement on fundamental human rights. poverty and food insecurity are certainly socio-economic problems, but with fundamental ethical questions. for this reason, it has become pertinent to reexamine the increasing situation of extreme poverty in nigeria. this study has, therefore, for its objective to investigate the problem of poverty and food insecurity in nigeria from the perspective of christian social teaching and human rights discourse. the paper is an exploratory essay which has adopted a qualitative method approach. data was generated mainly from secondary sources, obtained through critical reading of existing literature in print and internet materials. the information obtained was subjected to content analysis and insightful findings were drawn. the findings reveal that poverty and food insecurity have been on the increase in nigeria since 2004 in contrast to a relative growth in the nation's gross domestic product (gdp). nigeria has spent very low percentage of its gdp on health, education and social welfare, thus fuelling extreme poverty and socio-economic inequalities. furthermore, human choices, policies and unethical behaviour have contributed to the existing situation. nonetheless, christian social teaching addresses such unethical misconduct. the study, therefore, recommended that government should increase its gdp spending on human development. in addition, nigerian citizens, the rich, politicians, the clergy and pastors should reform their lifestyle to make the poor less dependent on palliatives and charity. key words: poverty, food insecurity, hunger, christian social teaching, human rights, social justice. background to the study on september 25, 2015, world leaders, under the auspices of the united nations, adopted a set of 17 “global goals” with 169 targets in a document titled: transforming our world: the 2030 agenda for sustainable development (un doc, a/res/70/1,2015). the first two of these 17 goals have inspired this study with a focus on their application in nigeria. while goal 1 states: “end poverty in all its forms everywhere”; goal 2 declares: “end hunger, achieve food security and improve nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture” (un doc, a/res/70/1, 2015). in brief, the two goals have for their objective to end poverty and achieve food security for all as a more sustainable way of transforming our world. in its introduction, the united nations acknowledged that “eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme mary-noelle ethel ezeh, ihm department of religion and society chukwuemeka odumegwu ojukwu university anambra state poverty and food insecurity in nigeria from the perspective of christian social teaching and human rights discourse coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 02 poverty poses: the greatest global challenge”. nonetheless, it is “an indispensable requirement for sustainable development (un doc, a/res/70/1, 2015). for this reason, the united nations resolved to “end poverty and hunger everywhere” between 2015 and 2030. the tragic situation of poverty and food insecurity in nigeria, one of the leading world's leading oil-producing nations, has made headlines both in international and national news. a report of development finance international (dfi) and oxfam warned in 2018 that nigeria was set to become the world's poverty capital when the country was, for the second time, placed at the bottom of a ranking of 157 nations (quartz african, 2018). another report from food and agriculture organisation (fao) also raised alarm concerning food insecurity in nigeria in 2018. the report stated that 13 million people in nigeria have been exposed to hunger in 2016 and that nearly 2.3 million, mostly in three states worst hit by boko haram insurgency, adamawa, borno and yobe have been subjected to acute food shortage (punch, oct 21, 2018). on october 8, 2019, nigeria was declared nigeria the “world capital of poverty”, at abuja, with an estimated 94, 470, 535 million people living below extreme poverty level (www.shipsandports.com.ng). in november 2019, fao report raised yet another alarm concerning food insecurity in northern nigeria. it stated: the latest cadre harmonise analysis (november, 2019) indicates that an estimated 2.6 million people face severe food insecurity in adamawa, borno and yobe states, a reduction of nearly 300,000 people from june 2019. however, if no humanitarian support is provided, a projected 3.6 million people in the three states are likely to be severely food insecure from aug 2020, traditionally the lean season in the north-east. (). the reality of extreme poverty and severe food insecurity in nigeria is an undeniable fact. however, since poverty is a multidimensional social phenomenon, scholars have studied it from different perspectives. sulaiman, (2008), studied poverty from its economic dimension. ezeh, (2012), examined poverty and environmental issues. yakubu (2020), studied the impact of poverty on national insecurity. ojo (2012), explored an overview of food security crisis in nigeria, while etim, duke and ogbinyi (2017), investigated the implications of food insecurity and hunger on national security. this paper has opted to study the issue of poverty and food insecurity in nigeria from the dimension of the ethical questions at stake. the researcher is convinced that humans are moral agents who exhibit attitudes, make decisions and policies, establish and maintain structures that push millions of people into poverty and expose many more to go without food on the table. put in another form, the researcher considers it pertinent to examine how poverty and food insecurity constitute an assault on human dignity and a breach of the fundamental human right to adequate food (udhr, 1948, no 25). the investigation is carried out from the perspective of christian social teaching and human rights discourse with the view to advancing a panacea. objective of the study the general objective of this study is, therefore, to examine the problem of poverty and food insecurity in nigeria from the perspective of christian social teaching and human rights discourse. the paper has for its specific objective: to present the reality of poverty and food insecurity in nigeria. to raise the ethical questions at stake. to elucidate how christian social teaching addresses the problem and its relevance today. to advance a panacea. coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 03 methodology the study is an exploratory essay and, therefore, has used qualitative research method approach. a critical discourse analysis was used to generate data mainly from secondary sources: textbooks, journal articles, newspapers and internet materials. the data generated was subjected to content analysis and interpretation from which insightful findings were drawn. conceptual elucidation poverty a simple dictionary definition of the term “poverty” describes it as a state of being in want of the necessities of life. it is also defined as the state of being inferior in quality or insufficient in amount (oxford dictionary, 2020). poverty is however a multidimensional concept which denotes a lack of the basic necessities of life: food, shelter and clothing, or insufficiency in the quantity and quality of the essential goods and service: income, health and education. poverty has economic, social, political, spiritual and cultural elements. the economic aspect is often the most outstanding against which measurement is set. in this regard, poverty is described as the lack of sufficient material or financial resources necessary to meet one's personal needs by the prevailing standard of living. world bank has set the international standard measurement of poverty on monetary threshold. in 2015, world bank set the international poverty level at $1.90 per day. a person is considered poor if his/her income falls below $1.90. although this standard has been criticised for failing to take into account the availability of other indicators like sanitation, water, electricity, education and health as they affect the quality of life, it is still the adopted international standard for measuring poverty and this guides the discussion of the paper. food insecurity food insecurity is a complex concept for definition. it is the antithesis of food security. according to fao (1996), “food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life” (world food summit, 1996). four key elements stand out in this definition of food security: ·availability, having sufficient quantity of appropriate food. ·accessibility, the ability to have enough resources to access appropriate food. ·utilisation, the ability to take nutritious food, to absorb and use the nutrients. ·stability, a steady and stable flow of food supplies in the market. the fao has also defined food insecurity as “a situation when people lack secure access to sufficient amount of safe and nutritious food for normal growth and development and active and healthy life” (world food summit, 1996). as in the case of food security, the key factors involved in food insecurity are: non-availability of appropriate food. lack of resources to access it. improper utilisation of the nutrients. instability of food supply over a certain time limit. the physical outstanding signs of food insecurity are hunger, under-nourishment and malnutrition. hunger is the principal factor against which food insecurity is measured. the two key international standards for the measurement of food insecurity in a country are the coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 04 prevalent children underweight and the fao calculations of the proportion of a population living below a minimum level of food-energy consumption (de muro & mazziotta, 2011). in any given population, it is often the poor, that is, those living below the international poverty line of $1.90 per day, who are the principal victims of food insecurity. the poor are the most vulnerable to hunger, under-nourishment and malnutrition. herein lays the nexus between poverty and food insecurity since it is the poor who suffer food insecurity the most. it is, therefore, not surprising that sustainable development goals (sdgs) should prioritise the fight against poverty and food insecurity together as numbers one and two of the 2030 agenda. human rights human rights are the inalienable and inviolable rights or faculties that are inherent in every human being as a member of the human family. although the concept of human rights is old as human civilisation, its prevalent usage as a phrase has relatively a recent origin in the 20th century. the idea of human rights dates back to the greco-roman concept of natural law found in the writings of plato (427-248) bc and marcus tulius cicero (106-43) bc and other stoics. both plato, in the republic, and the stoics used the concept of natural law to refer to universal truths or a higher order of law, inherent in nature, which should serve as a standard for human conduct as well as the laws of the civil society and government. the natural law theory upheld that a universal force pervades the entire creation which acts as the foundation and reference point for human ethical conduct and positive law. in the middle ages, christian writers, especially thomas aquinas (1225-1274) and later in the seventeenth century, hugo grotius (1583-1645), developed the theory of natural law into natural rights to serve as benchmark for personal rights and standard of justice in conflict situation. while thomas aquinas held the view that natural law is rooted in a divine law and can be discovered by the rightful use of human reason, grotius, a christian writer in the age of reason, focused more on natural law as a force pervading nature and accessible to human reason. grotius' philosophical and legal writings have influenced many modern scholars of natural right including john locke. although the natural right theory has been criticised as abstract by utilitarian philosophers like bentham (1780 1832) and his followers, the theory has continued to inform modern concept of human rights. the concept of human rights, as a historical document, is however traceable to some key documents that emerged from the social, political, economic and religious conflicts in europe and america. such documents include: the english magna carta, 1215, the english bill of rights 1689, the american bills of rights1776, the french declaration of the rights of man and the citizen, 1789, as well as the german weimar constitutions, 1919 (iwe, 1986). it was, nonetheless, in the aftermath of the atrocities of the second world war that the united nations, on december 10, 1948, adopted the document titled: the universal declaration of human rights for use in national and international relations. the document enunciated 30 articles of fundamental human rights in the natural, civil, political, religious, cultural, social and economic domains in addition to a meaningful long preamble. although the declaration lacks the status of a convention to carry legal obligation on member states, it has still the force of a substantial body of world opinion and enjoins on the members the obligation to incorporate the provisions enunciated in their national constitutions and laws. moreover, the declaration has the force of moral obligation and forms the basis for universally accepted ethical standard. the very first line of the preamble declares that the “recognition of the inherent dignity and of equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world” (un, 1948). the economic section of the document coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 05 which deals with the fundamental rights of every person to the use of the material goods of the earth is of particular interest to the reflections of this paper. art 25 (1) states: “everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control” (un, 1948). the theoretical framework: the theoretical discussion of this paper is informed by the christian principles on human rights and economic matters concerning poverty, hunger and wealth as expressed in the judeochristianscriptures and in the writings of the early christians notably: ambrose of milan and john chrysostom. their core teachings on human rights, poverty, hunger and wealth, were later elaborated in the writings of st. thomas aquinas and has been continued in our day through the tradition of catholic social teaching, beginning with the encyclical of leo xiii (1891), rerum novarum: on the condition of workers to pope francis (2015), laudato si: on the care of our common home. among this corpus of papal socio-economic documents, the following are of particular interest to this work: john xxiii (1963), pacem in terris: peace on earth, vatican ii, 1965, gaudium et spes: the church in the modern world, paul vi (1967), populorum progressio: on the development of peoples and john paul ii (1987), sollicitude rei socialis: on social concern. christian understanding of human dignity and natural law is central to appreciating its teaching on the economic and social issues of poverty, food insecurity and human rights. from a christian perspective, human dignity is the belief that every person is created in the image and likeness of god, the imago dei, (gen 1:26-27). therefore, by their very existence, humans have an inherent, natural value and worth that must be recognised and respected. every man and woman have also been endowed, by god the creator, with reason, intelligence and freedom, thus making us moral agents and participants in the socio-economic activities as cocreators. this understanding of the human dignity of every person is a key factor in elucidating human rights and responsibility. human dignity gives human rights its characteristic element of being natural, universal, inviolable and inalienable; it also imposes a correlative responsibility, thus making humans moral agents. it is what guarantees the inherent right of every person to the use of material goods of the earth to maintain “a descent and healthy standard of living” (john xxiii, p.t., 1963). at the same time, it places a moral responsibility on individuals and on the society to ensure that the goods of the earth are made available, sufficient and accessible to all persons. the state of poverty and food insecurity in nigeria 1990-2018 nigeria is africa's biggest oil producer and has been described as one of the fastest growing economies in the region with a significant gross domestic product (gpd) growth recorded between 2002 and 2014 as revealed in the table below. coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 source: https: // countryeconomy.com <gdp > the evolution of nigeria gross domestic product (gdp) discloses a growth performance of 14.6% in 2002, 10.4% in 2004; a rise to 11.3% in 2010 and a fall down to 6.3% in 2014; a plumping down to -1.6% in 2016, due to recession, and finally a rise to 1.9% in 2018. unfortunately, despite this relative good performance of nigeria gdp, largely from the oil sector, the oil wealth has not been translated into improving the living conditions of the masses. poverty is on the increase and food insecurity drives millions to suffer hunger and malnutrition as indicated in table 2 below. table 2: population of nigeria living below poverty line 1992-2010 06 date annual gdp in figure gdp growth % 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2016 2018 93,983m.$ 130,345 m.$ 227,791 m.$ 330,260 m.$ 360,062 m.$ 460,952 m.$ 405,442 m.$ 398,186 m.$ 14.6% 10.4% 6.7% 7.2% 11.3% 4.3% -1.6% 1.9% table 1: nigeria annual gdp evolution 2002-2018 date population 1992 1996 2004 2010 39.2million 67.1 million 68.7 million 112.47 million source: national bureau of statistics as cited in www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-17015873. according to this report of nationals bureau of statistics, 112.47 million nigerians lived below the poverty line of $1.9 in 2010. the figure is a significant rise from 68.1 million in 2004 and stands in contrast to the gdp which stood at 11.3% in 2010 and 10.4% in 2004 as indicated in table 1 above. furthermore, the 2019 human development index (hdi) report on nigeria is very instructive. human development index (hdi) is a report prepared by world bank and other international bodies to measure and indicate which countries are preeminent in mobilising the economic and potential professional of their citizens for long-term progress. it is a summary scale for evaluating a country's long term progress in three basic aspects of human development namely: a long and healthy life, education and a descent standard of living. a long and healthy coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 07 life level is assessed by life expectancy; education level is calculated by the mean years of schooling among the adult population at 25 years of age, while the standard of living is evaluated by gross national income (gni) per capita. table 3: trends in nigeria's human development index 1990 to 2018. date life expectancy at birth 1990 1995 2000 2010 2015 2016 2017 2018 expected years of schooling mean years of schooling gni per capital (2011 ppp$) hdi value 45.9 45.9 46.9 48.3 50.9 53.5 54.0 54.3 6.7 7.2 8.0 9.0 8.4 9.5 9.7 9.7 5.2 5.2 6.3 6.5 6.5 3,221 2,872 2,828 3,812 4,793 5,336 5,203 5,086 0.467 0.484 0.527 0.533 0.534 source: undp, 2019. the progress trend in each of the nigeria hdi indicators between 1990 and 2018 reveals that the life expectancy at birth rose by 8.4years, the expected years of school increased by 3 years, while the mean years of school gained 1.2 years. the standard of living, measured by gni per capita, grew by 57.9 per cent. however, the total human development index value for nigeria for 2018 was 0.534, a figure that put the country in the rank of low human development (lhd) category. indeed, nigeria ranked 158 out of the 189 countries and territories on the undp list for 2018. furthermore, nigeria's human capital spending is considered very low on three important dimensions, health, education and social protection, which have been considered key factors in reducing inequality and eradicating poverty. it is then not surprising that, in 2018, nigeria should take the last position by ranking 157 out of 157 countries selected for a report on commitment to reducing index (cri).the position of last 10 countries selected in the cri report stands as follows: table 4: ten last countries on2018 commitment to reducing index report country rank bangladesh singapore lao pdr 148 149 150 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 08 madagascar bhutan sierra leone chad haiti uzbekistan nigeria 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 source: https://qz.com/africa/1421543/nigeriasource: data compiled from world bank, 2016 in 2003, nigeria spent only 4.0 per cent of its gdp on health and the figure declined to 3.7 in 2013. these figures are less than half of what south africa spent on health for the same period. the figures are also comparatively lower than other countries like uganda with 7.5 in 2003 and 2013, and rwanda with 6.3 in 2003 and 7.7 in 2013. the resultant effect of this poor spending on the health sector is seen in nigeria scoring highest in the under-five mortality rate in 2003 and 2013 among the nine countries listed above. nigeria and ethiopia also scored highest in the rate of malnutrition at 28.7, but while ethiopia dropped from 41.2 in 2003 to 28.7 in 2013, nigeria remained stable at 28.7 for a full decade. furthermore, between 2003 and 2013 nigeria's low spending on health did not fare very well when compared with some other sub-sahara countries. table 5 below is very revealing. table 5: nigeria and selected countries' health expenditure and indicators 2003 and 2013 countries nigeria kenya ghana ethiopia rwanda senegal tanzania uganda south africa under-five mortality rate (per 1,000) stunting (height for age below 2 sds) malnutrition (weight for age below 2 sds) health expenditure, total (% of gdp) 2003 2013 2003 2003 20032013 2013 2013 201.0 95.4 91.3 124.8 139.4 112.5 106.9 124.2 78.1 128.0 53.4 66.5 64.6 47.8 52.5 53.3 60.3 43.4 38.3 35.7 50.8 51.1 19.6 44.3 44.8 36.8 35.3 28.0 44.4 44.2 18.7 42 33.4 28.7 15.8 41.2 19.5 14.2 16.4 15.9 28.7 16.1 13.9 28.7 11.4 15.7 15.8 13.8 4.0 4.4 3.1 4.6 6.3 5.4 4.1 7.5 8.3 3.7 5.6 4.6 5.2 7.7 4.5 5.6 7.5 8.8 09 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 malnutrition is indeed a strong indicator of food insecurity in a country. the malnutrition trend in nigeria continued unabatedly leading fao, at the world food day in rome, in 2018, to raise alarm that 13 million nigerians have been subjected to hunger since 2016. hunger and malnutrition violate the fundamental human right to “a standard of living adequate for health and well-being” (udhr, 1948, no 25). furthermore, they have debilitating effects in the productive capacity of the victims, because they deny them opportunities and prevent than from attaining their full capacity in life. in addition, poverty and food insecurity hurt economies and create imbalance in economic power, which in turn, is translated often into political dominance. nevertheless, the choices and policies of a society, its economic and social structures, as well as the life-style of its individual citizens are also very significant factors in determining the rate of poverty and food insecurity in a country. therefore, in the face of this social, economic and moral problem of poverty and food insecurity in nigeria, there is no room for a complacent attitude or inaction. humans have a choice because they are moral agents responsible for their action or inaction. poverty and food insecurity in the light of christian social teaching the christian approach to the issue of the right to the basic necessities of life has its foundation in the bible particularly in the teachings of old testament prophets on social justice, especially amos, micah, isaiah and jeremiah. in addition, two key new testament passages also throw further light on the christian understanding and teaching on the right to and the responsibility for the basic necessities of life. the two passages underscore the attitude and action of jesus and his uncompromising verdict on the respect or non-respect of this right. the first passage is on the feeding of the five thousand people matt. 14: 13-21; mk. 6: 3044; lk. 9: 10-17; jn. 6: 1-14. in this episode, jesus was faced with the problems of food shortage before a crowd of over five thousand people. in the narrative, while the synoptic gospels tell us that the disciples took the initiative to plead with jesus to send the hungry crowd away, the gospel of john emphasises that it was jesus who first invited the disciples to take action to procure food for the people, giving thus priority to their right to food as a basic necessity. what is important, however, is that jesus recognized the right of the people to have adequate food and insisted on the responsibility of his disciples to take action. jesus provided more than sufficient for all to have their fill and ordered the gathering of the leftover to avoid waste (matt. 14:20). this action of jesus underscores the fact that it is morally unacceptable for rich individuals, corporate bodies and wealthy nations to hoard and waste food, while millions of people starve as victims of anthropological poverty. in modern society, it should be considered a moral obligation of justice and equity that the superfluous wealth of rich individuals and countries be mobilized and used for the benefit of and the service of hungry people and poor nations. indeed, according to paul vi: “we are not justified in keeping for our exclusive use what we do not need, when others lack necessities” (populorum progressio, 1967, no. 23). if waste, hoarding and greed are eliminated and available food is equitably distributed in socioeconomic relations, no one perhaps may starve. the second new testament passage is on the final judgement of the nations, matt. 25:3146. the key criterion of this judgment is the practice or non-practice of provision of the basic necessities of life to anyone in need. “for i was hungry and you gave me food, i was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, i was a stranger and you welcomed me, i was naked and you gave me clothing” matt. 25:35-36. christian ethics demand action in favour of eradicating extreme poverty and food insecurity. this is not just a matter of christian charity, but rather a moral issue of justice and equity to assure that every person has access to the basic necessity of life. the neglect of such moral responsibility is a grave omission condemned by jesus himself. it is such negligence and omission that are highlighted and condemned in the story of the rich man and lazarus as narrated in the gospel of luke 19: 20-31. indeed, jesus was unequivocal and uncompromising in his verdict that the respect or non-respect of the right to the basic necessities of life: food, shelter and clothing, is the condition sine qua nonfor entry or non-entry into the kingdom of god (matt. 25:31-46). therefore, the attitude, action and teachings of jesus have always formed the bedrock of authentic christian teaching and practice on social and economic matters down the ages. the early christian communities owned and shared everything in common in such a manner that no one was in need. when problem arose, the apostles made justice and fairness key factors in the daily distribution of goods and quickly appointed deacons to take charge of equitable treatment of the most vulnerable, the widows (acts 6:1-6). it was however in the fourth century that early christian writers, especially ambrose of milan, 340-397 ad, and john chrysostom, 347-407ad, started to develop a more systematic thought on the question of wealth, poverty and authentic christian responsibility towards the poor. these early christian writers defended the principle of the universal destination of material goods as god's gift to all people (gen. 1&2). as such, the material goods of the earth are considered the common property of all, so every person has a right to the use of them (evan, 2006). it was against this background that ambrose of milan wrote: how far, o rich, do you extend your mad greed? shall you alone dwell upon the earth (is. 5:8)? why do you cast out the companion whom nature has given you and claim for yourself nature's possession? the earth was established in common to all, rich and poor. why do you alone, o rich, demand special treatment? nature which begets everyone poor, knows no wealthy, for we are not born with clothing or silver. naked it brings us into light (cf. job 1:21), wanting food, clothing and drink and naked the earth receives us whom it brought forth, not knowing how to compass our possession in the tomb (on naboth, 1.2). ambrose milan clearly stated that the earth was established in common for all, rich and poor. it is greed that makes the rich hoard the common material goods to the determent of his/her neighbour. ambrose asserted that what the rich donates to the poor is simply a restoration of what was usurped, for material goods belong to all. to this effect he wrote: it is not anything of yours that you are bestowing on the poor; rather, you are giving back something of his. for you alone are usurping what was given in common for the use of all. the earth belongs to everyone, not to the rich, but there are fewer who do not use what i theirs than who use it. you are giving back something that is owed, then, and no something that is not owed (naboth, 13.53). ambrose based his social teaching on an analysis of the oppressive encounter between the wealthy king ahab and poor naboth in 1kgs 21: 1-15. he followed the tradition of the prophets on social justice, making liberal references to scriptural passages such as is. 5:8-23; 58:6-9; hos 10:12;5:8-23; mat 25:35-36; job 1:21; 29:12-16. in the same line of thought, john chrysostom also wrote to condemn the economic inequality of his era, by which the rich amassed wealth through greed and corruption and grew richer and more powerful, while the poor starved and languished in poverty and crushing debt. coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 10 he wrote: not to share our riches with the poor is a robbery of the poor, and a depriving them of their livelihood; and that which we possess is not only our own, but also theirs (discourse 2 on the rich man and lazarus). why? because god in the beginning did not make one man rich and another poor… he left the earth free to all alike. why then, if it is common, do you have so many acres of land, while your neighbour has no portion of it? … (homily 12 on 1tm). furthermore, john chrysostom admonished the rich: do you wish to honour the body of the saviour? do not despise him when he is naked. do not honour him in the church with silk vestments while outside he is naked and numb with cold. he who said, “this is my body” and made it so by his word, is the same that said, “you saw me hungry and gave me no food. as you did not to the least of these, you did not to me,” honour him then by sharing your property with the poor (homily 50 on matthew). john chrysostom also made it clear that he was not against wealth “per se”, but the abuse and misuse of wealth and its wrong acquisition through greed and corruption, which he condemned because it reinforced economic inequality, robbed the poor of their right to the basic necessities of life and disregarded human dignity. “but those i attack are not the rich as such, only those who misuse their wealth. i point out constantly that those i accuse are not the rich but the rapacious. wealth is one thing, covetousness another. learn to distinguish” (homily on the fall of eutropius). in our modern era, the catholic church has continued this tradition of christian discourse on socio-economic matters through its corpus called catholic social teaching. the encyclical of john xxiii, pacem in terris (p.t.), (1963), discusses the issue of human rights from the christian perspective. on the question of poverty and food insecurity, john xxiii stated that the right to life is correlative with quality of life, that is, the right to a decent and healthy standard of living. to achieve a decent and healthy well-being, every person has the right to the use of and the responsibility to make use of the material goods of the earth as the common property of all. he wrote: beginning our discussion of the rights of man and woman, we see that every person has the right to life, to bodily integrity, and to the means which are necessary and suitable for proper development of life. these means are primarily food, clothing, shelter, rest, medical care and finally the necessary social means (p.t., 11).the right of every person to life is correlative with the duty to preserve it; his right to a decent standard of living, with the duty of living it becomingly (p.t., 29). gaudium et spes (g.s.) of the the second vatican council, 1965, also lamented the scandal of the co-existence of widespread affluence and abject poverty in nations and in the international communities. the document condemned the socio-economic imbalance that makes the rich grow richer, while the poor languish for lack of the basic necessities of life. it observed that: “never has the human race enjoyed such an abundance of wealth, resources and economic power, and yet a huge proportion of the world's citizens are still tormented by hunger and poverty, while countless numbers suffer from total illiteracy” (g.s., 4). it will be recalled that the above observation and statement was made a few years before the first crisis of food insecurity in nigeria hit international news with the outbreak of hunger 11 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 and malnutrition in the south-east, in 1968, during the nigeria/biafra civil war, 1967-1970. thousands of children were starved to death, while the political gladiators of the nation scrambled over the control of resources. caritas internationalis, the catholic relief agency, played a key role in airlifting food and medical supplies to save lives of the starving population of south-east nigeria. according to ezeh, (2012), cardinal francis arinze affirmed that caritas planes flew into biafra every night from 1968 to 1970, making as many as 40 flights in their best nights. unfortunately, hunger and abject poverty have once again resurfaced in nigeria with a high record of 60.9% of the population living below poverty line in 2010, a trend that reached the point of declaring nigeria the world's capital of poverty in 2018 as observed above. the empirical study of ezeh, (2017), has revealed that corrupt practices, violent crimes and social injustice are three key factors that impede sustainable development in nigeria, thus preventing millions of its citizens from enjoying the benefits of the nation's rich human and natural resources. in view of this prevailing situation, christian social teaching is relevant in addressing the moral malaise in nigeria which robs its citizens of their rights to the use and enjoyment of their common material goods. indeed, christian social teaching carries with it important ethical implications and challenges. it demands a reform of lifestyle to reject greed and corruption in order to enable everyone to have a healthy and descent standard of living and thus, put a check to widespread socio-economic inequality. it challenges the rich to adopt a simple lifestyle that uphold fairness in the use of the common good and makes the poor less dependent on charity and palliatives. as noted by john chrysostom: “not to enable the poor to share in our goods is to steal from them and deprive them of life” (homily 11). ezeh (2015), has also asserted that a reform of lifestyle, in the perspective of christian social teaching, “transcends mere sharing of personal resources with the needy to adopting a lifestyle inclusive of the poor as a responsible partner in the common good.” furthermore, christian social teaching demands a reform of structures, laws and policies to benefit the poor and thus reduce poverty and inequality. this demands the nigerian government to make laws and evaluate its socio-economic policies from the perspective of how they would affect the most vulnerable in the society. according to paul vi: it is not just a matter of eliminating hunger, nor even of reducing poverty. the struggle against destitution, though urgent and necessary, is not enough. it is a question, rather, of building a world where every man and woman, no matter their race, religion or nationality, can live a fully human life, freed from servitude imposed on them by other people or by natural forces over which they have not sufficient control; a world where freedom is not an empty word and where the poor man lazarus can sit down at the same table with the rich man. this demands great generosity, much sacrifice and unceasing effort on the part of the rich person (populorum progressio, 47). in the christian understanding of the problem of poverty and food insecurity, paul vi calls for a heroic christian spirit of sacrifice and solidarity between the rich and the poor at the individual, national and international levels. christian social teaching is therefore most relevant in discussing poverty and food insecurity in contemporary nigeria because it addresses the question of greed, corruption and social injustice which has crippled the economy of nations, nigeria in particular, reinforced inequality and rendered millions poor and hungry and advances a reform of lifestyle, policies and structures as panacea. this approach is, of course, complements the indispensable role of boosting agricultural revolution in curtailing poverty and food insecurity, which has been advocated by the un food and coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 12 agriculture organisation (fao) and has been developed in scholarly studies like de muro and mazziota (2011). conclusion the study has underscored the reality of poverty and food insecurity in nigeria. it has highlighted the ethical dimension of this problem as an unacceptable assault on human dignity and an infringement on the fundamental human rights of every person to a healthy life and well-being. the paper has also disclosed how the nigerian successive government policies have consistently spent very low fund on the human development sectors of health, education and social welfare. consequently, millions of nigerians have been subjected to suffer hunger and live in extreme poverty, while a few enjoyed the luxury of the nation's oil wealth. furthermore, the paper discussed how christian social teaching could be relevant in ridding the country of greed, corruption and injustice and in awakening the conscience of nigerians to their ethical responsibilities. in view of this, the study has made some useful recommendations. recommendations ·nigerian government should increase its gpd spending on the human development sectors of health, education and social welfare. ·social and economic structures should be reformed to enhance justice and equity, and make the poor inclusive partners in the use of the common goods of the nation. ·nigerian citizens, the rich, politicians, the clergy and pastors should reform their lifestyle to make the poor less dependent on palliatives and charity. ·palliatives to the poor by governments, ngos, religious bodies and rich individuals should serve only as short-term solution. ·education on social justice should form an integral part of the school curriculum of all levels from primary to tertiary institutions. ·all levels of nigerian governments should sponsor and prioritise farming, while 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(2015). the pact of the catacombs and the church in africa. in pikaza, x. & da silva, j.a. the pact of the catacombs: the mission of the poor in the church. navarra (spain): verbo divino, 143-164. food security definitions and measures – food and agriculture. retrieved from iwe, n.s. (1986). the history and contents of human rights: a study of the history and interpretation of human rights. new york, berne: peter lang. j o h n c h r y s o s t o m o n w e a l t h a n d p o v e r t y . r e t r i e v e d f r o m https://www.sjmunson.wordpress.com. john xxiii. (1963). pacem in terris: peace on earth. nairobi: pauline publications. john paul ii. (1987). sollicitude rei socialis: on social concern. nairobi: pauline publications. leo xiii. (1891). rerum novarum: on the condition of workers. nairobi: pauline publications. nigeria: fao in emergencies. (2018). retrieved from nigeria becomes world's capital of poverty. 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(1996). retrieved from . yakubu, t, (2020). the impact of poverty on insecurity in nigeria. retrieved from http://www.researchgate.net.3399... coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 14 page 1 page 2 page 3 page 4 page 5 page 6 page 7 page 8 page 9 page 10 page 11 page 12 page 13 page 14 text book journal pdf sis. noelle abstract god created mankind for them to experience his love and reciprocate it for their good. he expects mankind to worship him with their whole being. this concern that is shown to god is expected to be reciprocated in their families and by extension, their communities. the general meaning of the greek word agapç as used in mark 12:28-34 is goodwill, affection, respect, benevolence, and concern for the welfare of the loved. today, double allegiance is in the increase to the extent that some christians have turned around to give to deities, shrines, images of animals, and even trees this agapç that is due for god and above all there is hatred between believers living together. the problem now is that some christians have gods instead of god and are in disarray today in their families. this study aims to expose that the above problems persist mainly because there are few authentic christians who understand the full meaning of the content of mark 12:28-34. this study adopts textual criticism in the exegesis of mark 12:28-34 as well as library research to unravel the intentions god expects from mankind towards himself and towards themselves. the study discovers that one of the major causes of the increase in double allegiance is the fact that the christianity that came to igbo land was a divided one. it recommends that leaders of the different christian churches have to return to the basics to straighten the strayed relationship between them if they are to remain relevant in the world. this study argues that the understanding of the above passage will bring out true worship of god and the harmonious relationship in various christian families. significantly, this work will be of immense benefit to igbo christians and indeed all christians. key words: value, love, christian, igbo, experience. introduction: the term dinwenum is an igbo word that has been christianised and used with capital 'd' when it refers to god. this means that word had been in existence before the advent of the missionaries. till the advent of the missionaries, it used to be a name an igbo woman calls her husband. the hebrews also share a similar world view with igbo where a wife addresses her husband as "lord/master" 'adon' (1peter 3:6; gen. 18:12) or where a servant addresses his owner as a master. no one can serve two masters at the same time or wife of two husbands at the same time (luke 16:13-15). it is a taboo among the igbos, jews and christians (matt. 6:24; mark 10:2-12; luke 16:18; 1 cor. 7:39). all these are to abhor divided attention when it comes coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 01 ezeogamba, anthony chukwuemeka odumegwu ojukwu university anambra state love (mark. 12:28-34): the greatest value that marks out good christians the igbo christian experience to marriage. it is only love that assures oneness in any relationship marriage, relationship with god, fellow human beings. so the concept of "dinwenu" or "di m" emphasizes belongingness, the person has no other one except the acclaimed. it was not used originally among igbos to refer to god because they have gods. rather, it was used to refer to a husband who is one with the wife. before the advent of christianity in igboland, the igbos knew the importance of togetherness which was manifested in the cultural values which they were living out and these cultural values include: a sense of community life; good human relationships; the sacredness of life; hospitality towards visitors; the sense of the sacred and religion; respect for authority and the elders (onwubiko, 1971, p.13) as well as a sense of 'nwanne' (brotherhood). hence the igbo proverb, o nuru ube nwanne agbakwala oso (he who hears the cry of a brother/sister should not keep quiet). these are signs of having been keeping the greatest commandment – love – though not universalised in the same intensity. the coming of the missionaries did not actually strengthen these cultural values generally. but they were strengthened denominationally, which was manifested then strongly among the newly baptised, converts and especially in the christian villages. obi, (1985, pp.35-36) says, "the buying back of slaves led to the opening of the christian village a temporary compromise between europe and africa, where the inmates lived a very strictly regulated life with definite hours for prayers, play and work. the missionaries considered it a most favourable circumstance where the catholic doctrine could be imparted to the catechumens away from the neutralizing influence of non-christian neighbours, protestants and some merchants/civil servants". the above information exposes also the rivalries that existed among the early christians and thus making their practice of agapç questionable. those that lived in the christian villages saw one another as brothers and sisters in the lord who happen to have one "father who is god" (obi, 1985, p.3). this implies that when people worship the same god, they tend to see one another as close brothers and sisters. unfortunately, this oneness that had existed and manifested through cultural values before the coming of christianity among the igbos was not actually strengthened by the implantation of christianity in igboland, except denominationally. it is, therefore, waning speedily today among christians in general and the igbo in particular. this, no doubt, must have been caused by a lack of understanding of god and neighbour in our existence here on earth. once one understands the above clearly, one will automatically love god with all of one's heart, soul, mind, and strength as well as love one's neighbour as one's self. but igbo christians seem not to still unanimously believe in one god; there are many gods among the igbos coupled with the bad economic situation of the nigerian nation as a whole. hence, the self is enthroned over neighbour. though when the majority of igbo were worshipping gods other than christian god, they believed that a god can be dropped when its potency is not strong enough to defend one. that is why the igbo then could move from their town to other towns looking for a more potent god or gods to defend them and wherever such a god(s) is seen, its inhabitants were highly respected lest their god strikes you. hence, double allegiance was not considered sinful among them then. 02 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 explication of some keywords: it is good to understand some terms that will help us to appreciate this topic clearly. value comes from the greek words axia, timç and antimo. axia, for instance, means value, worth, merit, valuation, denomination, worthiness. again, the greek word, timç means price, value, cost, honour, rate, fare. finally, the greek word, antimo simply means value (www.definitions.net). this shows that the word "value" has so many nuances in meaning but all are pointing towards the same thing. hence, in this write up we shall take value to be, "principles or standards of behaviour; one's judgment of what is important in life" (dictionary.combridge.org). we listed above the principles or values, which igbo lived with before the coming of the missionaries though subjectively and not fully universalised among them as a result of the existence of many gods in their community. hence, it does not mean that igbo as an ethnic group lived harmoniously with themselves before the missionaries came. since intertribal wars and even land disputes were prevalent then. love is the greatest and centre of all values. it is the source of harmony between mankind and mankind and their maker (god). in the english language, one word stands for love but in the greek language, there are at least eight words that explain different types of love. let us, therefore, list them and point out the one we mean whenever we talk of christian love, which is 'the greatest of all virtues as well as all commandments.' they include: (a) eros which stands for passionate, physical and emotional love based on aesthetic enjoyment; the stereotype of romantic love. this is a type of love prostitutes and harlots indulge in. (b) ludus, which stands for a love that is played as a game or sport; conquest; anyone who exhibits it may have multiple partners at once. it is the type of love unfaithful people and those who worship different gods indulge in. (c) storge meaning an affectionate love that slowly develops from friendship, based on similarity. it is a type of love that a boy and girl or a man and a maiden can be in, in a temporal way. it can also be the type of love that may easily exist between dog owners and their dogs. (d) pragma is a type of love that is driven by the head, not the heart. it is a love that has almost no feeling for the other. it is a love that calculates and it is also selfish. (e) mania: it is obsessive love; anyone that has it experiences great emotional highs and lows; those that have it are very possessive and often they are jealous lovers. people with it can kill anyone who stands in their way to meet their lover. people engaged in this type of love can easily commit suicide especially if their lover rejects them or if the object of their love is taken away. (f) philia love sustains one in a team or a group or in a family. it is the love parents have for their children. simply put, this is a family type of love. (g) philautia is clearly self-love, being kind to oneself, completely a selfish love. it is a type of love an ouroboros animal has for itself; for it brings itself into existence and removes itself out of existence. (h) the last and the greatest is agape. this is a selfless and altruistic love; it is spiritual love, the type of love that unites christians to christ. this is the type of love we are really talking about and which jesus used in mark 12:28-34 (reed, 2019). in this work, therefore, whenever we mention christian 'love' we are talking of agape. it is the love that ought to exist between christians and the type that ought to exist between god and mankind. another word that needs explaining is "christian/christians" for a clear understanding of the topic under consideration. in the words of ezeogamba (2019, pp. 6-7), coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 03 this name historically was given to the followers of jesus christ by those who were outside the community of believers (acts 11:26) as well as in acts 26:28), it was used sarcastically by king agrippa so as to chide paul. that is, the name was not what the followers of jesus christ gave to themselves but what they received derogatorily because they were behaving like christ. the name in actual fact presents them as people who belong to christ (1 peter 4:16). the emphasis is that the name was given to them because they were behaving like christ (phil. 2:8-10). baptism remains the only gate through which one joins the community of christians. his followers are happy to answer christians because he proved to them a true friend and brother by altruistically dying for them when they were still sinners (rom. 5:8-10; john 15:15; mark 3:35). the implication of the above is that all the baptized are christians and they are brothers and sisters of jesus christ, and god is the father of all. they are guided together by the principles of agape, which are altruistic in nature. this shows that among christians, the value that guides them is agape in its naturalness. division, hatred and selfishness are not part of the qualities of christians and their communities but togetherness, oneness, unity and agape are their inseparable qualities, both as individuals and as a community (john17:21). in summary, paul wrote to the christians in ephesus thus, "be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in christ god forgave you. be imitators of god, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to god" (eph. 4:32-5:2). in this work, therefore, christians are seen as the followers of christ. akponevwe, (2011, p.28) reflecting on the early christians, is of the opinion that pagans in the early period of the church used to admire the type of conviviality and joy that used to radiates when a christian finds oneself in the midst of other christians; he used just a phrase to summarize the opinions of the pagans as they admired the early christians thus, "see how they love themselves". hence, as a result, many came to join them and became christians. for the igbo, they shared some of the above-mentioned qualities of christians but theirs become weaker in intensity as it goes beyond the family circle, kindred, village, town, etc. their communal relationship is not the same as it is between people of the same kindred and as it is between people of different kindred. but as for christians, theirs is universal brotherhood and sisterhood. the igbos were guided by philia love before the coming of the missionaries. that is why they can tell you that 'blood is thicker than water." again, "onye ya na umunnaya anoghi di ka ukpala e fopuru nku ya nile" (he who is excommunicated from his kindred is like a grasshopper whose wings had been plucked out). hence, the concept of nwanne (brethren) is very strong among the igbos. in other words, it is parochial. before the advent of the missionaries, igbos do things in stages. for instance, a dictum that says, "charity begins at home" is absolutely true among igbo because of the philia love that is very pronounced among them. hence the igbo adage, "nwanne onye na agba ajo egwu, oko iku an-ako ya," (if one's brother dances abnormally, his brethren cover their faces in shame); again, "ihere na-eme nwanne onyeara" (brethren are ashamed whenever a member of their family is mad). this is why family, umunna (extended family), kindred, village, and town 04 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 see themselves as people of the same stock but the cohesion reduces as the relationship goes beyond the family circle. this is to the extent that the igbo take care of their indigent family members and even the mentally deranged ones. they even go to the extent of bringing wives for the impotent and mentally deranged members of their family to maintain their lineage. before the advent of missionaries, one rarely sees a beggar in igboland as a result of each family taking care of themselves. wherever there is a dispute between brothers or sisters, it is first of all handled in the family, if the family is not able to settle it, then umunna is invited, if not kindred, if not the village and once it reaches the town, then it has reached the final stage of litigation. disputes handled in the level of town is like the case handled by the present-day supreme court. igbo people are not cannibalistic. what is very clear is that even before the advent of the missionaries, it was a taboo for one to cannibalise any member of his family or kindred, it must be someone that is absolutely unknown (purwarno, 2017). this implies that those principles we mentioned above, which we reported that igbo had before the coming of the missionaries, were not really universalized among the igbo then and that the love they had for one another is not agape but philia love. they were practised efficiently in the family circles and at most on the town level but beyond the town anything is possible. hence, igbo believe that one is always free and comfortable in the midst of his kith and kin. it is, therefore, no exaggeration to say that it is a scandal for one to be afraid before his relatives. if it happens, then, know that, that person must have committed one abomination or the other, hence the saying, "okuko nyuo aru, ala achuba ya oso" (when the chicken messes up, the land pursues it). exegesis of mark 12:28-34: let us now exegetically consider the meaning of the instruction jesus gave in the above passage and see how it is practiced among igbo christians of eastern nigeria. here, we consider the following: the remote and immediate context, unity, textual criticism, semantic interpretation, and content interpretation of the text as well as its practicability among igbo christians. remote and immediate context of mark 12:28-34: remotely, jesus was discussing several misbehaviours of the pharisees, sadducees and scribes that may deprive them the kingdom of god at the end of life. he used such parable as the parable of the wicked tenants (mark 12:1-12). the immediate context of mark 12:28-34 is question and answer section jesus engaged in with the pharisees, scribes and sadducees as one of his methodologies. thus, he was asked several questions, which included paying or not paying tax (mark 12:13-17), and the reality of the resurrection of the dead (18-27). it was based on that question and answer that a scribe who had listened to them debating with jesus appreciated that jesus had given good answers as an expert and put a further question to him, thus, 'which is the first of all the commandments?'(v.28). the unnamed scribe saw jesus as wisdom personified, and thus threw the above question to him. he had the impression that jesus had the answer to all questions because of the way he handled the questions from others. coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 05 unity of the text: mark 12:28-34 is a unit. it began with a question and ended with the answer to the question. as a result, the text began with the greek word epçrôtçsen "questioned" (v.28) and ended with eperôtçsai "to question" (v.34); they formed inclusion for the text. in synoptic tradition just as mark reported this idea in 12:28-34; matthew has it in 22:35-40; whereas luke has it in 10:2528. we shall look at their nuances below but suffice it mention that they are all single units in their various gospels. in resume, from verses 28 to 34 of mark, the content is about the greatest commandment that can ensure oneness between humans and between humans and god. textual criticism: all the verses in this text have one critical problem or the other. verse 28 has two critical problems namely replacement of a word and transposition of words. the following manuscripts ¥2 a b 33 ? co replaced idôn which is nominative masculine singular, second aorist, active participle from the word eidon meaning "of perception by sight, see, perceive" (perschbacher, 1990, p.118). they replaced idôn with another word, eidôs, which is also a nominative masculine singular, perfect active participle from the word oida meaning "to know/to know-how" (perschbacher, 1990, p.289). the implication of this replacement is that the scribe knows with certainty that jesus has answered correctly the questions that were thrown to him but netle-aland has idôn which implies that the scribe from all standards perceived from the faces of all present and those who asked him questions that jesus had answered well his question to him. the following manuscripts are in harmony with nestlealand in preferring idôn to eidôs and they include, ¥* c (d) l w q ? and numerous others. based on the strength of these manuscripts we align and prefer idôn to eidôs. in this verse also, there is a transposition of the following words, apekrithç autois "he answered them." manuscripts like a d ? have autois apekrithç. they mean the same thing. verse 29 has two alternative readings of words. in the first set of alternative reading, nestle-aland's new testament greek text has apekrithç ho içsous "jesus answered" whereas other manuscripts like a c ? and others have ho de içsous apekrithç autô "but jesus answered to him". it is good to note that the added conjunction "de” also means "but"; "de is weaker than alla, often having no stronger meaning than and, being used simply to provide a link with what has gone before" (jay, 1987, p.56). in light of this, this alternative reading is editorial addition. since the addition of 'de' is just for connecting thoughts together, we still accept the content of nestle-aland in union with the following manuscripts ¥ b l d ø 33. again, in the second set of an alternative reading of words in this verse, nestle-aland has hoti prôtç estin "the first is". the word "hoti" is "often used pleonastically in reciting another's words" (perschbacher, 1990, p.299). in this case, it is used herein reciting jesus' words. it is used in reporting a statement made by another by an author. manuscripts like a c 33 al and others have hoti prôtç pantôn tôn entolôn "the first of all the commandments". this no doubt is an exegetical judgment made by the editors of those manuscripts. however, they both mean the same fundamentally. 06 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 in verse 30, there are five critical problems namely, three omissions of a word or words, one omission of a clause and one insertion. on the omissions, the manuscripts b d* x ?13 pc omitted tçs "the". these manuscripts cleverly removed this article in all the places it appeared in the text. it is abnormal for a greek text to omit article before a noun, or even adjective. greek is very benevolent in the use of the article. nestle-aland and all the most ancient manuscripts all retained the article tçs. these manuscripts even omitted this phrase, kai ex holçs tçs dianoias sou "and with all your mind." maybe they omitted it taking it to be superfluous. but nestle-aland has "with all your heart, soul, mind and strength." the four, no doubt, were used for the sake of emphasis. it brings out the meaning of the sentence. the sentence is more attractive and meaningful as it is than if it is removed. finally, the following manuscripts w q pc k a d etc inserted autç prôtç entolç "this (is) first commandment". this is a typical example of exegetical misjudgment. it is really irrelevant to add it in this verse. the verse as it is presently constituted gives enough information than following other manuscripts. verse 31 has one critical problem, which is an alternative reading of words. nestlealand has deutera autç "(the) second (is) this", whereas d?13 a and others have kai deutera omoia autç "and (the) second (is) like this". jesus was categorical, he did not use simile in his answer. the following more ancient manuscripts ¥ b l d ? and others supported the content of nestle-aland. the two commandments cannot be like one another but they are unique in themselves. this implies that what they have in common is that, 'just as you love god with your whole heart, soul, mind, and strength, love your neighbour as yourself with your whole heart, soul, mind and strength. there is one critical problem in verse 32, which is an omission of kai "and" by the following authorities, b pc sys.p. this is conjunction. its presence in this verse is very important for it links verse 31 and 32 together. verse 33 has four critical problems and they are omission, two alternative readings and an insertion. b ? pc omitted tçs "the", maybe, this is intended to have the same harmony with verse 30 above for it is still some of these manuscripts that omitted this article in verse 30 that omitted it here. in place of suneseôs "understanding" manuscripts, d q 563 it, have dunameôs "power, strength/ability." this is no doubt a mistake that must have resulted either from an aural mistake or exegetical misjudgement. the word dunameôs does not fit in this verse at all since we already have a similar word namely ischus "strength", which is a human strength whereas dunameôs is mystical power. in the second alternative reading, nestle-aland has ischus "strength" whereas manuscript d has psuchçs "soul". it is also a result of either an aural mistake or exegetical misjudgment or influence of deut. 6:4-5 where we have it thus, "listen, israel: yahweh our god is the one, the only yahweh. you must love yahweh your god with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength." in this case, there is nothing like "your mind." jesus, from every indication, improved on what the israelites used to know thus he mentioned four things with which one must love god with, namely, "heart, soul, mind and strength." these nuances have nothing to add to this sentence but all to detract from it. finally, in this verse, there is an insertion made by the following manuscripts, ¥ l d ? ? and others. they inserted tôn "the". the verse makes a better sense when it is inserted if one should follow the greek grammatical rule. it is relevant but since what we have in the text makes for a harder reading, we stick to it as being closer to the original. coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 07 verse 34 has two critical problems both of which are omission of words. nestle-aland in his new testament greek bible has auton "him" in the bracket, that means, it can be omitted without distorting the sentence, whereas manuscripts like ¥ d lw d q ? ? 1.13 and other important manuscripts all omitted it completely. the sentence of this verse can stand thus: "and jesus seeing that he answered sensibly . . ." and not, "and jesus seeing (him) that he answered sensibly . . ." (v.34). the present writer stands with the manuscripts that omitted auton completely. there is also the omission of the ei "if" by the following manuscripts ¥* l ¥2 d ? 892. nestle-aland saw ei as sort of personal pronoun, which it is not. it remains conjunction that introduces a conditional sentence. it can only be accepted when one thinks deep and be convinced that maybe jesus originally said, "if you have known this, then, you are not far from the kingdom of god" but that was not the case. so the present writer prefers to incline with the manuscripts that omitted it to nestle-aland. having established the text and known the level of its authenticity, let us now look at the semantics of mark 12:28-34. semantics of mark 12:28-34: there are some words that need to be explained so as to throw deeper light in the understanding of the above topic. understanding them will further reveal that love of god and neighbour is the surest sign that one is a christian. the word grammateôn is a noun, genitive plural, masculine gender from the greek word grammateu which can stand for any of the following among the jews: 'scribe, clerk, secretary (ezr. 4:8), teacher (jer. 8:8-9; acts 5:34), interpreter of the law or lawyer (luke 10:25).' scribes are the source of talmud and mishnah. hence "after the jews returned from exile, they formed communities of scribes to preserve and circulate the scriptures that had become so precious to them" (packer, and tenny, 1980, p.68). it was their responsibility to explain the scriptures and were later known as the masoretes. scribes are closely associated with the pharisees as far as the torah is concerned. they were a prominent group among the jews but they are not a sect in judaism instead they are in the same party or sect with the pharisees. they became most prominent after the destruction of the jerusalem temple when law became the only rallying point for the jews. it can be said that all scribes are pharisees but not all pharisees are scribes. in 1 cor. 1:20 paul sees the scribes as experts in the law. hence, robinson, (2005, p.1536) says: during the time of christ the scribes exerted a powerful religious influence as teachers, and because of their ability to make judicial decisions based on scriptural exegesis, occupied important positions in the sanhedrin (matt 16:21; 26:3). in the latter capacity, they played a major role in bringing on the crucifixion of jesus (mark 14:43; 15:1). they and the pharisees to whose party they mainly belonged (mark 2:16; acts 23:9), usually opposed jesus (matt 7:29) because he exposed their traditions and the false exegesis they used in order to preserve a legal system. later they persecuted the apostles (acts 4:5) and stephen (acts 6:12) for the same reason. 08 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 this does not mean that none of them followed christ. there were some scribes that followed christ (matt. 8:19). some of them even aligned with paul against the sadducees who did not believe in the resurrection of the dead or in the existence of angels or spirit (acts 23:9). paul from every indication must have been a scribe before his conversion (acts 22:3; 26:10-11). so scribes are a knowledgeable, honourable and powerful set of people among the jews. no one can impress them, or dares to argue with them and indeed no one can easily defeat them in an argument. that is why it is really novel and noble to read in mark 12:28 that "one of the scribes who had listened to them debating appreciated that jesus had given a good answer and put a further question to him." the implication is that he has seen someone who is more knowledgeable than all the members of his group. suzçtountôn is what attracted the scribe to jesus. suzçtountôn is a verb, present participle active mood, genitive masculine plural, from the word suzçteô meaning, "reasoning together, arguing, debating." the tone of verse 28 indicates that they were reasoning together and superior reasoning carried the day. jesus' exceptional reasoning made the scribe to come closer and to ask his own question. prôtç is an adjective, nominative, feminine singular meaning, "first". the implication of "first" is the idea of others. there are so many laws to the extent that one does not know the order again. all laws seem to be important, but there ought to be laws that would be more important than the others. such a question provokes that. this must have been caused by the problems raised by the existence of mishnah, talmud and midrash. "the mishnah are short explanations of the torah. the talmud is long and complex explanations of the mishnah. the midrash are commentaries on the tanach (which include the books of the torah and the books of prophets)"[https://www.google.com]. the implication is that mishnah, talmud and midrash expanded the torah beyond imagination, hence, the question of which is the first of the commandments? there is no doubt that the questioner was really overwhelmed by the six hundred and thirteen laws (613) [harrington, 1997], which were the products of the original ten commandments that were given to moses at mount sinai which the scribes multiplied. when he was asking for the first, he was talking of the first entolç. entolç is nominative, feminine singular, meaning "commandment." what comes to mind here readily is the ten commandments which god wrote on tablets of stone and gave to moss (exod. 20:126; deut. 5:1-22). the ten commandments, which god gave to mankind through moses were originally meant to maintain a good relationship between god and neighbour. for mankind to understand that god is the creator of heaven and earth and the one that sustains the world in existence. every honour and adoration belongs to him and him alone. since god created all, we are all his children and as a result, we must individually respect one another as brothers in progress. out of the ten commandments, only the first three are directed to the honour of god and numbers four to ten are for good human relationships (broderick, 2005, p.135). this implies that the commandment can comfortably be divided into two parts as affirmed by jesus in his answer to what the scribe asked. another important word is heis, which is an adjective, nominative masculine singular, meaning, "one". that means he god is one and no other; he is the one and only god. this implies that the god who created heaven and earth is one and only god who can never share coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 09 his glory with any other creature (exod 20:5; 34:14; deut. 4:35, 39; 6:4; 32:39; psalm 18:31; mark 12:29-34; john 17:3; rom 3:30; eph. 4:6; gal. 3:20; 1 cor. 8:4-6; 1 tim. 2:5; james 2:19 etc) on earth, every child has only one father and in heaven only one god. it pains a father after giving something to his child and the child goes away to thank another man telling him that 'he is his life.' how much more god who gave us life and we go about praising idols as gods. agapçseis is another important word that throws light to the text. agapçseis is a verb, future indicative active mood, second person singular, from the word, agapaô "love". this is what unifies the two relationships the relationship between god and mankind as well as between humankind themselves. mankind is mandated to love god with their whole heart, soul, mind and strength and mankind is also required to love their neighbours as themselves (vv 30-31). we have yet another connecting word namely, deutera, which is an adjective, nominative feminine singular, meaning, "second". just as we stated above, the fact that there is "one" shows that there are others. in this case, the fact that there is "second" shows that there is "first". the implication is that there is order and that order is the order of importance. hence, love of god is first and love of neighbour is second, though each is unique in itself; but none can exist without the other (v.31). hence, no one can love god effectively without loving his neighbour. plçsion is an adverb meaning "neighbour". this takes care of the centre of the second leg of the two most important of all the commandments. it is clear that once love is shown to god and to neighbour, one has proven to be a christian worth the name. neighbour does not just mean a person living next door to us or very near to us or members of my household, village, town, instead, neighbour embraces all the above and includes even more especially according to ezeogamba, (2013, p. 51) who says, "a person of any nation, who is in need of any kindness, is our neighbour". the implication is that every human being is your neighbour in christ. seauton is another word that attracted the attention of the researcher. this is because, jesus says, "you shall love your neighbour as yourself" (v. 31). the word seauton is a personal possessive pronoun, accusative case, masculine gender, second person singular, meaning, "yourself". it is a reflexive pronoun without nominative, the original form of the word is seautou. the implication is that the love you show to your neighbour can only be christian when you love your neighbour as much as you love yourself. this is very hard for it advocates the suppression of the self. this is because the majority of people are selfish even without knowing that. this is evident when one considers the way people get employment in institutions owned by either federal or state governments, admissions into various universities whether private, state or federal and so many other areas. the dictum of "ima mmadu" (nepotism) is prevalent in all that. the moment everything is subjected to merit and nepotism abhorred, then the love of neighbour as oneself will shine out. this is the reason behind the culture in igbo land where if there is anything to be shared, for instance, meat, it has to be shared by the youngest person since he will eventually be the last to select at the end of the day. in that case, he will make an honest effort to share it equally unlike the way he would have done it if he were to be the first to select. 10 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 mark 12:28-34 (matt 22:35-40; luke 10:25-28) in synoptic tradition: the synopsis of the three gospels shows that each presenter used a different context to suit his audience. what is clear and common from the three gospels is that the questioner is a member of the pharisee sect. mark named him a scribe, matthew named him one of the pharisees, and luke called him a lawyer. based on our explanations above, the three gospels used different terminologies to represent the same person. only matthew and luke agree that he was not asking for knowledge but to test jesus. all three agree that love of god and neighbour are the two most important commandments and that on them hang all others. only mark and matthew divided them into first and second laws, whereas luke joined them together with a conjunction "kai". only mark and matthew asked, "which is the first of all the commandments?" whereas luke was asking "what must i do to inherit eternal life?" in mark and matthew, it was jesus that answered the question quoting the law but numbering them according to their importance whereas in luke the question was meticulously thrown back to the lawyer and he answered it himself by quoting what is written on the law. only mark and luke have loving god with one's whole heart, soul, mind and strength whereas matthew have only one's whole heart, soul and mind. it is no exaggeration to say that matthew and luke paraphrased mark, as a result, one could notice some editorial fatigues. the implication is that mark 12:28-34 is part of triple tradition and happens to be the source for matthew and luke. thematic interpretation of mark 12:28-34: for easy interpretation, this passage is divided into three subsections thus: opening remarks and questions (v. 28), answer (vv. 29-31) and evaluation from the scribe and jesus (vv. 32-34). (a) opening remarks and questions (v.28): it is not everyone that certain questions are thrown to. jesus received the question from the scribe because of what he is to people and what he proved to be before the scribe that threw the question to him. jesus presented himself as a better teacher, one who provides a better interpretation than other rabbis. this is self-evident in matt 5: 20-48. in these verses, he gave a proper interpretation of the laws as they ought and authoritatively as the owner of the law. in mark 1:22 jesus was seen as being greater than the scribes because he teaches with authority beyond the capacity of the scribes. most probably, in this verse, the scribe had seen jesus as the superior one. such a thought must have moved the scribes, pharisees and sadducees to see him as a great rabbi. discussing which of the commandment is the greatest is one of the things rabbis used to do. (b) answer (vv. 29-31): a cursory look on these verses shows that jesus was asked for the greatest commandment but he gave an answer to the greatest as well as the one that is closely following it since he knows actually what the questioner had wanted to hear and know. mentioning them together does not coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 11 in any way show equality of the two but he provided them in their descending order of importance, first and second. in answering the question, jesus followed the jewish understanding of the law and thus combined two laws together namely deut 6:4-5; and lev. 19:18. it is not really a new law but none had ever seen them as the greatest of the commandments. following jesus, paul exposed in 1 cor. 13:13 that "three things last, faith, hope and charity, but the greatest is charity." it is good to know that the principle of these two laws jesus named 'first and second' is "love" (keener, 1993, p.169). jesus in answering the question goes back to the root and thus confirm his statement elsewhere, "i came not to abolish but to fulfil" (matt. 5:17). what jesus answered is really an impeccably orthodox answer, which is the love of god and neighbour known as the shema (deut. 6:4-5; lev. 19:18) [black, 2010. p.671]. in the same way, howard, and peabody, (1998, pp.1424-1425) said, in answering the question, jesus does not seek to prioritize among the six hundred and thirteen acknowledged commandments. instead, he goes again to a more fundamental level, to the commandment on which all other commandments are based, the shema (deut. 6:4-5), the prayer prayed daily by jews (vv. 29-30). unbidden, he adds the second, again quoting scripture, this time from lev. 19:18b, and concludes that no commandment is greater than the commands to love god and love the neighbour, a sentiment not unknown in judaism. in the love of god, it was pointed out that one must love god with the four nouns namely, heart, soul, mind and strength. these refer not to different parts of the body "but are a way of stressing that the whole person should love god with all available resources" (harrington, 1997, p.622). in the love of god, there should be no distraction and that is why it is emphasised that there is one god. the two commandments are predicated with love. love is their underlying strengths. to give credence to the above two commandments, peter admonished christians thus, "above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering god's grace in its various forms" (1 pet. 4:8-10). (c) evaluation from both the scribe and jesus (vv.32-34). the questioner did not just commend jesus for answering him properly, he even amplifies his assessment of what jesus said using the following passages deut. 4:35; 1 sam 15:22; isa 45:5, 21; hos. 6:6; mic. 6:6-8. the implication is that the scribe even added other passages to solidify and authenticate what jesus had answered. he spoke as if he was trying to repeat what had already been said by jesus but in actual fact, he was manifesting his satisfaction. simply put, he affirmed what jesus answered and showed that he was satisfied. the response of this scribe made jesus make an enigmatic response to him, “you are not far from the kingdom of god” (v.34). the implication is that he is not yet complete. knowledge is not enough; one must put what he knows into practice before one can fully be part of the kingdom. that is why medical doctors agree that naming your sickness is the first stage of getting cured or closest road to one's cure (black, 2010). howard and peabody, (p.1425) are of the opinion that, "the nearness of this scribe to 12 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 the reign of god with this understanding of the law signals a form of judaism in which gentile christians could easily see the roots of their own faith". hence, anyone who knows the above greatest commandment is on the road already to the destination. as a result of this, no one asked him any question again. igbo on the love of god and neighbour: the igbo people had some cultural values that showed that they practiced love of neighbour among themselves before the advent of missionaries in eastern nigeria. the mentioned cultural values were not actually upheld by the missionaries except denominationally. this is because the christianity they brought to nigeria was a divided christianity. the missionaries seemed to have only four things in common, namely, christ, bible, the name 'christians' and denominational love, that is, love that is not universal. the picture of the family jesus left behind has "love of god and love of neighbour" as a badge. the picture of this family/ community of believers which jesus left behind in the world can be seen in acts 2:42-47. it shows that the early christians truly lived like a body. according to the above passage, "the believers devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers" (acts 2:42). this was when the church was still truly one, apostolic, holy, universal and guided by the agapç. this is a verse that is packed with meaning. it challenges and offers direction for the church of today. for instance, then, "they devoted themselves:" the word devoted comes from the greek present participle proskarterountes which means "continue faithfully", "remain constant", "continuing steadfastly". all these nuances point out the idea of total submission and acceptance to what the apostles were doing with them and for them. obedience and devotion in following seemed to be the watchword of the early christians. because agapç has disappeared, this spirit of devotion to the teachings of the apostles is dying today and needs to be revived. another word is 'teaching' which comes from the greek word didachç, which means, the compendium of the teachings of the apostles that originates from what they learnt from christ. the message has been watered down today hence very many denominations in christendom which are making it impossible to practice agapç. another character of the early church is fellowship koinônia which means "sharing", "association", "fellowship". this is more than sitting together; it is fellowship in friendship or in love, sharing life together or experiences. early christians were also noted to fellowship also in the breaking of bread. breaking of bread refers either to an ordinary meal or to the celebration of the lord's supper (the eucharist). we gather on sundays and weekdays to celebrate the holy eucharist and leave the celebration to enter into the world to love and serve others through the breaking of ourselves not literally but spiritually for the welfare of others. if this was sustained and informed missionary enterprises in igboland, their cultural values would have been sustained. thus, christianity would have been stronger in igboland than any other place. hence, before the arrival of the missionaries to the eastern nigeria, the above qualities, namely proskarterountes, didachç,koinônia as well as agapç have all waned but domiciled in various denominations. this is to the extent that the missionaries were quarrelling among themselves as they were evangelising the igbos. in igboland, there are two main groups of coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 13 christian bodies that evangelised it and they include the roman catholic mission (rcm), the church missionary society (cms). by 1857 the cms mission was fully engaged and a diocese of cms was established in 1864 in eastern nigeria (https://rlp.hds.harvard.edu). on the other hand, rcm established properly in onitsha on 29th december 1885 (obi, 1985, p.3). these two groups despite the fact that they are christians were quarrelling continuously among themselves, in short, they were rivals. they struggled continuously as they were looking for converts. that rivalry has persisted today in igboland to the extent that political offices are determined by the christian denomination a particular candidate comes from especially in anambra state. the implication is that in any family, kindred, village, town where people attend the same christian denomination, they see one another as brothers and sisters and others as enemies. this is to the extent that catholics see anglicans as people who are queer in their behaviour. hence, the derogatory remark, "i na-akpa agwa ka ndi ceremesi" (you are behaving like a member of cms). this ugly behaviour of the early missionaries that evangelised igboland helped in no small way in weakening all the known cultural values that would have helped in the propagation of the christian message, hence, igboland was divided into pagans, catholics, anglicans/protestants religious bodies. such affected the unity of umunna (kindred members), umunne (family members), especially where the above three main religious affiliations exist. had it been that the christianity that came to igbo land was to be the type that respected the prayer of jesus in john 17:21 and the qualities of acts 2:42-47 then the godgiven cultural values of igbos would have been strengthened and promoted as christian values. it would have helped to change their orientation of running from time to time back to pagan practices. conclusion: we have been able to discover from the above that "love of god and love of neighbour" is indigenous to the igbo but not really universalized among them. the christian church that was fully united from the beginning allowed division to arise in their midst and this division destroyed the agapç that guided from the beginning the relationship that ought to exist between god and mankind and between humans. thus christianity entered into nigeria as denominations. with that spirit, they weakened what they would have strengthened in their midst. the researcher recommends that christians should return back to the basics and remain one. 14 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 references akponevwe, p. (2011). church: reflection of the triune god, an introduction to trinitarian ecclesiology. asa: west bow. black, c. (2010). the new interpreter's bible, one volume commentary. nashville: abingdon press broderick, r. ed. (2005). a to z guide to the catholic faith. nashiville: thomas nelson._______ defini t ions. net . stands4llc, 2020. "value." www.definitions.net/translate/value. ezeogamba, a. (2013). identification of a neighbour (luke 10:25-37) in nigerian multicultural context. in areopagus, journal of church & state relations. port harcourt: hebunit tech global pub. ezeogamba, a. (2019). christianity of christians: an exegetical interpretation of matt. 5:1316 and its challenges to christians in nigerian context. awka: fides media. jay, e. (1987). new testament greek: an introductory grammar. cambridge: university press. harrington, d.j. (1997). the gospel according to mark in the new jerome biblical commentary. london, strand: bath press. howard, v. & peabody, d. b. (1998). "mark" in the international bible commentary. bangalore: theological publication. keener, c. (1993). the ivp bible background commentary, new testament. illinois: intervarsity press. n e s t l e a l a n d , ( 2 0 0 1 ) . n o v u m te s t a m e n t u m g r a e c e . d e u t s c h e : biblegesellschaft. obi, c. (1985). a hundred years of the catholic church in eastern nigeria. onitsha: africana. onwubiko, o. (1991). african thought, religion & culture. enugu: snaap press. packer, j. and tenny, m. (eds). (1980). illustrated manners and customs of the bible. nashville: thomas nelson. perschbacher, w. (ed . ) . (1990) . the new analy t ica l greek lex icon . massachusetts: hendrickson pub. purwarno, p. (2017). cannibalistic okonkwo: a deconstructive perspective of chinua achebe's “things fall apart.". retrieved from www.researchgate.net. reed, j. (2020). unconditional love. retrieved from authorjoannereed.net. robinson, e. (2005). "scribe" in wycliffe bible dictionary. massachusetts: hendrickson pub. _________the igbo peopleorigins & history. retrieved from www.newworidencyclopedia.org. stands4llc, (2020). value. retrieved from definitions.net.www.definitions.net/translate/value. watts, r.e. (2007). "mark" in commentary on the new testament use of the old testament. england: baker academic. coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 15 page 1 page 2 page 3 page 4 page 5 page 6 page 7 page 8 page 9 page 10 page 11 page 12 page 13 page 14 page 15 jonal vol. 5 no. 4 new2.cdr indigenous language digitalisation and the dissemination of covid-19 information by marthe bekele matanda, phd (applied linguistics) marthe.fgbi@gmail.com department of applied linguistics & african languages the university of bamenda & victor ngu cheo, phd (associate professor of journalism and mass communication) vncheo@yahoo.com the university of bamenda abstract his study sets to find out if digitalised linguistic resources exist in indigenous languages, twhich can be used for the dissemination of covid-19 information in cameroon. since december 2019, the covid-19 virus has spread as a pandemic at an exponential rate throughout the world, threatening the development of nations across the globe . the cameroon government has therefore embarked on sensitizing its population through the media, but this is mostly carried out in either english or french languages, thus depriving many cameroonians with limited skills in these languages, of the right information. digitalised linguistic resources present an efficient alternative for the dissemination of health-related information. this study therefore aims at examining the availability of digitalised linguistic resources during the pandemic, and assessing their impact on the lives of cameroonians. it employed a mixed method for the collection of data. a questionnaire was issued to 155 respondents in rural communities in cameroon. the results reveal that sil, cabtal and other non-governmental organisations have translated the covid-19 information into several indigenous languages and have made them available through the media and the internet. unfortunately, the government does not take advantage of these resources. consequently, many cameroonians with limited skills in official languages are still ignorant of the danger of covid-19. the study, therefore, recommends collaboration between the government and policy makers with organizations involved in the promotion of indigenous languages, for the effective sensitisation of the entire cameroonian population. keywords: covid-19, cabtal, digitalisation; indigenous language, government, rural area. introduction the late 1950s and early 1960s marked a turning point in african history as this was when most african countries obtained independence from their colonial and trusteeship masters. although the latter eventually left, one of their colonial legacies is their languages which remain till date the official languages of many former colonies in africa. consequently, the use of the imperial language quickly gained ground to the detriment of the national languages (nana, 2016). since then, english and french started gaining ground in cameroon while the indigenous languages were being relegated to the background and given derogatory appellations (echu, 2003). this was further reinforced with the 1961 resolution in the foumban conference. the east and west cameroons met then, in preparation for the nation's independence. among the resolutions that were arrived at that conference, it was agreed that the official languages of cameroon would be the two colonial 1 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 mailto:marthe.fgbi@gmail.com languages which are english and french (echu, 2003). since then, the nation has used either french or english in every administrative, political, educational, and social domain. the national languages were then termed 'local' and unprofitable to contributing to the development and nation-building. since then, the national languages engaged in the struggle of surviving the ascendency of the colonial languages that were dominant in the media, in the educational system, in administration, in politics, and every other sphere of life. (ekanjume-ilongo, 2016). there have been a lot of debates on the negative effects of the use of colonial languages over african indigenous languages and in cameroon in particular (abari et al., 2013; chumbow, 2010). but, despite the overwhelming literature on the importance of the usage of mother tongue, many african nations, including cameroon are still reluctant in promoting indigenous african languages, let alone using them for official communication. this has a negative effect on the development of the continent. the choice of the language used in communicating official messages to the african population is crucial to a country as it affects the efficiency of the message disseminated. chumbow among many other writers believes that the colonial languages that are now used nationwide and that are used for the dissemination of official projects should be used as partner languages to our national languages which are a great wealth and treasure that should not be undermined when embarking on development projects (chumbow, 2009). the number of languages we have in cameroon is a fortune and resource to the nation and none should be neglected. they are a reflection of the linguistic and cultural diversity of cameroon which, if properly harnessed, can be used to enhance the development of the nation (chumbow, 2009). research problem disseminating information related to covid-19 in cameroon can be challenging when one considers the fact that, the nation boasts of about 280 indigenous languages and a good number of rural communities in which the majority of people are unable to communicate with either english or french language. there are some non-governmental organisations (ngos) that have taken upon themselves to translate the covid-19-related information messages from who into the national languages. such translated messages were digitalised in order to facilitate the dissemination of covid-19-related information to the entire cameroonian population. but, these digitalized indigenous languages are not extensively exploited for the dissemination of covid 19 information. thus, leaving the majority of cameroonians living in rural areas uninformed about the information related to the pandemic. showing that, proper attention is not given to the language used by people in rural areas. as abuiyada (2018) rightly remarks, “most development programmes are designed and implemented without giving attention to the exact need of the people at the grassroots level”. the exact needs of the people are not met because the language used in communicating on issues affecting their needs is foreign to them. objective of the study: this study aimed at identifying the presence of digitalised resources in indigenous languages for the dissemination of covid-19 information and the extent to which such material is used to communicate with the population. the hypothesis states that, there are no digitalised linguistic resources in indigenous languages available for the dissemination of covid-19 information. literature review overview linguistic situation of cameroon there are about 280 languages found in cameroon (sutton, 2013). these languages constitute a vast resource for the wealth and development of the nation. every resource can be beneficial to the community and can yield outstanding results if it is well managed. however, the latter can also be 2 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 detrimental or lead to the disaster of that very community when it is poorly managed. as it is for oil, wildlife, precious stones, so it is with all other resources (bamgbose, 2011; chumbow, 2009; sutton, 2013). as a resource among other multiple resources, language should therefore receive the appropriate consideration from policy-makers. after its independence and reunification in 1961, cameroon had to choose a language for its administrative, educational, political, and social domains. like any other former colony, the nation was faced with the challenge of selecting an indigenous language over others. the leaders, therefore opted for a linguistic homogenisation given that the different languages inherited from the imperial power, english, and french were to be given equal status (echu, 2003). the constitution of 1961 at foumban then declared cameroon a bilingual nation; this was reiterated in the constitution of 1996 with another clause on the protection and promotion of national languages (echu 2004). after receiving the full powers from the league of nations to administer cameroon, britain and france enforced and fostered the use of their languages into cameroon. the rejection of cameroon's indigenous languages started right after the arrival of the colonial masters on the cameroonian soil. the languages which had been vibrant and useful before their arrival, started to lose their vitality, strength and values. echitchi (2009) posits that, the indigenous languages had lost their prestige to the point that, they were not “fit” to be called languages, but “dialect” or “patois”. consequently, there is that conscious or unconscious promotion of the imperial languages in cameroon at the detriment of the indigenous languages. language experts over the years have seen the need to develop these indigenous languages and use them in various areas of development along with the official languages. this idea is supported by chumbow (2009) as according to him, the majority of the population (60-80 percent) does not speak the official languages and are automatically marginalized and excluded from development programs. but, because a nation is made up of people living in both urban and rural areas, those living in rural communities should not be excluded from any development initiative because they are linguistically limited. imoh (2013) remarks that rural people have historically been omitted from important information and development programmes. in fact, most development programmes are confined in languages that are understood only by the minority of the population, while the majority is kept in the darkness of ignorance and are unable to take part in the development of the nation in which they are active participants. he therefore, suggests that knowledge should be made available to everyone through the democratization of access to knowledge in a language or in languages people know best: an african language (chumbow, 2009). the advent of covid-19 clearly shows the challenges related to communication related to the dissemination of official information in cameroon. communication of covid-19 information in cameroon the definitions of communication are most often drawn from its etymology from the latin noun communicatio which means “sharing” or “imparting” (cobley & schulz, 2013). it is also derived from the latin word communis which means “to make common”, to “share” (velentzas & broni, 2015). communication is therefore a process by which two or more people exchange ideas, facts feelings opinions, or expressions in a way that each of them gains a common understanding of what is being communicated. according to velentzas and broni (2015), communication is "any act by which one person gives to or receives from another person information about that person's needs, desires, perceptions, knowledge, or affective states”. salawu (2006) complements it by stating that communication is a vehicle for education. when educating, it is important to pay attention to the language used for education, for, education cannot effectively take place if there is no common 3 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 language between the two parties. it is important to deliver the message to the masses or better still, educate them in the language they are familiar with, for it is adequate communication with the masses that yields effective collaboration in the education process. communication is central in changing an individual's behaviour, but this needs to be done effectively and efficiently. the successful implementation of covid-19 barrier measures does not only require a simple process of communication, but it should aim at establishing an effective communication. effective communication occurs when the desired outcome of information is attained. some possible purposes of effective communication can be to elicit change, generate action, create understanding, inform or communicate a certain idea or point of view (velentzas & broni, 2015). the absence of effective communication can give rise to an opposite outcome. without effective communication, there will be a sense of continuous domination, misunderstanding, misinterpretation; which will result in a lack of collaboration or reluctance to co-operate with the policy makers. the issue of effectiveness in communication becomes more prominent when it concerns life-threatening issues such as the covid-19. in cameroon, when faced with the threat of death because of the covid-19 pandemic, the language used in the dissemination of information related to the pandemic has mostly been either english or french. the ministerial decree stating the rules for the control and prevention of the pandemic in cameroon clearly states in article 8, “this decree will be registered, published according to the emergency procedure, then inserted in the official journal in french and english” (arrêté no 0824 minsante du 09 avril 2020). akumbu (2020) points out that, though the preventive measures are clearly stated and available, many cameroonians who do not understand any of the official languages cannot access it, and are consequently exposed to the risk of being uninformed or misinformed. the use of the two official languages in the dissemination of information is a way of alienating cameroonians with little or no literacy in the said languages. they unwillingly find themselves unable to make informed decisions on how to behave because the language used denies them access to basic information about how to keep themselves and their families safe from the pandemic. because “ignorance is a disease which only knowledge can cure” (chumbow, 2009), many people, regardless of their technical skills, have embarked on a search for the right information through any available media so they can be kept safe from the deadly grip of the pandemic. digitalised sources of covid-19 information in indigenous languages the covid-19 pandemic is at the same time a health crisis and a crisis of information. since its advent, there has been an abundant flow of information and misinformation that has led to a worldwide infodemic (david & sommerlad, 2020). casero-rippollés (2020) stipulated that, social media have generated an extraordinary scale and speed in the dissemination of fake news to the public, causing anxiety and fear among citizens and distrust in political institutions. he went further by stating that, the rise of fake news indicates the collapse of the traditional news order and the chaos of contemporary public communication (casero-rippollés (2020). the scramble for the true information on issues related to the pandemic caused the populations to go beyond the traditional sources of information (radio and television) in order to be informed. so, they exposed themselves to information from peers through virtual networks and the digital world. the digital world includes television, radio, and newspapers. information on the pandemic is disseminated every day through many media which include emails, websites, newsletters, blogs, and other social media (joharry et al., 2021). all forms of media can be used to reach out to masses in rural areas in addition to radio and television which are the most prominent sources of information. 4 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 community radios are most often the channels used to transfer information to the community, and through which the people in the communities equally express their minds and views on issues raised. akumbu (2020) has identified a few of these media channels through which the information is disseminated. these include among others whatsapp, facebook, youtube, the 'key pluridisciplinary advances on african multilingualism – cameroon' (kpaam-cam) which has stored about 13 languages, community radios and the cameroon association for bible translation and literacy (cabtal) which has published a booklet: “what you need to know about the coronavirus or covid-19” into 63 cameroonian languages and aims at attaining all languages. cabtal uses various media platforms on their website to share on the issue. sil international has equally developed a reading app called bloom reader in which the digitalised covid-19 information is found in various languages. these private and non-governmental initiatives are out to provide the right information on covid-19 to every cameroonian without any distinction of education and thus establish a basis for effective communication between the officials and the indigenous people. the information they provide is available to the entire community and should therefore be explored and exploited by the government officials to bridge the gap existing between the educated ones and the non-educated ones in the nation and ensure that the covid-19 information reaches everyone without exception. theoretical framework every language is unique and so is every culture. it is in this view that sapir theorises that, the language habits of an individual's community effectively condition the perception of experience and the choices made in interpreting that experience (sapir, 1921). troyer (1994) defines language as a code that all members of a specific language group learn and share, and through which a significant amount of what is known about the world is learned. so, language and culture are intertwined. hence, they cannot be separated. the sapir-whorf hypothesis holds the view that, human thoughts are shaped by language (regier & xu, 2017). troyer (1994) reports sapir and his student benjamin lee whorf view of language which is considered as a mould for thoughts. it tries to establish the fact that, the way we perceive the world is predetermined by the structure of the language we speak. the cultural belief of an individual has a great influence on his personal understanding of the worldview. language and culture are inextricably related. we cannot understand or appreciate one without the knowledge of the other. every information passed down to an individual regardless of the channel used has to consider the subconscious agreement each individual has with his language. failure to take that into consideration might mean failure in attaining the intended objective. there cannot be effective communication with an individual when the language used for the sharing of information is not a common one for the sender and the receiver. an individual's language subconsciously determines what has to be accepted or integrated in our minds, and this is greatly influenced by the language used. whorf (1956) cited in schafer (2000) states: “the background linguistic system of each language is itself the shaper of ideas, the programme and guide for the individual's mental activity, for his analysis of impressions”. a person would not be able to imagine things in any other way than the way dictated by his/her language (troyer, 1994). that difference in linguistic structure causes speakers of different languages in some sense to see the world differently. according to the sapir-whorf theory, we are at the mercy of our languages. people live in distinct worlds because they speak different languages. that is, speakers see the world through the mental map constructed by their language; they cannot see the world in any other way. the sapir-whorf 5 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 hypothesis (1921) posits that, an individual's language subconsciously determines what has to be accepted or integrated in the mind, and this is greatly influenced by the language through which the message is received. the covid-19 pandemic cannot be considered as a major threat to cameroonians when such information is provided to them through foreign languages. the linguistic implications of the sapirwhorf hypothesis are applicable to the language used for the transmission of covid-19 information. the information related to the pandemic is officially disseminated in either english or french which are two western languages. these languages are not culturally bound to cameroonians; they are imported from the colonial masters' nations. though they serve as languages of education and of any official-related information, they are still not the languages in which cameroonians are culturally bonded. the sapir-whorf hypothesis in this study highlights the urgent need and vital importance to use the digitalised covid-19-related information for the effective sensitisation of the population. methodology in this study, the researcher makes use of the mixed-method case study propounded by zoltan dornyei. this method involves both the quantitative and qualitative methods, which according to dornyei (2007), are used to measure overlapping, but also different facets of a phenomenon. the results from this method are yielding an enriched understanding by illustrating, clarifying, or elaborating on various aspects under study. these aspects include the use of covid-19 indigenous linguistic resources available. purposive and random sampling techniques were employed in this study to determine the participants of a survey. a descriptive analysis was used to investigate both the availability and the use of digitalised resources of indigenous languages towards the response against covid-19. in addition, an interview with the director of cabtal revealed that covid-19 information has been translated into many indigenous languages of cameroon, and later digitalised. table 1: distribution of respondents according to personal information marital status of participants gender frequency percentage male 70 45.2 female 85 54.8 total 155 100.0 marital status count percentage married 69 44.5 single 67 43.2 widow 18 11.6 widower 1 6 total 155 100.0 6 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 educational qualifications of respondents educational level count percentage cep 56 36.1 bepc 51 32.9 probatoire 14 9.0 baccalaureate 19 12.3 license 5 3.2 master 2 1.3 autre 8 5.2 total 155 100.0 where do you live? area count rural area 135 urban area 20 total 155 region count percentage north west 7 4.5 west 50 32.3 centre 52 33.5 south 3 1.9 littoral 42 27.1 south west 1 .6 total 155 100.0 your first language: language count percentage english 3 1.9 french 37 23.9 local language 74.2 115 total 155 100.0 your age range: age range count percentage 25-35 26 16.8 36-45 41 26.5 46-55 39 25.2 56-65 24 15.5 66-above 25 16.1 total 155 100.0 source: researchers' (field survey, 2021) from the table above, 45.2% of the respondents were male and 54.8% were females. findings presented on the table revealed that 44.5% of the respondents were married, 43.2% single, 11.6% widows and 0.6% was widowers. findings still unveiled as presented on the above table that for educational qualification, 36.1% of the respondents indicated that they had cep, 32.9% indicated 7 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 that they were of the bepc certification, 12.3% indicated that they had obtained the baccalaureate certificate, 9.0% indicated that they has the probatoire certificate, 5.2% indicated that they had other certificates, 3.2% indicated that they had license and 1.3% indicated that they had masters. 87.1% of the respondents indicated that they live in the rural area and 12.9% indicated that they live in urban areas. the table above reveals that 33.5% of the respondents were from the centre region, 32.3% from the west region, 27.1 from the littoral region, 4.5% from the north west region, 1.9% from the south region and 0.6% from the south west region of cameroon. findings as presented on the table above revealed that 74.2% of the respondents indicated that their first language was their mother tongue, 23.9% indicated that it was french and 1.9% indicated that it was english language. from the above table, 26.5% of the respondents indicated that they were between the age of 36-45 years of age, 25.3% indicated that they were between the age of 46-55 years of age, 16.8% indicated that they were between the age of 25-35, 15.5% of the respondents indicated that they were between the ages of 56-65 and 16.1% indicated that they were above 66 years of age. table 2: distribution of respondents according to linguistic information which of the following languages do you depend on most for covid-19 information? languages frequency percentage english 12 5.9% french 82 40.4% local language 109 53.7% total 203 100.0% in the diffusion of information, there exist linguistic injustices in french/english with regards to maternal languages. yes 108 69.7% no 40 25.8% don't know 7 4.5% total 155 100.0% i have already seen a banner on covid-19 sensitisation in a local language. always 22 14.2% often 12 7.7% sometimes 12 7.7% rarely 15 9.7% never 94 60.6% total 155 100.0% source: researchers' (field survey, 2021) from the above table, 5.9% depend most on english language for the covid-19 information. 40.4% of the respondents indicated that they depend on french language and 53.7% indicated that they depend on their mother tongue. findings for this research presented on the table above revealed that 69.7% of the respondents agreed that in the diffusion of information, there exist linguistic injustices in french/english with regards to local languages, 25.8% disagreed and 4.5% were neutral. from the above table, 60.6% of the respondents indicated that they have never seen a banner on covid-19 sensitisation in a local language, 14.2% indicated that they always see the banner, 9.7% indicated that they rarely see the banner and 7.7% indicated that they often and sometimes see the banner on covid-19 respectively. 8 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 findings and discussion the findings revealed by this study show that, the majority of respondents have the bepc equivalent to o/l as their highest qualification. most of them live in rural areas and have their local languages as their first languages. it equally reveals 53% of the population under study depends most on their local languages for information related to covid-19. so, 69.7% believe that, there exists linguistic injustice in the diffusion of information about the pandemic. in fact, 60.6% affirm that they have never seen a banner on covid-19 in their local languages. the statistics revealed by this study show that, the efforts of sil, cabtal and other ngos towards the translation of covid-19 information into indigenous languages and the efforts of making them available through the internet and other digital resources are not extensively exploited. the digitalized information about the covid-19 could be used by the policy makers as a valuable tool to reach out to the people in rural areas, particularly those with low literacy rate. unfortunately, such information is still hidden to policy makers and is yet to be uncovered and exploited. conclusion and recommendations the covid-19 pandemic has been claiming lives since its outbreak in the nation. the present study has shown that, the majority of the people living in rural areas in cameroon are not receiving the information in their local language. therefore, there is no effective communication established between the policy makers and the population. however, sil, cabtal, and other ngos have provided the covid-19 information in local languages and have stored them in the internet and other digital services so they can be available to every cameroonian. for digitalised linguistic resources present an efficient alternative for the dissemination of health-related information. unfortunately, the covid-19 information in digital resources is still veiled and thus unexploited by the cameroon government. consequently, many cameroonians are still left ignorant of the danger the pandemic represents in their lives and communities. this study therefore recommends that, the government should establish a collaborative system between the government and these ngos that promote the use of indigenous languages such as sil, cabtal and others. this collaboration will enable the government or policy makers to extensively make use of the indigenous languages for the effective sensitisation of the cameroonian population for official communication. references abari, a. o., oyetola, i. o., & okunuga, a. a. 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(2015). communication cycle: definition, process, models and examples. 10 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 page 10 page 11 page 12 page 13 page 14 page 15 page 16 page 17 page 18 page 19 text book journal pdf sis. noelle 01 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 abstract democracy has had a chequered history in the nigerian state. the simple reason for this unfortunate situation is to be located in the unfortunate but true fact that there has been series of military interventions in the country since she attained her political independence leading often to a halt in the nation's march to democratic tranquillity and paradise. the role of the military is clearly defined all over the world. it has the traditional duty of guarding the territorial integrity of any nation against external invasion and aggression. however, for some time in nigeria, the military has left its traditionally assigned role and dabbled in politics and politicking through military interventions. this paper critically analyses why the military often intervenes and interrupts the nation's march to democratisation on a very regular basis. military intervention no matter the reason or reasons for its occurrence is an aberration. since the general notion is that the worst democracy is better than any best military government, the paper strongly advocates for the enthronement and sustenance of true and abiding democracy in the country to make a future military intervention in the nation's democracy unachievable and unrealisable. keywords: military, sustenance, democracy, nigeria, philosophy, probe. introduction since she attained political independence in 1960, nigeria's democracy has been in shambles. this is obvious due to incessant military interventions in the polity which has made democracy look like an unstable mode of governance to most nigerians. in all the past military interventions, the military has always accused the civilians, nay the politicians of insensitivity to the plight of the masses, tribalism, nepotism, corruption and ineptitude in leadership among other numerous vices usually given as reasons for taking power from the civilians. however, the irony of it all is that the military once they take up the mantle of leadership in the country usually fall victim to those same vices they accuse the politicians of. this paper strongly opines that the military in nigeria should be subordinate to civil authorities. however, it equally postulates that the only way to make this subordination come to fruition is for true democracy to be enthroned and sustained in the country to make military intervention unfashionable and highly unreasonable. anything short of this may still bring back the military in power sometime, someday and this will be an unwanted development and a serious drawback on the nation's democracy. godwin okaneme, phd department of philosophy faculty of arts university of abuja email: godwin.okaneme@uniabuja.edu.ng g.s.m. 08036775774 the military and sustenance of democracy in nigeria: a philosophical probe the military in nigerian politics one of the most remarkable events in world history during the past three or four decades has been the incessant occurrence of military coups in africa and other third world countries. nigeria, the self-acclaimed giant of africa has had more than its fair share of these military coups. okadigbo (1986:30) opines that “military government is the specific form of authoritarian government wherein power is held by soldiers or wherein soldiers constitute a nominally civilian government”. in this segment of the paper, we shall give a concise history of military interventions in nigerian politics. according to gutteridge (1975:5) “it is now statistically justifiable to regard military rules as norm rather than a deviance, certainly in comparison with any other satisfactorily defined form of government”. this could be said to be true of nigeria prior to the return of democracy in the country in 1999. since the bulk of african countries had political independence in the early sixties to date, military intervention has virtually been on the rise in these countries but the preponderance of such interventions in nigeria has been unprecedented and highly disturbing. the history of military interventions in nigeria is quite rich, vast and varied. the first military coup in the country took place on january 15, 1966. the build-up to that military coup could be said to have started in 1964. the election of that year was nigeria's first major postindependence election and it had heavy tribal leaning. the various political skirmishes that bedevilled the country within this period greatly weakened the bond of trust and friendship among the people of the three major tribes in nigeria. there was general discontent among the citizenry. the discontent, acrimony and insecurity made the first military intervention desirable for the people then as the politicians had lost grip of political affairs in the country. the second military coup took place on july 29, 1966, which was barely six months after the first coup. this was as a result of the disenchantment of a section of the country against the leaders of the first coup. speaking on the coup, madiebo (1980:27) stated: i saw the handwriting on the wall. indeed no one could have failed to recognise the signs of the impending disaster. but to reassure myself, i personally forwarded a report to army headquarters in lagos attaching texts of some of the speeches and publications. i did not expect any reaction from lagos and there was none. the third military coup took place on 29th july, 1975 with the overthrow of gowon's regime in a bloodless coup that saw the emergence of general murtala mohammed as the next head of state. his rein though short, was very revolutionary in outlook and it brought a lot of positive changes to the nigerian state. he in turn was overthrown by colonel dimka in a bloody coup during in which the former lost his life. this happened on the 13th of february, 1976. however, mohammed's short regime is to be remembered by nigerians for the sweeping changes it made on the nation's socio-political and economic landscape. with the brutal assassination of general mohammed by colonel dimka's coup, the lot of the leadership of the country fell on general olusegun obasanjo who ruled the country from february 1976 till 1979 when he handed over the reins of the state to president shehu shagari, the first elected executive president of nigeria. coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 02 under shagari, the civilians ruled for four uninterrupted years but could not get their acts together. corruption, ethnicism, nepotism, crass opportunism and monumental electoral malpractices still characterized the second republic culminating in the military seizing power again on 31st december, 1983. major general muhammadu buhari who subsequently became the head of state after that coup was himself toppled in another bloodless coup on 27th august, 1985 culminating in general babangida becoming the next military ruler. he took the title of president thus becoming the first military ruler in the country to take such a title. babangida ruled the country till 1994 and his regime plunged the nigerian state into one of the worst political crises in her annals. his regime is to be remembered for annulling the 1993 presidential election adjudged by both nigerian and foreign observers as the most free and fair election ever conducted in the history of the country. that election was acclaimed to have been won by chief m.k.o abiola of blessed memory. with the annulment of the june 12 1993 poll and the attendant political, social and economic brouhaha it brought on the country, babangida stepped aside on august 27, 1993 and installed an interim national government led by chief ernest shonekan. such a political nomenclature was hitherto unknown in the country's political lexicon. the heat of the cancellation of the june 12 1993 election was too much for shonekan to handle and on november 17, 1993, he was effortlessly eased out of office by general sani abacha who subsequently became the next military head of state. abacha set up his transition programme with the convocation of a constitutional conference in june, 1994. the conference concluded its assignment a year later and was subsequently dissolved. abacha's penchant for materialism made him one of the most corrupt leaders the country has ever produced. his clandestine plan to transform into a civilian president through self-succession made him very unpopular among nigerians. his highhandedness and dictatorial tendencies earned him the obnoxious sobriquet of nigeria's maximum ruler. his demise on june 8, 1998 brought his deceitful, treacherous and dubious transition programme to a natural end and nigerians were freed from his draconian rule. with his demise, the army high command unanimously chose general abdulasalam abubakar as the next head of state of the country. it was him that midwifed the fourth republic by conducting elections within so short a time he assumed power and handed over to obasanjo who was duly elected as the second executive president of the country on may, 29th, 1999, thus bringing to an end the long and torturous cycle of military rule in the country. however, it should be noted that the frequent military coups that had bedevilled the country over the years is a pointer to the instability of military regimes for according to finer (1985:16), “only one thing is so far certain. the coups and counter-coups affirm the fundamental instability of military governments themselves”. why does the military intervene in nigerian politics? according to dukor (2003:225), “the general concern, regrets, skepticism and cynicism about military incursion in african politics is because it is an aberration and against civilized conventional practices and democratic norms”. despite the widely held view, that military rule is an aberration, and a deviance, rather than the norm, the military has continued to intervene in nigeria's political affairs. the question then is why is it so? it is a historical fact that out of nigeria's nearly sixty years as an independent nation, she has spent almost three decades in military rule. 03 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 the reasons for constant military coups are not far-fetched. one of the greatest problems in nigeria that has aided the flourishing of military rule is ethnicity. according to nzeribe (1986:45): the central body has been consistently under the control of people with strong ethnic bias. ethnic interests have therefore stood paramount in the activities of these individuals. those ethnic groups whose persons do not occupy important positions within the central body become alienated, frustrated and left with the crumbs of the national income. this sometimes results in an attempt at secession for instance the biafran war. according to ubi (2008:90), “the term ethnicity is the sanitised and politically accepted version of the term “tribe” or “tribal” officiation”. having stated all these, one may naturally ask, how has ethnicity been a reason for frequent military interventions and therefore a stumbling block to the growth of democracy in nigeria? the answer may be very obvious and perhaps easy to explain. ethnically which is the fanatical love for one's ethnic group has really hampered political growth in nigeria. many scholars are of the considered view or opinion that the type of politics played in the country is mainly “ethnic politics”. this could be seen from the fact that many nigerians still cast their votes during national elections not according to the political ability of the candidates vying for elections but according to the ethnic group of the candidates. in some past elections, ethnic disturbances have led to a breakdown of law and order in the country leading to military coups. another reason for constant military interventions in the country is the poor quality of leadership being offered to the country by the political class. bello (2005:48), amadu (2005:95), okolo (1994:85), okolo (1985:12), ekweke (2008:21), agu (2005:69), toyo (2008:153) and achebe (1983:1) all agree to the unfortunate reality of ineffectual political leadership in the country and its attendant negative consequences. one other major reason for frequent military interventions in nigeria is the preponderance of corruption among the political class. corruption normally takes the form of both diverting public fund to party and private coffers or of the enrichment of the political leaders at the expense of the public good through the illicit award of contracts and other deviant behaviours. allegation of pubic officers demanding 10 per cent 'kick back' is common among the political fold and has always been cited by the military top brass as one of the major reasons for military interventions in the country. in the words of akpotor (2003:356): the society cannot be expected to bring public officers to ridicule for corrupt practices with their appeals to moral conscience when the leadership is not a saint. we support this position with the popular equity maxim which says 'who come to equity must come with clean hands'. it is therefore recommended that corruption can only be reduced or eliminated through a combative political will of the leadership and the reciprocal social will of the governed. this is so because the society can never be watchdog for a government that lacks the political will to neither unveil corrupt practices no deal with the culprits. while allegations of corruption are at times difficult to substantiate, the nagging issue is not whether they are true or not but whether people believe them to be true. although corruption coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 04 alone should not necessarily be a cogent reason for military intervention, a situation whereby a few people that make up the political class live in great affluence and opulence while majority of nigerians wallow in abject and unmitigated poverty is simply unacceptable. a lot of nigerians unwittingly support the military taking over power as a result of disenchantment with the style of leadership offered by the political class in the country. finally, it must be stated without equivocation that the unbridled quest for power by the military has also contributed immensely to the escalation of military interventions in the country in the past. according to dukor (2003:225): there is the physical natural law of causation to which everything in space is susceptible. it seems therefore that military foray into the body politics of african nations must have backgrounds or causes or circumstantial environmental or polity that necessitated it. in the history of human thought, the military is not totally alien to political struggle. the truth of the matter is that despite their attraction to power, the military is not trained for political leadership but is primarily trained to defend the territorial integrity of the nation for according to ogbinaka (2003:248), “the military is a government of men, not of law. it is to this extent a bad system. it is an authoritarian government”. sustaining democracy in nigeria to make military intervention unfashionable before delving into the issue of sustaining democracy in nigeria, we will try and clarify the concept of democracy itself. to define democracy is indeed a herculean task or responsibility. this view is shared by elaigwu (2005:281), adeyemo (2001:86), jega (2007:11), omoregbe (2007:21) and michael (2006:73) democracy simply defined is the government of the people, by the people and for the people. this is a popular definition of democracy as was enunciated by abraham lincoln, an th american statesman and lawyer who served as the 16 president of the united states of america. however, democracy is much wider in scope than a special political form, a method of running a government. it takes into full account material and spiritual values, culture, the standard of living, social and economic relationships. if one follows this line of thought, it can be seen that this type of meaning raises democracy above the level of a mere governmental system. it gives it the power and inspiration to seek for the individual in the society the “good life” and the promotion of his well-being. this seems to be the view of laski (1942:24) when he posited that “democracy has a context in every sphere of life”. democracy can flourish only in a country where democratic ideals like respect for the rule of law, separation of powers, freedom of the press and freedom of expression among others are in place. this view tallies with that of odey (2002:14) where he stated: abraham lincoln, the great american president, knew why he defined democracy as “a government of the people, by the people and for the people'. there in america, where he gave that definition, the government has remained for the people. the brains that fashioned the american system of presidential 05 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 democracy were men and women who believed in the philosophy of common good. that is why americans cherish lincoln's definition to date. the man believed in the type of democracy he defined and worked on the principles of that definition and made america great. despite the much taunted advantages of democracy, one cannot in all honesty and sincerity say that we have enthroned true and lasting democracy in nigeria despite two decades of unbroken democratic practice in the country. as already stated in this paper, much of the military interventions that occurred in this country were as a result of democratic instability in the nation's polity. according to sha (2005:141-142): the factors that obstruct the consolidation of democracy in nigeria include the ultra-privatization of transition projects, political instability due to recurring ethno-religious conflicts, weakening of political institutions, corruption and the weakening of the national economy through bad management. it may therefore not be wrong or out of place to assert that democracy as presently practiced in nigeria is bereft of most if not all the democratic tenets and ethos hence nigerians are gradually losing faith in our present democratic experiment that has almost succeeded in relegating the masses to the background in the daily scheme of things in the country. the issue of good governance has almost become an unrealizable dream and ideal in our democracy and yet true democracy is supposed to engender good governance for according to yahaya (2004:109): a democratically elected government should be the guarantor of good governance. a viable institutional framework must exist to facilitate the operation of democratic order. both state and non-state organisations must have sufficient political space to interact and compete for influence. the institutional framework that will facilitate the plural democratic process must be strong and viable. it must be supported and not undermined by the political leaders so that these institutions can play their role in the consolidation of democracy through checks and balances and a vibrant press. democracy can never be sustained in the country if all the factors impeding its true and enduring enthronement are not eliminated or at least minimized or mitigated. such negative factors include electoral malpractices, especially election rigging, political corruption, ethnicity, excessive materialism. democracy, nay politics is service-oriented in the sense that it offers individuals the opportunity to offer selfless service to humanity. however our politicians may never offer this type of service when all they have in mind while entering politics is embezzlement of public funds. our politicians should therefore cultivate new and enduring value of service to humanity as opposed to the present rat-race to share the national cake with reckless abandon, no wonder okolo (1993:14) asserts that “among nigerians, the dominant values which also characterize the society as a whole are easily discernable. perhaps, the most glaring one is excessive love for money”. coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 06 again our elections in nigeria deserve a critical scrutiny. the most recent general elections held in nigeria – the 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019 elections left much to be desired. while in the elections, nigerians demonstrated their patriotism towards enthroning democracy, the politicians on their own had a different agenda as they were busy manipulating the elections to their shameful advantage. even the 2015 and 2019 general elections were said to have been hopelessly rigged to the utter consternation of the people who trouped out in their numbers to vote in those elections. it is therefore suggested that our electoral laws should be strengthened to deal with election riggers and other electoral vices. conclusion we have all along been discussing issues of the military and sustenance of democracy in nigeria. it must be noted that one of the safest guarantees against military intervention in any democracy is good governance. good governance ensures that democratic tenets are put into full use thus making available to the people real dividends of democracy. when that happens, the masses themselves will become the real defenders of democracy against military intervention. even the military themselves will become direct beneficiaries of true democratic rule in the country. anything short of good governance in our democracy may still bring back the military into the political terrain sometime, someday and this is something millions of nigerians will never desire. our democracy should therefore be deepened and made peopleoriented to ensure that the welfare of the citizens is always guaranteed. this is perhaps the only sure way to make the country's democracy take root and prevent any future military intervention in the country. references achebe, c. (1983). the trouble with nigeria. enugu: fourth dimension publishers. adeyemo, f.o. (2001). government made simple (4th ed.). lagos: franesoba. agu, s.n. (2005). the challenge of democratization: an expository analysis of nigeria's claim to democracy. in uche, journal of the department of philosophy, unn,11, 69-78. akpotor, s. (2003). corruption, the civil society and government. in m. dukor (ed.),philosophy and politics: discourse on values, politics and power in africa (pp.355367). lagos: malthouse press. amadi, e. (2005). ethics in nigerian culture. ibadan: heinemann educational books. bassey, c.o. (2008). the military in nigerian democratic dispensation. ino. uya, (ed.), civil society and the consolidation of democracy in nigeria (pp.222-241), ibadan: daybis. bello, a.g.a. 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(2003). the military, sovereignty and democracy in africa. in m. dukor (ed.), philosophy and politics; discourse on values, politics and power in africa (241-253).lagos: malthouse press. okadigbo, c. (1986). power and leadership in nigeria. enugu; fourth dimension. okolo, c.b. (1985). philosophy and nigerian politics. obosi: pacific college press. okolo, c.b. (1993). education and nigerian values. enugu: cecta . okolo. c.b. (1994). squander mania mentality: reflections on nigerian culture. nsukka: university trust publishers. omoregbe, j.i. (2007). socio-political philosophy and international relations. lagos: joja educational research and publishers. sha, d. (2005). too much politics, too little: assessing the quality of nigerian democratic transition project. nigerian journal of policy and strategy, 15 (1&2), 68-86. ubi, o. (2008). ethnicity and nation-building in nigeria. in uya, o. (ed.) civil society and the consolidation of democracy in nigeria (90-113) ibadan: daybis. yahaya, a. (2004). implementing the good governance agenda in nigeria: the critical issues. in agenda for a better society: reflections from the national institute, 2, 58-76 page 1 page 2 page 3 page 4 page 5 page 6 page 7 page 8 jonal vol. 5 no. 4 new2.cdr re-thinking magic realism and postcoloniality in ngugi wa thiongo's wizard of the crow by ijeoma lena osita (phd) ijeomalena@gmail.com 08069120028 & udeh bryan j. (phd) 07038961426 department of english, chukwuemeka odumegwu ojukwu university igbariam campus, anambra state, nigeria abstract his paper interrogates the place of magical realism in african literature. it unveils the fact tthat the novelist’s imagination must go beyond realism if he/she is to adequately represent the irregularities in his society. one possible way of representing this is through magical realism. in literature magical realism is a narrative strategy that combines realism and the fantastic in such a way that the marvellous grows organically within the ordinary, blurring the distinction between. in literature this strategy has become debased, with critics referring to it as shallow and dangerous. therefore, this paper unveils the fact that magical realism is not shallow or dangerous but a contemporary that can be used for political criticism. this paper evaluates ngugi wa thiongo's use of magical realism to mock postcolonial african regime is x-rayed. ngugi mocks leadership in africa through manipulation of the realistic mode, which helps effectively in representing political issues in africa. this paper is hinged on homi bhabha's concept of hybridity. keywords: magical realism, fantastic, postcolonial, political criticism. introduction magical realism happens when a highly detailed realistic setting is invaded by something too strange to believe. magical realism naturalizes and normalizes the supernatural. magical realism is a narrative strategy that combines realism and the fantastic so that the marvellous seem to grow organically within the ordinary, blurring the distinction between them (faris, 2014). the origin of magical realism is traceable to the aftermaths of the first world war (1914-1918) when germany, squashed by a crushing defeat, weighed down by a national trauma, and burdened by the demands of reparation imposed on it by allies, began to make efforts to find a new meaning to the unfortunate reality. magical realism began in art history, having been coined by franz roh in 1925 to describe european paintings (faris, 2014).for him, magical realism was presented as a reaction to expressionism's more abstract style and to mark a return to realism. expressionism was a movement in literature and other parts of germany that emphasized and supported arts departure from realistic portrayal or depiction of events, incidents, and situations in the world by expressing visionary and powerfully emotional states of the mind (ifejirika, 2014). expressionism which seeks to convey personal inner experience through the distortion of natural images had run its course. several artists began to experiment with this new form, labelled magischer realismus (magical realism). 107 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 magical realism's multicultural perspective often resonates in the peripheral and colonized regions of latin america and the caribbean, india, eastern europe, africa. but the narrative strategy is becoming less and less marginal, even though it retains the charm of the marginal position (cooper, 2004). in 1980, john barth rejected membership in any imaginary writer's club that did not include garcia marquez, praising one hundred years of solitude as a prime example of replenished postmodern fiction. barth's statement represents an important shift in literary relations and signals an increased worldwide recognition of magical realism – according to john updike, writing "a new widely available elixir" (111 – 116). both a cause and an effect of magical realism's international success, its decentring of contemporary literary discourse is the fact that its master texts are widely dispersed. the novel that put 'magical realism' on the international literary map was one hundred years of solitude, and it came from the small latin american country of colombia. what seems to be increasingly regarded as a second definitive example, is midnight's children from india. both of these are aggressively postcolonial texts. a third, gunter grass's the tin drum, is from germany and locates the final (albeit chronologically first)apex of this far-flung triangle in europe so that it is not only a postcolonial style. other magical realist writers include jorge luis borges in argentina, isabel allende in chile, italo calvino in italy, and john fowles. these writers weave, in an evershifting pattern, a sharply etched realism in representing ordinary events and details together with the fantastic and dreamlike elements, as well as with materials derived from myths and fairy tales thus, like magical realism in latin america, and partial response to it, african magical realism developed out of the first wave of postcolonial, indigenist novels inspired by traditional myths and oral narratives, such as the palm-wine drinkard and my life in the bush of ghosts by amos tutuola or the forest of a thousand demons by d.o. fagunwa, and the nationalistically oriented fictions of chinua achebe and wole soyinka, but also indirectly fed on earlier surrealist impulses imbibed by negritude poets such as leopold sedar senghor (cooper, 2004). today postcolonial african writers employ magical realism in their literary works as an effective alternative to the realist mode used in the past. it serves to capture what may seem unbelievable to western sensibilities but real to indigenous understanding as well as open the way to the world of limitless possibilities. in fact, in postcolonial africa, the magnitude of vices like corruption, deposition, dictatorship, and electoral frauds, defies human imagination; even the sacredness of life is violated by the carnage that is the result of the gratuitous violence that characterizes socio-political relations in postcolonial africa. in an interview, the veteran postcolonial african theorist and critic ngugi wa thiongo observes that the socio-political situation in africa has reached a point where the novelist's imagination must go beyond realism if he/she is to adequately represent it. he suggests that one possible and adequate way of depicting the present predicament of africa is through the fable, the fantastical. ngugi's call for the use of what is referred to as magical realism in the depiction of the current african situation in literature, suggests that this mode is employed out of necessity, thereby confirming the incommensurable role of literature and writers in the socio-political life of africans. indeed, ngugi's response echoes salman rushdie's comment on the situation in his native country thus: “you must use the language in a manner which permits god to existthe divine to be as real as the divan i am sitting on. realism can no longer express or account for the absurd reality of the world we live in – a world which has the capability of destroying itself at any moment” (qtd in faris, 2004:88). here rushdie describes magical realism as a special style he needs for the portrayal of the contemporary situation in india. 108 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 satirical magical realism in ngugi wa thiongo's wizard of the crow set in an imaginary african country of aburiria, wizard of the crow opens with rumours about the unexplained illness of the ruler. because the ruler's illness cannot be scientifically diagnosed, aburirians developed extraordinary theories about its causes. amongst these theories, five have been on the lips of aburirian citizens: the first theory blames the ruler's illness on the anger he developed after being denied an interview by the global network news during a visit in new york; the second theory claims the illness was a curse from the cry of a wronged he-goat; the third blames it on the ruler's long rule; the fourth traces it to the ruler's legal wife, rachael's refusal to shed tears after her fall from grace; and the fifth believes that the illness is the sole work of the daemons that the ruler had housed in a special chamber in the state house, who had now turned their backs on him and withdrew their protective services. (3-10) the ruler's illness and aburirians' theories about it are reflective of fables which are defined as stories with fantastic events and creatures having allegorical meaning. the ruler's absolute power depends on sycophants like sikiokuu, machokali, and big ben, who have gone as far as surgically enlarging their ears, eyes, and tongue, respectively, in order to be his most loyal spies and spokespersons, in order to gain his love. in aburiria nepotism and corruption are the basic actions of the state, the main interest of the elite who frequent the ruler is self-preservation, and they know what to do to remain in the good book of the dictator whose only criterion for cabinet appointments is the candidate's loyalty to him. thus, when the ruler learns that machokali, the sycophant-in-chief, has gone to england to surgically remove his eyes to serve him better, he gives him the ministry of foreign affairs. this is indeed a satire on african leaders who surround themselves with sycophants who weave selfseeking flatteries that the leaders often seem to rely on. the free republic of aburiria is neither free nor a republic and its very name is an irony. the ruler announces a new kind of democracy in which he is the head of every party. crooks are appointed as upholders of the law and their criminality praised as a virtue. one is exposed to characters like machokali who went to a london hospital: not because he was ill but because he wanted to have his eyes enlarged, to make them ferociously sharp... so that they would be able to spot the enemies of the ruler no matter how far their hiding places. enlarged the size of electric bulbs his eyes were now the most prominent feature of his face, dwarfing his nose, cheeks and forehead. the ruler so touched by his devotion and public expression of loyalty that even before the mp returned home from england the ruler had given him the ministry of foreign affairs... … so that machokali would be his representative eye wherever, in whatever corner of the globe lay the ruler's interest…(12-13). what makes ngugi's magical realism unique is the fairy-like narration of events. the once-upon-atime narrative technique allows for satire and humour as well as a depiction of the horror and injustice of life under the ruler. indeed, this is what drives all the characters and their actions in the novel. the ruler's positive response vis-a-vis machokali's act of devotion spurs so many body modifications by other sycophants. thus, in the ruler's entourage, another back-bencher mp decides to follow the footsteps of machokali. nothing can stop this particular cabinet member, for he goes as far as secretly selling his father's plot and borrowing money to buy a ticket to france in order to serve the ruler: he did not have much money, so he secretly sold his father's plot and borrowed the rest to buy himself a flight to france and a hospital bed in paris, where he had his ears enlarged so that, as he also put it his press statement, he would be able to hear better and therefore be privy to the most private of conversations between husband and wife, children and their parents, students and teachers... all in service of the ruler. his ears were large than a rabbit's and always primed to detect danger at any time from any direction (14). 109 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 when sikiokuu comes back with his new look, the ruler is pleased with what he sees and decides to upgrade the former's position in the cabinet. obviously these extreme cases of loyalty are found in postcolonial african countries for example in togo, colonel assila of the togolese armed forces offered to sacrifice himself in order to persuade general eyadema to stay in power. like other postcolonial dictators, the ruler of aburiria adores flattery, praises, and glorification. the sikiokuus of postcolonial african countries know how to play this game well. in order to continue to enjoy the dictator's favours, these shameless sycophants' quotidian preoccupation is how to please the dictators and rally the people behind them in order to give the impression that the dictators are loved. they make sure that all the actions of the dictators are disseminated to the citizens. in aburiria, any action of the ruler is in the news. “his every moment-eating, shitting, sneezing, or blowing his nose is captured on camera. even his yawns were news because, whether triggered by boredom, fatigue, or thirst, they were often followed by some nation drama…..” (3). in aburiria the ridiculous does not kill, we learn that an mp, benjamin mambo has been inspired by the fortune of machokali and sikiokuu that he had his tongue elongated so he can effectively echo the ruler's commands to soldiers in the country and threats to his enemies before they reach the aburirian borders. this earned him the information minister portfolio; but he later learned at his own expense that he also needed to enlarge his mouth to retain the ability to speak. the bodily changes of these three sycophants are also followed by name changes. marcus became machokali, silver became sikiokuu, and mambo became big ben; the latter is believed to have been inspired by the clock at the british parliament. their extraordinarily distorted bodies make them look more like cartoonish characters than humans; this creates a comic atmosphere throughout the novel. this is, no doubt, what the exaggerated depictions of the physical appearance of characters aim at. ngugi is satirical magical realism at its finest. at the heart of satirical magical realism is mockery for mockery sake. benjamin mambo equally toed the footsteps of machokali and sikiokuu. as a young man, mambo had failed to get into the army because he was smallish, the only avenue that will earn him the minister of defence was elongating his tongue: “he chose to have his tongue elongated so that in echoing the ruler's command his words would reach every soldier in the country...and the tongue, like a dog's now hung out way beyond his lips rendering speech impossible” (14-15). these body modifications symbolises the distortion of human values. the ascription of these grotesque and surrealistic features serves stylistic and didactic function. these characters' realities exist only in the limit of the reality of the narrative. this is an express instance of the postmodern metaphor and a direct denial of verisimilitude. ngugi's distinctive depiction of the ruler and his devotees makes his critique against them very powerful; by demoting them to the cartoonish characters, he shows how worthless they are such as the episode where the ruler is diagnosed with self-induced expansion (sie). "it seems that the ruler's body had started puffing up like a balloon, his whole body becoming more and more inflated, without losing the proportion of parts" (469). this ultimately leads to the rumours that the ruler was pregnant. by ridiculing the ruler, he is demystified and left at the mercy of the world. ngugi's satire and humour make his use of magic ironic. he seems to distance himself from the supernatural appropriations and views of his people as ridiculous. in other words, ngugi incorporates ironic distance, brenda cooper's most important feature of magical realism. this is demonstrated in kamiti's admission to nyawira that he and his childhood friends used to test the superstitious beliefs of his people and make fun of them: when we were children we used to play witchcraft. we would stick a wooden spike through a bundle of leaves, a dead frog or lizard, and one or two sodom apples and then plant the spike hi a path. from a safe distance we kept an eye on it, and what excited us most was to see 110 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 adults, grown men and women, avoiding any contact with the bundle. some would even take a step, or two back, then give it a wide berth. nobody dared touch it; there were times when the bundle remained in place, lord knows, for days. (84) in the opening pages, one is exposed to the insatiability of african leaders. they cling to power as if it were their birthright. "he sat on the throne so long that even he could not remember when his reign began. his rule had no beginning and no end... children had been born and had given birth to others and those others to other and so on, and his rule had survived all the generation" (5). here ngugi distorts time, which is one of the major characteristics of magical realism. this is done to show that african leaders see leadership as a birthright. they impose themselves on the masses. they become life presidents and dictators. this is a very sad development. one can imagine a rule that has no beginning and no end. again, ngugi defies time by telling the reader that the date of the ruler's birthday was a subject of a heated debate in parliament. "the date of his birth and the manner of its celebration had been subject of a heated debate in the parliament that went on for seven months, seven days, seven hours and seven minutes..." (12). one can imagine debating a birthday date and celebration for seven months. are there no better things to talk about, such as the level of poverty in aburiria? devoting so much time to a birthday date and celebration is unpatriotic. today in africa the legislative houses devote so much time in looking into things that will be of no benefit to the masses. they sit for hours discussing irrelevant matters. the reader is opened to the paragraph where the ruler is presented with a special birthday cake which the entire country had made: that particular year the stadium was almost full because the curiosity of the citizens had been aroused by a special announcement, repeated over and over in the media, that there would be a special birthday cake, which the entire country had made for the ruler and which he might make multiply and feed the multitude the way jesus christ once did with just five loaves and two fishes. the prospects of cakes for the multitude may explain the more than usual presence of victims of kwashiorkor (12). it is said that individual can cook for a community but a community cannot cook for an individual. the national presentation of the cake to the ruler is an interesting metaphor for what the nigerian musical maestro, fela kuti had called suffering and smiling – a situation where the suppressed people make pretensions about being happy. the cake incident brings to light the fact that the citizens are hungry and poor. no wonder the glaring image of "victims of kwashiorkor". in the pages that follow, an amazing project is announced in the occasion of the ruler's birthday. aburiria is launching the "heaven scrape program" or "marching to heaven" as it is informally called, a construction project based on the biblical towers of babel. the aim is to reach heavens and allow the ruler converse directly with god: the whole country, the minister of foreign affairs was saying that the entire aburirian populace, had decided unanimously to erect a building such as had never been attempted in the history except once by the children of israel, and even they had failed miserably to complete the house of babel. aburiria would now do what the israelites could not do: raise a building to the very gates of heaven so that the ruler could call on god daily to say good morning and good evening or simply how was your day today, god? (6). one begins to wonder how the ruler will ascend such a large tower. fortunately, a sycophantic minister has a solution. aburiria will build a personal spaceship so that the ruler can reach the heavenly gates: he suggested that another committee under his chairmanship be set up to explore the possibilities for the construction of a space luxury liner called the ruler's angel... something 111 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 simpler bigger than the one the americans had once launched to mars, to be called star rover or simply rock rover in heaven. armed with personal spaceship, the only leader in the whole world to possess one, ruler would make pleasure trips wherever and whenever he fancied, hopping from planet to planet... (18-19). the whole political structure in aburiria is hinged on lies, and whoever gives a version contradictory to those lies is accused of treason. this is why it is not surprising that the ruler's most hated prisoners are journalists, historians, and professors. he refers to them as terrorists and rumour mongers. obviously, one can relate this with almost all the african countries. the ruler is a demagogue, who uses emotionally charged language to manipulate and control his people in order to win their sympathy and turn them against those who dare tell the truth. thus, when the ruler finally comes to the podium to grant parole to political prisoners to citizens of aburiria, who proposed the marching to heaven, the aburirian tower of babel as birthday gift, he gets another chance to denigrate journalists and professors among them: ...this terrorist of intellect has spent ten years in jail, said the ruler, but because of this historic occasion, i have let him out early. but professor materu would not be allowed to grow his beard a length more than half an inch, and if he transgressed, he would be reimprisoned... all the other dissidents had to swear that never again would they collect and pass on rumours as history, literature, or journalism.... (20) here fiction seems to imitate life because ngugi himself was imprisoned by the very government. many commentators point at this as the target of the satire in wizard of the crow. in 1977, during the time arap moi was serving as kenyan's vice-president, he ordered the imprisonment of ngugi for writing a play in his native language gikuyu. ngaahika ndeda, later translated as i will marry when i want, which was considered too critical of neocolonial kenya, and therefore too rabble rousing for the masses it was written for. after his one year imprisonment without trial, he lost his professorship at nairobi university. so, professor materu may be ngugi, which also confirms the parallel between aburiria and kenya under arap moi. the fact that postcolonial african writers discuss this theme in many of their artistic work is proof that it is widespread across the continent. in aburiria, fantasies and realities are so indistinguishable that their depiction requires a concentrated dose of satire as ngugi does in this novel. those half-dozen satirical story links to meet merge and intertwine and one comic misadventure follows another. nyawira becomes aburiria' most wanted criminal; kaniuru is promoted for his expertise in stealing from the state; tajirika takes a military base hostage 144 with a bucket of hit; and the wizard of the crow travels to america, to treat a strange illness that befalls the ruler and becomes the key to all their futures. the supernatural elements which ngugi uses in wizard of the crow are a blend of fantasy and magical realism. kamiti's magic is sorcery-like, the type we might find in a fantasy novel, with regimented rules and limitations, but he lives in a magic-realist world, with neither rhyme nor reason to its supernatural. though kamiti is only masquerading as a wizard, he is gifted with a divine ability to smell a person's true character. he says "there are times when the foul and fresh appear to struggle for the right of passage into my nostrils, like evil and good spirits fighting for the dominations of soul" (59). the novel contains ingredients which makes the experience of reading it a kind of phantasmagoric dream. the wizard of the crow reminds us that magical realism is not just a story telling device but a tool of oppression. ngugi mocks national leadership in africa and elsewhere through manipulations of the realistic mode, which has also been very effective in representing political issues in africa. what makes magical realism so successful is that its closeness to reality makes it easy to decode. ngugi''s use of the folkloric traditions of the gikuyu people is the major reason for the novel's 112 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 success. the fables narrated in a series of stories provide a setting that reflects the shocking events and actions of the characters of the novel. in the opening of the novel, ngugi introduces his audience to a fabulous story about the solitary confinement of rachael, the once beloved wife of the ruler. the story goes that on one special evening, the mighty ruler of aburiria and his wife rachael has a supper at the state house. rachael thinks that it was an opportunity to call the father of the nation on what she considers to be his incestuous behaviour. she goes on to confront the ruler about his sexual relations with school girls, he stops eating and turns to her to make sure she really said what he has heard, he makes it clear to rachael that the unfinished meal would be their last supper together. his intoxication of power is buttressed when he built her a house on a seven acre plot that he surrounded with a stone wall and an electric fence, in which he stops the time. all the clocks in the house were frozen at the second, minutes, and the hour that she has raised the question of school girls; the calendars pointed to the day and the year. the clocks tick-tocked, but their hands did not move. the mechanical calendar always flipped to the same date. the food provided was the same as at the last supper, the 146 clothes the same as she had worn that night. the beddings and curtains were identical to those where she once lived. the television and radio kept repeating programs that were on during the last supper. everything in the new mansion reproduced the exact same moment (8). a recorder was programmed to play only one hymn: our lord will come back one day he will take us to his home above i will then know how much he love me whenever he comes back. and when he come back you the wicked will be left behind moaning your wicked deeds whenever our lord comes back (8). according to the narrator, rachael was to remain inside the guarded mansion until ―she has shed all the tears for all the tomorrows of all the children she had accused him of abusing, and then the ruler would take her back to restart life at the exact moment she has fallen from graceǁ (8). the ruler is thus elevated above the world and is now in charge of it. there is a sort of deification of the ruler who has tamed time so he can control all the events. once again, ngugi creates a fairy tale atmosphere in order to accommodate the ruler's hubris. in line with postmodernism, critics have found a parallel between this scene and scenes in wellknown texts. for instance, gikandi traces it to the bible; he argues that the scene comes 147 from the bible. in these texts, the leader provides his wife with a last supper and leaves her like her biblical names sake, rachael, weeping for children in the wildernessǁ (164). fables drawn on the rich african oral tradition, particularly the gikuyu folklore make it possible for ngugi to easily juxtapose realism, satire and magic in order to offer an insight into african politics. the hero of the novel, kamiti is an intellectual with hidden spiritual powers, which he inherited from his grandfather. even though reluctant at the beginning, he becomes a wizard who uses mirrors to cure aburirian politicians from their fantastic ailments such as ―white acheǁ. the reader's first encounter with him was when he was seen lying on a garbage of heap, having an out-of-experience as a bird. he was mistaken for a corpse by the trash collectors but they were shocked when the corpse began to move. he was tired, hungry and thirsty and felt beaten down by the sun, he wanted to climb to the top, when he felt very weak in the knees and collapsed at the foot of mountain of garbage. he could not tell whether he was in a temporary coma or a deep sleep, but when a slight breeze blew it lifted him out of himself to the sky, where he now floated. he could still see his body lying on the ground and the mountain of garbage where children and dogs fought over signs of meat and white bones …. i am human, i am a human being, a soul and not a piece of garbage, no matter how poor and ragged i look, and i deserve respect, he heard himself say time and again as he descended to and repossessed his body (38 – 40). 113 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 this is a reverberation of the inequalities that exist in the aburirian society. this is also brought to light during his flight over aburiria. he observes that in eldares, every town he traverses, ―people were hungry, thirsty and in rags. ―shacks stood side by side with mansions of tile, stone, glass and concrete. he also realizes that he is not alone in his conditions of poverty, and wishes he could remain ―a bird in other to escape suffering that characterizes human society (39). from this we infer that these supernatural moments are bases that enable these heroes to clearly see what is going on in their respective societies. yes the writer needs to exceed realism to represent the absurd realities of his country. this flight marks the beginning of kamiti's awareness of his responsibility vis-à-vis social and political reformation of his country. he obviously was not happy with what he saw and felt that something needed to be done. he (kamiti) is of the view that the first steps towards a real reformation must be the healing of the souls, for damaged souls produced damaged politicians and businessmen visit his shrine for divination and cure of unusual diseases. aburirians are very superstitious and they are convinced about the wizard's healing power. soon after ag's visit to the wizard's shrine, he is promoted to the highest rank and he believes he owes this promotion to the wizard, who has destroyed his enemies. thus: ―what caused this sudden change in my career? ag would ask his listeners, only to answer the question himself, ―the wizard of the crow. kamiti is also taken to new york to cure the ruler's bizarre illness known as self-induced expansion (sie), he leaves his body behind, becomes a bird and undertakes a spiritual voyage back in time in search of black power: go back in time. arise and go to the crossroads, all the market places and temple sites, all the dwelling places of black people the world over, and find out the sources of their power. there you will find the cure for sie … he woke up in flight laughing, recalling his travels from the pyramids of egypt to the plains of the serengeti and great zimbabwe, benin to bahia and on through the caribbean to the skyscrapers of new york alighting everywhere to glean wisdom (494). this passage is a reminder that the traditional african society believes in witchcraft. the wizard of the crow is infused with the supernatural, and this is what places the novel within the magic realist tradition as many reviewers and critics have suggested. one of such reviewers, hazel rochman writes: magical realism drives this mammoth novel set in the imaginary african country of aburiria, and exiled kenyan writer wathiongo roots the wild fantasy in the brutal horror of contemporary politics. his ridicule of the powerful knows no bounds as the novel chronicles greed and corruption in aburiria and in the west, including the global bank's funding of the aburirian ruler's marching to heaven tower of babel. but even more than the crazy plot of coup, countercoup, flattery and betrayal, what holds the reader here is the intimate story of one couple. quiet secretary nyawiram secret leader of the people's resistance movement, persuades her intellectual lover, kamiti, to give up his search for himself in the wild, and they embark on a plan to change the world, with kamithi disguised as a sorcerer set off by the global farce, this unforgettable love story reveals the magic power of the ordinary in people and in politics (booklist). just like okri, ngugi has resisted this label. as simon gikandi notes in his review of the novel: ngugi has seemed irritated by suggestions that his works is an african version of the genre of magical realism associated with latin american writers of the boom generation. he has reacted to such claims by reminding his interlocutors that his narrative models are drawn from gikiyu folklore, not ―magical realism (160). thus, ngugi joins other postcolonial african writers who reject such comparisons. for instance, ben okri and zakes mela have made it clear that the presence of the supernatural in their novels has everything to do with the cultures in which they write. these cultures, they argue, view the supernatural as normal. like these two writers, ngugi may not have intended to write a magic realist novel; however, his narrative style possesses all the characteristics of a style that has already earned 114 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 its name and this is not easy to ignore. ngugi's narrative may have very well drawn from gikuyu folklore; but it cannot escape the label of magical realism, for all the features in this narrative point to this mode. no wonder why phyllis taoua is of the view that ngugi's use of magical realism ―helps enliven the narrative's satirical humour in the novel (218). from a closer look ngugi seems to reject the tendency of critics to overlook the cultural bases of individual texts that are labelled magic realist texts for him this comparison suggests imitation, which perpetuates the notion that african cultures have nothing authentic to offer to the world. conclusion it is pertinent to know that a writer can go beyond imagination; he could delve into the realm of fantasy or even the supernatural to make his point clear and his criticisms biting. imagination is not the limit, because we actually live in a world that anything is capable of happening. therefore, a writer should be able to exceed reality in order to portray these realities. ngugi delved into magical realism in order to lay bare leadership irregularities in kenya. he achieved this by distorting realism; he equally exceeded the limits of conventional characters. most of his characters were given animal attributes; some of the events in the novel were exaggerated. ngugi handled all these like it was the normal thing; he didn't bother to make explanations. for example there was a scene where kamithi left his body and took the form of a bird. now, this is a writer exceeding imagination and delving into the supernatural realm in order to buttress the political irregularities prevalent in his country. works cited abrahams, howard and harpham, geoffrey. a glossary of literary terms. wadsworth, 2012. bowers, maggie. magical realism. routledge, 2004. camaydfexias, erik. realismo magico y primitiv's mo: relecturas de carentier, aesturias, rilfo y garcia marquez. university press of america, 1998. chanady, amaryll beatrice. magical realism and the fantastic: resolved versus unresolved antimony. garland publishing inc, 1985. cooper, brenda. magic realism in west african fiction: seeing with a third eye. routledge, 2004. daniele, lee. “realismo magico: true realism with a pinch of magic”. the south central bulletin. 42.4 (1982): 129-130. dobbie, ann. theory into practice: an introduction to literary criticism. wadsworth, 2009. faris, wendy. ordinary enchantments: magic realism and the remystification of narrative. vanderbilt university press, 2014. ifejirika, echezona. introduction to literary theory: criticism and practice. mabcom system, 2014. mathew, strecher. “magical realism and search for identity in the fiction of murukami haruki” journal of japanese studies. volume 25, number 2(summer 1999), pp. 263-298. warnes, christopher. magical realism and the postcolonial novel: between faith and irreverence. palgrave macmillian, 2014. wa, thiongo, ngugi. wizard of the crow. anchor books, 2006. zlotchew, clark. varieties of magical realism. academic press, 2007. 115 page 116 page 117 page 118 page 119 page 120 page 121 page 122 page 123 page 124 text book journal pdf sis. noelle abstract nigeria has experienced bad leadership which has affected governance over the years. this has also contributed to poor development of the country. the church or christians have failed to provide exemplary leadership and influence good governance in nigeria. some christians who have occupied leadership positions at various levels of governance in nigeria have not provided good examples to emulate. yet, the bible presents some models of good leaders. drawing from the bible this paper analyses the concept of leadership styles and qualities that were demonstrated by some leaders in the old testament with focus on joseph and king david. the study adopts a comparative study method, partly historical, religio-contextual and analytical and is related to the christian perspective. secondary sources, like bible commentaries, books, journals and newspaper articles both print and online have been made use of in the study. the paper identifies some leadership qualities demonstrated by these models which include the fear of god, possession of vision and strategy, courage, humility, skills, selflessness and integrity. these models provided good leadership and were successful. the paper recommends that for nigeria and her people to experience a positive turn around; all political and religious leaders at the national, state, and local government levels must learn and emulate the good qualities of biblical leaders such as moses, king david and joseph. they were courageous, humble, skilful, and had no personal ambitions. they led by example exhibiting the fear of god. key words: governance, leader, leadership, humility, character introduction one of the complaints about governance in nigeria is poor leadership. there is certainly a perception of leadership failure and many obvious examples of poor leadership in nigeria. this paper examines the concept of biblical leadership styles and qualities that were demonstrated by some biblical characters. it looks at the concept and meaning, the problem of leadership in nigeria, and some examples of biblical leadership to see if we can find models that will be replicable in our contemporary nigerian situation. the paper focuses on some leadership models in the bible that represent various aspects of leadership and governance. it specifically looks at the relevance of the leadership styles on governance and accountability and how it could be applied to the nigerian situation. coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 01 makpu, mallo ishaya phd department of philosophy and religious studies nasarawa state university, keffi gsm: 08065592660 e-mail: makpuishayamakpu@gmail.com and tama, suleiman samuel phd department of philosophy and religious studies nasarawa state university, keffi gsm: 08092159979 e-mail: sthama2007@gmail.com biblical models of leadership: lessons for nigerian democratic governance in the 21st century biblical meaning of leader and leadership the holy bible has a solution to every human problem. these problems could either be spiritual, physical or political including leadership. mccain argues that: the solution to poor leadership can be found in the holy scripture. as christians, our first instinct should be turned to the holy bible for guidance for any problem including the problem of leadership. the bible is not a textbook for all academic discipline. but it does contain some specific instructions as well as numerous examples for many other life problems in our modern society. so leadership was as much an issue in the ancient world as it is today. we can find a lot of information about leadership in the holy bible in both didactic as well as the historical passages (mccain, 2007:1). a leader is defined as “a person who leads as a guide, or a conductor who directs, or a principal officer, while leadership is the office or position of a leader or a capacity to lead” (merriam webster’s collegiate dictionary, 2002). there are many words connected with leadership in both the old and new testaments. our concern in this paper is leadership models in the old testament times. in the old testament there are many hebrew words that are connected with leadership. one of such words is "nachani" which is properly a qal perfect verb, 3rd person masculine singular from the root "nchh" but the simplest hebrew word for leadership is "nagiyd”, which is used about 45 times in the hebrew bible. the word means, “to lead or guide” (brown and briggs, 1979). this phrase speaks of guiding or treating kindly someone who is helpless, (job.31:18). the phrase sees god as the prime space as the one who leads. thus, abraham's servant acknowledged god as his guide, (gen.24:27). at the time of moses, the guidance of god was manifested in the pillars of cloud and fire which preceded the israelites, (exo. 13:21). the word is also used in psalms 78:5, and 72, where the psalmist recalled god's leading of the israelites along the right path (leonard, 1980). another word is “nahag” which means to “drive”, “conduct”, or "to lead"(brown and briggs, 1979). the verb has several meanings which include: i. to drive a flock ( exo. 3:1; isa.11.6), it also speaks of a king leading in procession (isa. 60.11). ii. to drive an ass (2kgs.4:24), or cart (2 sam.6:3, etc.). iii. to lead out an army to battle (1 chron.20.1, 2chron.13) (brown and briggs, 1979). leonard (1980) argues that the word denotes an orderly conducting of a group of animals or people to an intended destination either by forcible driving or leading. the word occurs in the old testament about thirty times in various places and instances. another hebrew word is “nagiyd” that explains the concept of leadership. the word means “leader, ruler, prince etc.” (brown and briggs, 1979). it is used of the israelite kings as they led god's people. for instance, saul (1sam.9.16), david (1sam.13:14), solomon (1chron.29:22), and hezekiah (2kgs.20:5). the word is also used of a foreign ruler or prince (dan.9:25-26). the word is further used as the title of some high officials connected with the temple (jer.20:1, 29:26, 1chron.9:11, 2chron.31:13, etc.). the word is used about 45 times in the hebrew bible, and it is applied to leaders in several fields such as governmental, military and religious spheres. it occurs in the singular form and refers to the man at the top, the king or the high priest, among others (leonard, 1980). 02 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 crossman argues that these broad leadership groups can be combined into two major theological types, such as administrative leadership and prophetic leadership. administrative leadership is a matter of organization and management and is to be exercised with zeal and faithfulness, while the essence of prophetic leadership is wise decision-making and transformation of people's lives and living conditions (crossman, 1981). according to him both two kinds of leadership, the administrative, which cares for, and the prophetic, which transforms, are necessary if the church, nation, institution, company or any organization or establishment is to retain a healthy and dynamic balance. if prophetic leadership is lacking, the church, nation, etc. ossifies in traditional rigid formality. if administrative leadership is lacking then all becomes movement and people who get into difficulties and cannot keep up with the pace are no longer cared for and lose contact with the church, institution or disenfranchised with the nation. since nations, organizations, the church, etc., today are for the most part organised under one form of leadership, therefore, they tend to tilt to some extent to one of these types of leadership only and so easily lose their balance (crossman, 1981). arising from the above biblical inferences, it is true that leadership has to do with the ability to direct, lead, guide and control people while in office. therefore, a leader is involved in taking vital decisions which usually have positive or negative effects on the people. rainey less (1983) describes a leader as, “someone whose actions have the most profound consequences on other people's lives for better or for worse, sometimes forever and ever.” thus leadership is not an easy task. hence, jemiriye argues that: leadership is the art of managing the nature of man, including physical, religious or other nature. leadership is the power to direct, motivate, and inspire others. it is the art of moulding, correcting, influencing or guiding human behavior towards desired designed goals or ends. leadership therefore, calls for obedience from the followers, while the leader earns the people's confidence, respect, and submission (jemiriye, 2004). leadership is a very big and difficult task that one steps in, therefore, one must do selfless service and sacrifice time and materials an x-ray of nigeria's leadership problem nigeria which is the sixth world producer of oil is ranked as one of the poorest in the world with records of political, ethnic and religious unrest, crimes, violence, corruption, insecurity, low productivity and collapsed infrastructures. chinua achebe (1983:3) opines that “the problem of nigeria is leadership which has left its citizens most traumatized, marginalized and impoverished.” he further reduces these problems into one “the failure of leadership.” achebe therefore asserts that: the trouble with nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership. there is nothing basically wrong with the nigerian character. there is nothing wrong with nigerian land or water or air and on anything else. the nigeria problem is the unwillingness or inability of its leaders to rise to the responsibility and the challenge of personal examples which are hallmarks of true leadership (achebe, 1983:4) chinua concluded “we have lost the twentieth century, are we bent on seeing that our children lose the twenty-first century? god forbid” (achebe, 1983:4) coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 03 nigeria has bosses, not leaders. this yoke must be broken. it is high time for our leaders to see the pledge of the masses. it is equally high time for our spiritual leaders to wake up from their slumber and speak the truth, because nigeria has become a state where “hopes have been betrayed” (achebe, 1983:4). nasir el-rufai (2010) holds a similar view with achebe and argues that the principal issue in nigeria has been the failure of leadership. we have not made the progress that our human and natural resources entitled us to make and it is all because we have failed leaders. several works exist that have associated the lack of all-round development of nigeria including economic, educational, political, social, etc. to poor leadership (examples include adeyemo 2009, sabella 2005 and gwamna 2016). leaders of nigeria have been described as third-rate leaders, who, along with their cronies have plundered the nation's wealth and ruined the country's institutions, and have curtailed her people's aspirations and possibilities. they manipulate the poor, and the uneducated, they play regional and sectional politics, they are masters in ethnic and religious politics, the draw no boundary between public and private interest, thereby illegally enriched themselves, they have no respect for human life and dignity and they rely on coherence agencies to do their bidding (sabella, 2005). therefore, leadership in nigeria may be seen as a means of exploitation, personal enrichment, fulfilling interest and selfish ambitions. certainly, the masses in nigeria, like the biblical israelites in egypt are groaning and suffering. many cannot afford three square meals a day as a result of poverty that has come through bad leadership. this brings us to the heart of the matter and the focus of this paper. nigeria needs leaders, not puppets to change, transform and manage the resources of the nation appropriately. nigeria leadership needs to emulate good biblical models of leadership to be able to change and transform the country. old testament models of leadership old testament records present different categories of leaders. some examples include prophets such as moses and daniel among others were class of leaders found among administrators. there were politicians such as moses and nehemiah, kings and queens such as david and esther, military generals such as gideon, and so on. outside the bible records, men and women who made a difference in their generations were prophets or leaders of their days (adeyemo, 2009). therefore, readiness to change, generosity of spirit, impatience with hypocrisy, willingness to take risk, creativity and innovative thinking are parts of the benchmarks of these leaders. the bible has various descriptive functions of prophets/leaders. adeyemo (2009) suggests five basic functions used to describe biblical leadership, such as: i. servants of god (zach. 1:6), because they are sent to do god's cause and purpose. ii. seers (ezek. 3:17), because they are god's watchmen with telescopic vision and insight. iii. spokesmen for god (2chron.36:15), because they boldly declare the mind of god saying “thus says the lord.” (nathan in 2 samuel, 12.7, elijah in 2 kings, 1.4, etc.). iv. statesmen, (ezra, 5:2), because they stand for justice, righteousness, moral and ethical purity and equity. v. supernatural or spirit-filled beings (acts14:11, compared with daniel 2:10-11), because they struggled with both god and man and prevail in solving enigmas, revealing secrets, healing their land and saving their kings (adeyemo, 2009) 04 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 in the bible also prophet-leaders were incredible beings. kings bowed down to them, for example nebuchadnezzar, prostrating before daniel (dan. 2:46-47). this is a case of leader and minister. here daniel is seen as the leader but a minister. military generals seek help from them. example, naaman before elisha (2kgs.5:15). elisha here is a prophet and not a king. the national crisis of famine, drought and wars were solved by them. for example, ahab went on his knees before elijah in 1 kings 18. here ahab was a king and elijah was a minister. furthermore, even angels reverend and esteemed them highlythe way angel gabriel addressed daniel in daniel, 9.21-23, 10.11, 19.27. daniel is a minister here. two of these old testament leaders; joseph and david are discussed below as models of good governance in the bible. a). joseph managed a nation in a time of surplus and in a time of crisis. the book of genesis records that joseph passed through a lot of troubles before he finally had his first meeting with the pharaoh of egypt, which resulted in his promotion to a leader. payne (1979), states that “joseph rose to the position of authority second only to the king”. john (1982) describes joseph's position as vizier, and candlish (1972) says he was a prime minister. therefore, according to mccain (2007) “among joseph's, many jobs,” one special portfolio was what we might call the minister of special duty both in the years of abundance and the years of famine. joseph was evidently successful in both management and accountability. nigeria's national leaders should learn from joseph. good management and accountability are essential qualities that are necessary to lead a nation during either a time of abundance or a time of crisis (mccain, 2007). joseph planned well when joseph was interpreting the dream to pharaoh, he outlined part of the plan that pharaoh should follow during the successful years. the bible states this plan as follows: let pharaoh appoint commissioners over the land to take a fifth of the harvest of egypt during the seven years of abundance. they should collect all the food of these good years that are coming and store up the grain under the authority of pharaoh, to be kept in the cities for food. this food should be held in reserve for the country, to be used during the seven years of famine that will come upon egypt, (genesis 41:34-36). the plan involved collecting a substantial portion of the harvest and placing it in the reserve for future use. joseph knew human nature very well. he realised that without proper planning, the surplus in the years of plenty would be squandered. we read in the book of genesis thus: “the plan seems good to pharaoh and to all officials,” (gen.41:37). so pharaoh appointed joseph to implement it. joseph further refined and improved on the general plan initially presented to pharaoh. joseph followed the plan as joseph was appointed to this strategic position, he followed the plan that he created. he travelled throughout the land to familiarise himself with the places, (gen 41:45, 46). he created storage facilities and stored the grains in them. he kept a good record of the grains and preserved all, (gen. 41:48-49). coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 05 joseph advanced the nation one of the most remarkable things about this story is that even in the time of crisis; joseph was able to push the nation forward. people from the surrounding nations had to come to egypt to get food and joseph took their money. this tended to weaken the surrounding nations and strengthen egypt. it takes an excellent manager to prosper when everyone else is suffering. joseph was that kind of manager (mccain 2007). application to nigeria context according to mccain (2007), nigeria has had many years of crisis. in july 1966 nigeria had a major crisis. six months earlier there had been a violent coup and in late july there was a counter-coup that killed the then head of state major general johnson aguiyi-ironsi. lieutenant colonel yakubu gowon stepped into the crisis and led nigeria successfully through this difficult time. in a similarly difficult situation, general olusegun obasanjo stepped into a crisis when another head of state, general murtala mohammed was assassinated. general obasanjo successfully led the nation for three years, becoming the first african military head of state to hand over power to a civilian government (mccain, 2007). he further states that: general abdulsalam abubakar stepped into another serious crisis when nigeria's head of state, general sani abacha unexpectedly died in office, the supposed “coup from heaven”. general abubakar put the country into a transition to the current civilian government. he will no doubt go down in history as a head of state who ruled well during the eleven months he was in office. therefore, it seems that nigeria's national leaders have probably provided better leadership at . a time of crisis than at a time of abundance (mccain, 2007) therefore, the three major marks of joseph's leadership model were planning, discipline and genuine concern for the common people of society. these are essential qualities that are necessary to lead a nation at either a time of abundance or a time of crisis. b). david as a model another biblical leadership model is king david who was a head of state. there is no greater service to a nation one can render as the head of state. mccain upholds that this was what king david did for the nation of israel. god called him from being a last-born son who was a herder of sheep to being king of the strategic nation of israel. he was not a perfect head of state. he made mistakes and had to repent on various occasions. however, he is generally viewed as the greatest king of israel. david was a man of character, courage, humility, skill and a man of vision (mccain, 2007). it does not matter how honest and good a leader is, if he does not know how to lead and manage, he will still be a poor leader. david was a talented man, a man who knew what to do. he knew how to fight, govern, solve problems, and knew how to motivate people (mccain, 2007). king david had five good qualities that characterize the life and service of an outstanding leader. these are qualities that transcend cultural and generational barrier. these are the kind of intangible leadership qualities that can serve as a guide to nigeria's head of state today. david was a man of character, courage, humility, skill and vision. these qualities are examined below. 06 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 david as a man of character this is illustrated by the fact that david had a tender conscience, a conscience that had been developed by meditating on the word of god, (ps.2:2, 119:16, 48:7, and 99:143). for instance, he refused to hurt saul because it was contrary to the law of god to harm a ruler of the people, (i sam.24:8-10). david's character is further demonstrated when he bore full responsibility for his mistakes, (2 sam.12:5), and willing to forgive people, (2 sam.16:11-12.19:23, 21:7), but he was a fair man who is committed to justice. it was this part of his character that enabled him to a make tough decision to sack joab after he had apparently demonstrated a lack of confidence of the king, (2 sam.19:5-7), replaced him with amasa (2 sam.19:13). the balance between forgiveness and justice is clearly demonstrated in his treatment of shemei, the man who cursed him and threw stones at him when he was fleeing from absalom. during his lifetime, david refused to allow anyone to harm shemei (2sam.19:22-23), but as he was turning over the kingdom to solomon, he insisted that the man pays for his insubordination, (1 king, 2:8-9). david, a man of courage david had the courage to face wild animals that attacked his flocks when he was just a boy (1sam.17:13-14). he also had the courage or dared to face a mighty giant when he was little more than a youth (1sam.17:23-51). these were qualities that were absolutely essential as a soldier. however, it takes courage of a different kind to be the ruler of a nation. one has to have the courage to do the right thing when people are advising you to do something else. when absalom attempted to overthrow david, because he was a brilliant soldier, it actually took more courage to flee the kingdom than to stay and fight. david felt that to stay and fight the fight that would cause more bloodshed and would not be good for the kingdom. therefore, contrary to the advice of some, he made the courageous decision to temporarily leave jerusalem (mccain, 2007). david was a man of humility one of the greatest temptations that a leader has is the temptation of pride. however, one of the most outstanding characteristics of a true leader is humility. few leaders in the bible demonstrate humility better than king david. some biblical books like 1chronicles, 1and 2samuel and psalms refer to king david thus, the bible says: he refused to exalt himself to the position of a kind and rather waited until god exalted him. he chose to suffer like his men. he refused to drink the special water from the well that his men got for him, (1chron.11:18). he refused to take revenge on his enemies. he allowed mephibosheth, the son of saul to eat at his table for the rest of his life (2sam.9:13). he admitted his mistakes. he confessed his sin of adultery (2sam.12:13a, ps.51). he confessed that taking the census was wrong and submitted himself to god's judgement, (2sam.24:10). he accepted instruction from others. he often took the advice (1sam. 20:23-35). he was willing to even take advice from women (2 sam 14:21). there is no doubt david was a man of great humility. he never allowed his position to becloud his sense of responsibility. david: a man with skill any good leader without good skills of knowing how to lead and manage both human and coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 07 material resources will still be a poor leader. david was a talented man, a man who knows what to do. mccain says: “he knew how to fight. he knew how to govern. he knew how to solve problems. he knew how to motivate people” (mccain, 2007:11). david was a man of vision god told david when he was young he was going to be a king. he never waved from that conviction, but neither would he use improper means to fulfil that vision. since god gave him the vision, he was willing to be patient and allow god to fulfil it. however, the vision caused him to persevere in his work even in times of troubles. this personal vision he had enabled him to inspire others and drew good people to support him. the list of his “mighty men” (2sam.8:39) is a testimony to his ability to inspire others. perhaps no quality of a leader is more important than having a clear vision and being able to convince others to accept, promote and defend the vision (adeyemo, 2009:80). application to the nigerian context nigeria has had twelve heads of state since independence. although none of them had all these qualities, there have been glimpses of these qualities from time to time in these leaders (adeyemo, 2009:81). nigeria is currently under the dispensation of new leadership under democracy. where do we go? david is a great model of what a head of state or leader should look like. in fact, he is a good model of what any political leader should look like. the qualities that he demonstrates are the same qualities that will make any person a good head of state. these are the calibres of leaders that nigeria needs today. they should be leaders with good character, courageous, humble, and skilful, and have vision. to become a leader, one must first count the cost. therefore, to change nigeria for through good governance the leaders must be prepared to die. this is “die to self, die to selfish dreams and ambitions, die to sin and die to worldliness” (adeyemo, 2009:81). leaders in the biblical world were leaders who looked at the world through different sets of lenses. they saw visions of better things. thus adeyemo upholds that: where others see problems, leaders see potential. where others see the plight of men, they see the power of god. where others see barriers, they see bearings (directions). where others see the cross, they see the crown. where others see buffeting, they see a blessing in disguise. where others see the natural, they see the supernatural. where others see the visible, they see the invisible. where others see danger, they see opportunity. where others see dead-ends, they see new beginnings (adeyemo, 2009:81). these are the kinds of leadership visions we need in nigeria. the biblical concept of leadership is complex and dynamic as it involves so many aspects. because it begins with god's preservation of their lives, and then god's training or pieces of training and calling for difficult assignments, effectiveness, responsibility, accountability, vision, character, productivity, persuasion, and realization of the targeted goals. 08 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 a call to nigerian christian and political leaders nigerians need leaders who fear god. politicians have tried to shut christians out of politics, telling them not to mix faith with politics as if the realities of life can be so neatly dichotomised. however, on the other hand, christians have failed miserably to engage effectively in politics, excusing that politics is a dirty game, which is the failure to distinguish between politics and political players. jesus christ's last commission to the church is to make disciples of nations, teaching them all the patterns of life and godliness (matt. 28:19). the gospel is to make us better, just, and honest citizens down here on earth. therefore, as christian leaders, in nigeria note that leaders do not romanticise problems of their days nor ignore them under a cloak of pseudo-spirituality. instead, they confront life's vicissitudes by faith in god. biblical leaders knew that faith in god works for those who fear and love god. faith in god, therefore, encourages biblical leaders and it can equally help our leaders today. because faith in god: i. conquered kingdoms before, and it can do it again. ii. performed righteousness before, and can do it again. iii. obtained promises before, and can do it again. iv. shut lions' mouth before, and can do it again. v. quenched powerful fire before, and can do it again. vi. made men mighty in wars before, and can do it again, etc. (adeyemo, 2009). therefore, through these biblical leadership models, we challenge nigerian leaders to rise above their mediocrity, to step out of their comfort zone, to step into the gap for the redemption of nigeria. if you have to fast, fast, if you have to pray, pray, if you have to weep and mourn weep and mourn, but for god's sake do not sit on the fence and watch nigeria dying. you probably have accessed to the highest power or position like daniel, moses and so on, we challenge you to use that position to work effectively for the general development of nigeria. perhaps you are charged with government responsibility at a high level like joseph, we charge you in the word of prophet amos, “let justice run down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream,” (amos 5.24). or maybe you are a business or corporate executive, carrier, or professional guru; we challenge you to a life of excellence like daniel, (dan.6.1-5). we challenge you to a life of blameless, integrity, and high performance like joseph of the old testament, (gen.41). therefore, nigeria needs leaders who know how to do things according to due processes in order to be a developed nation. we need leaders who will emulate biblical models of leadership. religious and political leaders must see themselves as ambassadors of god on earth and so be ready to make a positive impact upon the political leadership of the country. fortunately, nigeria a secular state yet has been greatly influenced by religions such as christianity, islam, and african traditional religion. both leaders and the lead should see themselves as god's own people so that we together can move this country forward. each person is born to tackle a particular task in this world; therefore, he/she is representative of god. each person will also give an account of her/his stewardship to god one day. pastor akin akande advised that only the church can change nigeria. he says “if the nation must change, the church must change and embrace the principles of god's kingdom, coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 09 . not only in words but also in deed” (akin akande, 2010) therefore, we call on nigerian christians to change their attitude and embrace godly principles. nigerian citizens are enjoined, as they look at the leadership landscape in this nation, particularly during elections, to search for men/women that are just and have the fear of god. this is the time to make every effort to fight and reject imposition by the evil caused by whatsoever party names they are called, of people to be elected who feed themselves fat and kill the citizens. the paper calls on all leaders, christians in particular, to recognize that governance is an honourable service to humanity. those occupying political leadership positions are encouraged to adopt these qualities as they lead. the biblical models enumerated above can contribute to good governance. conclusion the paper has discussed the concept of leadership models in the old testament and has seen the problems of nigerian leadership situation. therefore, for the nation and her people to experience a positive turn around, the new crop of political and religious leaders at the national, state, and local government levels must learn and emulate the good qualities of biblical leadership of king david and joseph, who were courageous, humble, skilful, and had no personal ambitions. they rendered selfless services. they did not exhibit any primordial ethnic sentiments. for instance, moses, in his valedictory speech challenged the people to love, obey, and serve the lord, when they get to the land of promise. he emphasized obedience which will bring blessing and disobedience which will bring curses. david is a great model of what a head of state should look like. in fact, he is a good model of what any politician should look like. the five qualities that made him a model are courage, humility, skilful, visionary, and a man of character. these same qualities can make any person a good leader. this is indeed a major lesson for our contemporary both religious and political leaders. recommendations to move nigeria forward, our leaders and the lead should learn to fear god. the leaders should follow the examples of the biblical leadership models discussed above. the paper, therefore, makes the following recommendations for good leadership in nigeria. i. our leaders must have the fear of god. joseph and david exhibited the fear of god in their leadership. ii. nigerian leaders must lead with humility. david and joseph were lowly people, and chosen by god and put in charge of people and things. the power and prestige of their positions never changed them. they knew that, even as leaders, they were still just servants of the king of kings and the lord of lords. iii. nigerian leaders need to have the courage to lead. david and joseph had courage to face the difficult challenges they encountered as they lead their people. they were brave because they knew who had their backs. since they were on god's side, then there was nothing to fear—not even death. iv. patience was another quality exhibited by david and joseph. they all passed through 10 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 difficult situations that would have made them give up. however, they held on. they knew that god was in control, and trusted him enough to wait on his timing. v. david and joseph had vision and strategy. joseph was a dreamer, who had a gift for defining a compelling vision for the future. he was a planner, instructing the officials to prepare for a famine, even though it was years away, gathering up food to store up, even during the seven years of “plenty”. david had a vision of his rule and the building of the temple and other activities. our leaders must have vision and strategy of fulfilling them. vi. joseph and david had character and integrity. they were honest, disciplined and selfless in their service. our leaders must emulate the qualities exhibited by these biblical models. they were tempted at multiple times, and they resisted in most of the cases. references achebe c. (1983). the trouble with nigeria. nairobi: heinemann. adeyemo t. (2009). africa's enigma and leadership solutions. nairobi: word alive publication. akin, a. (2010). only a changed church can change nigeria, the nation sunday, september, 5th 2010. brown, driver, s.r. & briggs, c.a. (1979). the new brown-driver-briggs, gesenius hebrew and english lexicon, peabody, massachusetts: hendrickson publication. candlish, s.r. (1972). an exposition of genesis. wilmington daleware: sovereign grace. crossman, s. (1981). stewards of god's grace. exeter: peter noster press. dogara j. g. (2010). religion and politics in nigeria, acts, bukuru. el-rufai, n., (2010). quit presidential race now, el –rufai tells buhari, ibb. daily sun, tuesday, september 30, 2010. jemeriye, j.t. (2004). acceptance or tolerance: the challenge from african religion for leaders and society. in religion, leadership and society: focus on nigeria, lagos: free enterprise. john, c.l.g., (1982). genesis, volume 2. the daily study bible series, philadelphia: westminster press. leonard, j. c., (1980). theological word book of the old testament. laid, h. gleason l. a. & bruce k. w. (eds.), chicago: moody press. coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 11 12 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 mccain, d. (2007).biblical models of leadership and their relevance to the nigeria context, african journal of biblical studies, 22(11). merriam webster's collegiate dictionary, springfield, massachusetts: webster incorporated. payne, d. f. (1979).commentary on genesis chapters 12-50, new international bible commentary based on the niv, bruce, f. f. (ed.), grand rapids, michigan: zondervan publishing. rainey, l., (1983). biographies of old testament, decetur, georgia: the granary. sabella, o. a. (2005). leadership and development problem in africa: responding to e. tarfa, retrieved from http//www.nigeriavillageguard.com/article/abidde/2005/o1/leadership,p.1. page 1 page 2 page 3 page 4 page 5 page 6 page 7 page 8 page 9 page 10 page 11 page 12 text book journal pdf sis. noelle coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 01 abstract this paper analytically looks at esiaba irobi and emeka nwabueze's attempts at dramatic portrayal of failed leadership obligations in africa and precisely, nigeria. drama as a performance art is a recurrent phenomenon. this paper examines the leadership perspectives of characters presented by the playwrights in their failure to accomplish their required obligations to the proletariat. thematically, the paper desires to prove that esiaba uses his gold, frankincense, and myrrh to criticize the criticizers as they engage in class struggle. he proves that even the african literary leaders lack sense of fairness, honesty, and justice. the paper discerns from the characters that there is no difference between literary leaders and politicians who steal ballot papers and rig the elections in their bid to remain on top. the study also discovers as illuminated by nwabueze's a parliament of vultures that the law makers as they exploit the masses are metaphorical large birds of prey that feed on the putrid remains of humanity they vowed to protect. the two plays look at the philosophy and quality of interaction in academic and political spheres as man struggle in the world of power control. in the spheres of life projected by the authors, there are class struggle, exploitation, and failed obligation. therefore, this study adopts marxist approach. the paper encourages resistance by the exploited against the exploiters. keywords: leadership, obligation, drama, perspectives, struggle. introduction africa was highly influenced by the entrance of the europeans who came to christianisation, civilisation, and of course for commercial purposes. to the africans, their intrusion also brought in exploitation and other negativen influences such as amalgamation. but the nation should not continue in complaining stupor. she should not continue to live in the grief and pains of the colonial past. ibenegbu confirms that colonisation of nigeria was not the best experience for nigerians… the main negative impact on economy was slavery (legit) at this age, independent nations of africa are expected to stand on their own like other continents that suffered colonialism but are already up and going without blaming anybody. it is time to rise from quagmire and stop being the dreg of the universe whose citizens run to other nations to serve them just to have a day's meal. amongst other causes, the primary cause of this ugly situation in the country is simply failed leadership obligations by our rulers. in most african countries especially nigeria, the situation has come to a point of combustion and if nothing is done there would be catastrophe. there are failures in almost every dimension and are traceable to inadequacies in nigerian leadership caused by poor ideology, electoral malpractices, highly rated corruptive practices, no rule of law especially by ezeugo, anthonia e. english department, faculty of arts, chukwuemeka odumegwu ojukwu university, igbariam campus ezeugoanthonia@gmail.comor ae.ezeugo.coou.edu.ng +23408063786383 failed leadership obligations as praxis: dramaturgical perspectives 02 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 men at the top, lack of accountability, and so on. with the above problems, a country can hardly wriggle out of developmental challenges that are hinged on inept and incompetent leadership. at this point in time, what ought to be at the back of everybody's mind should be how we can change this country for the better by being introspective within ourselves, the responsibilities and their supposed obligations to the laid down national principles. efforts are expected from every quarter to eradicate mismanagement, maladministration, corruption and other numerous social vices which have continued to wear down the nation. nigeria is a place where the ruled serve the rulers instead of the other way around. part of the obligation of the rulers is to consider the people under them. if we consider the amount of money, for instance, a legislator collects and lavishes every month and compare it with what people like them collect elsewhere, one would not be constrained to call them 'vultures' as insinuated in one of the plays under study. many workers in the country can hardly collect in their lifetime what a legislator earns in a month. the worst is that these monies are banked abroad enlarging foreign banks while our banks continue to merge or even fold up. these inadequacies create a chasm between the rich the poor and because of the level of immaturity and ignorance people just accept situations as they are without agitation. the country is blessed with resources because apart from petroleum, nigeria's other natural resources include natural gas, tin, iron ore, coal, limestone niobium, lead, zinc, and fertile land. we only need skilled hands who can harness these resources for the benefit of the nation. most salient is the need for our leaders to live up to expectation and fulfil their manifestoes. to improve our skills, our educational system must highlight skill acquisition as against only acquisition of reading and writing skills all through primary and tertiary schools. there is no more 'hand work' in schools while we buy products from practical works by children from other nations. that is why the youth have excess time to waste and indulge in crimes and overuse the social media. educational system itself should live by example and stop graduating students who are saturated with corruption. this can be attainable when those at the head accomplish their obligations. theoretical framework in order to pass a valid evaluative interpretation on the works of art under study, marxist theory has been chosen for an objective consideration. this literary theory focuses on representation of struggles and conflict in human relationship. in marxist approach to literary appreciation, m. h abrams explains that: according to marxists and to other scholars in fact, literature reflects those social institution out of which it emerges and is itself a social institution with a particular ideological function. literature reflects class struggle and materialism: think of how the quest for wealth traditionally defines characters. (149) to ifejirika echezona, ''marxists also see literature as a powerful instrument for social criticism and transformation. so marxism from the point of view of literature, is a sociological literary approach that views works of literature or art as product of historical cum political forces…'' (188). a parliament of vultures under study hinges on the nation’s legislators. and the legislature as one of the three arms of government is primarily responsible for law making in nigeria but coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 03 they use their position as a panacea for abuse of powers, exploitation of masses, and violation of human rights. from some of their conducts as evidenced in the work, they lack public accountability and transparency in governance. they fail to pursue public good as to enhance responsible and responsive government. that is why there is need to enforce strict compliance of obligations of public officials with rules of governance and the management of public resources, thereby curbing corruption. still referring to ifejirika's stance that marxists see literature as product of history, nwabueze's play stands as a record of real life historical realities. furthermore, in view of the historical poise asika holds that a critic ''evaluates the work of art from the point of view of historical evidence available for deeper understanding of the underlying meaning of a work'' (336). nigerian nation shows a unique form of underdevelopment because nigerian leaders fail to comply with their obligations. the second text under study, irobi's gold, frankincense, and myrrh also displays relevance to nigeria cum african intellectual arena as they display power tussle in academics. irobi uses his work to expose the unequal and unhealthy relationship between the ruling figure in nigerian literature and his counterparts. the two works raise questions on both political and intellectual integrity of characters in those works and their symbols. the paper seeks to offer meaning by investigating the political and intellectual contexts that gave life to playwrights' imaginations. to that effect, onukaogu et al hold that a critic ''seeks to understand a literary work by investigating the social, cultural, and intellectual contexts that produced it'' (429). leadership leadership simply means the act of leading a group of people or organisation. gary yukl defines leadership as ''the process of influencing others to understand and agree about what needs be done and how to do it, and the process of facilitating individual and collective efforts to accomplish shared objectives.'' (8) this definition is close to eke's opinion who aptly holds that leadership is ''the process by which an individual influences the behaviour and attitude of others.'' (18) to them leaders should bear unique features or prowess as to be a driving force of an organization. gary yurkl's opinion also holds that the followers must agree with the leader and in their collective effort they accomplish an objective(s).in furtherance, omafume onoge defines leadership as: ''control in certain types of situations, actual or potential, and fellowship is relative helplessness in those same situations. the amount of skill experience and understanding that a person has in a situation determines the role that he may playleader or follower'' (quoted in fafowora et al, 45). types of leadership there are types of leadership as there are leaders. tunde adeniran highlights conventional types of leadership: 1. a dictatorial leadership that defines, determines and decides policies from a perspective of personalised authority – be it exploitative and autocratic or benevolent. 2. a democratic leadership which operates on the principle of representative participation in the policies and decisions of common concern, thus promoting confidence and encouraging commitment and a tradition of popular consultation. 3. a laissez-faire or ''free-rein'' leadership that exercises no control over the system and its operators. the subordinates, in this case operate without much co-operation and uniform direction. (quoted in fafowora, 302-3) 04 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 a careful reading of nwabueze's work portrays a dictatorial type of leadership where those at the top define, determine, and decide policies from their own perspectives personalised authorities at the detriment of the ruled. leadership traits however, whatever method a leader decides to adopt, he ought to be aware of where he is going because ''being a leader is a difficult role to play, but it is also enthralling. it demands particular characteristics for success…''(duruaku abc,157). besides, a man who does not want to turn to be a villain at the end of his leadership should be a visionary leader who takes into cognisance the future of a group. he acquires an eagle eye to see the prospective events, ''sets people free to innovate, experiment, and take calculated risks '' (goleman daniel, primal leadership). such are characteristics, traits or qualities that can make a leader a hero since the compendium of a nation's development depends solely on the leader. a strong leadership is a prerequisite for the development of any group. this is confirmed by ikupolati who said that ''leadership is by far the single most important factor in determining the effectiveness of a team or group or organisation.''(17) it is expected that a leader must trust himself, his powers and abilities. without self-assurance he cannot face challenges from opponents. satell greg rightly said that ''leaders are unrelenting, revolutionary and unwavering…'' (4 kinds of leadership). and it is his steadfastness and his constancy that prove his self-confidence. a leader must have personal charm that would arouse people's loyalty and enthusiasm. this would quench any form of repulsion from his followers. if he lacks it, he must build it and achieve it because it is a prerequisite price he must pay. in light of this, william shakespeare stated long ago that ''some are born leaders, some attain (achieve) leadership, some have leadership thrust upon them'' (brainy quote). moreover, namath submits that; ''to be a leader you have to make people want to follow you; and nobody wants to follow someone who does not know where he is going, in this regard, leadership'' (quotation book). a good leader should be modest without an excess of pride. although he is successful, he should have a feeling of insignificance, inferiority, and subservience. this is the quality that will make him a good arbitrator who cares that the fortunes of his followers are better than he met them because it is ''the obligation of an individual…to account for activities, accept responsibility for them'' [the followers] (business dictionary. com). a leader must inculcate trust by making good political decisions and executing them properly. by this he inculcates confidence in his leadership and engenders trust in his followers which will subsequently lead to his success. trust is achieved through honesty and when the two are blended together, ''accountability consequently comes naturally'' (brain tim, the seven leadership qualities of great leaders). good leaders must be courageous in tough times. he must be able to do something that is difficult or dangerous by possessing both mental and moral strength to persevere. winston churchill deems courage as ''the foremost of the virtues…'' (on courage). a leader shares his goals among his followers, (democratic) it would help to involve them and determine their potentials and use them to achieve success of a group since ''the validity of leadership rests on the reality of followership'' (duruaku,159). a promising leader should practise the law of his group. the values and obligations of the group should be at the core of his life. if he desires his group to succeed, he would not go contrary to the law he has created. this virtue strengthens his character, strengthens leadership coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 05 and makes his followers to obey him without relying on coercion. nye submits that: ''strong leadership gives you the power to get what you want without coercion; that must continually rely on position, regulation or procedure in order to compel action isn't leading, (it is) merely giving orders''(17). moreover, it would be helpful if he rewards exceptional achievement/behaviour sharing the good news of exceptional achievement/ obedience which would motivate others. leadership requires transparency and accountability. this ensures that public officers are answerable for their actions (transparency – initiative). if this is practiced well, it would promote freedom of speech, create friendly atmosphere, loyalty, and help to achieve collective goal(s). accountability in question has different faces. robert behn indentified four of them viz., ''accountability for finances, accountability for fairness, accountability for the use of power, and accountability for performance'' (317). characters in the works of irobi and especially nwabueze are lacking in the four types of accountability; as a result, there is conflict. there are many more to a successful leadership and deviation from such standards spells danger and it would amount to what peter obi calls ''progressive degeneration of leadership in nigeria'' which, according to him, has resulted in the backwardness the country has been witnessing (punchrg.com). it is pertinent for a leader to be abreast of time. he must be informed of new developments and changes, seek opportunities in those changes, and should not be overtaken by events. obligation the notion obligation may not easily be defined. nevertheless, it exists where there is a relationship between an individual or body, and the rendering of tasks or function by that individual or body have influence to another's life. obligation is a course of action that someone is required to take, whether legal or moral.(obligation-wikipedia). olivia says: ''i think leaders have moral obligation. as a leader it their responsibility to set example for those they are leading and to always do the right thing'' (youth voices) collen sharen asserts that powerful leadership is about really caring about something and seeing that it has greater meaning… (the obligation of leadership). again, vince molinaro identifies five core obligations that all leaders must understand, internalise and live up to: obligation to one's customers, obligation to one's organisation, obligation to one’s employees, and obligation to one’s communities. he reiterates that if a person is truly aware of what his /her obligations are as a leader, he/she never loses sight of them while leading. the person will better be able to manage the inherent tensions that will arise (willey online library). moreover, legal obligations are those in other contexts such as etiquette, social obligation, religious and political obligations. these obligations need punitive measures on the part of the leader if they fail to be accomplished and that is the only way we can assure its performance. obligation in governance obligation directs the actions of public officials to their promise or vow through their course of action. this promise or vow is the objectives contained in their propaganda. this can stand for something such as formal contract, a promise or the demand of conscience or custom of a place which obliges on a course of action. obligation is one of the bedrocks of leadership because it directs one on something one is bound to do: duty and responsibility. according to orluweme ozy, political obligation for instance is two sided, namely, obligation on the part of government and obligation on the part of the governed. (political obligation, bepress) nevertheless, leadership should contain trust between leaders and followers. and a nation's leadership is dependent on the abiding principles of political obligation. 06 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 regardless of the above opinion we should be acquainted of this fact that obligation should not be left to the leaders alone, rather everybody in society should be involved, this would effectively challenge the actions of the leaders and pressurize them to fulfil their promises. that is why an office that enforces the obligations of the leaders needs to be established. such office would look like the economic and financial crimes and commission (efcc). just as efcc is established to rid nigeria of economic and financial crimes such as advance fee fraud (419 frauds) and money laundering, (nigeria: efcc), this paper suggests that a similar agency is required to check the excesses of nigerian leaders. this agency would be expected to check and balance political agency taking care of responsibilities for actions and the consequences of the actions taken. for above suggestion to work, there would be clear definitions of responsibilities, and promises contained in the propaganda and appropriate legal demands of a leader. dramaturgy and portrayal of failed leadership obligation drama has always been acknowledged as an artistic creation of life using mimesis and performance. this graphic illumination conveys life experience in immediate but pragmatic way. this is a way drama embarks on human reformation. in that way, it performs different purposes and numerous functions. this present essay advocates that drama can be used as a tool for propagating leadership concepts because a dramatist is committed to creating positive consciousness that will enable man to strive for perfect leadership. dramatists are always at alert to warn the populace whenever there is derailment in the obligations of the ruler and the ruled. hence bamidele holds that: ''the artist warns the society of an impending disaster'' (28). right from the earliest historical period of drama in nigeria, artists have always illuminated and attacked nigerian leadership. in the forties, hubert ogunde started writing plays that were nationalistic and anti-colonial in outlook. he wrote worse than crime, a play that portrayed political leadership though embellished with yoruba dance and ancient folk songs. his other play titled: strike and hunger was inspired by the general strike embarked on by labour union against failed obligations of the government of the time. after the independence, wole soyinka used his muse, ogun in his plays such as kongi's harvest, opera wanosi, the beautification of area boys, and a play of the giants to show his distaste at the ridiculous show of affluence by most african leaders at the detriment of their subjects. the second-generation playwrights such as femi osofisan could not fold their hands and watch merciless nigerian leaders defecate on the altar of the ruled. osofisan launches his attack with his morountodun yungba yungba and the dance contest, midnight hotel and many others. ola rotimi protested with his if…a tragedy of the ruled, tess onwueme fought with reign of wazobia. ahmed yerima used his the silent gods to warn the populace of the impending doom if the leaders do not redress their ugly steps. right from the colonial period, to independence till date, dramatists have been engaged in issues concerning leadership and its obligation. emeka nwabueze nwabueze's a parliament of vultures is an enduring work of art. since the publication of this humorous play whose title must have been adapted from geoffrey chaucer's parliament of fowls, critics have been using it to disparage several dimensions of nigerian society. the play bluntly displays the very portrait of nigeria's history of political arena. it is in consonant with what achebe hammered as 'trouble with nigeria'. scholars have continued to refer to this achebe's popular assertion that: coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 07 the trouble with nigeria …is simply and squarely a failure of leadership. there is nothing basically wrong with nigerian character. there is nothing wrong with climate or water or air or anything else. the nigerian problem is unwillingness or the inability of its leaders to rise to the responsibility to the challenge of personal example which are the hallmarks of true leadership (10). the above assertion made by this igbo philosopher is the totality of what this paper wishes to explore, that is, the unwillingness of nigerian leaders to lead by their life examples in accomplishing their expected obligations. from the title, the playwright depicts the parliamentarians as metaphorical vultures, that is, large birds of prey that feed on ignorant or totally dead animals. the play is a simple display of chairman of senate and his members as they manoeuvre the country's finance into their respective pockets using what one would term imbecilic excuses because there is no critical social analysis nor effective checks and balances. their characters reveal the history of leaders that do not know the road to leadership or the destination. their attitude is contrary to uzodi's assertion of what a leader's conduct should be. he holds that a leader is a person: who stands in front of other men explaining to them what all ought to do. he leads and directs them into doing what they should do for the greater good. he organises them to attain group objectives. he must find methods by which he can tell people what to do or else they will not listen to him (90). the president in the world of parliament of vultures explains that inflation is as a result of people buying too much, he then gives the traders order to lower prices. to mollify the situation; he tells the journalist that if things are too expensive, the people's anger should be directed at traders, not the president. when another journalist said that there is food scarcity, the president says that whenever he passes through the market there is food everywhere. this is a portrait of an imbecile on the throne. this type of leader needs to go back and learn two letter words. such a person creates complex problems instead of solving them. as a result, characters created by nwabueze are bunches of irresponsible men who lack knowledge, excellence, truth, and justice but are demoralised, debauched, and perverted then eat like vultures. to digress a moment, what the playwright made madam omeaku to do in the play is questionable. women have contributed to leadership failure in nigeria, but their percentage is too slim as to make madam omeaku commit such atrocities in the play. her position and activities are over-bloated because she seems to be at the root of every problem in the parliament. however, the main crux of the matter is that most of the characters presented can pull a continent down because they have no any plan for building of roads nor encouraging our indigenous engineers to do that; they have no plan of building businesses nor encouraging the youth to do same; instead they import every single material for their party from overseas and our indigenous industries are folding up. serious precaution is required to free the country from being trapped another colonization. we do not need to depend on the west, not even china who may be getting ready to suck the remains of what britain left over. we don't even know what we import as canned food into the country from them. nobody knows their new colonist agenda for africa if we judge the stories that surround the corona virus pandemic on africa. we do not train our youths because of myopia and failure of the rulers and those in charge of education to perform their obligations. 08 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 esiaba irobi in his gold, frankincense, and myrrh, esiaba irobi satirises the characters and the impulses behind the works of african celebrated and prominent playwrights, poets, novelists, and their critics. these distinguished writers in their exceptional legendries are expected to be models of leadership but they turned out to be portrayals of people worse than the politicians they are always disparaging and criticizing through their plays, novels, and poems. african writers' convention as depicted in the play is expected to be attended by prestigious intellectuals, critical and disciplined minds, but what we see are the category of people we see among the politicians if not worse. their innate intent is to pull down the next person and take over his position. the african convention becomes a place of recounting personal achievement in bombastic language. in the play, professor elderly-bones, the chairman of the convention designed punitive measures to be meted on the defaulters of the debate, but he is not bold enough to face professor ogunyemi ogun with the same rule because of his nobel prize for literature and his intimidating bombastic language. he is afraid of the professor's verbose reproaches. when his conscience discerned that he has fallen short of his position as a leader, he hides his cowardice in the words of the pig who controls the government in george orwell's animal farm: ''all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others''. this comment is based on the hypocrisy of a government proclamation of absolute equality of their citizens but give power and privileges to small elite. this is exactly what the chairman did when he refers to the nobel laureate winner as the godhead of our continental literature and defends himself with a cautious declaration that ''all animals are equal, but some are more superior to others. he still goes ahead to provide professor ogun with two members of the convention who would interpret his obscure words to his fellow intellectuals. irobi tactfully uses his work to criticise the criticisers and more so advise them to be less esoteric since they are writing for the public because even the interpreters' language was not accessible in their bid to assert their ego as they struggle for supremacy. this is in semblance to what he witnessed among african writers. in this confusion, one of the characters in gold, frankincense, and myrrh, achebiri said: …things have fallen apart because of the language we borrowed. is the english language not the fuzziest and haziest of the languages? …brothers suppose we were writing in our various vernacularsswahili, yoruba, igbo, do we think these problems of misunderstanding would have risen? (irobi, 57). the convention is attended by men of literary integrity but some of them prove to lack sense of fairness, honesty, and justice. this is contrary to osuji's submission which states that: a leader is a rock model. whether he knows it or not, people must use him as a standard by which to live, therefore a leader must be honest and always live above board in all his dealings… a leader must be virtuous in all his dealings with people (36). osuji's stand is in opposition to the lives and actions of kariuka and nwogu as they steal the tape recorder when chikwas, izuwa, and madike interview prof. ogun. they want ogun to win and attain a new title of ''literary guerilla of african literature'' in addition to his former one when they know that he is not qualified. this proves the fact that ''all human life and struggle in the world is hinged on material acquisition and power control in all ramification.'' (ifejirika, 186). their action is in the same axis with the dishonest politicians who steal ballot papers and rig the election. it means that in every way nigeria is laden with hopeless leadership. okolo helps to explain that: coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 09 the right concept of power or power as service to the people, for protection and promotion of their good is little known and rarely practiced in nigeria. rather, it is often wielded for self and equally against others positions and authority invariably turn out to be sources of gain, financial security– political leaders see their time in office as grand opportunity to over-rich themselves at the expense of the common man (okolo, 86). it all means that the educated men who are decision makers in the play failed to accomplish their obligations therefore the convention could not reach the expected destination. conclusion in conclusion, this paper has contributed to one of the urgent and momentous talking points in africa especially nigeria, that is poor accomplishment of leadership obligations. it anchored on the portrayal of poor leadership fulfilment portrayed in a parliament of vultures by emeka nwabueze and gold, frankincense, and myrrh by esiaba irobi. their clamour is that the country's problem is that of the leadership which achebe has hammered before now. he said that our problem is the inability of our leaders to perform their promised obligations and be led by their good personal examples. achebe's opinion is in consonant with the irresponsible behaviour of the characters that lack both focus and locus as displayed by the playwrights. it is expected that those who desire to lead the country should possess leadership traits and be ready to accomplish their obligations. the paper simply challenges the unethical behaviour, poor management of resources, squandermenia and corruption which are resultant effects of failed leadership obligation. it therefore encourages philosophy of resistance of the masses or the exploited against the exploiters or oppressors. works cited abrams, meyer howard. a glossary of literary terms new york: holt, rinehart and winston, 1981. achebe, chinua. the trouble with nigeria enugu: fourth dimension publishing company, ltd 1983. asika, ikechukwu emmanuel. literary appreciation (a practical demonstration) awka: scoa heritage ltd 2015. bamidele, lo. literature and sociology. ibadan: stirlinghorden, 2000. behn, robert. rethinking democratic accountability washington dc: brookings institution press 2001. brian, tim. the seven leadership quality of great leaders. retrieved dec.17, 2012. http:// www.notable-quotes.com/l/leadership_quotes.html duruaku, abc. ''of hubris, accountable leadership and responsibility: a dramaturge's viewpoint'' literary perspectives on culture, leadership and accountability in nigeria. barclays ayakoroma (ed) ibadan: kraft books 2014.eke, peter. social organization and institution: an introduction to sociology. choba: enhai publishers ltd, 2000. economic and financial crimes commission en.wikipedia.org/wiki/economic_and_financial_crimes_commission retrieved on june , 30, 2020 10 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 fafowora et al nigeria: in search of leadership. ibadan: spectrum books, 1995. fosudo, sola. ''culture leadership and accountability in contemporary nigerian fiction: examples of sefi attah's everything good will come and chimamanda adichie's americanah'' literary perspectives on culture, leadership and accountability in nigeria barclays ayakoroma (ed) ibadan: kraft books 2014. ibenegbu, george. ''colonialism in nigeria: positive and negative impact'' retrieved on june , 30, 2020 legit.ng/1131998colonialism nigeriapositivenegativeimpact.html goleman, daniel et al primal leadership: realizing the power of emotional intelligence. boston: harvard business school publishing 2002. ifejirika, echezona. introduction to literary theory criticism and practice awka: mabcom systems, 2014. ikupolati, mike, ''leading your team to success'' in the daily champion, tuesday, may 30, 2000. irobi, esiaba. gold, frankincense and myrrh. enugu: abic publication, 1992. molinaro, vince. ''leadership is an obligation''wiley online library retrieved september 12, 2019. https://doi,org/10.1002/9781119224372cho5. namath, joe. ''leadership''. wwwquotatiobook.com retrieved august 6, 2013. nwabueze, emeka. a parliament of vultures. enugu: abic publications, 2002. nye, samuel. soft power: the means to success in world of politics. new york: perseus books group 2004. obligation. en. wikipedia.org/wiki/obligation. retrieved june, 30, 2020. olivia. youth voices ' 'do leaders have moral obligation?'' retrieved june, 30, 2020 file/c:/user/downloads/do%2% moral/obligation/youth voices. html. orluweme, ozy. '' obligation and democratic governance: a case study of nigeria'' sophia: an african journal of philosophy and public affairs vol.1http://works bepress.com/ozyborluwe/12 september, 2007. okafor, tony. ' 'nigeria's leadership degenerating progressively. punch, august2019. okolo, cyril. squandermenia mentality: reflection on nigeria culture. nsukka: university trust publications. 1994. onukaogu, allwell, onyekwere okpara, and onyerionwu ezechi. literary appreciation: a demonstrative reader. aba: literaseed, 2011. ozodi, osuji. the art of leadership for africans. portland, usa. unpublished, 1985. osuji, ejike. qualities of a good leader a compendium of thoughts. lagos: sky power publishing company, 2002. satell, greg. ''4 kinds of leadership''. www.digitaltonto.com retrieved august 24, 2019. sharen, colleen. ''the obligation of leadership'' retrieved on june, 30, 2020 f i l e / c : u s e r s / u s e r / d o w n l o a d s / o b l i g a t i o n / l e a d e r s h i p / t h i n k i n g /hard/work.html. shakespeare, william. retrieved september 12, 2019. www.brainyquote.com. soyinka, wole. ' ' islam, christianity, bane of nigeria's growth' ' . vanguard, march 16, 2000. page 1 page 2 page 3 page 4 page 5 page 6 page 7 page 8 page 9 page 10 jonal vol. 5 no. 4 new2.cdr education pedagogy/learning and the future of humanities in digital age by 1dr. austin a. mbachu department of philosophy imo state university owerri, imo state. nigeria e-mail: . phone: 08064604150audraustin@gmail.com & 2johnson u. ofoegbu (ph.d) department of educational foundations/administration alvan ikoku federal college of education, owerri, imo state nigeria 08038168767, email: johnson.ofoegbu@alvanikoku.edu.ng & 3kenechukwu k. makwudo, (ph.d) philosophy department, chukwuemeka odumegwu ojukwu university, igbariam. anambra state ugochimelueze1@gmail.com, kk.makwudo@coou.edu.ng 080100976825, 07032500789. abstract he myriad problem of unemployment, poverty, illiteracy, frustration, lack of self-confidence tand the dwindling of the vision of educational system is chocking it's all round development. the problem is the formal pedagogy, especially in developing countries which has failed to meet up with the primary goals of education, namely the cultivation of individuals who are able to face the challenges that arise in the society. it is pertinent to note that most people have not had the opportunity to actualize their desire through self-effort and learning. the purpose of this paper is to prospects solution to these critical problems confronting the educational system of pedagogy in terms of leaning, which is how to develop every child that will have self-confidence in facing the challenges of the modern world and how to build progressive graduates that will brings about a true democratic society. the paper employs analytic method. in the light of these challenges, this paper sets to employ john dewey pragmatic approach to education in resolving some of the issues contained therein and recommend that pragmatic approach to education posits that education should not be holistically centred on the mind alone, but on practice. hence, the paper concludes and encourages both learning by doing and co-operation between the learners and the teachers. the pedagogical system of education in term of learning, need to be changed by approaching education as a systematic to be functional in learning by doing, this in turn will enhance qualitative education for future humanities and self-reliant in a digital age. keywords: education pedagogy, society, teaching, learner and digital age. introduction education is a life-long process that begins at birth and ends at death. education does not mean being literate, though it is intrinsically connected to literacy. it is not merely an ability to give meaning to words. it is an acquisition of the art of utilisation of the knowledge. therefore, it is associated with the process of thinking that creates a certain level of awareness necessary for the transformation of both man and society. from down of civilisation, or even before, man has becomes acquainted with what it means to know, to train and to bequeath beliefs, skills and values to his generations. teaching 20 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 pedagogy, or, in other words, teaching methods, can either be teacher or student-centred and can be low or high-teaching approach. this communication of beliefs and ideas comes in the form of socialisation which the culture and believes of a particular society remains viable long after the predecessor are all dead. however, there is systematic and organized way of this communication. this systematic mode of learning is particularly attributed to the beginning of civilization and the ability to read and write in one of the offspring of this process. it is as a result of education that human race has made tremendous achievements in numerous sectors of life: learning from the past and present to build and improve the future. it is from this backdrop that the concept of education emerged. the most effective pedagogy encompass a range of teaching techniques and includes details that will help to guide teachers to structured, class group work, learning, assessment in practice and individual activity. these pedagogies focus on improving qualitative education in both the teachers and the learners and future of humanities in digital age. ' conceptual notion of education according to the oxford advance learner’s dictionary, (2005) education is a process of teaching, training and learning, especially in schools or colleges to improve knowledge and develop skills. these are the two latin words that define education. education, which was derived from the latin word “educare” means to bring up (development); and “educere” means to lead out (problem solving). education is the process of acquiring ideas, knowledge and skills through which a person could be apply to solve the daily life problems by being aware of what is right and what is wrong. education is a complete package of impacting and shaping of one's life and qualifies to become a better human in the world. education is seen as a process of imparting and acquiring knowledge through teaching and learning, especially at schools or similar institutions. what is teacher's pedagogy teacher's pedagogy refers to the pedagogy that is centred towards the teacher, who gives the most meaningful course of information. in this approach, the teacher has a large responsibility of giving correct information to the students in the right way, irrespective of their teaching styles. the teacher can give a clear understanding of how the students are doing concerning their learning and also be an effective model for the target language. there are five major approaches of pedagogical learning. 1. constructivist in this approach, the students are allowed to be present in the process of understanding and gaining knowledge rather than just passively receiving information. this encourages critical thinking among the students and gives a learning environment in which they can connect with what they are hearing. 2. collaborative here, the students form groups of learners that learn together and work to solve a problem, build strategies, ideas, create products or complete a task. this is a joint intellectual effort by the students among themselves or with the help of the teachers. 3. integrative for the integrative approach, the students are given a learning environment that helps them in connecting with their learning across the syllabus. the four objectives of integration include understanding the process of learning differentiating issues by relevance making use of the lessons in practical scenarios associating the concepts in regular lives 21 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 4. reflective as a reflective approach, the students are expected to evaluate themselves. it means observing the activities of the teachers and other students in the classroom and analysing why they do it and how it works. 5. inquiry-based learning in the inquiry-based learning method, the educators are expected to not just answer the queries of the students, but also build a culture where their ideas are explored, challenged, improved, and refined. it aims to take the students from the position of wondering about a question to understanding the answer and then questioning it further. the most effective pedagogies encompass a range of teaching techniques, including a detailed guide for teachers structured and whole-class group work guided learning, assessment practice and individual activity. these pedagogies focus on improving higherorder thinking and meta-cognition and make good use of questioning and dialogue in doing so. at structural learning, we try to steer away from teaching fads such as learning styles (it was once thought that children should be labelled a visual learner, whatever learning environment you are operating in, it's good practice to utilise what research is available to us. we all share the same goal in enhancing the learning experience of children. our focus has always been on developing deep learning experiences. this involves unpicking the learning process and designing effective teaching strategies that really get children thinking. it might be that the learning environment sometimes restricts our ability to embrace what we know is the best teaching method. schools are always pushing for time and busy timetables require organized classrooms that cannot always deviate or act spontaneously. we create learning resources that support active learning in the classroom. the universal thinking framework enables teachers to unpick learning tasks and carefully design learning strategies that scaffold complex classroom tasks. this type of pedagogical approach gets to the heart of student thinking. deep learning comes from deep thinking; if the student is not engaged mentally then they probably will not be able to understand the lesson content. pragmatism and pedagogy in learning over the course of the 1890s dewey steadily moved away from absolute idealism towards the pragmatism and naturalism of his mature philosophy. in dewey problem-centred schools, the teacher as a resource person guides rather than to direct learners. teachers using the problem-solving method need to be pertinent with their students. this theory of knowledge emphasises the necessity of testing thought by action. hackathorm j. (2011). assert that, article in education is intended in part to explore the implications of his functional pedagogy and to test it by experiment. however, it could be wrong to cultivate the purpose and interests of children just as they stand”. effective education required these purposes and interests to be used by the teachers in order to guide the child towards his understanding of the sciences, history and arts. the pedagogical system calls upon teachers to perform the extremely difficult task of reinstating into experience the subject-matter of the curriculum in dewey concept of education that every educative process should begin with doing something and the necessary training of sense perception, memory, imagination and judgement should grow out of the conditions and needs of what is being done. this is the way in which learning in itself takes place before any specific instruction and schooling set in. informal education in schools should connect with these informal learning processes by providing adequate learning environments. pedagogical communication should cluster about what dewey calls occupations”. this concept stands for activities where significance transcends the mere school context. the primary aims lie in the activity itself and its respective motives, objectives, and requirements. as a way of making education progressive as well as pragmatic, one must rely or trust on the best available scientific facts in line with concrete theories of learning. progressive education 22 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 is famous for insisting that learning take place by doing. education and pragmatism/ future of humanities in digital age the word pragmatism is derived from the greek word pragma meaning (“action” or power). pragmatism is a school of thought in philosophy; it dominated the united states in the first quarter of the 20th century. thayer s.h (1986) said, pragmatism is based on the principle that the usefulness, workability and practicality of ideas, policy and proposals as criteria of their merit. it stresses the priority of action over doctrine or experience over fixed principles and it holds that ideas borrowed the meanings from their consequences and their truths from their verification. according to webster's integrated dictionary, pragmatism is 'a practical approach to problem-solving'. it is a system of philosophy that emphasises practice as a way to attain the best results. it is also a way to emphasize the principle of truth and idea and a system of thinking which aims at the best practical alternative to a given situation. it further refers to thinking the way of considering things or as a system of philosophy which maintains that the principle of an idea can be judged only by its practical results. dewey's pragmatic th philosophy of education is to educational enterprise what renaissance was to philosophy in the 19 century. he gave a scientific methodology of education. his progressive education is based on variously known as experimentation, instrumentalism and pragmatism. as a pragmatist, the criteria for truth are to find a basic way of experience that is workable and relative to an individual's place and circumstance. truth therefore, consists in the usefulness of an idea in practice. the message of dewey's pragmatic philosophy of education which was initially important was that education should not be the teaching of mere dead facts, but the skills and knowledge which students should learn are to be integrated fully into their lives as citizens. dewey in his book: experience and education (1938), defined education as a process for preparation of getting ready. what is to be ready for are the responsibilities of adult life, since growth is the characteristic of life, education is all about growing. it therefore, means that educational process has no end beyond itself; it is an end in itself. the advantages that education confers help man in solving problems especially when his environment poses threats to him. the adult uses powers to transform his environment thereby occasioning new idea which redirects his powers and keep them developing. in plato's system of nature, the mind has no role to play in grasping reality. underlying these various separations that found the foundational assumption to the isolation of the mind is from activity. to remedy this situation, dewey advocates for a philosophy which recognizes the origin, place and function of the mind in an activity which controls the environment. dewey believes that children are endowed with untrained powers. the teachers and parents should direct this power and take caution, because what are important are the child's impulses which move towards development of the society. dewey's philosophy is usually classified with the general heading of pragmatism, though his own name for it was instrumentalism and experimentalism; which require explanation and internal differentiation. whereas idealism and realism dated back to ancient greece, pragmatism developed in the twentieth century america. the older traditional philosophies rested on the antecedent conception of reality in which truth is a priori or prior to and independent of human experience. pragmatism contends that a “truth” is a tentative assertion based on human experience. the originators of pragmatism were charles .s. peirce, william james, and john dewey. william, i. (1921). pragmatism is popularly regarded as a philosophy of consequences, that is to say, it uses results or consequences as a criteria of judgement. but this description seems inadequate putting into consideration what the three men had in mind. 23 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 the origin of pragmatism in peirce's mind lies in his attempt to find a means of explaining intellectual concepts. he was dissatisfied with the abstractions of traditional metaphysics, and one word is to be defined by other words, and without any real conception ever being reached. instead, it is certain and unchanging world in which truth is universal and eternal as plato claimed, peirce's world is in a state of flux and is indeterminate. because the world is indeterminate, the lives and the actions in it are also changing, relative and indeterminate. to make sense of this kind of world, peirce argued that one need to do the best job that is possible. possibility however, is not certainty. one need to estimate what one can do by using the theory of possibility for what is likely to happen if a person acts in a certain way. because of this, certain actions bring about reactions in a way that can be quantified and one can estimate them. it is probable that such reactions will occur in the future. this is necessary to understand however, the actions and reactions in themselves are never occurring in exactly the same way. however, probability provides one with sense of intelligence directed towards possible action. with this in mind, this work investigates the thoughts that are possible which one can formulate tentatively or generalise. although charles peirce initiated pragmatism, that it was generalized and popularized by william james and john dewey. james's ideas are regarded as stimulated by the human need to choose between possible ways of acting in a situation. when a person chooses and thinks, james says that his conclusion can guide his actions but they are also provisional and subject to further revision. a person's belief gives the person the rules he can call good and force, right and wrong, while realising that he may likely keep revising the guidelines as he encounters different situations in the course of life. in traditional education, subject-matter, curriculum and disciplines were organized deductively as bodies of principles and theories with factual content and examples. “formal education became excessively abstract” and bore little relationship to the learner's own personal and social experience. dewey j. (1899). furthermore, the subject matter of the curriculum should aim at preparing students for future situations after the completion of formal schooling. they created additional division that separated the child from the curriculum and the school from the society. how do we advance the pedagogy of teaching? the structural learning community is very much a global community. different school systems have different approaches such as project-based learning or direct instruction. many schools have moved away from collaborative learning whilst others see this as an essential part of the educational experience. whatever learning environment you are operating in, investing in the development of sound classroom pedagogy is essential. the rosenshine principles of instruction provided schools with a list of modern teaching methods that were all evidence-based. these aspects of teaching provided classroom practitioners with solid guidance. his practices of teaching were well received within the profession of teaching as they weren't prescriptive. every teaching situation could utilize these impactful approaches to instructional delivery. traditional learning practices were quite rightly questioned with the release of this paper. many inspectors' favoured methods of teaching that were simply not well researched. learning pedagogy addresses the different ways students understand information and is equally as important as teaching pedagogy in understanding and supporting every student. every teacher knows that no two students are the same, so discovering how each student learns best can help them personalize instruction. there are several theories about how students learn. one popular concept is gardner's theory of multiple intelligences, which developmental psychologist howard gardner created. gardner's research analyses various learning styles and helps determine strengths and challenges for each type of learner. the theory states that there are three broad categories in which people learn-visual, auditory, and tactile—and among these groups are nine specific types of 24 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 intelligences: leaning process for designing knowledge with action in education, the attainment of settlement is a progressive matter for continuous discussion. the pragmatic theory of education lies in its propensity to accommodate future inquiries. through education, virtue is inculcated not by imposing values upon the child but by cultivating fairmindedness, objectivity, openness to new experiences and courage to change one`s mind in the light of further experience. in efforts to re-establish that practical use of knowledge with action as subsumed in pragmatic theory of education, this is engaged to what is called the application of intelligence in the problem of men. the educational process which is best suited for the societies. pragmatic meaning of education is the critical estimate the theories of knowledge and moral development which are formulated in social conditions, but which operate in societies nominally democratic to bring about the adequate realisation of the democratic society. the reiteration on the practical use of knowledge is an attempt to remould the traditional empiricism as to free philosophy from static intellectualistic prejudices. pragmatic theory education makes education an instrument of action with emphasis on the effects of knowledge on the individual`s lives. issue of transmission is the question of what is to teach, by what method and this has been a task for what will be the curriculum characteristic of a teacher in schools. teachers are important in transmitting the roles of a pragmatic theory of education. this is why teachers is concern with the subject matter of science as representing a given stage and phase of the development of experience. dewey j. (1976), claims that, every teachers must transmit knowledge in a dignified manner capable of inducing growth. this is shaped to say that every teachers should realized the dignity as been called as a teacher that he is the social servant set apart for the maintenance of proper social order and the securing of the right of social growth. the curriculum should contain higher motives above the present social life of a child with this; the subject matter of the school curriculum should make gradual differentiation out of the primitive unconscious unity of social life. the best content of curriculum made manifest through teaching is the best type of teaching that bears in mind the desirability of affecting interconnection. with this in mind, a student will systematically be led to utilise earlier lessons so as to help understand the present and also to use the present to thrown additional light upon what has already been acquired. issue of learning learning is active and it involves reaching out of the mind. it involved organic assimilation starting from within. to talk about learning is a something the individual should do when studying. learning requires thinking because thinking” is the method of intelligent learning and learning is that which employs and rewards the mind. in educational psychology, today it is widely agreed that constructive learning is the key to successful learning with regard to this, slavin in his book, education psychology theory and practice said: one of the most important principles of educational psychology is that teachers cannot simply give students knowledge. students must construct knowledge in their own mind. the teachers can facilitate this process by teaching in a way that make informative meaningful and relevant to students, by giving opportunities to discover or apply idea themselves and by teaching students to be aware of and consciously use their own strategies for learning. issue of knowledge the characteristic motion of knowledge peculiar to pragmatic theory is that knowledge is the tool for managing experience-no such thing as genuine knowledge and fruitful understanding except as the 25 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 offspring of doing. the ability to adopt to change is what makes ones knowledge pragmatic. this is affirmed that knowledge is power and knowledge is achieved by sending the mind to school. education pedagogy for the child and the teacher in the formal learning process the child and the teacher are left alone in this formation of the process in which the teacher as a professional is expected to direct, communicate and share experiences with the child learner. the teacher recognizes that teaching involves human interaction relationship and requires that the teacher process accurate understanding about pupil and their behaviour. the teacher in his interaction with the child should encourage rather than condemning the pupils to punishment. all the child needs is the teachers collaboration so that he can explores his environment and gain control over it. it is a problematic encounter that leads children to use their intelligent to solve their challenges. the teacher role is simply to determine how the discipline of life shall come to the child. as regards discipline, the social life of the child should be taken a focus of concentration or correlation. this becomes one of the ways to make the child conscious of his or her social challenges as it will enable the child to perform those fundamental type of activities which make civilization what it should be in the society. education for social integration as a means for development there are factors that are responsible for the emergency of social disintegration. they include ethnocentrism, differences in economic interest, frustration and social discrimination. social integration in a society ( with the instrumentality of different leaders at the helm of affairs to have the interest and vision of avoiding self-group interest for the greater good of the majority and keep in fact, equal opportunity and privilege for all. fact about human behaviour is taught in school and college levels. people learn how to manage their anger, frustration and ask why social discrimination is practised. national policy on education (2004), assert that, education learned from this perspective of gaining facts about good human behaviour make education a thing of continued reconstruction of experience, character and mode of thought. a good educational aim must be an outgrowth of existing conditions and needs of a particular individual to be educated, and it has to flexible and not rigid. education pragmatism and pedagogy in learning in problem-centred school, the teacher as a source of person guides rather than direct learning. teacher using the problem solving method need to be patient with their students. this theory of knowledge emphasizes the necessity of testing thought by actions. education is intended in part to explore the implications of the functional pedagogy and to test it by experiment. pedagogical communication should cluster about what dewey calls “occupations”. this concept stands for activities whose significance transcends the mere school context. the primary aims in the activity itself and its respective motives, objectives, ends and requirements. informal education in schools should connect with these informal learning processes by providing the learning environment. this is the way in which learning itself takes place before any specific instruction and schooling set in. progressive education is famous for insisting that learning take place by doing. this means that whether the subject is history, literature or science, if it cannot be learned through an activity, then it immediately fails under suspicion. education is centred on the child who learns through experience and should match with the social reality. the child cannot be isolated from social experience, which is the microscope of the society. it is a believed in cultivating children capacity for the exercise of deliberative and urge teachers to teach not readymade knowledge” as it was called but a method that would enhance moral reasoning. the best way to do this is to introduce students at the outset to a mode of associated living which is a characteristic of democracy. a school should be a community of full participation, conjoint communication experience in which social sympathy and deliberative moral reason would 26 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 develop”. according to neubert s. (2009), an educator john dewey belief in democracy to the school’s ability in providing a staging platform social progress pervades all his work, but it is perhaps most clearly stated in his early pedagogic creed, in whichhe asserts that: education is the fundamental method of social progress and reform. alternatively, student-centred learning guides the student to be an active participant in their learning process. while the teacher still delivers content, they take on more of a coaching or mentoring role to help students learn. student-centred assessments, like formative assessments, are given more frequently to assess their learning progress and can be more objective than teacher-centred assessments. teachercentred learning focuses on the teacher giving lectures and sharing content through direct instruction. in this case, the focus is on the teacher's knowledge and conveying that to students. as a result, teacher-centred assessments are meant for students to show how well they remember that knowledge at the end of a unit. issue of value the term value means a distinct intellectual act an operation of comparing and judging to evaluate. the term value is inextricable in education, that everything about education is valuable. the pragmatic theory of education sets at a good process of living capable of making one's life fruitful and significant. lowand high-tech approaches refer to how many digital tools are incorporated into the learning process. a high-tech method could include technology like a learning management system (lms), and a low-tech approach could be more paper-based, using hand-outs and worksheets. issue of society, the issues of society is characterized calls for this vital question “what is society”? why are institutions involved in the issue of education processes? the question is elucidated more in projections and position of theory vis-a-vis education. learning pedagogy addresses the different ways students understand information and is equally as important as teaching pedagogy in understanding and supporting every student. every teacher knows that no two students are the same, so discovering how each student learns best can help them personalize instruction. there are several theories about how students learn. one popular concept is gardner's theory of multiple intelligences, which developmental psychologist howard gardner created. gardner's research analyses various learning styles and helps determine strengths and challenges for each type of learner. the theory states that there are three broad categories in which people learn—visual, auditory, and tactile—and among these groups are nine specific types of intelligences. social pedagogy social pedagogy provides a holistic way of dealing with children and their families in ways that help their growth, well-being, and education. social pedagogy indicates that education is critical to the well-being and development of students. therefore, in the broadest sense, these types of pedagogical practices are understood as forms of practice that support social learning and development in one's life. by nature, students are social persons. but, they also need the education to express themselves effectively. depending upon different cultural and social backgrounds, how public education is provided can differ from one country to the other. examples of social pedagogy: an example of social pedagogy is how countries are using social education to highlight the significance of things like kindness and empathy. practitioner's knowledge plays a major role in using the right materials for students to explore at the right time in their development. social pedagogy refers to the education system that deals with common social issues related to human needs, such as social inequality, its reasons and consequences for the residential children, who are a group of vulnerable children living with a group of other children looked after by the hired workers who are hired to work on a shift basis and live in the residential setting. 27 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 education and critical pedagogy in learners it is a teaching philosophy that persuades classroom teachers to encourage learners to critique structures of oppression and power. a brazilian educator and philosopher, paulo freire, is regarded as one of the founders of critical pedagogy. freire believed that as the first step towards social change and liberation, oppressed people need to become critically conscious. he mentioned that the learners are not actively participating in their learning, in problem-solving or interacting; but they are mainly engaged in receiving, memorizing, and repeating information. hence, critical pedagogy is also considered progressive and even radical by some policy makers because it critiques power structures that are frequently taken for granted. critical teaching aims to encourage students to challenge their ideas and thoughts, their practices, and their beliefs, to gain a deeper understanding and think critically. examples of critical pedagogy: educators can incorporate critical pedagogy by using audio-visual material to encourage students to look at the causes and deeper meaning of everything from politics to war and religion; or by analysing and exploring power issues and relationships in their families. students may also look for statements that are biased toward media and popular culture. critical teaching frequently depends upon the students' approach towards teaching in which teachers uncover different strengths of students' backgrounds, and nurture them to assure that students are confident to express their feelings, and accomplish their goals. leaning in cultural responsive pedagogy culturally responsive teaching considers cultural contexts. to apply culturally responsive teaching, teachers make changes in their pedagogical practice, after child observation, to suit the cultural needs of a child belonging to any specific cultural background. sometimes the educational institute makes changes in its policies and procedures to facilitate more community participation. example of culturally responsive pedagogy: a culturally responsive teaching approach encourages and takes into consideration diverse races, beliefs, ethnicities, and the background of students. the cultural responsiveness of a cooking lesson would be to provide access to video pedagogy to provide knowledge about the cultural cuisines in the course of the study. cultural responsiveness of a political study would mean debates and analysis of a wide range of political topics, in various cultural contexts. in legal studies, it means to keep various cultural and religious beliefs and differences in view such as how different communities might view similar legal matters. socratic pedagogy proposed by the greek philosopher, socrates, the socratic pedagogy mainly involves the dialogue between the instructor and students. the teacher would ask students probing questions and explore the underlying beliefs that shape the perceptions and views of the students. there are three steps of the socratic method: 1. the teacher would provide an initial description or opinion; 2. then, the teacher would ask a question to raise an exception to that opinion or description; 3. provide a better opinion or description. socratic pedagogy includes a process in which learners can develop their psychological and social skills to become active members of a democratic society. students get the support to challenge traditional concepts about knowledge, explore alternatives, and create educational knowledge using their experiential learning, ideas, and meaningful dialogues with others. thus, the socratic my pedagogic creed, (1964), pedagogy curriculum will mostly include the anonymous peer review process, collaborative instructions, comparative context and thinking as learners explore established ideas with others to open their minds and develop a better understanding of concepts. example of socratic pedagogy: socratic pedagogy in science or mathematics can be seen when 28 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 students look beyond the obvious to assess what and why a specific scientific or mathematical process is, and how is that applied in society. this type of discussion does not necessarily find a particular answer, but it raises new questions for the dialogue. it aims to address the cultural diversity among students. it helps to comprehend cultural differences among the students and increases awareness about cultural differences in school. it aims to encourage the students to gain more knowledge from other sources along with what is provided to them. this helps the students to find alternative solutions to the problems. role of pedagogy in effective learning, it enhances student participation in learning and makes them more receptive to what is being taught. the main focus is given on the outcomes of courses and the students are free to learn in their styles. it encourages the students with special needs to be a part of the mainstream teaching ways and engage with other students. the student studies a particular subject with a clear objective of outcomes such as gaining skills and knowledge of the subject. pedagogy is a student-centred approach in which the students take responsibility for learning in their ways. teachers evaluate the students regularly to see if they are improving and moving towards their target outcomes. the study methods encourage teamwork and group projects for the students to meet likeminded individuals and work with them. these help students to develop cognitive skills using evaluation, detailed analysis, comprehension, and application of the courses. recommendations this paper recommended that pedagogy in teaching can be used to assess an educator's understanding of how the students learn. the teachers are focused on presenting the syllabus to the students in such a way that it is relevant to their needs. pedagogy demands classroom interactions between the teachers and the students which create a significant impact on the learner's mind. the educators, teachers and students should embrace the methods of pedagogy in our educational system for the promotion and improve impact of the learners for the good of our society and developmental goal in leaning and future of humanities in digital age. pedagogy and child's development work hand inhand. it helps the student to think in different ways and move beyond the traditional methods of memorization and comprehension for learning. it invokes complex processes of learning among the students such as analysing, creative thinking, and evaluation. further, it makes students more receptive to what the teacher is teaching. a well thought pedagogy can help the students to grasp education in various ways. it caters to the learning abilities of different students. students can follow their preferred ways of learning and stick to them. in this way, the students develop a better understanding of the subject, which eventually improves their skills and learning outcomes. students with special needs require different ways of learning and teaching in the institutes. implementation of a suitable pedagogical approach will help them learn better and encourage them to be a part of the mainstream learning community. the teacher understands the student in a better way which helps them to focus on the student's weaknesses and guide them. difference between a pedagogical approach and pedagogical techniques a pedagogical approach is a completely unified method of looking at teaching. conclusion in this way, the well-taught, modern-day pedagogy is a complete interrelation of the concepts and ideas, along with the ways of teaching the students. it also indicates that these practices have direct involvement with the student's achievements, results, and skills developed after following the approach. implementation of a well-suited pedagogy can be aided with the help of a learning management system for the faculty and students. the system offers a large variety of options for learning, keeping track of the syllabus, solving questions and problems whenever they are ready, connecting with classmates, communicating with teachers, and taking control of their learning experience. further, it helps the teacher keep a personalized look on the students using the software if 29 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 a well-taught pedagogy is implemented in the classrooms, the quality of education can show a drastic improvement. this will benefit the students by helping them thoroughly understand the education material, thereby improving the learning outcomes. the implementation of pedagogy in education encourages the students to work together towards completing a task and learn together. this increases their perceptions by understanding and taking views from the other students, thereby adapting the cooperative learning environments making them better leaders in the future. it takes several elements from all the approaches of pedagogy which include constructivism, behaviourism and liberationism. it further applies that approach in all aspects of teaching is a pedagogical technique that defines a set of actions performed by the teacher in the classroom for teaching. it includes flipped learning, computational thinking and deep learning. it is more granular than the entire pedagogical approach. it is aimed towards the social development, awareness, and well-being of the students. the teaching must consist of values and moral education. it aims towards comprehending and deconstructing several daily life problems and issues. it encourages the students to dig deeper into things and try to understand their thoughts and beliefs on a certain topic. curriculum development is a crucial component of any education and training activities, it is a road map to knowledge and it builds knowledge topology. curriculum development includes consideration of aims, intended learning outcomes, concise content, learning and teaching methods and assessment. the study concludes by raising pedagogical signposts through which the ideals of education learning and future humanities in digital age. 30 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 references dewey, j. (1899) the school and the society, chicago: university press, dewey, j.. (1938). experience and education, new york: macmillan co, dewey, j. (1976). the school and society, in j. ann boydston(ed.),the middle work of john dewey, carbondale: southern illinois university press, garrison. j. (2012). john dewey's philosophy of education, an introduction and recontexualization for our times, new york: st. martin's press, hackathorn, j. (2011). et al learning by doing: an empirical study of active teaching techniques, journal of effective teaching st. louis university press vol.2, no. 2. my pedagogic creed (1964). in john dewey on education: selected writings, archambaut r.d., (ed.) new york: the modern library. national policy on education (2004-) of the federal republic of nigeria. 4th edition. national education policy, nigeria on a new orientation (2006) in http/www.google.com/national education policy, 2010. neubert, s. (2009). reconstructing dewey's pragmatisma review essay” journal on educational theory, new york: john wiley & sons incorporated, vol. 59, no3. neubert, s. (2006). the challenge of pragmatism for constructivismsome perspectives in the programme of cologne constructivism, journal of speculative philosophy, vol20, no.3. oxford dictionary of scientific quotations, (2005). bynum w.f.& porter r., (eds.) london: oxford university press, slavin, r.s, (2006). educational. psychology. theory and practice. boston, person press, the (2005). oxford dictionary of philosophy press, thayer s. h: (1986). “pragmatism” is p.w. goetz (gen: ed) the encyclopedia britannica, vol. th 25, 15 ed (usa). encyclopedia britannica inc. william j. (1921). pragmatist, new york longman green & company. 31 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 page 29 page 30 page 31 page 32 page 33 page 34 page 35 page 36 page 37 page 38 page 39 page 40 jonal vol. 5 no. 4 new2.cdr the role of the internet in the archival documentation of igbo traditional music by rev. dr. jude toochukwu orakwe (jatomaria@gmail.com), chukwuemeka odumegwu ojukwu university, anambra state abstract ver since the evolution of the internet, a lot has been done in terms of preservation of etraditional music of various cultures throughout the world. the exigency of archival documentation of traditional music is to be located in the fact that without such preservation, native musical artefacts may be permanently lost. although there have been some random and uncoordinated attempts to preserve igbo music in the internet, the fact is that much has not been done formally in terms of a systematically organised archival/electronic conservation of much elements of igbo cultural music by well-placed igbo or nigerian institutions, such as has been done by such well-known world-famous institutions like the library of congress and smithsonian institution. in the present study, the author, while adopting the ethno-historical research approach of examination and evaluation of available historical evidence and literatures, seeks to demonstrate the urgent necessity as well as itemise means and methods of effecting an organized electronic codification, cataloguing and archiving of artefacts and items of igbo cultural music as a way of safeguarding them for future use and reference. as such, this research serves as a contribution to the effort of preserving and promoting not only igbo music but also, indirectly, igbo language and other aspects of igbo cultural identity, as well as preventing their extinction. key words: traditional music, archival documentation, culture, internet introduction one of the conspicuous fallouts of the emergence of the internet is the rather ambitious and obviously useful and successful endeavour of digitising artefacts of traditional cultures and thereby preserving them in a retrievable electronic format. this would be for the purpose of future research and in order to prevent these precious cultural data from being lost. in various world-class libraries, lots of artefacts of traditional cultures are preserved via the internet, whether these artefacts be in the form of oral tradition, stories, poetry, songs and various types of musical lore. items of digital preservation include not only various sorts of books and manuscripts but also audio and visual materials, the visual format embracing both moving and still pictures. to cite a concrete example, at the famous library of congress, digitisation of cultural materials for the purpose of preservation is an important dimension of the services rendered by the library to the united states' congress as well as to the public. the library which boasts of having “more than 25 million catalogued books, 74.5 million manuscripts, 5.6 million maps, 8.2 million items of sheet music, 4.2 million audio materials, and 17.3 million visual materials” went further in 1994 to inaugurate “the national digital library program (ndlp), making freely available on the internet high-quality electronic versions of american historical material from the library's special collections” (billington, 2021). in addition, “by the end of the library's bicentennial year in 2000, more than five million items (manuscripts, films, sound recordings, and photographs) had been mounted on the library's american memory website, which continued to expand rapidly” (billington, 2021).similarly, the centre for folklife and cultural heritage based in washington 32 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 d.c., which is part of a larger establishment, the smithsonian institution, established “for the increase and diffusion of knowledge” is world famous for its most organized and strategic effort of transforming many collections of cultural artefacts into digital format (smithsonian institution, 2022). nevertheless, from the online survey conducted by the author, it does seem that not much has been done in terms of collection and digital documentation of igbo cultural music. indeed, according to nwamara (2017, p. 4) the effort of “ igbo cultural music is still repackaging, reviving and preserving” on-going but much remains to be done. accentuating the urgency of preserving igbo music, nwamara (2017, p. 5) further argued that: igbo folk music was in the past kept alive through imitation and active performance of the music at appropriate musical events. [nevertheless,] preservation of the music is needed to ensure its continuity and, as a result, the need for its repackaging and documentation in the most reliable globally accessible and understandable manner. but the much-needed digital preservation of rich igbo cultural music heritage is precisely what has been difficult to come by. this lacuna may stem from lack of awareness or obliviousness of the fact that “digitisation [is] the most appropriate strategy for the preservation of sound recordings…” ( and similar artefacts of igbo cultural musicnwamara 2017, p. 5) . thus, the importance of digitizing igbo music in order to preserve them for posterity cannot be overemphasised. it is an issue requiring an urgent attention inasmuch as music remains critical and pivotal in the positive construction of the racial identity of any cultural enclave (orakwe 2015, pp. 45-46; see monson 2003, p. 4). in other words, preservation of items of igbo music folklore, especially via digitisation, will prevent their eventual disappearance—which implies a loss of something essential in the making and survival of the igbo cultural/racial identity—and make these cultural artefacts available for future appreciation, investigation and study. in this inquiry, we shall first discuss the emergence of the internet and its emplacement within the global social communication network. the reception of the internet in the nigerian enclave constitutes the next point of discourse. next, there will be a consideration of the positive aspect of internet data preservation, then a critical appraisal of the current status of internet's role in the archival documentation of igbo music. this study closes with a prognosis of future possibilities for a fuller utilization of the potentialities of cyber-digital technology for a newer and more attractive presentation, revival and preservation of igbo cultural music. the present study is based on the theoretical paradigm of ethno-history. what is involved in this approach is an analytic re-examination and valuation of available historical records as well as literatures. according to stone (2008, p. 178), citing the online journal, ethnohistory (2006), this approach “emphasizes the joint use of documentary materials and ethnographic or archaeological data, as well as the combination of historical and anthropological approaches, in the study of social and cultural processes and history.” such critical review, while assuming the primacy of written records as historical data (stone 2008, p. 179), will serve as an aid in evaluating what has been actually done and what still needs to be done with regards to achieving a realistic electronic archival documentation of igbo music. ethno-historical approach ultimately will lead to a deeper insight as to how igbo people have “historically constructed, socially maintained” and individually created and experienced the art of music making (rice 1987, p. 473 quoted in stone 2008, p. 181; see geertz 1973, pp. 363-364). before going further, there is the need to trace the historical origin and advent of the internet technology. 33 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 historical emergence of the internet as a matter of historically certain fact, the invention of internet stemmed from the techno-scientific drive to create “publicly accessible computer network connecting many smaller networks from around the world” (britannica, t. editors of encyclopaedia, 2021) through which “people can share information and communicate from anywhere with an internet connection” (kahn & dennis 2022). originally, the internet in its emergence involved the confluence of technologies invented by various establishments and individuals such as robert taylor, who introduced the earliest form of internet known as arpanet (advanced research projects agency network), as well as vinton cerf and robert kahn, whose ingenuity led to the development of the transmission control protocol/internet protocol (tcp/ip) technologies (kahn & dennis 2022). eventually, arpanet was made to become a broader network that “connected time-sharing computers at government-supported research sites, principally universities in the united states, and it soon became a critical piece of infrastructure for the computer science research community in the united states” (kahn & dennis 2022). going further along the line, arpanet introduced a novel technology known as packet switching. this is a networking system in which large volumes of transmitted data are taken and broken down “into smaller, manageable pieces (known as packets) that can travel independently over any available circuit to the target destination, where the pieces are reassembled” (kahn & dennis 2022). eventually, the use of satellite came into play and broadened the spectrum of internet capacity, giving rise to the possibility of mobile internet communication although this was—ad interim—at a small scale. the broadening of the availability of the internet was also made possible through the work of the (american) national science foundation which in collaboration with the defence advanced research projects agency worked “to expand [internet] access to the entire scientific and academic community and to make tcp/ip the standard in all federally supported research networks” (kahn & dennis 2022). in its original emergence, the control of the internet was the role of the government but such oversight eventually passed to “a loosely structured group of several thousand interested individuals known as the internet engineering task force” (kahn & dennis 2022). reception of the internet in nigeria the internet entered into the nigerian communication space in 1996 when the nigerian communications commission authorized about 38 internet providers to commence their service in nigeria. this authorization was followed up immediately in early 1997 when a company known as “linkserve limited… began commercial operations in the country” being as it were “the very first internet service provider (isp) in nigeria” (vanguard 2010). even before this time, there was the nigeria internet group, a body that sprang up in 1995 as a result of a “first internet workshop organized by yaba college of technology in collaboration with a number of [nigeria-based communication and communication-driven] organisations” with the aim or creating an “awareness of the benefits of internet in nigeria and provide a forum for discussing the future of networking” (vanguard 2010). nevertheless, starting from 1996 and for the next four years running, the cumulative percentage of nigerians who keyed into the emerging internet communication technology stood at zero. in may, 1999, an advancement of internet communication network within the nigerian enclave was enacted with an important summit, tagged “afrinet '99,” that was convened by the nigerian communications commission in conjunction with the nigeria internet group with focus “on the sustainable development and utilization of the internet in africa” seeking thereby “to create a common forum where african internet practitioners can come together and discuss policy issues peculiar to africa” (vanguard 2010). with about 81 internet hosting sites fully operational in nigeria 34 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 and a starting number of 3000 nigerian internet subscribers at this time, the anticipated increase in volume of internet traffic came gradually but steadily: the line lifted off the bottom for the first time at the tail end of 2000. but the figure had been so insignificant; a shocking 0.3%. between the years 2002 to 2004 it rose to 1.5%. three years later in 2007, it struck 7% and then rose speedily in the 2008 to touch 15.9% (vanguard 2010). now, the original projection was to make the nigerian telecommunications limited (nitel) the fulcrum of the novel exploration of internet technology. but the observable historical fact is that the private gsm companies eventually became the bulwark and champions of internet provision even as nitel seemed to recede in the background. this fact was attested to by no less a personality than the general manager in charge of enugu zone of nitel as at 2013, who lamented that “no nitel exchange is working any longer and no matter how we try, we cannot make it operational to fit into the modern telecommunications technology” (ujummadu 2013). needless to say, nitel eventually got privatised and was sold to natcom development and investment limited. at present, according to available data, as at 2020, only about 36 per cent of nigerians are hooked up to the internet. this translates to about 74, 210, 251 of the entire nigerian population (cia, 2022). with the proliferation of the gsm, the trajectory of internet development in nigeria is on the side of broadband. this came into focus with high capacity fibre optic cable system that is now functional in nigeria and ghana, thanks to the technological initiative of companies like mainstreet technologies and globacom (internet society; vanguard 2010). positive aspects of internet/digital preservation having made an exposition on the historical trajectory of internet at both global and local level, it is now possible to examine its capacity for digital preservation of archival material. in doing this, it must be born in mind that “preservation is a crucial element in the whole operation of a records programme” whereas “the aim of archival preservation is to prolong the usable life of useful research information” (millar & roper 1999, p. 1). now, digital preservation consists of “series of managed activities necessary to ensure continued access to digital materials for as long as possible… [and] beyond the limits of media failure or technological change” (digital preservation coalition, 2009). further, it involves an electronic form of storage that is subject to “the control of a processing unit (such as a computer) designed to make data accessible close to instantaneously” (gallinger et al., 2017). but the crucial question is: how far can the internet go in helping to preserve such digitised archival materials? what is the preservation capacity of the internet? has the internet, in fact, any real worth with regard to a secure storage and easy retrieval of important cultural artefacts like igbo music and folklore? at the most fundamental level, a primary observation concerning the capacity of the internet for archival data management and preservation is the reliability of the storage itself. such preservation storage is principally “designed to contain and manage digital content for long-term use” (gallinger et al., 2017). but the issue here has to do with the security of the stored item. fact is that such digitally stored items – most likely – would not be lost. that would be the situation when there is a more ambitious and ample provision for digital storage of igbo musical items. such assured security can be defined in terms of fixity of the stored material, that is, “the property of a digital object being constant, steady, and stable” (gallinger et al., 2017). this would be in stark contrast to material preservation of articles, instruments, or recordings of igbo music in which it is likely that the stored materials might eventually deteriorate and get lost. millar and roper (1999, p. 10) give 35 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 indications of possible causes of such deterioration: perhaps the most significant factor is the nature of archival materials themselves: many records and archives are composed of materials that are acidic, which means they are inherently fragile and prone to degradation. other factors in the degradation of archival materials are fluctuations in or excessive levels of temperature and relative humidity; excessive exposure to light; air pollution; water damage; destruction from biological agents such as mould or insects; or abuse and mishandling. but with the use of the internet for storage––and while not adducing the untenable position that every and any internet material is infallibly and sempiternally safe and secure––it is, however, more likely that such digitized artefacts of igbo cultural music will less easily suffer alteration or degradation than if they were to be preserved in physical format. another beneficial aspect of internet storage is the sheer volume of data it can store at a cheaper cost with a bonus advantage of easy management and ready availability for retrieval. this equally comes with the use of only a relatively small space. a sample of the potential volume of information that can be stored electronically and retrieved through the internet can be seen from the onset of the library of congress's national digital library program, which – as has been mentioned above – makes a readily available provision of internet-based high-quality computerised copies of artefacts of american history stemming from the materials available in the library itself as at the end of the . year 2000, the data volume of the digital library amounted to more than a whooping “five million items (manuscripts, films, sound recordings, and photographs)” (billington, 2021). this is clearly a huge volume of data holdings. now, concerning the easy storage and fast availability and irretrievability of internet-stored artefacts of culture, (2017, p. 5)fargion in nwamara argues that by “ ––adopting the digital format, …cultural items [ which would, of course, include data of igbo music ] become cheaper to store, easier to manage as well as allowing increased opportunities for –– access.” the undeniable fact is that there is so much volume of material to store when it comes to items of igbo music: minstrelsy, local folk songs, cultural dances, instrumentations, igbo traditional as well as christian religious music. nevertheless, despite possible hugeness of internet data volume required, the management and easy retrieval of such mass of information still remains in the realm of quick and fast service delivery. furthermore, there is also the advantage of high-performance availability. involved here is the possibility of stored data being accessible “to large numbers of simultaneous users,” (gallinger et al., 2017). what a great positive wonder it would be if the igbo musical heritage is so abundantly available in the internet such that it would be easily retrievable to inquisitive scholars simultaneously browsing from various parts of the world! in internet science, such a consistent and simultaneous availability is ensured through the use of cluster of server points in shared internet service, a process by which “two or more server nodes [run] in co-ordination with each other to complete individual tasks as part of a larger service, where mutual awareness allows one or more nodes to compensate for the loss of another” (clinton, 2019). high-performance availability can also be defined in terms of “high performance computing” (gallinger et al., 2017). the exigency and possibility of simultaneous cyber inquiry on igbo music is predictable based on the fact that much of the euro-american diaspora presently teems with many second-generation igbo young people who would naturally yearn to reconnect with their cultural roots when such data of igbo folklore and music are available. a well-managed digitization and digital preservation of materials of igbo musical folklore can lead to easier diffusion of igbo musical heritage in the present era of 36 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 globalisation. such diffusion would no doubt prevent the loss of such musical artefacts in the present world in which cultural assimilation and disappearance of minority cultural elements is common place. current status of internet's role in the documentation of igbo music at this juncture, the question facing us is: to what extent has there been a proper utilization of the internet for an effective documentation of igbo music data? from the ethno-historical survey and investigations made by the author, much has been written about the exigency of the preserving igbo musical folklore. but this much has been at the level of theoretical prescriptions with less discourse about practical realization of the prescribed solutions or the prospects thereof. for example, in nwamara's article on “repackaging igbo folksongs for global acceptance,” the author duly recognised the “significance of digitisation and web archiving” and that “digitisation [is] the most appropriate strategy for the preservation of sound recordings…” (2017, pp. 4 & 5). indeed, he made a huge contribution to the discussion about the status quo of material preservation of archival material. but it does seem that the author did not want to deal in depth with the crucial issue of digital preservation, either by way of demonstrating what has been done so far or the way forward with regard to concrete realization of the goal of preserving igbo musical folklore in digital format. besides, some of the literatures reviewed used the futurist word “should” in putting up recommendations for the digitization of igbo folklore and music, an indication that the digital archiving of igbo music is a project for and in the future. this usage is verified in an article that mentioned the word “internet” only once, in which the authors, onuora-oguno and nwamara (2014, p. 121) prescribed “the creation of an enabling cultural environment [that] must be pursued for [music] folklore to be sustained,” indicating further that “the television should be used as an agent to spread folklore and to export it universally using the internet.” in sum, the precise role of the internet or digital technology in the project of repackaging of igbo musical folklore was not adequately discussed by the authors. further, on a more practical level, in a sampling exercise with regards to the existence of internet radios broadcasting items of igbo language, folklores and music, onuzulike (2014, p. 290) ended with the following result: “even though there were twelve igbo-related radios that came up, only one igbo radio demonstrated enough promise in terms of information content….” this is a clear indication that more has yet to be done for effective realisation of digital preservation and presentation of igbo music. on a similar note, an internet search undertaken by the author did not yield a substantial result of any systematically organized database that is strictly and specifically dedicated to igbo music. this was specifically confirmed to me by a nigerian professor of music who had once served at the national level of some nigerian professional music/musicological organisations. he also indicated that only scattered individual efforts at organizing a collection of clusters of items (usually videos) of igbo pop/traditional dance/music and minstrelsy has been so far achieved, although some more-thanrudimentary effort is currently being exerted at a more systematic and academically favourable digital collection of audio, video and documents of igbo cultural music artefacts. similarly, not much has been done in terms of creating a repository or database of manuscripts of igbo music online. here and there in the internet, one stumbles on a website that documents igbo music pdfs, but such websites are either little known or not at all. besides, they are a bit unsystematic in their arrangements and presentation of the artefacts of igbo music. but an ideal world-wide-web preservation of igbo music folklore will involve the digitisation, documentation and effectively retrievable storage of (free or purchasable) pdfs of igbo music in staff, solfa and other possible notations, together with free samples of performance of such music in both audio and video formats. 37 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 it would also include a written text description of the content, context and meaning of the music or song, the ideal or actual instrumentation as well as detailed information about the composer. equally important is a statement concerning websites where these igbo musical items can be purchased for personal or corporate uses. in recommending the above digital preservation template, one can adduce as a sample the digital preservation of data of western classical music as found in the international music score library project, (imslp also known as the petrucci library), as well as the holdings of the choral public domain library (cpdl). in these easily accessible huge-volume music databases, various versions of printable sheet music can be freely downloaded while it is also possible to listen to different free audio samples of the downloaded music. presently, there is no such consummate online library that documents items of igbo music folklore. i argue that such can be and ought to be done at the level of national and state governments as well as in the various universities and higher institutions of learning. future possibilities for a fuller digitisation and archiving of igbo music while it is true that much remain to be done in terms of digital documentation of igbo music, it must be immediately said that future positive possibilities for doing so as well as the possible gains to be derived therefrom are so abundant and promising. but the starting point for a successful adventure into the arena of digital preservation and archiving must primarily be located in an upgrade or a change of the present attitude with which the igbo society in general approaches the whole question of archiving itself. fact is that the issue of setting up archives or maintaining them is ordinarily viewed in the contemporary igbo society with optics of levity. in other words, the historical significance of archives has not been really much recognized and appreciated. if the contrary were to be the case, governments and non-governmental agencies would have expended huge sums of money in bid to save artefacts of igbo music folklore from extinction or disappearance. this is the standard practice in all parts of the civilized world. practically speaking, each university's music department in nigeria––but especially in igbo land––can make a starter, for example, by creating a digital database of igbo music. this would not be so difficult to do. all it would require is the will to walk the talk as well as commit funds to the setting up and maintenance of a digital archive. a similar feat has been achieved by the church music association of america, in whose main and related websites (musicasacra.com, ccwatershed.org etc.) can be seen and downloaded practically any item of liturgical music that has been in print or circulation since or before the year 1900. these manuscript data are matched by numerous audio and video samples. similarly, from the personal experience of the author, the indiana university music database, in bloomington indiana, promises to be one of the largest in the whole world. for example, every single––group or individual––music performance [including opera] at the jacobs school of music of indiana university is usually recorded in audio and video format, then digitised and saved in the university's super computer. the author has also worked in the archives of traditional music serving the department of folklore and ethnomusicology as well as at the archives of african american music and culture serving the various african american institutes and departments of indiana university. in these archives, music artefacts are diligently and sustainably collected and handled with maximum delicacy, care and attention. the final destination is usually to preserve them in digital format. if this can be done across the west of the atlantic, what would prevent music departments in nigeria from following suit? in the interim, it is important to state that there is already a folk music bumper harvest that has been made as well as other items waiting to be harvested. so much items of igbo music folklore have been 38 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 collected and preserved mainly in material book or recorded format and yet there are still more waiting to be collected and preserved digitally. great compliments must be accorded to igbo musicologists such as alvan-ikoku nwamara, dan agu, richard okafor, agatha onwuekwe, chris onyeji, meki nzewi etc. for the huge work they have already done in terms of harvesting, repackaging and reprocessing items of igbo music folklore. their works have been published and are presently available for purchase as material data. while celebrating the work of these avant-gardes of igbo art music, it is important to indicate iteratively the exigency for new creations of igbo folk music. presently, the situation is that igbo musicologists and composers principally engage in collecting pre-existing folk melodies, recreating and repackaging them. this can lead one to have the erroneous impression that igbo folk music is a fixed and static non-expandable repertoire. but the author would argue strongly in support of the fact of igbo folk music being amenable to growth and expansion. nevertheless, it is equally possible that some of the bumper music harvests already made may eventually get lost if they are not converted permanently into digital format and thus preserved for posterity. a classic example of this possible loss is seen in the work history of igbo composers like okechukwu ndubuisi who “was one of the foremost arrangers of folk tunes for solo voices in nigeria and [whose] works served as a guide to some of the new generation of arrangers of igbo folksongs” and “whose works, [are] not yet published…” although “efforts are presently being made… to compile them and have them published” ( ). without prejudice to the soft and nwamara 2017, p. 12 gentle language of the author of the lines cited above, it is the opinion of the present writer that the fact of ndubuisi's works not being found in digital format (just as it is the case with many nigerian art musicians) ––and worse still, not being in print––is a most unfortunate scenario because his musical works are precious jewels from the perspective of their sheer creativity, harmony and counterpoint. conclusion the advent of the internet in the mid-1950s has led to a situation in which many dimensions of technology have advanced and improved tremendously. in the present stage of digital technology, talk is now about internet of things, that is, a situation in which material objects and appliances are interconnected in such a way as to be able to communicate among themselves and exchange data and information in real time. given such a scenario, lovers of igbo culture and whoever cares for the survival of artefacts of igbo music cannot afford to fold arms and watch igbo music folklore go into oblivion. the exposition above indicates clearly that the internet has the great potential of being a safe and secure repository for the preservation of musical items of igbo culture. nigerian and especially igbo music folklorists and musicologists must take up the challenge of collecting and digitising ancient and modern compositions of igbo folk, religious and art music, whether these compositions are formal or informal. such collections must be matched up with concrete performance samples, both in video and audio formats. paradigms of how this can be done already exist in abundance, especially given the exemplary models of world-renowned music databases. therefore, the necessity and urgency of digitally preserving the items and artefacts of igbo music culture has passed from the realm of being a desirable ideal to becoming a categorical real life imperative for igbo music scholars. 39 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 references billington, j. h. (2021). library of congress. encyclopedia britannica. retrieved june 1, 2022 from https://www.britannica.com/topic/library-of-congress. britannica, t. editors of encyclopaedia (2021). internet summary. encyclopedia britannica. retrieved june 1, 2022 from https://www.britannica.com/summary/ internet. central intelligence agency (2022), nigeria, the world factbook. retrieved june 15, 2022 from https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/nigeria/#communications clinton, d. (2019). an introduction to high availability computing: concepts and theory. retrieved aug. 8, 2022 from https://www.freecodecamp.org. dennis, m. a. and kahn, r. (2022). internet. encyclopedia britannica. retrieved june 2, 2022 from https://www.britannica.com/technology/internet. digital preservation coalition, (2009). introduction definitions and concepts. digital preservation handbook. uk: innovation centre, york. retrieved july 23, 2022 from https://www.web.archive.org featherly, k. 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(2014). sustainable development and folklore in traditional igbo society: prospects, challenges and solutions. awka journal of research in music and the arts (arma), 10,114-122 onuzulike u. (2014). discussing the igbo language on the igbo internet radio: explicating ethnolinguistic vitality. journal of african media studies, 6 (3), 285-298. doi: 10.1386/jams.6.3.285_1 ujummadu, v. (2013). nitel: it exists only in name, vanguard, march 30, 2013. retrieved july 23, 2022 from https://www.vanguardngr.com. smithsonian institution (2022), ralph rinzler folklife archives and collections. retrieved june 9, 2022 from https://folklife.si.edu/archives#about-the-archives. stone, r. m. (2008). theory for ethnomusicology. new jersey: pearson education inc., 40 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 page 41 page 42 page 43 page 44 page 45 page 46 page 47 page 48 page 49 jonal vol. 5 no. 4 new2.cdr the place of the oral traditional techniques of communication in a digital era: the case of the kenyang speaking community by mbu martha njui ph.d in syntax university of maroua-cameroon higher teachers' training college tel: 237-753-106-19 mbumartha80@yahoo.fr absract enyang is a language spoken in the southwest region of cameroon precisely by people of kmanyu. this paper seeks to investigate the place of oral traditional techniques of communication within the kenyang-speaking community, in a time when large amount of information are widely available to many people, through computer technology. data for this work is collected from both primary and secondary sources. interviews, discussions and observation are instruments for the primary data collection. the theoretical framework use for this work is the verbal communication theory. the findings reveal that the oral traditional communication techniques used by the kenyang-speaking community are still useful and they still fulfil the functions of communication within the community. also important is the fact that, the kenyang traditional ways of communicating which include the oral and other symbolic non-verbal modes of communication, like /enok/,"drumʺ /gong/ / "ɲkanɛka" /bell/ ʺɛfɛpʺ /whistle/ clapping of hands, have served the people of manyu from time immemorial and still remain powerful and useful as far as communication among the peoples is concerned. we also discovered that, the kenyang oral techniques of communication can work alongside modern techniques of communication. the article recommends that more attention be given to traditional techniques of communication by the kenyang speakers to equate sensitisation, mobilisation and collective efforts to help upgrade and strengthen the use of these traditional communication techniques in this digital era. keywords: traditional tools, kenyang language, information technology, communication. introduction the kenyang language as mentioned in the abstract, is spoken in the south west region of cameroon precisely by the manyu people. there are approximately 65000 kenyang native speakers (gordon 2005). it has three dialects which are, upper kenyang, spoken by upper banyang people from the eastern part of manyu, lower kenyang spoken by the people from the western part and middle kenyang spoken by the banyangs of the central region of manyu. this accounts for 53 villages in mamfe central and upper banyang subdivisions respectively. according to mnuagbaw (2000), the origin of the banyangs is not clear cut. from the information we got from the people of the area and from researchers, some of the speakers originated from keaka, eastern eyumojock and settled in the upper banyang area. the speakers are a combination of migrants from other neighbouring tribes like kitwii (balong people). this therefore influences the language resulting in the existing dialects mentioned above. it is important to note here that lower kenyang is the standard variety used for linguistic analysis. they share boundaries with speakers of other languages such as boki, eshobi, mundani, bangwa, basossi, baloni and ejagham. there are three main roads in the banyang area, all of them leading to mamfe. these are roads from 148 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 ekok, bamenda and kumba. all the three roads are in the lower kenyang area, a small proportion of upper kenyang speakers are located along the mamfe-kumba road. much more travelling is done on these roads than on the bakebe-fontem road which passes through the upper banyang area. local government administration and the socio-economic situation of the kenyang speakers each kenyang village is ruled by a chief (mfo'). these villages are equally sub divided into quarters, which are ruled by quarter-heads. these traditional administrators are supported by village notables. hierarchy starts from the paramount chief to the quarter heads, and to the family heads. chieftaincy is not hereditary but rotational. the kenyang people still hold firm to their traditional modes of communication, and there are so many secret societies most of which are independent of the chief, since the chief must not be a member. these secret societies act as the police of the area, punish crimes and maintain discipline. local administrative meetings of the chief and their quarter heads with other village notables as well as traditional rites, like the pouring of libation and cleansing is done exclusively in the mother tongue; this remains at the level of orals. government administration is felt in the kenyang villages through the divisional officer, to the sub divisional officer. besides, there is a deputy manager in charge of civil status registration as well as forces of law and order. the government administers' the people through the traditional rulers. traditional authorities in the different villages usually call for meetings to tell the people in the mother tongue through the use of some of their communication techniques, what the government policy is all about, especially during clean-up campaigns and community work. many social and economic activities are carried out by the very resourceful and hardworking banyang people who are geared towards the construction of their clan. in addition to agriculture which dominates their economic activities, are hunting, weaving, carving, embroidery and tapping of palm wine. most families in the banyang area cultivate vegetables and food crops like cassava, maize, cocoyam, yam etc. cash crops like cocoa, coffee, kola nuts are also cultivated in a large scale. the climate of this region favours the production of these crops. more also, the cultural richness and diversity of the kenyang people are attained through their socio-cultural and traditional consciousness. their cultural richness is also attained through their interest to develop and sustain their tribal heritage and ancestry through time honoured festivals like the egbe and the obassinjum societal groups. culturally, the kenyang people are related, a lot of their traditional and cultural dances are borrowed from the efiks. economically, the kenyang people grew up as black smiths, hunters, craftsmen and famers. the forest provides them with firewood and charcoal. the forest has a lot of game to keep men occupied in order to get meat for family meals as well as for bride prizes and death ceremonies. as craft men, the people used the wood from the forest in making masks, tools and doorposts. the great form of products of the people is the growing of cocoa and coffee. many buyers come from nigeria and even around the country to buy cocoa. the women on their part, occupy themselves in the selling of cracked mangoes in the mango season, kolanut, njasanga etc. they usually move from one neighbouring market to another in specific market days to sell these things. looking at kenyang occupational wise, it will be of great importance to mention the traditional medical services. most of the villagers are surrounded by a huge forest, this forest is rich in medicinal plants and the people have been very skilful in traditional healing. with the coming of modern medicine, people still travel from other regions to come for healing there. it is also important to note that there is a lot of timber that is being exported from the kenyang area to other parts of the country, where it is being transformed into finished products. these products are being sold for money, and this helps to bring more revenue to the country. the kenyang culture is rich in music and dances. celebrations like marriages; births and deaths bring many people together. in such 149 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 occasions they dialogue with one another through their oral communication techniques, and that help in keeping the unity of the language. the markets also bring thousands together each week linguistic classification according to greenberg's classification, kenyang falls within the bantu language group, while it is excluded from the narrow bantu of gutheries classifications. ethnologue (grimes 1992:193) classifies the kenyang languages as. the language under study is characterised by a great number of changes that have taken place over time as far as communication is concerned. before the advent of information and communication technology, the language used many traditional tools to communicate. for examples, storytelling was used to tell stories, both fiction and non-fiction, before there were books. it was a way for families and communities to pass on information about their past. drums were one way to send signals to neighbouring tribes and groups. oral traditional techniques of communication thus represents a form of communication employing vocal, verbal, musical and visual folk art forms, transmitted to a society or group of societies from one generation to another. they are indigenous modes and have served the manyu society as tools/medium of communication for ages. traditional means of communication within this society exploit and develop local means, materials and methods of communication, such as stories, songs and dances, games, and fables. we also consider for instance myths; story-telling; songs; proverbs; religious rituals; artistic, musical, dance and theatrical elements as depicted on pottery, textiles and wood as traditional forms of communication. this work is divided into four sections. section one is focused on the introduction, which consist of the background to the language and the speakers, statement of the problem, research question, data collection methods and the theoretical framework. section two, presents the oral traditional techniques that the kenyang speakers use in communicating, the next section dwells on the digital era and its characteristics. the section that follows, answers the question as to whether the kenyang traditional techniques of communication can actually survive the digitalised era. finally the last section presents some recommendation and the conclusion. niger – congo benue-congo bantoid southern broad bantu manfe 150 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 statement of the problem traditional tools that have served the kenyang speakers from time immemorial have for long been used as a medium of communication among them. most of these tools are now being relegated to the background and there is need to reemphasise their important especially in a time where information and communication technology is fast replacing traditional modes of communication in many communities. it is not everyone in the kenyang speaking community that can boost of a phone, television set, talk less of how to use them. there is therefore an urgent need for the speakers to stay focus on the traditional methods of communication in order to maintain their cultural integrity and promote their language. there is still need to use the town crier, the /εnok/, /εfep /, drum, traditional or cultural dances, and proverbs to communicate among themselves, and promote their identity as kenyang speakers. of course one can only use the phones, emails, g-mails, when we have connection and the mega to do so. but what if we do not even have the phone at all, what if the network is bad. these questions can only be answered by oral traditional techniques of communication that do not needs money or mega bites to transmit information. objectives of the study the following are the objectives of this study: 1. to find out the place of oral traditional communication techniques in the kenyang language, in an era of digitalisation. 2. to evaluate the kenyang oral traditional techniques of communication. 3. to determine if traditional tools can stand the challenges of the era. 4. to propose suggestion on what to do in order to boost the kenyang traditional techniques of communication to stand the challenges of time. research questions this work is guided by one general research question: 1. what is the place of the kenyang traditional communication techniques in the era of digitalisation. these general research questions can be broken down into the following for better understanding 1. what are the traditional tools used for communication in the kenyang community? 2. how can these tools survive the digitalise age and maintain their originality. 3. how can traditional tools for communication be used alongside the modern techniques of communications in the kenyang speaking community? 4. are there any hindrances to effective utilization of traditional tools of communication? 5. what are some of the suggestions to improve on the effective use of these techniques? significance of the study this work is significance in the following ways: first, this paper will help to bring out the importance of oral traditional communication techniques as used by the kenyang speakers to foster the growth of their language and to strengthen their cultural integrity. it will equally act as a means of passing over their culture to future generation. second, the study will enable the rural dwellers to compare and contrast between modern and traditional communication which is better and more effective in brining development to their areas. finally, it will serve as reference materials for further studies by the researchers and scholar. in case there are areas or issues that are perceived not to be treated in detail or comprehensively, the study will help to elicit curiosity, capable of inciting research in this domain. 151 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 methodology and theoretical frame work the data for this research was collected from some 40 kenyang speakers whose ages range from 35 to 60. the respondents have grown up in the village and master the communication system and techniques very well. they were randomly chosen. the instruments used for this research are: interview, discussions, and observations. this work makes use of content analysis approach. concerning administration of instruments, it was done through the direct contact approach. this is because the researcher seeks to reduce the problem of biased responses and unwillingness on the part of the respondents. theoretical frame-work the theory that guided this work is the verbal communication theory: this theory allows us to organize and understand communication experiences, select communication behaviour to study, broaden our understanding of human communication, predict and control communication situations, challenge current social and cultural relationships, and offer new ways of thinking and living. katz and kahn (1966) suggest that since verbal communication means using human language to represent the world and pass on information, it therefore exhibits all features of an open communication system. verbal communication is, however characterised by some unique features which radically set it apart from other types of communication. its principal function is to transfer information which besides being factual may also be of specific human character, and may also convey emotions, attitudes, beliefs, desires, feelings etc. human language makes predominant use of symbolic signs, which bear relationships to their referents, although iconic and indexical signs and signals are employed as well. the model of verbal communication includes the following. information, communication means, communication network, and communication activities. discussion of findings this section, presents the results of the interview, discussions and observation using the qualitative data analysis approach. this type of data is collected through methods of observations, one-to-one interviews, conducting focus groups, and similar methods. we choose this method because it brings out the behaviour of the participants of study being observed, and the conclusion is drawn based on their answers and their behaviour. secondly this method is naturalistic because it studies a group in its natural setting. from the data collected, we discover a number of important things concerning the communication techniques used by the kenyang speakers. first, at the level of identification of the tools or techniques, the respondents mentioned the following as some of tools they used in communicating among themselves. they are: the /enok. /, ngkaneka/, /anoh/, traditional dances, proverbs, storytelling, /efeb/, town crying, sounds etc. according to them, each of these tools has a particular way and carries messages that are understood by the speakers of the language. we are going to discuss the function of each of these instruments as used by the kenyang community. first we have the town crier, who is used to make public announcements in the streets. he is often called the newsman, a traditional emissary, mutually dependent man, news reporter and messenger. the town crier in the kenyang community is call /ndεp nkanεƞka/, he performs various functions as far as communication is concerned, this is described below. we have the idiophone, which is an instrument whose own substance vibrate to produce sounds without the use of wires like a guitar or buttons like the piano. there are a number of them in the language under study which will be discussed below. the town crier in this community uses this instruments to communicate to the population when need be. note should be taken that the type of message will depend on the material used in fabricating this instrument and also on the sound it 152 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 produces. they could be shaken, scratched, stroked, pulled or even pressed with the leg. in this group, we have the gong, /nkaneka/ woodblock, /enok/ wooden drum, /nkah/ and the chief's bell /nkaneka mfo'/. there is a difference between nkanεka mfo'/ the ̋ chief's bellʺ and /nkanεka/ which is a normal ̋ bellʺ. nkanεka mfo'/ is always at the chief's palace and it is use to call the population to order or to call attention while /nkanεka/ is use in meeting groups to either stop people from making noise or use as a musical instrument within the meeting groups. the next instrument is called membranophone, a musical instrument which sounds primarily by way of a vibrating stressed membrane. they include all forms of skin or leather drums, tambourines and some gongs. these drums are struck with well-carved sticks. among the variety of dances that are from the manyu community, drums of various sizes are used. we want to particularly lay emphasis on /mͻ nkah mɨk/, which is use to communicate with the chief or the sessekou of the land during some festivals. the gong on its part is use to announce the dead of someone and it also act as a reminder of time to christians. we equally have the symbolograpy which means the act of using symbols or representations to convey messages. the kenyang speakers use peace front or the folding of a front of a green palm tree tried to mean different things depending on the shape in which it is tired. more also, we have signals which are the physical embodiment of a message. signals are still used today within the manyu community. these can be seen in the case where the main radio station like ̋ the voice of manyuʺ radio, uses a drum as its jingle before any communication activity. some of the signals include gunshot, drums, /enok/, just to name a few. next in line, we have signs which are the foundation of communication. a sign designates something other than itself and the meaning is link between an object or idea and sign. (little 2007). the meaning of a sign in the manyu culture may depend on the form, setting, colour, or location. it is important to note that signs are different from symbols. according to ross 1963:164-165 symbols require an interpreter who knows something of the system by virtues of the symbol which has meaning. generally, natural signs require an interpreter who knows a theory, or the general law in terms of which the sign is an index of the existence of something else. for example nuts, the young unopened bub of palm front, white pigeon, feather, cowries etc. colour is another powerful communication device used by the manyu people and can be used to signal action, influence, mood and even influence physiological reactions. among the prominent colours used to convey different meaning among the kenyang speakers are red, white, black and brown. each of these colour has a particular meaning attributed to it. for example the colour black to the manyu man means dead, problems, morning, evil, etc meanwhile, white means or symbolises sinless, purity, virginity etc. music is another technique that the manyu people use to communicate. it expresses the culture and history of the manyu people. they sing satirical songs to either criticise wrong doings of individuals or to praise them for their contribution to development within the community. at times their names, where they live or their jobs are mention. at times stories concerning events that are being planned for the society may feature as a way of alerting the population about the importance of the events. cultural groups like the egbe, mowa, mpokofu still use these technique to reinforce their cultural heritage and strengthen their language tides. again we have the extra-mundane moods of communication which wilson 1990-282 says it is the type taking place between the living and the extra-terrestrial. this is usually done through rituals, incantation liberation and libation. the functions of the traditional techniques of communication in the manyu community are many. first, it is the primary way of conveying their culture, feelings and attitude. it gives them a sense of belonging and help to maintain their identity and heritage. second, it acts as a unifying force during cultural festivals, entertainments by chorale and deferent dance groups like the egbe, obasinjump, mowa etc. next it is used for inter and intra cultural communication purposes leading to the unity of 153 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 the people. more also, it educates the youths into studying and knowing their culture. it equally helps in transmitting knowledge from one generation to another there by maintaining the continuity of the culture of the manyu people. it gives expressions to cultural and other activities of deferent parts of the community. for example, through cultural manifestations, a great number of cultural aspects are exposed to the world. by so doing, cross-cultural fertilization takes place and the society as a whole becomes better off. the digital era and its communication techniques digitalisation is the process of converting information into a digital format. the result is the representation of an object, image, sound, document or signal obtained by generating a series of numbers that describe discrete set points. the digital era is characterised by technology which increases the speed and breadth of knowledge turnover within the economy and society. the era can be seen as the development of an evolutionary system in which knowledge turnover is not only very high, but also increasingly out of the control of humans, making it a time in which our lives become more difficult to manage. in general, communication is a way for people to connect over information, news, feelings, and so forth. but the way in which people connect has evolved; leading to new communication opportunities and challenges with and within the internet, software agents will exchange knowledge without human intervention. equally, our understanding of the knowledge embedded within the human genome about how we relate to the world, generated in association with technology and freely available on the internet, raises questions about our assumptions of control. can we control such changes and their diffusion? the social and economic implications of the digital era are huge and will increase as technological functionality becomes more knowledgebased, our everyday lives and understanding of ourselves become more linked to it, and it takes on a 'life' of its own. understanding the digital era in terms of evolution will help ensure we build sustainable socio-economic relationships both with technology and with the advanced knowledge that technology helps us create. according to jose luis orihuela on medium.com, there have been a number of paradigm shifts in communication due to the digital age. first, messages for general audiences are no longer acceptable, and the shift has been made to user-centric communication. users have control over the topics they want to hear about, the way they receive their messages, and the platforms in which they view them. and information is no longer communicated one way as people have the ability to share messages interactively without any mediation or editing. next, text and basic images are no longer relevant as digitization, data visualization, and multimedia options are available for all forms of communication. your communication must reflect that by incorporating dynamism to connect with your audiences. the sharing of information, news, or other reporting data is now in real time and global as opposed to periodic and regionalized. when we communicate, particularly business information, we must be able to tell the story behind the message to increase knowledge. jose luis orihuela on medium.com also says that, the benefits of digital communication are many. first, communication using digital techniques is instant. as soon as the sender hits the submit, enter, or send key, the message is available to the audience in a matter of microseconds. secondly, it is extensive. one email message or text message can be easily routed to thousands of employees at the same time. additionally, digital communications can be extensive in their contents as well; while sending a printed forty-page report by mail has associated costs, it's virtually cost-free to send the same content digitally. third, digital communication is convenient, which serves to foster better communication. for example, computer programmers can relay information to their development team with a few mouse clicks, which means that they are more likely to do so. additionally, the fact 154 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 that digital communication is instant and extensive also contributes to the convenience of using these techniques for anyone relaying information. finally, the advent of digital communication in the business environment has contributed to positive social change and served to change the environment itself. always being connected may not seem to be a benefit at first glance, but if that factors into more flexible work hours, employees may be happier at work. a team-oriented workforce, which tends to foster sharing and support among team members, has been shown to contribute to greater employee productivity and success. with all the advantages of the digital era discussed above, is it possible for the traditional oral communication techniques of the language under study to survive? this question will be answered in the next section. can the kenyang oral traditional techniques of communication survive in an era of digitalisation? to answer this question, we will first begin by looking at some of the functions of communication, next, we evaluate if the kenyang traditional techniques of communication still fulfil this functions in this present era, and finally some possible recommendations to upgrade these techniques. according to thayer (1968), the primary function of communication is about communicating your ideas, thoughts, information, opinions and views, and sharing messages with others in the most effective manner. it is used as a powerful tool in both personal and professional spaces to communicate your vital needs, goals, desires and boost interpersonal relationships. for him, excellent communication skills have become a desired quality in the current scenario because it is believed that employees with this soft skill will have a good edge above others. he enumerated eight functions of communication, which we will discussed some of them below. first, communication, plays an informative function, that is, it is used as a medium of expression in social organizations. human activities are dependent on being communicative and using proper language and speech to communicate feelings and ideas with other people. informative communication also helps to promote the products of an organization in the consumer market, inform the public about new products and act as an official statement from the company. the kenyang community of course uses this type of communication during meetings and community labour to inform others about the current happenings through the town crier. secondly communication also plays an instructive function that is; human activities are dependent to a great extent on interactions and communication. instructive communication is about providing essential instructions so that people can make informed choices. this type of communication is mostly practice where there is respect of hierarchy. here again, the kenyang speakers respects hierarchy as the /mfo'/, or the/ sessekou/ gives instructions to his subordinates on what to do during festivals or other gatherings. another function of communication is persuasive communication. in normal life, people take the help of persuasive communication to change the attitude of others and sway them towards their way of thinking. a mother can persuade her children with a toy and sweet messages whereas children can sway their parents and group of friends to their way of thinking with their sweet talk, attitude, communication and good behaviour. they share vital information, views, new ideas and techniques that persuade other people in proving a point, accepting their claim and work accordingly. the communicative goal of any community is to bring its people together and build interpersonal relationships so that everyone can work harmoniously in and within the community. this is done by the kenyang speakers during festivals, village meetings, and come together where the people interact with one another. there is also the motivation communication system which uses a person's desire to communicate, to motivate them in coming out of their shell. a motivated person plays an 155 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 active role in a company or within the society and this is why organizations or councils hold meetings. village-group meetings within the kenyang-speaking community organised meetings to tell the people what is required from them, how well they are performing their duties and instruct them in the ways to improve their performance. again, we have the aesthetic communication, which helps in fulfilling social needs as it becomes easy to display emotional expression, frustration and satisfaction. the aesthetic function of communication takes the help of language and art form to give a realistic presentation of the subject matter and explain the conceptual meaning. verbal expressions and art forms are used to explore innovation, development and creativity. this function of communication is used to boost social routines and cultural development. in daily life, it helps an individual to interpret and understand the information that is conveyed between people, in the media and cultural life. finally one of the functions of communication is to help in social interactions. starting a conversation with other people, greeting them cordially, establishing warm relationships and even ending a relationship with grace is part of social interaction in daily life looking at the functions of communication discussed above, our next task is to evaluate if the kenyang techniques of communication still fulfil these functions. the main aim of communication is to shear ideas; feelings; messages, emotions; etc; and the kenyang communication techniques play this function. the reason why during meetings or festivals, communication is still done through the various techniques discussed above. we have for example the /nkaneka/, /enok/,/ mͻ nka mik/, /efeb/, which still have their place in the communication system of the manyu people. according to onigu and ogionwo (1981), culture is defined as a complex whole of man's acquisition of knowledge, morals, beliefs, and arts, customs which are shared and transmitted, from one generation to another. in this definition, culture includes those things which man has invented and produced and which we can see, feel, hear as well as those aspects of man's behaviour which we cannot see: namely: knowledge, beliefs, or moral, language, philosophy, attitudes, etc. communication which is an act, a process of interaction, is carried out primarily through the use of signs or symbols and such symbols must arouse the same meaning in the other person as it does in oneself. communication, being an aspect of non-material culture, the kenyang language and its traditional communication modes have therefore a sort of cultural relativity. communication is initiated when the sender utters symbolic sounds which refer to his experiences, rooted environments. if the receiver or audience has had a similar experience and has been conditioned to associate the given sounds with those experiences and attach a common meaning, we then say communication has taken place. some of these modes include message relay-running, festivals, drama, music/songs, dance styles and steps, fire wood, smoke ashes colour of clothing, tales and proverbs, gun shorts, animals birds and insects hair looks tribal marks, talking drum, just to name a few. all the above techniques are the creation of human interactions and are valued by the kenyang language community group communication, mostly based on age, kinship, inheritance, marital status. these communication techniques do not need sophisticated structures, and technology which the people do not have access to. it does not discriminate between the rich and the poor. this is to say you don't need any mega bites to have access to information. you don't need an iphone, computer or internet connection to get access to information. it does not underestimate or disrespect rural values, that is, they make use of technology as a means to forester the use of their traditional techniques or tools of communication. more over talking to people through face-to-face, either through the town crier or other oral traditional means of communication mentioned above, has proven to be very effective not only to the kenyang community but to the entire africa. nwabueze, 2007, chude 2007, believes that a communicator, who speaks to people in a town hall, market square, meeting group, age group, has the ability to convince, sensitise, or even mobiles the population more than one who uses a video conference or the phone. obiora (2011) says the use of songs, dances, drama, local 156 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 language to teach, people new farming techniques, encourage them to be self –reliant, acquire good education and health habits, stop harmful traditional practices and participate in community work, also constitute effective traditional communication strategies among the manyu people. for him, the audience sees the communicator and asked questions where necessary. feedback and necessary clarifications are made for effective communication. what attention and focus should be given to the kenyang traditional techniques of communication to prepare them for the digital era? such attention would require the kenyang community as a whole to embark on language engineering processes in order to render valuable their oral traditional means of communication. the fact that the present constitution of the cameroon government underscores the promotion of indigenous languages is already an added advantage to the speakers of the language to promote theirs. also important is the fact that they should ensure the standardization of their language, by so doing the communication system will stand the challenge of the time. of course in a country like cameroon with over 247 national languages with the support of the government to encourage such language engineering process is not without difficulties. the fact is that their very existence is threatened today especially in towns and cities where more and more young people tend to use the official languages from childhood. according to bitja'a (2001), findings from an earlier study carried out on language use in the city of yaoundé reveal that 32% of young people between 10 and 17 years old in yaoundé do not speak any cameroonian indigenous language. french is their only language of communication. the author affirms that this population is bound to increase in an exponential manner by the next generation, given that such cameroonians will not be in a position to transmit the indigenous languages to their children. the kenyang language is not left out of this drama. but if the language committee takes it as a duty to re-enforce their communication tools for example by bringing up educational movies , cottons , games and other entertainment programs for the children and youths in the language , we think this language will stand the challenges of the era. conclusion we have focused our discussion on the place of traditional techniques of communication within the kenyang language community. we started by presenting the language and the speakers. next, we discussed the traditional techniques of communication that are being used within the community in question. after that, we presented the digital era and its characteristic, and answered the question as to whether the communication techniques used by the keyang speakers are able to s survive the digital era. we finally presented some suggestions to the kenyang community. it was revealed that the kenyang communicative techniques are still effective because they are still being used by the speakers of the language and they still respect and fulfil the function of communication within that community, which is interacting, exchanging ideas, fillings, emotions, through the various techniques describe in section two of this work. also important is the fact that the work demonstrates that communication is culture and nothing can replace the kenyang traditional ways, because it does not need money, it is at the disposal of everybody be it young, old, rich or poor. it is the best method to educate sensitize, mobilise, teach, encourage, interact and safe guard the identity of the manyu people. in effect, the manyu people will always use their oral traditional ways to maintain effective communication among themselves no matter the era. we finally gave some suggestions on how to upgrade the communication system of the kenyang language to incorporate the children and the youths that may be carried away with the new communication technology. 157 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 references chude, c. 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(1987). traditional systems of communication in modern african development: an analytical viewpoint. african medical review, 1(2), 159 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 page 157 page 158 page 159 page 160 page 161 page 162 page 163 page 164 page 165 page 166 page 167 page 168 jonal vol. 5 no. 4 new2.cdr eco-justice and stewardship: an urgent discourse in our contemporary world by 1. okafor, uchenna nkiru; okoyeuc@gmail.com 08061109811 2.chigbata, chinedu paul; nedupaul17@yahoo.com 07039363848 3. anukwu, kenneth; revkenanukwu@gmail.com 08033246967; chukwuemeka odumegwu ojukwu university, igbariam, anambra state. abstract an does not exist in a vacuum, thus sustainability of our dwelling place (our environment) mbecomes a crucial necessity. sustaining our environment through intentional calling therefore becomes a responsibility, a life style and not just a response or a mere task. this is very imperative and should sink in our mind because the future generation will definitely live in the world that we shaped for them through our actions. man has different roles to play within creation and towards other creatures, since god created the world and on the sixth day of creation, handed everything he created to man to have dominion. unfortunately, man has not done enough in carrying out this divine mandate and exercising his authority over creation. many cases of man's genuine stewardship are found on varying areas of human endeavour. unrealistically, in environmental issues, man has really missed out in being good steward in ensuring an environment fit for human habitation. as a matter of fact, more than natural disasters, man's activities have to a great extent become a clog in the wheel to ecological advancement and sustainability. ecological crisis have become a reality in today's world. there are varying issues of pollution, deforestation, scarcity of resources, extinction of animals and plants, depletion of ozone layer, global warming/climate change, etc. all these are grievously affecting human life adversely, thus, there arises a concerted action to safeguard the environment and human life at large. this looming danger has led to the emergence of ecotheology, eco-justice and stewardship. this concern is the observed state of affairs that has warranted the need to explore the meaning of eco-justice and stewardship, its interplay, man's duty towards the environment and some biblical injunctions on man's duty to his environment. finally, man's action that threatens the ecosystem will also be discussed and solutions will be proffered. it has been observed that most of the ecological crisis that occurs is an upshot of man's indifferent attitudes towards the preservation and sustainability of the environment. the method adopted in this study is the historical and phenomenological approach. keywords: ecology, justice, eco-justice and stewardship. 1.0 introduction man is endowed with great intellectual reasoning and vast responsibilities. humans are at the centre of affairs on earth in every dimension. logically, man exists and sustains his existence in the environment in which he dwells, as a result, the stewardship of man in his environment is not to be taken for granted, because the environment is actually man's life support scheme. it is quite perturbing that different activities of man have proved man's lack of stewardship towards his environment. the abuse of nature by man through his multi-faceted activities has become a bane to environmental sustainability and the actualisation of eco-justice. the sooner that man becomes aware of his call for service, then, the closer we save the future generation from partaking in the menace we are already causing. a call to stewardship warrants that man has to be keenly attentive to his environment. the greenhouse effect is a threat to global warming and has resulted to a grave negative impact on climate change. varying amount of waste of different capacity has exceeded the 11 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 ecology's capacity to absorb them. e-waste, solid wastes, nuclear waste are on increase daily. a lot of pollutants make the soil, environment, seas, etc., uninhabitable: posturing great danger to its inhabitants; man and animal alike. human life and its sustenance are highly dependable on environment for its survival; more pitiful is the future of our children and their own generation. therefore, ecological justice and stewardship necessitate full participation, responsible involvement and inclusion of all and sundry for the realization of justice. this is therefore a call to work in the restoration of creation. the need for eco-justice and responsible stewardship simply upholds the reality that humanity is inseparable from healthy relationship with and within the ecosystem. 2.0. key terms defined stewardship worell and appleby (2000) states that environmental stewardship as an area of research has gained prominence relatively recently and has been recognised as a relatable confluence of socio-cultural norms and ecological sustainability which is crystallised into practice and conservative strategy. thus, it is imperative that it must be acted out with all efforts and determination for the good of man. williams (n.d.) stewardship means managing the property of another on his or her behalf. faithful stewardship requires managing the property of another according to that person's will and pleasure. stewardship is a way to build resilience, to increase civil engagement and to create partnerships between government and community (baker, 2014). the practice of stewardship creates more environmentally responsible citizens, expands the capacity of management organisations by redistributing the responsibility of environmental monitoring and maintenance to the average citizen (berry 2006). similarly, welchman (1999) is of the view that the term stewardship bears a moral core, providing a path for people to characterise their relationship towards nature as one of right or wrong actions or an ethic of care. justice according to the wikitionary the free dictionary (2022), justice is derived from the latin word iustistia which means righteousness and equity, iustus which means just, or ius which means right. it simply means giving to each person what is his right. the 202nd general assembly, presbyterian church (1990), avows that justice today requires participation, the inclusion of all members of the human family in obtaining and enjoying the creator's gifts for sustenance. furthermore, justice also means sufficiency, a standard upholding the claim of all to have enough to be met through equitable sharing and organised efforts to achieve that end. in the legal dimension, ahamba (1990), defines justice as “the principle and process by which man is assured the things that belong to him. in other words, justice consists in giving every man what he deserves. justice can therefore be looked at objectively, subjectively and institutionally. ecology collins online dictionary (2022) defines ecology as the study of the relationship between plants, animals, people and their environment, and the balance between these relationships. the word ecology was coined from the greek word "oikos" which means 'house', and “ ” meaning 'study logía of'. (wikipedia the free encyclopedia 2022). it is the study of the relationships between living organisms humans physical environment, including , and their . ecology is the science of the interconnectedness of life and existence. margaret (2019) states that, a healthy person and the social morality, economics, politics and finance are all intermeshed with the well-being of the environment. going further, eco-justice means the well-being of all humankind or a thriving earth. it began as a movement during the 1970s. it includes social justice, participation in decision making and sustainable use of natural resources. 12 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/-logy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/organism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/human https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/biophysical_environment 3.0 eco-justice and stewardship: an interplay in the words of john calvin (1509 – 1564) let him who possess a field, so partake of its yearly fruits that he may not suffer the ground to be injured by his negligence, but let him endeavour to hand it down to posterity as he received it, or even better cultivated. let him so feed on its fruits that he neither dissipates it by luxury, nor permits it to be marred by neglect. moreover, let everyone regard himself as the steward of god in all things which he possesses. then he will neither conduct himself dissolutely, nor corrupt by abuse those things which god requires to be preserved... the creating is quite like a spacious and splendid house, provided and filled with the most exquisite and the most abundant furnishing. everything on it tells of god. the above words of john calvin greatly illustrate the very background of the state affairs under discourse. eco justice and stewardship is basically intertwined. eco-justice (ecology and justice) means ecological health and wholeness together with social and economic justice. it means the wellbeing of mankind on a flourishing earth. man's stewardship to the eco-system is a yardstick to the attainment of ecological justice. man is therefore spurred and encouraged to carry out his calling as co-creators with god. moral responsibility is therefore required to answer this call of stewardship. their crime of moral irresponsibility with regards to the call of stewardship is predicated upon the fact that ecological crisis is greatly in increase and these are not dissociated with the acts of man. in the natural quest for development, capitalism, explorations etc., the environment faces a lot of degradation. this leads us to the next session of this writeup 'a call for stewardship'. 3.1 why environmental stewardship is pertinent environmental stewardship calls for ecological consciousness and conscience. if we realise that man is greatly interconnected with other creatures, then we would embrace stewardship to the environment in its totality; since being good steward entails special care towards what is entrusted to one. then, man needs to show love towards the creature cultivating the land with care, hunting the forest with mercy and love, drilling with concern, navigating in the sea with caution, disposing wastes with every sense of decency and care for posterity, while having restoration and sustainability in our mindset at all times. god entrusted creation to man's care, thus, how we relate to creation is a matter of stewardship. therefore, the land is held in trust by man. it is inherently required that man must maximise production and return. there cannot be a social justice without ecological justice. stewardship sees the rest of nature a gift from god and humans as tiller and caretakers of the earth. recycling, reducing, reusing, preservation, saving, healing, caring gives a better expression of the term. man's appreciation for the earth's creator (god) should spur man into protecting the environment. god's plan allows for human flourishing, thus allowing man to participate alongside with god, by consciously caring for the systems that were designed by god. thus, good stewardship appreciates the beauty of creation, honours the creator and participates keenly in sustaining the creatures. towards the ecosystem, man therefore needs to be responsible in the use and protection of the natural environment through conservation and sustainable practices. such sustainable practices include implementing energy and water efficiencies, avoiding oil spillage, pipe bunkering, reduction of gas emission and reduction of other waste materials and hazardous materials we generate. it will be beneficial to man to use resources that biodegrade, in other word reducing waste through recycling. good stewardship hence warrants that humanity must at all times be conscientious on matters of stewardship towards the ecosystem and put in every effort in sustaining and protecting the ecosystem. 13 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 3.2 stewardship as a divine mandate aside these, it is clear that stewardship is a call and a duty as seen in some biblical passages. the book of genesis illustrated this fact. god created the world and invited human beings to “have dominion” (gen 1:26) or “till and keep the garden” (gen 2:15). most obvious, in genesis 1(vs. 29-30) see, i have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit, you shall have them for food. and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, i have given you every green plant for food (vs. 29-30). god handed over everything he created to man. in other words, when he created the world, god set aside a unique place, the garden of eden, and placed in it the first man, adam (gen. 2:8—15). god instructed adam to cultivate and guard the garden (gen. 2:15)–to enhance its already great fruitfulness and to protect it against the encroachment of the surrounding wilderness that made up the rest of the earth. having also created the first woman and having joined her to adam (gen. 2:18—25), god commanded them and their descendants to multiply, to spread out beyond the boundaries of the garden of eden, and to fill, subdue, and rule the whole earth and everything in it (gen. 1:26, 28). both by endowing them with his image and by placing them in authority over the earth, god gave men and women superiority and priority over all other earthly creatures. this implies that proper environmental stewardship, while it seeks to harmonise the fulfilment of the needs of all creatures, nonetheless puts human needs above non-human needs when the two are in conflict. and hence, man must answer this divine call. also, in jeremiah, (12:4; 14:4-6), prophet jeremiah notes that creation and creatures suffer the consequences of human disobedience: how long will the land lie parched and the grass in every field be withered? because those who live in it are wicked, the animals and birds have perished. . . . the ground is cracked because there is no rain in the land; the farmers are dismayed and cover their heads. even the doe in the field deserts her new born fawn because there is no grass. wild donkeys stand on the barren heights and pant like jackals; their eyesight fails for lack of pasture. thus, it portrays clear acts of wickedness for man to ignore this mandate to stewardship. in addition, the encyclical laudato si (2015) which has the subtitle: "on care for our common home". in it, the pope critiques consumerism and irresponsible development, laments on environment degradation and global warming, and calls all people of the world to take "swift and unified global action. it unambiguously accepts the scientific consensus that changes in the climate are largely man-made and states that "climate change is a global problem with grave implications: environmental, social, economic, political and for the distribution of goods. it represents one of the principal challenges facing humanity in our day" and warns of "unprecedented destruction of ecosystems, with serious consequence for all of us" if prompt climate change mitigation efforts are not undertaken. the encyclical highlights the role of fossil fuels in causing climate change. "we know that technology based on the use of highly polluting fossil fuels – especially coal, but also oil and, to a lesser degree, gas – needs to be progressively replaced without delay. in laudato si 67the pope states thus, we are not god. the earth was here before us and it has been given to us.... although it is true that we christians have at times incorrectly interpreted the scriptures, nowadays we must forcefully reject the notion that our being created in god's image and given dominion over the earth justifies absolute domination over other creatures....each community can take from the bounty of the earth whatever it needs for subsistence, but it also has the duty to protect the earth and to ensure its fruitfulness for coming generations. 4.0 instances of man's lack of stewardship and its effect towards eco-justice ecological crisis, no doubt, has become a reality in our world today. it is observable that most of the ecological crises are caused by human activities. they are effects of lack of stewardship of mankind towards the ecosystem. ecological crises of our time include the abuse of nature, overpopulation, 14 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 greenhouse effects which are the major causes of global warming, etc. these shall be discussed below. 1. water: humans are making excessive demands upon and doing reckless damage to the lakes, streams and oceans. poorly planned and inefficient irrigation systems waste water depletes aquifers and cause soil degradation from water logging. oil spillage, industrial discharge and agricultural run-off contaminate the lakes. pitifully, as rivers reach coastal areas, the estuaries are polluted, with great injury to aquatic life. the residues from pesticides seep into underground water. the sands and the bays and the great oceans themselves suffer from the outflow, and from the spilling and dumping of oil, garbage, toxic chemicals and radioactive waste (a report adopted by the 202nd general assembly 1990 of presbyterian church u.s.a). the effects of these are grave. they are injurious to health and as a result many children especially in the third worlds lose their lives yearly because of the diseases bred or spread by water. when the rivers are polluted, aquatic animals that inhabit therein are injured. again, the oceans and bays suffer outflow and it causes flooding in the surrounding environment. 2. global warming: the greenhouse effect occurs when the earth's atmosphere traps solar radiation with the help of gases in the atmosphere such as carbon dioxide, water vapour (the clouds). methane, nitrous oxide, ozone, and various chlorofluorocarbons (cfcs) that allow incoming sunlight to pass through but absorb heat radiated back from the earth's surface (onyeabor, (2014) p. 1). this trapping of heat at the earth's surface and causes the global average temperature to increase. it is the biggest of all environmental dangers. carbon dioxide (co2) is by far the largest component of these gases. chlorofluorocarbons (cfcs), methane, and nitrous oxides, however, have been increasing rapidly in concentration. all these causes' disruptive effects on agriculture. and its effect on oceans is disastrous because when water warms it causes a rise at the sea levels leading to the flooding of the coastal areas and coastal cities, thus many people become environmental refugees. this leads to the melting of snow caps and the rising of sea levels. unpredictable weather patterns and early maturation of crops which produces low yields becomes the effect. 3. depletion of ozone layer: ozone layer prevents the entry of sun's harmful ultraviolet radiations from reaching the earth's surface. industrial use of chemicals like cfc's in refrigerators, and aerosols damage the ozone layers. the cfc's on reaching the ozone, splits the ozone molecule to form oxygen, as a result reduces the amount of ozone which becomes weak and cannot prevent the entry of uv rays. the effect is massive as it causes sunburn, cancer of the skin and cataract of the eyes. it causes genetic disorders and reduces the productivity in the seas and forests. 4. species extinction: confronted with claims that anywhere from 1,000 to 100,000 species are going to extinct per year and that many or most of the extinction is caused by human action (may, 1995). the above claim was rebutted by the heyward and stuart. they held that "known extinction rates (worldwide) are very low. reasonably good data exist only for mammals and birds and the current rate of extinction as mammals and birds and the current rate of extinction as mammals and birds (as some authors suggest, although others will dispute this). then, if the total number of species in the world is say 30 million, the annual rate of extinction would be some 2,300 species per year. this is a very significant and disturbing number but it is much less than most estimates given over the decades. none of this means that there are not particular species that are, in fact, endangered and that can benefit from careful conservation efforts. but as field ecologist martin (2000) points out, when monetary values are more fully aligned with other human values, the institutional arrangement allows for the maximisation of both values. 15 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 5. waste: waste is of different categories and it is more rapidly growing in our contemporary world. electronic waste: electronic gadgets are widely used, easily get obsolete and most times improperly discarded and these are hazardous to the environment at large. onyeabor (2002 – 2010) states that electronic waste if not treated properly becomes a major source of toxins and carcinogens since they contain different chemical elements and most of them are plastics and are flame retardants because of halogen added to the plastic resin which makes it difficult to be recycled. as a result, uncontrolled burning and disposal can cause environmental problems such as pollution of different categories. hazardous wastes: the problem of hazardous wastes is largely a problem of synthetic chemicals most of which are toxic. the greatest risks come from pesticides and a broad range of chemicals used in industrial processes. similarly, the disposal of radioactive wastes from nuclear weapons production, nuclear energy plants, hospitals, universities, and research centres is also a bane to eco-justice. solid wastes: humans consume a lot and almost everything we consume generates waste. discarding these wastes poses a lot of challenges. some build incinerators which are not without its effects. it is the process of burning wastes after segregating the recyclable materials. the risky effects are that the fumes and residue of ash is injurious to health and it produces toxic gases which cause air pollution. 6. pollution: most human and industrial activities discharge some unwanted substances in the environment. pollution may be air, water, land or noise. the contamination of the water bodies by the discharge of pollutants directly or indirectly into them. this pollution of water can be natural or by human activities, excessive use of fertilisers and pesticides lead to eutrophication which causes water pollution. this leads to the death of aquatic animals. the degradation of soil by substances that change the quality of the soil is land pollution. 7. desertification: desertification has serious consequences on available water resources. long-term drought could adversely affect the level of upper ground water and stream flows, as well as the underground water. they also affect the level of large lakes, thereby affecting riparian access as in lake chad, which has receded beyond the borders on nigeria (nap, 2000). as a result of the demand for wood for construction, building, fuel, fishing industry and other uses, the removal of trees, shrubs, herbaceous plants and grass cover from the fragile land of the sahel will continue to accelerate the degradation of the soil to desert like conditions. also, overgrazing leads to degradation (okoye and ezeonyejiaku, 2010). cultivation of marginal areas is one of the causes of dissertation. in periods of higher than normal rainfall, people tend to extend farming activities into the marginal areas. irrigation cropping can turn land into desert if not properly designed and managed as a result of waterlogging salinization or alkalinisation (lopez – bermodez, 1995). closely related to the above, eisler (1987) writes that the population crisis: lies at the heart of the seemingly insoluble complex of problems futurist call the world problemalique. for behind soil erosion, desertification, air and water pollution and all the other ecological, social and political stresses of our time lies the pressure of more and more people on fertile land and other resources of increasing numbers of factories, cars, trucks and other sources of pollution required to provide all these people with goods and the working tensions that their needs and aspirations fuel (p.29). the words of eisler prove that all these problems directly affect man and the environment at large. 5.0 the way forward 1. sustainability: sustainability is the capacity of continuous existence. eco-justice sustainability therefore implies that ecosystems are functioning effectively which allows 16 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 that all inhabitants may continue to thrive or exist. it therefore necessitates that there exist stability of all natural systems. although it may not be possible for man to eliminate the impact he makes on nature, lightening such impact is possible and this shall be the goal. thus, the key word to embrace is sustainability. in other words, as regards eco-justice, all hands must be on deck. we can build good sewage systems, avoid wastage of water, plant trees, grow gardens, compost leaves and kitchen scraps, recycle trash, having in mind the restoration of god's creation. 2. justice mindset: having a mindset of justice is quite imperative in this discussion. justice simply means giving each other, his or her due. in other words, it entails participation in the full realisation of eco-justice. this cannot be achieved except man to whom the environment is being handed over, makes effort to carry out just actions that will spare the environment from greater harm. justice must come to play. man must give back to the environment its due. to organise and act for stewardship and justice, means to demand and enact a more democratic and equitable share of nature's sustenance, together with serious respect for nature's limits. 3. carbon tax: odinkonigbo (2011 – 2012) laments that gaseous substances are intentionally flared by oil companies and therefore suggests that carbon tax should serve as a veritable instrument for regulating environmental pollution. if carbon tax is introduced, the activities of oil companies will be regulated and controlled in that the companies themselves will assist in checkmating their excesses and further bear the cost of the negative externalities that they generate. the fact remains that carbon tax may not bring a total end to gaseous emissions but it will make companies accountable for their activities. 4. adoption of some international laws: onyeabor (2002 – 2010) suggests that the stipulations of basel convention on the control of transboundary movements of hazardous wastes and their disposal be adopted, which entered into force on the 5th may, 1992. his suggestion is predicated on the findings of 2007 basel action network (ban) in conjunction basel convection regional coordinating centre (bcrcc) which released the result of the research it conducted in nigeria. the result which released that about 500 containers of used electrical/electronic equipments enter nigeria every month. each container contains about 800,000 computers and more than 50% were used computers, while 25 – 75% were completely junks which were either burnt or dumped carelessly. (emeje, 2007). the preamble to the basel convention stipulates thus; i. to trans-boundary movements of wastes should be reduced in to a minimum consistent with their environmentally sound management. ii. hazardous wastes should be treated and disposed of as close as possible to their source of generation. iii. hazardous waste generation could be reduced and minimised at its source. onyeabor further suggests that legislating against e-waste is a necessity in nigeria except for the harmful waste (special criminal provisions) act cap 11, lfn 2004, there is no other current legislation on e-waste. besides, the above act does not target e-waste specifically rather it applied generally to any substance that qualifies as a harmful or hazardous substance pursuant to the provisions of its section 15. 5. application of criminal penalties on defaulters: all these hazardous wastes are harmful to the environment and poses great harm to man. thus, the threat of such harm is more serious than mere administrative disobedience. thus onyeabor (2012), advocates that government through laws can prove that someone has acted unlawfully in and caused or threatened such 17 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 harm, and therefore an effective system should have criminal sanctions in place to address the situation. 6.0 conclusion god's creation is one whole and man is at the centre of all creatures. with healthy relations restored between god, human beings, human communities, and nature, solidarity will be achieved; the environment will be more friendly to man and habitable for man. the environmental crisis is just one out of the many of global social problems. the worldwide problems require the development of a sustainable relationship with the nature. thus, eco-justice is elementary to all other issues of justice and it means our conscious rediscovering of the fullness of the meaning of our vocations in the stewardship of all of life. it is thus an adventure in faith, difficult, yet also rewarding. our various talents and gifts should be utilised in our call to stewardship references ahamba, m.i (1990). the pillars of unity (freedom and justice).enugu: fourth dimension. arakwa, s., sachdeva s.& shandas v.(2018). environmental stewardship: pathway for community cohesion and cultivating meaningful engagement. springer international publishing (dhiman , s., marques j.,(eds.) , handbook of engaged sustainability. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53121-2_37-1 astudillo, n. (2012). eco-justice is creation care: shifting the foundations of eco-theology to include stewardship, justice and spirituality (accessed on line on 22/02/2022). http://www.ecclesio.com/2012/11/eco-justice-is-creation-careshifting-the-foundations-ofeco-theology-to-include-stewardship-justice-and-spirituality-rev-neddy-astudillo/neddyastudillo/html baker, d. (2014). environmental stewardship in new york city parks & natural areas: amending barriers, creating opportunities & proposing a new way forward. ph.d derivation, yale school of forestry and environmental studies beisner, e. c., cromartie, m., derr, t s., knippers, d, hill, p.j., terrell,t,(eds) (nd.), public policy: environmental stewardship in the judeo-christian tradition: jewish, catholic, and protestant wisdom on the environment; a biblical perspective on environmental stewardship. https://www.acton.org/public-policy/environmental-stewardship/theologye/environmental-stewardship-judeo-christian-traditi.html bullock; p. and le honorou, h. (eds) (1996). land degradation and desertification. in: watson, r.t. and others (eds.) climate change, 1995: adaptations and mitigation of climate change, scientific-technical analyses of impacts. report of ipcc working group 11, pp. 170-189. cambridge university press. c o l l i n s o n l i n e d i c t i o n a r y ( 2 0 2 2 ) . r e t r i e v e d f r o m https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/ecology eisler, r. (1987). the chalice and the blade: our history, our culture. cambridge, mass: harper & row. emeje, a (2007) “fg raises alarm over effects of imported appliance”, daily independence thnewspaper, friday ,7 december , 2007, vol.3,no 1371,c.2 encyclical letter laudato si' of the holy father francis on care for our common home ( o f f i c i a l e n g l i s h l a n g u a g e t e x t o f e n c y c l i c a l ) . h t tps: / /www.vat ican.va/content / f rancesco/en/encycl icals /documents /papa francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html legesse, w., mulugeta, t. & ambelu, a. (2002). introduction to ecology, ethiopia jumma 18 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53121-2_37-1 university, lopez-bermodez, f. (1995). desertification/degradation. is this important research for the european mediterranean countries? unpublished paper to: medallus conference on mediterranean desertification, myth or reality, almeria, november, 1994 in thornes 1996. martin, r. b. (2000). biological diversity: divergent views on its status and diverging approaches to its conservation, in earth report 2000: revisiting the true state of the planet, ed. ronald bailey (new york: mcgraw-hill,). may, r. m. (1995). conceptual aspects of the quantification of the extent of biological diversity, in biodiversity measurement and estimation, ed. d.l hawksworth (london: royal society / chapman and hall. nap (2000). national action program report to combat desertification and mitigate the effect of drought, towards the implementation of the united nations convention to combat desertification and mitigate the effect of drought in nigeria. odinkonigbo, j.j. (2011-2012). carbon taxation as a policy instrument for environmental management and control in nigeria. (pg 96-111). the nigerian juridical review 10, 96 111. okoye, c.o, ezeonyeojiaku, d.c. (2010). desertification in the dry lands of nigeria, causes, consequences and solutions. unizik journal of environmental sciences 1, 49-54 onyeabor, e.u. (2002-2010). electronic waste and developing economies: what options for nigeria . the nigerian juridical review, 9, 21-47. onyeabor, e.u. (2012). applying criminal penalties and consequences in enforcing environmental protection legislation. journal of nigeria & comparative law 1, 42-51 the 202nd general assembly presbyterian church u.s.a (1990). restoring creation for ecology and justice. louisville: presbyterian church u.s.a. welchman, j . (1999). the vir tues of s tewardship. environmental ethics . https://doi.org/10.5840/enviroethics19992146. wikipedia the free encyclopedia. (2022). retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ecology w i k i t i o n a r y t h e f r e e d i c t i o n a r y . ( 2 0 2 2 ) . r e t r i e v e d f r o m https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/justice#derived_terms williams, c. c. (nd). a matter of stewardships eco-justice in biblical perspective. www.abhms.org/discipleship/resources.cfm.retrieved online on 22/02/2022 worell, r., & appleby, m. c. (2000). stewardship of natural resources: definition, ethical and practical aspects. journal of agricultural and environmental ethics, 12(3), 263–277. 19 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 page 20 page 21 page 22 page 23 page 24 page 25 page 26 page 27 page 28 text book journal pdf sis. noelle coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 01 abstract language is one of the best gifts that man is ever endowed with. human beings developed language in order to communicate with one another within a speech community. a speech community is made up of people who use a given language which need not have any social or cultural unity. it is based on this that the church qualifies as a speech community. this paper therefore, is an attempt to carry out a socio-linguistic survey of language use in different christian denominations, in expressing their religious beliefs and faith. these denominations include: protestants, catholics and orthodox. the paper carried out a survey of the expressions used by these different christians denominations during their worship and its effects on them. the descriptive method of data analysis was used in the analysis of data gathered for this work. the paper carried out a socio-linguistic analysis of language use in different denominations under different headings. the speech patterns and language codes of the denominations were collected and analysed the under different headings. the findings from this research revealed that though christians worship the same god, but the languages used by different denominations differ. the work also showed that the difference amongst the different denominations is just in the choice of words, semantic interpretation of the scriptures and not philosophical one. this work should be of great relevance to researchers on language use. keywords: socio-linguistic, language, christian denominations, catholics, orthodox, protestants. introduction language is a conventionalised and natural symbol used by man in communication. language according to wardhaugh (2000) is essentially a set of linguistic items as, sounds, words, grammatical structure etc. bell (1976) as quoted by olaoye (2008) sees language as 'a system of signals conforming to the rule which constitutes its grammar, that is, a pure code or communication system'. olaoye (2008) defines language as a means by which people from the same and related community interact and express their thoughts and feelings to one another. gimson (1980) sees language as a system of conventional symbols used for communication by a whole community. it is made up of words employed in art, in branch of knowledge or professions, in modes of speech, diction and articulate expression of thought and feelings by human beings. david, abraham areo (phd) department of languages and linguistics nasarawa state university, keffi e-mail: abrahamdavid 2013@gmail.com and david, stephen o. (phd) department of english nasarawa state university, keffi e-mail: steveodavid66@gmail.nsuk.edu.ng a socio-linguistic study of language use in different christian denominations 02 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 from the above definitions, it can be seen that language is always meant for the society and therefore is independent on the society. language is a societal possession and individuals have access to it and constantly show this by properly using it. it helps to insure a certain amount of societal uniformity thereby facilitating communication in the society. descartes (1937) avers that it is a remarkable thing that there is no man so dull and stupid, not even lunatic that they cannot arrange various words and form a sentence to make their thoughts understood which no animal however perfect or well -bred can do same. chomsky (1970) asserts that the capacity for free, appropriate and creative use of language as an expression of thought with the means provided by the language faculty is a distinctive feature of human species having no significant analogy elsewhere. to arouse appropriate feelings and responses in people, certain structural and lexical possibilities of a language are exploited by communicators. lepage (1971:9) enumerates four functions of language for an individual. these include: a) by the acquisition of speech habits of his society; an individual becomes a full member of a society, contributing his responses to the common stock which could be easily recognized and stimulate reactions from others which he could also understand' b) it offers him a tool for exploring and analysing his own conceptual processes in the sense that it helps him understand his own thoughts and imposes on him the thinking habits of his community, as crystallized in the lexicon of his language. c) it gives access to the experiences of others, depending on the adequacy of his response and that of others. d) it offers an individual greater possibility of selfexpression than he could have without it. it can be seen from the above definitions of language that, language plays a significant role in human communication and when the intended meaning is not met then communication loses its focus. the definitions also show that language is a learned behaviour and its use does not occur as a response to stimuli. it is one road of thinking which makes human society habitable. every human language is resourceful and is capable of expressing the thoughts and feelings of its users. it is used as a tool for the exchange of ideas, a means of passing information, for expression of emotions, an instrument for phatic communion which is the social function of language. the phonology, grammar and lexis of language vary tremendously not only from one social group or the other but also in term of intercommunication between social groups and the interaction of human relationships. language as described above is principle means of communication of ideas and social interaction which represents the nature and the culture of the society. it represents the nature and futureand the cultural while sociolinguistics shows what language and the society looks like. review of related literature sociolinguistics the term sociolinguistics, a most recent field of study is concerned with the study and investigation of the relationship between language and the society. it relates societal problems to language problems. it has a strong connection to anthropology through the investigation of language of language and culture and to sociology through the crucial role that language plays in the organization of social groups and institutions (crystal, 1987:421). holmes (2013) asserts that, the interest of sociolinguists from the above definitions is in studying the social, political, cultural and linguistic situations within a given speech community to see how coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 03 language choice and use reveal the value and cultural beliefs and practices of the community. sociolinguistics focuses on the ways people use language to express social class, group status, gender, religion or ethnicity and it looks at how they make choices about the form of language they use. sociolinguists believe that language occurs in social contexts and norms.as an approach that studies everyday spoken language in its socialcontext, sociolinguistics provides a fruitful starting point for theseconsiderations. sociolinguistic can therefore be seen as practical, scientific discipline which researches into the language that is actually used, either by native speakers or foreigners in order to formulate theories abhor language change. there are numerous factors influencing the way people speak which are investigated by sociolinguistics. these include social class, social context, geographical origins, ethnicity, nationality, gender, age and religion, which are the interests of this paper. society and language determinants in every society there are factors that determine language use. the determinants of language use in a society are the factors that determine acceptable linguistic forms in a given society. the language in use in some situations is not appropriate in some others. since language does not occur in a vacuum, it is made possible through the basic requirements in a given society. apart from the general societal requirements, there is also language use required in certain situations of professional touch. in certain situations requiring professional touch or vocational appeal, there are linguistic requirements for such situations. for instance, in a school environment, it is expected that the teacher should be careful in his language use since he has learners all around him, because they may learn all that he says or does; therefore any linguistic aberration by the teacher may be copied as appropriate by the learners. social life, including language use, is governed by norms – socially shared concepts of appropriate and expected behaviour. the most basic of these concepts are acquired in early childhood through socialisation. in the case of language norms, this means that the first language norms adopted are the ones of everyday spoken language. compared to the prescriptive norms of the standardised language, these uncodified norms are perhaps less conscious, yet more natural, in every sense of the word: they are more numerous, acquired earlier in life and mastered by all native speakers. they also historically precede the norms of the standard language, and in communities without a written language they are the only norms available. labov (1972) stressed the importance of these naturally occurring norms for linguistic description. he both encourages to take the norms of the vernacular as the basis of grammatical description as well as to discuss more thoroughly the nature of language norms. norms are inherently social. religion religion is a cultural phenomenon which has a major feature in the nigeria society. the daily involvement of religion in all aspects of daily living and thinking by members of society is a common thing in our contemporary society. religion defies easy definition but can commonly be understood as a group of attitude or beliefs that concern an object; real or imagined, or a system of thoughts that are considered divine, sacred , supernatural, of higher truth and the values, practices, moral codes and rituals that are associated with such system. christianity is one of such religions that are based on the teaching of jesus christ. the spirit, beliefs, principles and practice of this faith are mainly found in the bible. in the course of communication during public and private worships, certain expressions are used amongst christians. 04 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 this paper identifies how language functions in christianity and brings out some expressions / utterances that are used by christians during worship and their effects on them. this paper therefore, is an attempt to carry out a socio-linguistic survey of language use in different christian denominations, in expressing their religious beliefs and faith.the paper discovered, over a period of time, that there are some expressions and language that are used by christians in expressing their belief and faith which are dependent on the denomination in question. while some are generally used, others are specific depending on the denomination. the paper identified these expressions and their functions according to the denominations. certain expressions and utterances are used amongst christians in the course of interaction and expression of their faith and religious beliefs. language, communication and society there is a symbiotic relationship between language, communication and society. language serves as an instrument of communication. interaction between human beings is made possible with the use of language while communication is the carrier of social processes; it enables men to be social beings. man exists in a society and is in frequent contact with his fellow beings in the society as man cannot exist in isolation. ideas, feelings, information, emotions etc. are communicated by man's use of language. communication is a very important and inevitable part of human existence and language is a tool employed by man to achieve this. apart from being a means of establishing and maintaining relationships with other people, daily activities are also carried out by people through communication by the use of language. the growth, development and survival are possible due to a system of communication. the circle of communication however proceeds through a number of stages conceived by the transmitter, encoded and relayed through a particular route to a recipient who then decodes and interprets and finally confirms to the sender that the message has been understood. language is an inborn and essential part of man; it is man's means of meaningful communication that reflects every facet of man's attitude and behaviour. a great deal of importance is attached to language as it is a tool that man employs in communicating others in the society and also a means of resolving problems and tensions that arise from human interactions and behaviour. no sector of society is exempted when we talk about language as a means of communication. language cannot exist in a vacuum; it cannot be separated from the society because it is the major medium through which ideas are passed across in social integration. fasold (1984) asserts that language is an ever evolving process on the planet earth varying from culture to culture and from place to place depending on the need of civilisation par time. the culture of the society is expressed through language. a social group is can co-operate effectively within a language environment when the value assigned to signs and symbols clearly understood by the parties involved. for example, if a person decides to use the word 'warm' to stand for an elephant or the colour blue, to represent the leaves on a mango tree, one will only be creating confusion because he has moved beyond the boundaries of common and acceptable symbols in a particular social group. stock and widdowson (19941:10) states that, “the use of a particular language or dialect is an important factor in the cultural identity of a group of speakers.” a person's language may be a means of identifying his position on a social or cultural scale. crystal (1989) asserts that our use of language can tell our listener or reader a great deal about ourselves and in particular about our origin, social background, level of education , occupation, age, sex and personality. the kind of language used in socialisation differs from one social situation to another; the language used in a particular situation such as; between a doctor and his colleague or in coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 05 banking is used to suit the situation in which it is being used also. the language used at a formal gathering will be different occasions to communicate ideas. knowledge of proper language use at a given time or situation for communication is required for it to have an impact on the listener(s) or reader(s). man's society and civilisation are chronicled by languages; therefore, as development occurs new words are coined to cope with them. crystal (1989) explained that, in recent times, whole new areas of expressions have emerged, in relation to such domains as broadcasting, popular music, computing and commercial advertising. spread styles associated with the press, religion, medicine and science, commerce, politics and law have over a long time scale developed. language and religion a divine being is said to have invented speech and /or writing and given it to mankind. one of the first things adam did according to the book of genesis in the bible (the holy book of christians) was to name the acts of creation. another similar story is that of egypt mythology of the god named thor, who was believed to be the creator of speech and writing (petersides r.d. 1976). in hindus, it is braham who gave the knowledge of writing to the hindus. all over the world, the supernatural provides a powerful set of beliefs about the origin of language. religious associations are particularly strong in relation to written languages because writing is an effective means of guarding and transmitting sacred knowledge. literacy was only available only to the elite, in which priests figured prominently. sacred writings at the centre of all world’s main religion lies a body of sacred writings revered by believers. scrupulous attention is to identify or preserving the linguistic features of the original text. often, the text is accompanied by a long tradition of commentary, which may itself take on special religious significance. examples of such long tradition religions according to peterside (1976) include: i) buddhism: the pali canon, based on oral tradition, which contains the teaching of the buddhist from many countries. but comparable text came to exist in other languages, such as chinese and japanese, as the religion evolved. ii) christianity: the bible consists of 39 books of the old testament written in hebrew and the 27 books of the new testament written in greek. several other writings, known collectively as apocrypha and preserved only in greek, have controversial status. a latin translation of the bible, known as the vulgate, is prominent in the roman catholic tradition. according to the watch tower and tract society (1996), the bible was written by some 40 different men over a period of 1600 years. it is made up of 66 little books. those who wrote the bible were inspired by god; they wrote his thoughts and theirs. god, therefore, is the author of the bible (11 timothy 3:16, 11 peter 1:20-21). god made sure that the bible was accurately copied and preserved. more bibles have been printed than any other book. hinduism: the vedas is a wide range of texts written in sanskrit and preserved largely through a meticulous oral tradition, which takes particular care over accuracy or pronunciation. iii) islam : the muslims believe the qur'an was dictated to the prophet mohammed by allah, during the 06 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 month of ramadan. it is written in classical arabic in a style which is considered miraculous beyond the ability to imitate. the memorisation of the text in childhood acts simultaneously as introduction to literacy. iv) judaism: the hebrew bible or old testament, especially as found in its first five books, is traditionally said to be written by moses. this later resulted into varieties of hebrew, and some arabic form of the language in a large collection of oral and written commentaries on the bible known as the talmud. not all religions favour the translation of their sacred books; judaism, hinduism and islam especially stress the sacredness of the language itself and resist translation, whereas buddhism and especially christianity actively promote it. in christianity the belief is that every man in every language should read and understand the word of god. but ultimately, all major religion's works are translated either from one language into another or from an older variety of language into a modern. varieties of religious language the most striking feature of a religious language is its heterogeneity, deriving from the wide range of activities involved in public and private worship and the involvement of religious in all aspects of daily living and thinking. several varieties, all distinctive in their use of linguistic structure are widely encountered. these include: i) liturgical forms: both spoken and sung liturgy are produced by individuals and in unison, as monologue and dialogue. it also includes such acts of innovate or, petitions, doxologies (statement of glory or praise), intercessions, thanksgiving, rosaries, litanies, chants, hymns, psalms and canticles. it also includes preaching from formal written sermon to spontaneous monologues or even dialogues (as the congregation reacts) and sometimes involve elements of song or chart). ii) ritual forms: is used in relation to cultural or social practices, such as baptism, funerals, confessions, meal times, remembrance services, weddings, meditations, cleansing rites, vows, exorcising and the blessing of people, objects or places. iii) readings: from sacred texts, in an original language or translation, with varying degrees of literalness, formality and modernity. the text itself contains or a wide range of varieties such as parables, psalms, historical narrative, apocalyptic description, poetry and paradox' iv) doctrinal statement: as expounded in official “canonical” documents, creed, articles of faith, expository pamphlets, courses of instruction, catechism and these days, teachings on cable television. closely associated with this, there is the dimension of theological language, as expounded by theological, biblical scholars and other religious professionals. v) private affirmations: these are beliefs in supernatural beings, expression of identity and conversion, ecstatic prayers, prophesying, spirit possession and testimony giving. research methodology the descriptive research design was employed in carrying out this research. the primary and secondary means of research method were used in gathering the data for this paper. the primary means employed used include, oral interviews, and personal observation, use of coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 07 informants and the administration of questionnaires to christians across catholic, protestant and pentecostal churches. 90 questionnaires, 30 each, were distributed across these churches. the respondents fall within the age brackets (15-17), (18-50), (50 and above). the area of the research focus is nasarawa state. the secondary means of data collection include the use of available religious texts, and other library materials both published and unpublished. the data collected for this work were analysed using the descriptive survey method of data analysis. the knowledge of the researcher to a large extent helped in facilitating the analysis of the data. data presentation and analysis the data gathered were analysed in this section. the following questions raised in the background to this study were answered in this section. what are the expressions that are used by christians? are all christians familiar with these expressions and utterances? what role does language play in christianity? do these expressions have any effect(s) on the lives of the users? table 1 : expressions /utterances used by christians according to church denominations s/n church denomination expression usage i ii iii iv v vi vii viii ix in jesus’ name -----before or at the end of a prayer all denominations i am/you are covered by the blood of jesus holy ghost fire consume---offering time blessing time the lord is good all the time praise the lord— halleluyah to the glory of god or to god be the glory there is no one like jesus push: pray until something happens during prayer for prayer against enemies during offering/ offering during testimony and thanksgiving during testimony and thanksgiving during testimony and thanksgiving during praise and worship during the prayer of encouragement all denominations mountain of fire all denominations all denominations all denominations all denominations all denominations pentecostal 08 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 x xii xiii by god’s grace during the prayer of encouragement all denominations god is looking for people fat; faithful, available and teachable glory to jesus-honour to mary the lord is my/your/our strength i reject it in jesus’ name bless you ----bless you it is well in jesus name it shall come to pass a kind of greeting during prayer a way of greeting during encouragement catholic all denominations pentecostals xi during admonishment pentecostal and orthodox xiii during prayer of encouragement god is surer than the surest, mightier than the mightiest, bigger than the biggest. pentecostals (redeemed christian church) xiv during praise and worship xv xvi xvii pentecostals (living faith church) all denominations during prayer all denominations during encouragement during admonishment during prayers against enemies during mass during times of trials all denominations pentecostal (deeper life) pentecostal and orthodox catholic church all denominations xix xxi xxii xxiii xxiv be blessed in jesus name repent or you perish back to sender in jesus’ name may the peace of the lord be with you— and with your spirit the devil is a liar the lord is in control during encouragement all denominations the grace in fellowship the lord is in control during encouragement during departure from service pentecostals and orthodox all denominations xxv xxvi xxvii coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 09 table (1) indicates the utterances and expressions that are used by different christian denominations during service. these are grouped below through the following language use or choice at different occasions of language use. the use and meaning of some words are appropriate at certain points or occasions to exercise one's faith or belief and on certain purposes or aims. this is because the accurate use of language could go a long way in enhancing the confidence of the believers in their religion. for christianity to have an impact in the lives of christians, the appropriate use of language is very important. below is a list of language use in various christian activities as shown in the above table. i) language of worship/ exaltation examples include the following: i) to god be the glory ii) the lord is good; response: all the time iii) praise the lord response amen/ halleluyah iv) there is no one like jesus v) in jesus name vi) by god's grace vii) god is surer than the surest, mightier than the mightiest in the course of worshipping god by christians, the language that dominates here is laudatory, positive and emphasising the unequalled ability, uniqueness, might and strength of god, placing god higher than every other divine being or person. these expressions are used mostly during testimonies and thanksgiving services in churches and to exalt god for his good deeds, for instance, on occasions of child dedication, anniversary celebrations, thanking god for deliverance etc. ii) language of administration/ exhortation the following expressions/ utterances are presented here: a) repent or you perish b) rapture is coming c) the day of judgement is coming soon' d) rapture is coming' e) 'jesus is coming soon' f) god is looking for people that are faithful, available and teachable' these expressions are made by christians (e.g. preachers, bible scholars, ministers of god etc.) to urge other christians to shun evil or sinful activities. the words 'death', 'rapture', 'judgsment', 'perish' etc, elicit fear in people/ christians, instil fear on christians, hence the language used here would go a long way in discouraging them from indulging in evil, sinful or immoral activities and probably to adhere to the teaching of the bible. iii) language of comfort/ hope/ encouragement/consolation here we have expression/utterances such as: i) the lord is in control. ii) it is well in jesus name. iii) you will never lack in jesus'. 10 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 iv) may the peace of the lord be with you; response: and also with you'. v) ‘you are blessed'/ 'be blessed in jesus name'. vi) with god all things are possible. these expressions are made by christians who are confronted with difficult or negative situations or circumstances as, financial, marital and social problems, discouragements, depressions, death etc. the pronouncement of the above expressions, the christians that are in will be comforted , encouraged and be hopeful in life. at times, language is used to make certain negative or unpleasant situation circumstance appear light and its usage lessens the burden in the life of the user. this shows that, language is capable of bringing good results to the user when used appropriately used. iv) language of confidence and faith. the following expressions/ utterances are made by christians: i) i am covered by the blood of jesus ii) back to the sender in jesus’ name iii) fear not, for i am with you iv) the devil is a liar v) holy ghost fire consume vi) i shall not die but live to declare the good works of god the expressions above are mostly made or used by christians when they are confronted with fearful situations of death, spiritual attack, sicknesses etc. discussion on findings the data collected was analysed and its usage, effects, familiarity and attitude of user based on situation and user's church was brought out. the researcher discovered from the data above that, the language use in christianity, most obviously, is generally laudatory, positive, unreserved and also emphasized the influence, the choice uniqueness, strength, might and ability awe of god through jesus christ, and the need for adherents of christianity to experience the impact of christianity, enhance and maintain people's interest in the religion. christianity has in various ways influenced the choice of vocabulary and grammar as is reflected in the utterances or expressions in language use in different christian activities above. indeed, the appropriate use of language brings about effective communication which provokes positive and active reactions in the lives of christians. the researcher also discovered that most christians are conversant with the expressions above. this gives a reflection of the significance of sociolinguistics, as a field of study; the fact that certain language(s) is/are only peculiar to only a group of people in the society. expressions such as: in jesus name, the blood of jesus, holy ghost fire etc. could only be appropriately used and understood by only christians. the responses shown from research carried out indicate that a great number of christians are conversant with the above expressions in table 1. it also gives a reflection of the extent of the popularity of the expressions among christians. it was also discovered that, the use of the expressions in table 1 cuts across the different denominations which include, protestant, catholic and pentecostal. one can also deduce from the responses that the majority of the christian use the above expressions while expressing their religious belief. coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 11 conclusion this work shows that christianity relies almost totally on the use of language like other religions. it can indeed be asserted in the conclusion that language plays a very important role in christianity. it is a tool that is employed by christians during communication whether individually or as a group to bring about effective communication with the ultimate goal of enhancing the confidence of christians in their faith or beliefs. it was also seen in the work that, language is employed by christians during communication to convey their thoughts, ideas, feelings, emotions, desires etc. within the framework of their religion. the use of expressions above brings about positive impacts on their lives as revealed in this research. the work also shows that language plays a great role in recording of facts, as in the recording of past events and in passing god's instructions to the people. references atkinson, m.(1982). foundations of general linguistics. london: biddles. crystal, d. (1981). sociolinguistics. london: hazell watson and viney ltd. dunstan, e. (1969). twelve nigerian languages. london: longman. ….… (1987). the cambridge encyclopedia of language: 421. cambridge: cambridge university press. chomsky, n. (1957). syntactic structure. new york: mouten publishers. descartes, c. (1937).i think, therefore i am. paris: universal publishers. dittmar, n. (1974). sociolinguistics : a critical survey of theory and application. canada: edward armold publishers. fasold, r. (1984). the sociolinguistics of society. new york: basil blackwell publishers. gumperz, j.j. (1964). linguistic and social interaction in two communities. in j. gumperz & d.hymes(eds.) the ethnography of communication, american anthropologist. 66 (6), 137-153. gimson, a.c. 1980. practical course on english pronunciation. london: edward anold publishers. hymes, d. (1964). language in culture and society. a reader in linguistic and anthropology. harper and row: new york. thholmes,j. (2013). an introduction to sociolinguistics (4 ed). new york: routledge. harley, t. (2000). an introduction to sociolinguistic. massachusetts, usa: blackwell public incorporation. hudson, r.a. (1996). sociolinguistics. cambridge: cambridge university press. labov, w. (1972). sociolinguistic patterns. philadelphia: pennsylvania up. lepage, r.b. (1972). preliminary report on the sociolinguistic survey of multilingual communities. language in society1:155-172. oke, n.o. (1998). language and communication. aba: assemblies of god press. peterside. r.d. (1975). the great myths of ancient religions. atlanta: atlantic publishers. stock & widdowson. (1994). learning about linguistics: an introductory workbook. london: anchor press. the holy bible (reversed standard version) yule, g.(1985). the study of language. cambridge: cambridge university press. watch tower bible and tract society of new york, (1996). what does god require of us? brooklyn, york usa. wardhaugh, r. (2000). an introduction to sociolinguistics (6th ed). london: wiley blackwell. page 1 page 2 page 3 page 4 page 5 page 6 page 7 page 8 page 9 page 10 page 11 text book journal pdf sis. noelle 01 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 abstract nigeria, like many other countries in the world, is undergoing various social troubles like terrorism, kidnapping, corruption, armed banditry, inept leadership, electoral violence and rigging, internet fraud, ethno-religious violence, incessant academic and occupational strikes, examination malpractices, etc. the fact is that the problems above border on people's ethical behaviour. if people live by ethical values the problems above will be seriously mitigated. in harnessing moral values, to combat the moral predicaments in nigeria, various persons are inspired by various ethical systems. this paper critically and analytically interrogates the moral philosophy of “transvaluation of values” proposed by nietzsche to see if it can help to combat the nigerian moral predicament. nietzsche proposes that religion in general, especially western christianity endorses a weak lifestyle in extolling values like piety, humility, prudence, gentleness, martyrdom, etc., instead of proposing a strong lifestyle of power, vitality, strength, etc. there is need for a reversal of the values proposed by christianity, to values that enable man to rise to become the übermensch (superman). the question before this paper is to discuss whether the values proposed by nietzsche can help to eradicate the moral predicaments in the nigerian society and make it a better society. through critical analytic and hermeneutic methods, the paper finds and concludes that the “transvaluation of values” proposed by nietzsche will morally cripple nigeria and make matters worse. nietzsche does not hold the solution to the nigerian moral crisis. keywords: friedrich nietzsche, transvaluation of values, moral predicaments, übermensch, superman, christianity, moral philosophy. introduction there is no nation on earth that is free from moral predicaments. the word, “predicament” is used here as generally understood in the english language. the cambridge university press (2020) says predicament is: “an unpleasant situation that is difficult to get out of or solve.” predicaments imply difficult problems, puzzles or issues that perplex humans. to these problems they need to give solutions. moral predicament refers to the challenging situations of unethical behaviours that predominate in the society. nigeria like most societies is passing through a moral predicament as the nigerian society is inundated with many wrong behaviours and evils that impede human flourishing. while there are solutions to these wrong behaviours, many in the nigerian society have failed consistently in accepting these solutions of living ethically to create a better society. oguejiofor (2001) writing of human predicament paraphrases the english philosopher, g.j. warnock as follows: “...the human predicament is mark omorovie ikeke, phd department of religious studies and philosophy delta state university, pmb 1, abraka, nigeria ikeke7@yahoo.com 08067426895 friedrich nietzsche's “transvaluation of values” in the light of nigeria's moral predicament inherently such that things are liable to go badly....this inherent tendency is due to both natural and human factors: limited knowledge, limited resources, limited rationality, limited sympathy. it is in order to obviate this tendency that morality in general finds its sense” (p. 7). olowo (2009) rightly asserts that: “...no nation can survive when immoral and unpatriotic behaviours tend to be rampart in the society” (p. 359). moral predicaments include what is alternatively named as moral decadence. afolabi and loto (2009) show that morally depraved living in nigeria include: cultism, arson, kidnapping, rape, bunkering, drug offences, armed robbery, etc. this paper examines whether friedrich nietzsche's moral philosophy of “transvaluation of values” can help to resolve the moral predicaments of the nigerian society. in accomplishing the objectives of this paper, the life and times of nietzsche are presented; and then it examines hermeneutically his theory of “transvaluation of values.” the paper equally undertakes a description of the moral predicaments in the nigerian society. with this done, the philosophy of “transvaluation of values” and the nigerian moral predicament are dialogically interrogated. finally, the paper ends with some concluding reflections. the life and times of friedrich nietzsche friedrich nietzsche was born in rocken, saxony on 5th october in the year 1844. he died on the 25th of august 1900 after being insane for eleven years. he is a german existentialist philosopher of the 19th century. according to lawhead (2002), he is considered to be “the father of secular existentialism” (p. 416). his father and grandfather were lutheran clergymen. his father died while he was five years old. he grew up under his mother, sister and grandmother. his aunts also were part of his upbringing. when he was fourteen years he was sent to pfota boarding school. he studied there for six years learning religion, classics, and also german literature. he studied at the universities of bonn and also at leipzig. at these universities, he studied philology and classical antiquity. in the year 1869, he was given appointment at basel university in philosophy, even though he had not finished his doctorate. in 1869 he gave his first lecture there at the university. he was at the young age of twenty-four when he got engaged as a professor. in 1879 he resigned from his university position due to poor health. colombo (2007) notes that: friedrich nietzsche wrote virtually on every aspect of western culture-the history of philosophy, ethics, aesthetics, democracy, music, tragedy, and religionseeking to name and unmask the decay and sickness of both western culture and european society. at the root of this decadence was a cultural platonism that denigrated the world and change as inferior to eternity and changelessnes. (p. 958). some of the works written by nietzsche include: (1) “the birth of tragedy,” (2) “untimely meditations,” (3) “human, alltoohuman”, (4) “joyous wisdom,” (5) “thus spoke zarathustra,” (6)“the dawn of day,” (7) “beyond good and evil,” (8) “a genealogy of morals,” (9)“the case of wagner,” and(10) “the twilight of idols.” permit a presentation of a timeline of his life as given by johnston (2006); 1844 birth of friedrich nietzsche 1848 revolutions in europe coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 02 03 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 1849 death of nietzsche's father 1854 nietzsche enters local gymnasium 1859 darwin's origin of specie 1864 nietzsche attends university of bonn, later moves to leipzig 1869 nietzsche appointed professor of philosophy at university of basel; friendship with wagner 1870 nietzsche serves in franco-prussian war 1871 bismarck becomes chancellor of unified germany 1873-79 nietzsche's thought out of season 1876 end of nietzsche's friendship with wagner inauguration of bayreuth theatre with wagner's the ring 1882 nietzsche's joyful wisdom published; 1883-85 thus spoke zarathustra 1886 beyond good and evil 1888 william 11 becomes german kaiser 1889 nietzsche's illness and eventual insanity 1900 death of nietzsche (p. 143) the life and times of nietzsche given above helps to better appreciate him. while nietzsche wrote on many subjects, the concern of this paper is with his “transvaluation of values.” and this is what now occupies this paper. the theory of “transvaluation of values” nietzsche rejected traditional western morality especially as mirrored by the judeo-christian tradition. he proposed in place of traditional western morality a new philosophy that emphasises the will-to-power in man to become the superman or “overman.” in his work, “thus spoke zarathustra,” he gives his account of the philosophy of the superman and the new values that society requires. higgins (2000) writes of his philosophy thus: nietzsche's zarathustra preaches a new, atheistic, gospel of aspiration towards greatness. this aspiration is embodied in the figure of the ubermensch (superman), a new and superior type of human being who rejects existing morality, who overturns existing values by affirming the positive values of earthly life and of the active, creative individual, and who undertakes the creation of his own life in the way the artist creates his work (p.387). the superman or the superior type of human being can only emerge from those of the masterclass. aside the master-class is the slave-class. each of these classes stands for the two kinds of morality. nietzsche (2013) states as follows regarding these two kinds of morality are the master-morality and the slave-morality. he writes that the master-morality originated from the ruling caste who are conscious of being different from the ruled, the slaves and feeble. the ruling nobles are the ones who determine what is good and not the despicable. nietzsche (2013) propounds that: “the noble type of man regards himself as a determiner of values; he does not require to be approved of; he passes the judgement: 'what is injurious to me is injurious in itself;' he knows that it is he himself only who confers honour on things; he is a creator of values” (no 260). for nietzsche (2013), christian morality is weak, perverse, unhealthy and a slave morality. it is unacceptable. what is needed is a master morality of the aristocrats. it is a morality like that of greeks, indian and norse. slave morality is the morality of those under subjugation by the masters. it is the master morality that is needed in order to produce the superman. the slave morality is for those who are slavish who live a life of pity and humility and lives like the herd. the slave morality negates and obstructs the superman from emerging. society needs morality that espouses pride, strength, arrogance, might, conquest, etc. a slave morality is an impotent morality and cannot create the new society. christian morality is a slave morality that endorses humility, gentleness, compassion, self-denial, meekness, love, sympathy, etc. those living with the slave morality consider it to be virtuous. omoregbe (1991) rightly interprets nietzsche thus: “the salve-morality wants to bring all men to the same level through absolute and universal moral laws applicable to all men. it prevents people from developing into strong and powerful men, for it fears such people as dangerous and 'evil'. thus the slave morality is an obstacle to human development” (p. 168). for nietzsche (2013), the christian religion is poisonous and perverse. it kills creativity, innovation and the capacity for greatness that lies in man. the values of the new morality that nietzsche advocates for are the values of the masters. the master-morality promotes strength, power, pride, war, retaliation, adventure, assertiveness, violence, ruthlessness. these values help the superman to emerge. such a man replaces everything that has to do with god and has indeed made a “transvaluation of values.” he has gained his freedom, liberated himself and makes law for himself and is beyond good and evil and has asserted his will to power. man's assignment is the willtopower and becoming the superman. stump and fieser (2003) write that: by revaluation nietzsche did not mean the creation of a new table of moral values. he meant rather to declare war upon the presently accepted values....since traditional morality is a perversion of original morality, revaluation must consist in rejecting traditional morality in the name of honesty and accuracy. revaluation implies that all the 'stronger motives are still extant, but now they appear under false names and false valuations, and have not become conscious of themselves (p. 386-387). nietzsche (2016) says of christianity that he accuses of revaluing ancient values thus: “i regard christianity as the most fatal and seductive lie that has ever yet existed—as the greatest and most impious lie: i can discern the last sprouts and branches of its ideal beneath every form of disguise, i decline to enter into any compromise or false position in reference to it—i urge people to declare open war with it (p. 164). it was christianity that re-valued ancient values and what is morality in christianity today that they claim is virtue is not truly virtue. destroy and reject christianity and the true values will emerge. in every individual lies the will-topower and domination, and the individual must use it to exploit and dominate his environment. universal morality does not exist. each individual has to exercise his will-to-power and strive to become a superman, even though some will continue to be weak and will never reach the status of the superman. coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 04 05 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 it is important to remark here that in his ethics, women have no value. the only thing that they can be used for is amusement and fun. women are objects and properties to be owned and manipulated. they are there to simply serve the pleasure of men in the exercise of their will to power. men are made to dominate and conquer women. nigeria's moral predicament the question can be asked if there is a moral predicament in nigeria. this piece seriously opines that there is a moral predicament or moral crisis in nigeria. there is hardly any country in the world that does not experience a moral predicament. while some nations are far better than others in terms of morality, there exists in every society persons who have unethical and distorted values. in this work, moral predicament is understood to refer to the entire system of wrong and evil behaviours that are detrimental to human wellbeing and even cosmic good. it is true that most societies have their own standards of morality. in spite of this, there are globally acceptable standard of behaviours. if not, there will be no basis for a global society. and so for instance, there are codes of conduct derivable from international laws, documents and declarations. there is no society that sees corruption and embezzlement of public fund as morally acceptable. the abuse of governmental or political power is generally condemnable everywhere. acts like stealing, murder, infanticide, human trafficking, modern slavery, child abuse, etc are seen as immoral. this viewpoint is in line with the framework of immanuel kant's “categorical imperative.” kant (1948) postulates that the human being's actions should be good in themselves not simply means. this is the moral imperative. act in such a way that your action is a universal law. as omoregbe (1991) will note citing kant, exploitation and the other evils occur when you act simply using your neighbour as a means to an end. the point being made is that nigeria cannot be an exception to what is generally considered to be immoral and unethical. nigeria has moral values rooted in her traditional systems, various laws, and in her constitution. nigeria and her people can be judged either as living morally or living immorally. also, nigeria's national anthem and pledge are equally a basis for judging what is moral. in the national anthem you find statements like: “to serve our fatherland with love and strength and faith,” “to serve with heart and might one nation bound in freedom, peace and unity,” “oh god of creation, direct our noble cause; guide our leaders right, help our youth the truth to know, in love and honesty to grow, and living just and true, great lofty heights attain, to build a nation where peace and justice shall reign.” love, faith, freedom, peace, unity, truth, honesty, justice, etc are all moral values or virtues. whatever harms the above positive values should be considered as immoral. nigerian leaders are to live rightly and carry out the reasons why they are elected into power. they should act for the wellbeing of all nigerians in line with what is categorically moral, not for their personal and selfish gains. look through the nigerian scene and you will realise that nigeria is experiencing a moral predicament. there is a moral problem in the land. when some nigerian leaders and persons live against the positive and healthy values that build human society, then there is a moral predicament in the land. there is a moral predicament because immoral or unethical behaviours are not just occurring by accident or occasionally but they have occurred and persisted in the land. think of the following persistent problems such as armed robbery, kidnapping, environmental degradation, ethnicism, electoral violence and looting of ballot boxes, absenteeism in the workplace, theft, social discrimination, poor and inept leadership, sales of fake and expired drugs, partaking in secret cult activities, sexual abuse, internet fraud, 419, etc. these all border on human behaviours. the above-mentioned and many others are wrong behaviours. they are unethical and harm human and social wellbeing. catholic bishops conference of nigeria (2015), igho (2019), jooji (2006), bolokor (2013), ojakiminor (2015), aluko (2006), jooji (2003), itelimo and ogugua (2019) have all noted the (moral) predicament in nigeria in their writings. furthermore, many persons in political and public office have used their offices to corruptly enrich themselves. corruption and bribery in nigeria are so rampart that the catholic bishops of nigeria composed a prayer against bribery and corruption in nigeria. transparency international (2019) scored nigeria 26/100 and ranked her 146/180 in the corruption perception index. this is painful and tragic. you travel on nigerian roads and you see nigerian policemen and women, and road safety officers extorting money from travellers. you can even be beaten up by policemen and women if you refuse to give them bribe. corruption is by and large a moral problem rooted in human greed and disordered values. olurode (2005) writes that corruption is endemic to the nigerian society and it includes abandonment of projects by contractors who have been paid, usage of poor building materials by contractors, bribing of site engineers, the police collecting bribes on the road, poor service delivery, hoarding of goods and abuse of the electoral process, etc. corruption is a big moral problem, and if it is not seen as such, one wonders what it is. nigeria is gravely facing a moral predicament. in a metaphoric sense, the paper agrees with ifeanyichukwu (2011) who argues that nigeria is experiencing a crisis of moral conscience arising from poor leadership and irresponsibility of the citizens. he writes further that if care is not taken, nigerian can become a hobbesian state of nature. immorality and unethical behaviours reign in the land of nigeria. chuta (2004) notes that during the presidency of shehu shagari, there was an ethical revolution and during the presidency of olusegun obasanjo there was an anti-corruption crusade. during the time when professor dora akinyili was director of the national drug law enforcement agency there was much campaign on value re-orientation and re-branding nigeria. the present federal government has championed the slogan, “change begins with me.” all these are indications that it is not morally well with nigeria. oladipo (1999) wrote of the nigerian condition and described it as a form of material and moral depression because there is lack of responsibility, accountability in government, suppression of freedom, no equality before the law, lack of transparency, and many other ills. for him, a new set of values in support of social reconstruction is needed. though those statements were written of the nigerian condition in 1999 they are still relevant today. using chuta (2004), there are value contradictions undermining the ethical reconstruction of the nigerian society. another serious moral problem that cannot be ignored here is bad and inept leadership. it is difficult for a society to be moral when the leaders are corrupt and embezzle public funds. this happens when leaders promote tribalism, nepotism, sectionalism, ethnic clannishness, and fill public offices with their cronies and townsmen and women. morality in the public places is being eroded when leaders punish wrongdoings but not of their townsmen and women. morality is being eroded when promotions and advancement in the workplace are given on the basis of ethnicity and not merit. in the light of this, the paper now proceeds to interrogate the nigerian situation drawing from nietzsche's philosophy. friedrich nietzsche and the nigerian context coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 06 07 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 friedrich nietzsche's moral philosophy looks troubling. if applied to nigeria, it will only help to complicate issues and lead to a society in which might is right and the survival of the fittest is the norm of the land. the rich and wealthy will pervert justice and people will not be equal before the law. rather, those who have the military might and physical prowess will gain dominance. there will be constant class conflict as everybody is striving to survive caring nothing for others. there should be one morality in the land, not one for the ruling class and another for the ruled. what is needed in nigeria more than ever before is a moral re-orientation and rearmament that value the human dignity of every human being, rich or poor. it will be a society based on neo-welfarist values, to use azikiwe' term. a society that simply privileges the powerful and the wealthy will be a one-sided society. the values of christianity that nietzsche calls for to be re-valued are precisely the values that society needs. in african communitarian philosophy, the human being is seen as a being-with-others and there is ubuntu (togetherness) and ujamaa (brotherhood). each human being is to work for the welfare of society and look out for the wellbeing of others. the desire of the human being in the african cosmos is not to be a superman above others. he is one with others and lives with others. there is a fundamental need to re-inculcate social and moral values that have always been emphasized in the nigerian society. these are not actually new values that are extraneous to the society. these moral values are already embedded in the nigerian constitutions, the nigerian national policy on education, the laws of the land, educational curriculum, the teachings of the religions, international human rights framework, etc. these values include: peace-making, justice, tolerance, truth, faithfulness, nonviolence, contentment, prudence, kindness, generosity, and patience. anyanwu and amelo (2013) rightly note that morality is the “kpim” (essence) of building social order and those values like empathy, self-control, honesty, integrity, and care and welfare of others are necessary for society. the kind of ethics that nietzsche advocates is not what will bring uhuru (freedom) and peace to the nigerian society. they will destroy it more and create social chaos and disorder as there will be antagonistic rivalry, competition, and warfare to dominate over others. the ethics that is needed is one that promotes the social wellbeing and personal welfare of all. it is communitarian and quest for the good of every individual. nietzsche's superman creates its own values. each individual that strives to become the superman creates his own values. a society in which every individual creates is one values is no longer a society. there is a society because people are interrelated and interacts and there is a point of meeting. with everybody creating values that seems rights to him there will be a conflict of value systems. society will become chaotic. ojimba and ikuli (2019) argue concerning nietzsche thus: but despite his stress on freedom, nietzsche's philosophy was, in fact, a very suppressive inhuman ideology that aimed at enslaving others. the practical application of his philosophy to life would not only result in the survival of the fittest and the manifestation of animalistic and brute tendencies in man, but would also result in actual monstrosity. he rejected the notion of human equality and any form of fixed truth, morality or standard of behaviour; but this undermines our very notion of human rights, which presupposes a fixed and acceptable standard of behaviour. he despises weakness, compassion, and humanitarianism, preferring strength and domination. but this will only take man back to the state of nature, where there is man's inhumanity against man (p. 24). pride, arrogance, domination, conquest, and vainglory proposed by nietzsche should not be considered as values or morality. they are vices not virtues. with nietzsche, this paper agrees that there is innate power in human beings and desire for greatness. but this desire has to be controlled and used in a healthy and virtuous manner. the desire for greatness either on a personal or communal level should be done not at the expense of the welfare and wellbeing of others but also for their goodness and social success. each individual is not a law unto himself as nietzsche implies. all should subject themselves to communal morality. the world that nietzsche envisions seems to have some elements with hobbesian state of nature. his world will be filled with vengeance, retaliation, and conquest. there is no place for consideration of the weak in his world. ezema, areji and ohubuenyi (2017) buttress this fact in saying of the implications of nietzsche as follows: “possible implications were drawn from master-slave morality in interpersonal relationship. moral values become relative; irresponsible freedom becomes the order of the day; while anarchy and oppression are celebrated” (p. 262). the importance of values for a moral and ordered society cannot be overstated. nietzsche speaks of the “transvaluation of values” by which he implies the values of christianity and other traditional western values that existed before him need to be reevaluated, rejected, and his so-called new values of the emergence of the superman should be accepted in their place. he discarded the values which he claimed are values of slave morality. without communal or social values that people in a society share together there will be no common objectives for that society to obtain. it is important to define values. value refers to what is worthwhile, noble, cherished, and acceptable to a person or a society. edem (1993) indicates that: “value is seen as 'a conception or standard, cultural or merely personal by which things are compared and approved or disapproved, relative to one another-held to be relatively desirable or undesirable, more meritorious or less, more or less correct” (p. vii). there are values that may be acceptable in some societies but not acceptable in others. despite the fact that some values may be particular to some societies; the fact remains that there are common or even global values that cut across all societies. it is on this basis that what one society considers being value can be judged. instrumental values or values that are simply relative to a society that inhibit human flourishing or global ethics are unacceptable. based on this we can speak of crimes against humanity, war crimes, human trafficking and child abuse as evil. there are persons who committed crimes against humanity who have been brought to the international criminal court in the hague. these are intrinsic values in line with categorical imperative. a society may have considered some things to be value in the past that today are no longer considered to be value such as slavery, killing of twins among the ibibio people, etc. in the light of all these, this paper categorically states that what nietzsche considers to be value is no value at all. if his ethic is to be followed in nigeria, the society will be poorer for it. the poor, the needy, the mentally and physically challenged, ethnic minorities, and many others will lose all their fundamental human rights. only the rich, the aristocrats and the powerful will reign in the land. they will trample on people who are disadvantaged and see them as inferior. in their will –topower, they will trample on the unborn child, and people who are economically disadvantaged. nietzschean ethics offends against the values of a true democratic society in which government acts for the good of all and provides welfare for members of society. to use ideas drawn from iwu (2006), this piece propounds that a nietzschean ethics will lead to ruthless and coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 08 09 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 'senseless accumulation of wealth, greed, lack of respect for other people's humanity and outright wickedness” (p. vii). since “god is dead” as nietzsche opines, the implication for this paper is that you become accountable to no higher power than your drive and will-to-power. it will be a world of rugged and egoistic individualism. each man will be a lord and law unto himself. this cannot help in the social and moral redemption of nigeria. nigeria should not be a society in which only the fittest and strongest survive. it is likely that nietzsche drew from charles darwin theory of “survival of the fittest.” this connection between charles darwin and nietzsche should not be overlooked. citing paul roubiczek, omoregbe (1991), notes that he simply translated darwin's notion of evolutionary struggle in which the fittest species survive to a new ethics that promotes power, ruthlessness, struggle, ambition and war. the new man, who will be the last man in history that nietzsche roots for is brutally ruthless, arrogantly selfish and pompously proud and cares nothing for the wellbeing of the “less privileged” and 'disabled' of society. the decadence in the nigeria society and in many other societies is not as a result of the practice of christian-based value rather it is the neglect of those values. as ahoyo (2012) notes in nietzsche, 'exploitation of man by man,” anti-democratic values, slavery, cruelty are all acceptable as part of cultural praxis. a nietzschean ethics will make nigeria a cruel place, filled with economic and political exploitation, conflicts, violence, etc. omoregbe (1991) notes that: “only few people would like to see nietzsche's ethics practised all over the world” (p. 173). in the moral redemption of nigeria from her moral predicaments, the cherished values of christianity and other religions will be needed. these values are inclusive of social justice for all, option for the poor, philanthropy, samaritanism, generosity, respect and recognition of the dignity of every human person, universal love, love for enemies, selfless sacrifice to help others, honesty, charitable works, etc. conclusion this paper has examined the philosophy of “transvaluation of values” as proposed by friedrich nietzsche. he proposed re-appropriating ancient values that existed before christianity. for him, it was christianity that came with the values of the slave-class, and propagated humility, kindness, love, patience, etc. these values need to be rejected (transvalued) for the values of pride, arrogance, selfishness, power, strength, conquest. these are the values that belong to the master-class, the aristocrats who are a law to themselves and the creators of morality. there is a natural instinct in man, the will-to-power, to dominate and strive for greatness. the paper showed that while there is nothing wrong in striving for greatness and success, it should be done within a communal and social perspective taking into consideration the wellbeing and human rights of others. from the foregoing, a nietzschean ethics cannot help in 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(2019). corruption perceptions index 2019. retrieved from https://www.transparency.org/cpi2019 page 1 page 2 page 3 page 4 page 5 page 6 page 7 page 8 page 9 page 10 page 11 text book journal pdf sis. noelle 01 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 abstract one of the driving forces and preoccupation of empiricism is the nature, structure and theory of meanings. the attempt to provide and explain this has led the various traditions in philosophy to posit and argue for diverse perspectives. this was exactly what the empiricist traditionally did with their postulation of the analytic and synthetic statements. the implication of this submission for philosophy in general drew the attention and irk of quine. so, influenced by the analytic and pragmatic tradition, quine attacked this traditional distinction between analytic and synthetic statements as espoused by the empiricists, which he christened the 'two dogmas of empiricism'. he argued that this position is not just untenable but irrational and preclusive. and he called on the empiricist to strive towards integral and complete truth, as he also employed the proponents of this standpoint to interface with other disciplines, especially, those that have access to the level it cannot reach. subsequently, this paper employing an existential-analytic approach, reasoned that the intention of quine to dismantle the established demarcation between analytic and synthetic statements is a novel approach to further appreciation of noble marks of philosophy and its argument for an asymmetric and pragmatic approach to epistemology is likewise germane. keywords: analytic, synthetic, pragmatic, dogma, empiricism, statements, meaning. introduction it is palpable from our mundane experiences and in philosophical dialogues; that impulses are not just made known but they are also communicated using language. in doing this, words are combined in other to make good statements, sentences or prepositions. but, what seldom borders us is the very fact that, some of our statements and prepositions may not be meaningful and as such meaningless. and it is taken for granted that words whose meanings are known form sentences imply the meaningfulness of such sentences. however, this may not necessarily be the case as there are some sentences which could be grammatically correct but are just meaningless. this has indeed propelled philosophers to tailor and align their discourses towards analysis, in view of making statement really and truly meaningful. this enterprise of aligning towards analysis gave rise to the distinction between the analytic and synthetic prototypes. it seems to have started in the modern era with kant and resurfaced in diverse shades in the contemporary era with the logical positivists. this may have explained kemi emina, phd department of philosophy, delta state university, abraka, delta state, nigeria and nelson udoka ukwamedua, phd department of philosophy, veritas university, abuja, nigeria (email: nelsonmeduam16@yahoo.com) empiricism beyond dogmas: an existential analysis of quine's pragmatic epistemology coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 02 why a major philosopher in that philosophical tradition, in the person of rudolf carnap fancied the distinction between logical frameworks and factual frameworks. carnap reasons that a logical framework is a linguistic framework where all of the internal questions formulable within it are seen as analytic, while in a factual framework, at least some of the internal questions are formulable within it are synthetic (miller, 2007). this distinction of kant and carnap especially kant seems to underscore the empiricist and the rationalist tradition. but it appeared that carnap was concerned with the interpretation of statements and meaningfulness of propositions. however, this whole discourse caught the attention of quine who rather inferred and/or deciphered from the distinctions the basic framework on which the empirical tradition in philosophy tends to hinge its foundations. this is from where he coined his infamous two dogmas of empiricism. quine tend to argue that this analytic synthetic distinction appears to be the two dogmas that propel the argument and position of the empiricists. it is then the task of this work to attempt a critical analysis of the argument of quine which later informed his submission of empiricism without dogmas and rather called for a symmetrical and practical application of rules. conceptualisation epistemology: epistemology is one of the major branches of philosophy. its primary concern as a critical branch of philosophy is to study the nature of knowledge, the rationality of belief together with the mode of justification. as a result, the central issues in the theory of knowledge swivels around four spheres: (1) the philosophical analysis of the nature of knowledge and its relationship with such concepts like truth, belief, and justification, (2) various problems of skepticism, (3) the sources and scope of knowledge and justified true belief, and lastly (4) the benchmarks for knowledge and justification. it studies the scope, nature, origin, limitation, reliability, and justification of human knowledge claims. epistemology takes a critical investigation to scrutinize itself, a sort of self-examination and assessment. epistemology is the theory of the origin, nature and limits of knowledge. it is the branch of philosophy that investigates the process of human cognition and all problems associated with its acquisition and justification. it is the task of epistemology to refute or justify cognitive claims. hamlyn reasons that epistemology is concerned with the nature and scope of knowledge, its preoccupation and basis and the general reliability of claims to knowledge. epistemology is indeed very crucial to the knowledge enterprise. its defining character is the idea of knowledge acquisition. for baldwin (1960), knowledge refers to: 1. the cognitive aspect of consciousness in general, to know means to perceive or apprehend or to understand or comprehend. 2. knowledge is also used in contrast to mere opinion sometimes called belief. in this application, it signifies certitude based on adequate grounds. there may be belief or subjective certitude without objective foundation. 03 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 knowledge is further used for what is 'known' as such. knowledge is used as a synonym for cognition and also to specify a specific cognition. that is the cognition that satisfies three conditions which are (1) truth (2) self-satisfying and indubitability (3) logically impossible to falsify. empiricism: empiricism is from the greek word “empeiria” meaning experience (audi, 2004). this type of experience involves; inner experience, reflection upon the mind and its operations and sense perception. the knowledge of the physical world is considered a generalization from particular instances and can never reach more than a high degree of probability. philosophically, it includes all the contents of consciousness or it may be restricted to the data of the senses only (morris, 1962). it is contrasted with rationalist which supports innate ideas, or a priori knowledge. however, modern empiricism holds a conception of philosophy as the analysis of concepts and propositions with an increased hostility to speculative philosophy. it holds that aside analytic statements of mathematics and logic, no statements were significant except that which could be verified by observation. metaphysical and theological assertions were consequently rejected not as unproved, but as nonsensical or meaningless (ree, 2005). dogma: its root is from the greek word-dogma, and it stands for “that which seems to one”, an opinion, a belief or even a public ordinance. a dogma is a doctrine, an ideology, belief, tenet or even an opinion that has been formally and authoritatively proclaimed either by a leader or by an institution such as a church (angeles 1981, 65), however, this institution can by extend to religious, political, social and other settings. background for analyticity for kant, in judgments that the connection of the subject to the predicate is thought of, it is;(1) either the predicate b aligns with and to the subject a, that is, as something which is contained in this concept a or (2) b lies outside the concept a; though it does not really stand in connection with it. the first of the cases is analytic while the second one is the synthetic. therefore, analytic judgments are those that the connection of the predicate with the subject is seen through identity; while those in which this connection is without the identity should be called synthetic. flowing from this, it is palpable that analytic statements are explicative in nature and synthetic statements are applicative in nature. the one that add nothing through the predicate to the concept of the subject, but merely breaks it up into those constituent concepts that have all along been thought in it can be seen as explicative. conversely, that which add to the concept of the subject a predicate which has not been in any way thought in it, and which no analysis could possibly extract from it are therefore applicative. for instance, 'all bodies are extended', is just an analytic judgement. the reason is that, there is no need to go above and beyond the concept which is connected with the body so as to find extension as bound up with it. to catch up with this predicate, what is needed is to interrogate and analyse the concept i.e., to become conscious of myself which is the manifold which i always think in that concept. the judgment then is simply an analytic one. but with 'all bodies are curvy' the predicate is quite different from anything that is thought of in the mere coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 04 concept of body in general and the addition of such a predicate therefore yields a synthetic judgment (smith, 2009; 120). in plain terns, with an analytic judgement we don't extend our knowledge in any way but the change is in synthetic, and all judgments of experience are all synthetic. the argument of the two dogmas in the submission of kant an analytic sentences or statements are obvious when the meaning of the predicate term is contained in the meaning of the subject term. this implies that the predicate adds nothing to the concept of the subject, rather it only breaks it up into those component concepts. for instance, 'all wives are women'. the meaning of women is evident in the term wife which is the subject. the predicate only makes the subject simpler to understand. but a situation whereby the predicate stays outside the subject concept, even though it is of course linked with it, it is synthetic. in the first dogma, kant holds that the denial of analytical statement is selfcontradictory. this is because kant conceives of analytic statement as one in which the concept of the subject term includes the concept of the predicate term, whereas a synthetic statement is not. on the notion of analytic statement, quine points out the following shortcomings. the first is that “it limits itself to statements of subjectpredicate term form. also, it appeals to the notion of containment, which is left at the “metaphorical level” (quine, 1963:21). owing to the fact that the definition given to analytic and synthetic statements by hume and kant are not clear enough, quine attempts to give clarity to analytic–synthetic distinction by building on kant's intention and restated analytic statement. thus: “a statement is analytic when it is true by virtue of meaning and independently of fact” (kaufmann, 1997: 289). he goes further to attack the possibility of the distinction using the following: meaning as part of the attempts to distinguish between analytic and synthetic statements, meaning is seen as a way out. but quine opines that, this is only possible when meaning is confused with naming. he employs frege's example of “evening star” and “morning star”, which refers to the planet “venus”. this for example illustrates that different terms can mean the same thing; even though different in meaning. in his own opinion therefore, naming can be equated with extension, not meaning. he argues further that different predicates of general terms may refer to the same object, even when they do not have the same meaning. he buttresses his argument with example that the general terms “creature with a heart” and “creature with kidney” cannot be said to have the same meaning even though, they agree in extension. nwaoigu argues further in the words of quine that: “there is no assurance here that the extensional agreement of “bachelor” and unmarried man” rest on the same meaning rather than accidental matters of fact as does the extensional agreement of creature with a heart and creatures with kidney” (nwaoigu, 2000: 133-114). the base line is that when we realize that meaning is not the same as naming, it would be clear that meaning is not a clue to the explication of analyticity. synonyms this is another effort of quine to point out the limitation of analytic-synthetic distinction. in this regard, he indicates that there are two types of analytic statements, which includes those that are logically true and as a result are explicitly analytic. for example, “no unmarried man is married”. such statement is always true in every re-interpretation (quine, 1963). the other 05 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 ones are those that can be transformed into logical truths by substituting synonyms for synonyms. for example, “no bachelor is married”. this can be made logically true as follows “no unmarried man is married”. according to quine, this explanation of analytical leans on a notion of synonyms which is in need of clarification as much as analytical itself (quine, 1963). as an attempt to completely exhaust the issue at stake, quine examines carnap's attempts to explain analyticity by appealing to what he carnap calls state of description. this involves assigning truth-value to atomic statements of language; such that complex statements are explained in terms of the atomic statements. in this case, a statement is analytic when it comes true under every state description (pluhar, 1999). responding to this, quine argues that such can only work for the first type of analytic statements because they do not contain extra-logical synonyms pairs, such as “bachelor and “unmarried”. it follows that the other type of analytical statements, which have to do with notion of synonyms are not covered by the description. hence, the problem of analytic-synthetic distinction remains. definition some philosophers are of the view that analytic statements of the second type can be turned into logical truth by substituting the definition of terms they define. in other words, “unmarried man” which is the definition of the term “bachelor” can replace it. reacting to this, quine argues that to appeal to the nearest dictionary will not solve the problem, since lexicography relies on the practical usage, which is denied from the notion of pre-existing synonyms. that is to say, if we want our definitions to accurately reflect actual usage, we will make sure that the definition only defines words in term with which they are synonyms. but this implies nothing other than the notion of synonyms. quine's argument on this point is that synonyms have not been adequately characterized, definition, which is derived from it cannot be taken as the panacea to the problem of analyticity (pluhar, 1999). interchangeability the prevailing impression is that the synonyms of two linguistic forms are interchangeable in all contexts in which they occur without any loss of meaning. leibnitz would call this “interchangeability salvaveritate. nevertheless, quine argues from a different perspective. he holds that, there is no linguistic term that can be totally interchangeable in this sense. according to him, this is as a result of the fact that we are not concerned with synonyms in the sense of complete identity in psychological association or poetic quality; rather cognitive synonyms are particularly our primary concern. so he vows strongly that even the “interchangeability salvaveritate does not give properly account for the synonyms. this is because some heteronymous expressions might be interchangeable as well. quine however posits that the sort of synonyms needed here are the ones, which will make an analytical statement turn into a logical truth by putting synonyms for synonyms. for him, therefore, to say that, “bachelor” and “unmarried man” are cognitively synonymous is to say that the statement “all and only bachelors are unmarried” is analytical. as such, negating the fact that “bachelors” can also mean degree holders. for pluhar, (1999), this is a mere application of cognitive synonyms which can help us in analytic-synthetic distinction. semantic rule here, quine observes that some people think that the difficulty in separating analytical statement from synthetic statements is because of the vagueness of that characterize natural language. consequently, they feel that analytical language with explicitly semantic rules will give a clear distinction and from the rules, it will be easier to know which statement of the artificial language is analytic. but quine points out that the challenge here is that, the rules coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 06 contain the word “analytic” and we don't understand this. we understand what the rules attribute analyticity to, but we do not understand the rules (i.e. analyticity) to those expressions (aston 1964: 190). the second dogma of empiricism this constitutes quine's critique of reductionism, which is the aftermath of the verification theory of meaning. as a theory of meaning, verificationism holds that the meaning of a statement lays in empirically confirming it. going by this definition, analytic statement would be those which must be confirmed. in the same vein, two expressions would be said to be synonymous, if and only if, they are alike in point of method of empirical confirmation (flew, 1971). verification principle in its first explicit formulation states that “the meaning of a statement lies in its method of verification” (ashbey, 1969: 240). the implication of the above is that, for a sentence to have cognitive, factual, descriptive or literal meaning, it must express a statement that could at least in principle be shown to be true or false or to some degree probable by reference to empirical observations (ayer, 1999). reasoning with quine therefore, a proposition is said to be verifiable in the strong sense of the term, if and only if its truth could be overwhelmingly established in experience, but it is verifiable in the weak sense, if it is possible for experience to just render it probable. this led to the idea of radical reductionism which views the relation between a statement and the experience as a direct one. the task of this radical mode of reduction therefore is to set the goal of translating any noteworthy statement into sense-datum language. this task was vividly embarked upon by carnap and for quine; such a view attributes all meaningful statements as a translation of direct immediate experience. quine is of the view that the dogma of reductionism is not isolated from the dogma of analytic-synthetic cleavage; rather there exist a kind of connection between the two dogmas (quine, 1963). even though quine concedes to the fact that the truth of statement in general depends on language and extralinguistic fact, he argues that the truth of statements are analysable in linguistic components and factual components. despite the fact that science depends on experience and language, this cannot be traced to individual statements when they consider one by one. rather, the unit of empirical significance is the whole of science (quine, 1963). it therefore means that truth or the falsity of sentence or statements cannot be reduced to immediate sense experience. quine treating “two dogmas” concluded that both are ill founded and cannot be adequately established. he does not merely condemn the theories he re-affirms his standpoint in “empiricism without the dogmas”. empiricism beyond dogmas quine holds that the totality of our knowledge on belief starting from geography and history, to physics even mathematics and logic are man-made fabric which impinges on experience. all subjects are interconnected but while some seem to be peripheral, others form the core. yet, all are resulting from experience (but not limited to sense experience alone). any conflict with experience at the peripheral brings about rearrangement in the interior of the field, such that everything that constitutes the system is affected. the occasional readjustment in the interior of the field necessarily brings about redistribution of truth values in some of our statements, leading to their re-evaluation. this entails re-evaluation of others because of their logical interconnection. based on this, quine argues further that: “if the view is right, it is misleading to speak of the empirical content of an individual statement (reductionism, the second dogma) … furthermore, it becomes a folly to seek a boundary between synthetic 07 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 statement which hold contingently on experience and analytic statements, which hold come what may (first dogma)” (quine, 1963:43). following from the above, any statement can be held true come what may, if we make enough changes within the system (not peculiar to analytic statement alone). quine, going further postulates that if the distinction between analytic and synthetic truth is jettisoned, we would realize that mathematics, science, metaphysics etc. are all of epistemological footing. they are all attempts to explicate what we have received from experience and all based on myths, fictions and unclarified assumptions. no discipline is better off in this sense. this is against the claims of hume, kant and the position of the verificationists, where they regard some explanatory models as meaningful (that is science) and others as meaningless (that is metaphysics, religion etc). therefore, quine dismantled the established demarcation between the analytic and the synthetic by advancing a pragmatic approach, he says; “each man is given a scientific heritage plus a continuing barrage of sentry stimulation; and the considerations, which guide him in warping his scientific heritage to fit his continuing sensory heritage to fit his continuing sensory promptings are where rational pragmatic” (quine, 1963:46). the ontological status of quine's pragmatism quine's abandonment of the two dogmas of empiricism means that quine concurs to the fact that metaphysical expressions as well as other expressions precluded by the two dogmas of empiricism as meaningless are rather meaningful. it is instructive to point out here that prior to quine, science and its method was considered by many to be the sole, complete and satisfactory explanation of reality. consequently, they gave priority to science and assert that only scientific statements and statements that depict immediate sense experience are meaningful, while metaphysical statements are nonsensical, meaningless and also useless (ayer, 1974). however, it is apposite to state here that the whole of reality is not and should not be limited to empirical realities alone; instead reality duly comprises empirical, super sensible, transcendental and ontological realities. as such, science cannot give the totality of all that is meaningful and as o'hear asserts “... science is not a complete account of the natural world” (o'hear, 1989:208). it is therefore pertinent for science to be complimentarily intertwined with other disciplines which it cannot access, so as to grasp a fuller knowledge of reality. it is then blatant that the pragmatism of quine is not otiose as far as philosophy is concerned. this stems from the conviction that even the ancient period of philosophical enquiries gave credence to metaphysics and even took it as the core of philosophy, and aristotle even referred to it as 'first philosophy'. culminating reflections quine's work on the “two dogmas of empiricism” has been regarded by some scholars as a burden. in gustav bergmann's view, the two beliefs, that is, analytic-synthetic distinction and reductionism should not be seen as two dogmas as quine called them, rather they should be called the two cornerstones of philosophical analysis from the perspective of the empiricist (bergmann, 1967). arguing against quine, bergmann reiterated that the point of justification of dichotomy between analytic and synthetic statements is not that important; that we are not obliged to justify anything, not even, as some still believe induction. hence, instead of applying the term justification, he would prefer to use explication in the cleavage of analytic and synthetic statements. in the same vein, l.p. pojman is of the view that analytic-synthetic distinction should be discarded. he rather proposes an amended version of kant's definition of analyticity that eradicates the metaphysical containment, which quine strongly criticized. for coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 08 him, “analytic statements should be viewed as conditional statements in the form of modus ponens: if (a and b), then a; or if (a and b and c), then a and b” (pojman, 1995: 201). he argues that analyticity as a conditional explication better exemplifies kant's original intention and it does not pose a problem to the notion of synonyms. but unfortunately for him, it is not all the traditional examples of analytic statements that could fit into the definition. moreover, there are other philosophers like samuel gorovitz, donald province, rong williams, merill province and others who are of the opinion that there are some sentences that are clearly synthetic and others analytic. but between these extremes, there are many sentences and statements that appear to be analytic or synthetic but cannot be placed into one category with certainty. it follows therefore, that the distinction remains ambiguous. and this makes quine's position tenable. apart from that, many questions that seem quite fundamental have not been answered. a good example of this is the nature of human soul. another is the relationship between the soul and the body, among others. these are phenomena that science cannot approach with absolute certainty. it therefore means that for science to arrive at integral and complete truth, it needs to cooperate with other disciplines, especially, those that have access to the level it cannot reach. hence, metaphysics and other related disciplines can confidently provide this deficit on the part of science. in an attempt to make his argument against the “two dogmas of empiricism”, quine posited that to arrive at certain and reasonable knowledge, all fields of human learning will team up and collaborate. concurring with this submission a.o' hear says that, science is not a complete account of the natural world (since the natural world is not limited to natural things), and it is premature, to accept a metaphysical view whose cogency depend on the explanation of human mental and physical activity in neurophysiological terms (o'hear, 1989:208). in all, it remains blatant that willard van oman quine has been one of the most influential philosophers leading the charge against traditional empiricism. his classical essay “two dogmas of empiricism” (1953) shook the foundation of empiricism. he attacked the traditional distinction between analytic and synthetic statements. his work was influenced by both the analytic and pragmatic tradition (lawhead, 2002). the core of this work has been centred on the meaning of statements. what criteria are to be used to assert that so and so statement is meaningful or meaningless? these (kantian, verifiability) criteria as it were could not meet the set goal of finding which statements are meaningful and which are not. that is why the different criteria of judging meaningful statements from meaningless ones by modern empiricists caught the attention of quine. upon enquiry, he noticed that the reason why modern empiricism was able to affirm some statements as meaningful and others meaningless was due to the fact that modern empiricism has been conditioned by analyticsynthetic cleavage and reductionism, which he called dogmas. consequently, his criticism which shook the foundations of modern empiricism brought more light to the field of analytic philosophy and in the discourse of philosophy in general. however, his work on the two dogmas of empiricism could neither be relegated to the background nor considered a philosophical jargon, due to its existential impact. and this impact is on philosophic thinking and disposition but it is more particular in the area of epistemology, analytic tradition, the existentialist movement, the pragmatic tradition and it also underscores the basic elements of the philosophy of science. 09 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 references alston, w.p. 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(1979). philosophy, history and problem. new york: oxford university press. page 1 page 2 page 3 page 4 page 5 page 6 page 7 page 8 page 9 jonal vol. 5 no. 4 new2.cdr dynamics of female trafficking and exploitation in a digital age in chika unigwe's on black sisters' street by nnubia, ifeyinwa dorathy department of english chukwuemeka odumegwu ojukwu university, igbariam campus ifynnubiaezezim@gmail.com 08037506103, 09037132149 abstract he trafficking of female for whatever form of exploitative labour—physical, sexual, military, tetc. is a heinous violation of human rights and a reproach to all affected societies. the activities of trafficking, inglorious and dehumanizing as they are, have for a long time been carried out surreptitiously, leaving a vast majority of the world's population in the dark about its nature. female trafficking is clandestine in nature and is carried out in most cases unnoticed and not indicated as a criminal network. the actors in this criminal enterprise have inflicted great pains on society and humanity, while they seek wealth and twist dreams and people's lives and aspirations, most times without being noticed. but in recent times, this menace has gradually been uncovered by writers, human rights activists, government agencies and international organisations. the efforts put in by these individuals and groups have yielded enormously in unearthing the schemes, structures and stratagems of the traffickers and their loathsome deeds. this paper therefore, explores the dynamics of female trafficking in chika unigwe's on black sisters' street. keywords: trafficking, exploitation, dehumanisation, sexism, womanhood. introduction literature is a representation of life, as well as mirror on the society that produced it. this is because the literary artist draws his material from a given society and milieu. therefore, this paper reflects the topical issue that inspired the novelist whose work is selected for this study. opinions on female trafficking, an aspect of the broader concept, human trafficking differs from scholar to scholar. it has become an issue of international concern, in addition to the exploitation of women for various reasons and purposes. according to the international labour organisation (ilo), ''trafficking in persons'' (or human trafficking) is internationally defined by the united nations protocol to prevent, suppress, and punish trafficking in persons, especially women and children as: the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power/or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person for the purposes of exploitation. (42) human trafficking can take a variety of forms such as slavery, forced labour or services, servitude, removal of organs, and/or sexual exploitation (united nations,42). the first world congress against the commercial sexual exploitation of children, held in 1996, defined the commercial component of sexual exploitation as, "sexual abuse by the adult and remuneration in cash or kind to the child or a third person or persons" (1). it is the commercial element that separates sexual exploitation from other sexual crimes such as rape, molestation, and sexual assault (5). in other words, it is an abuse by an adult pimped by another adult that involves a form of sexual 136 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 commercialization. according to modupe adeleye: human trafficking for sexual and domestic reasons is not a new phenomenon. overtime, men, women and children have been trafficked for the profiting of members of criminal syndicates. more recently, humans have been trafficked for the retrieval of their organs and a lot of these victims have been left to serious health challenges and death. trafficking for sexual and economic exploitation is considered as a modern form of slavery and a serious violation of the rights of victims especially because human trafficking always comes with issues of physical, mental and psychological violence, coercion, fraud and manipulation (27). in the views of ifeoma odinye, “trafficking and sex slavery have become so rampant in africa and in the world today. thus, both are perceived as modern forms of slavery which impinge on the general well-being of boys, men, women and girls in particular” (18). taneem saeed in odinye asserts that although it has been 200 years since slavery was officially abolished, there are millions of people across the world that are still subject to slave-like conditions. trafficking is the biggest and fastest means by which people are exploited and forced in to slavery (31). in recent times, sex slavery and human trafficking are among the most lucrative and fastest-growing sources of income for some girls, and secretly organised criminal organizations all over the world. corroborating this, linus akor's statement that “the history of human trafficking, including that of the trafficking of women, cannot be completely divorced from the phenomenon of slavery” (13). evelyn nwachukwu and chukwuka ogbu maintain that "human trafficking is a kind of modern slavery and the victims are mainly women and girls" (1). this is because both involve the acquisition and transportation of humans across local, national and international borders for servitude, with or without the consent of the trafficked person(s) (90). slavery, according to oshadare is the social sanction of involuntary servitude imposed by one person or group upon another. he explains that slavery, as a phenomenon, made its appearance when pristine tribes reached the pastoral (as distinct from the hunting and gathering) stage of development. slavery-then was modest with regards to the number of slaves, because the care of flocks required only a few hands. omolola notes that a more dramatic change in the character and complexity of slavery came in the late 15th century-and mid-19th centuries when many africans were shipped across the atlantic as slaves in what later became known as the trans atlantic slave trade. "the intercontinental slave trade, which involved europeans and africans, was carried on through four continents of europe, africa and the two americas. following the voyages (countries such as brazil and haiti were discovered to be awash with rich mineral deposits and plantations waiting to be exploited. the exploitation of these resources required a large reservoir of labour, which the native red indians could not cope with. consequently, as more plantations were setup and more mines were opened up, the demand for slaves increased dramatically and attention shifted/to africa. this marked the genesis of the massive importation of able-bodied africans into the new world as slaves. this trend in human trafficking for forced labour continued until 1808 when the obnoxious trade was formally abolished (84). although slave trade ended in 1808, nearly 200 years ago, a contemporary form of slavery, that of the trafficking in women and girls for exploitative sexual and commercial labour in europe and america from third world countries, particularly africa, has been on the upward swing in recent years. several socio-political, cultural and poverty related issues may have accounted for the phenomenon of the trafficking of women in nigeria. 137 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 leadership problems, mismanagement of public funds, squandemania, the get-rich-quick syndrome, unemployment, growing population and mass migrations swelled the populations of major cities as parents and families began to take greater risks in an attempt to escape poverty and improve their living standards. accepted practices such as placing and fostering children at the homes of relatives were turned into money-making ventures for parents and the phenomenon of cheap labour through human trafficking escalated, driving large numbers of young girls, women and children into the streets to work. thus, trafficking of children and women for exploitative purposes in nigeria is of two dimensions: internal and external. internally, children are procured as domestic workers, while external trafficking provides girls and women for prostitution rackets in europe and in some cases, unsuspecting young girls and women have fallen preys to traffickers who use them for rituals. besides, prostitution and related trafficking offences have been linked closely to other crimes like drug trafficking and human smuggling; these crimes are most common in border zones. it becomes easy to source for vulnerable girls and women who may be trafficked as sexual slaves. so trafficking of women and children for sexual exploitation is becoming one of the leading illegal economic activities along with drug trafficking and arms smuggling. the exposure of women and girls domiciled in border communities to human trafficking has become acute. in addition, a lot of females who hitherto were smuggled out of the country find themselves stranded at the border communities for several reasons and thereby become easy prey to human traffickers. research has indicated that location and environment are key factors to consider in the sustenance and spread of trafficking in persons for sexual exploitation. scholars like melrose posits that attention should shift from studying factors and causes from individual pathology to socio-economic and situational pathology. in other words, we should begin to look at how prevailing situations and circumstances in an environment predispose the members of such environment or community to certain patterns of living. this paper will examine perspectives on trafficking of women as portrayed in chika unigwe's on black sisters' street. the theoretical framework for this study is trauma theory. the term, “trauma theory” was first documented and explained in caruth's work unclaimed experience: trauma, narrative, and history. the theory originates from the exposition and explanation of sigmund freud on traumatic experiences in beyond the pleasure principle and moses and monotheism. in essence, freud's concept of “traumatic neurosis.” is what the american psychiatric association in 1980 accepted as “post-traumatic stress disorder” (ptsd), an idea important in defining the trauma theory. caruth defines “post-traumatic stress disorder” (ptsd) as: a response, sometimes delayed, to an overwhelming event or events, which takes the form of repeated, intrusive hallucinations, dreams, thoughts or behaviour stemming from the event… the event is not assimilated or experienced fully at the time, but only belatedly… to be traumatized is precisely to be possessed by an image or event (70). trauma theory is explored across different disciplines such as literature, critical theory, history and historiography, social sciences, legal studies, psychology and psychiatry, etc. thus, it has influenced and affected many areas of human experiences. shoshana felman attributes the contemporary interest in theorizing about trauma to “three interrelated twentieth-century occurrences” namely; the discovery of psychoanalysis, the discovery of trauma as a new type of understanding of historical causality and of historic temporality. according to him, a traumatic experience occurs too immediately for the consciousness to record, but its mental or unconscious images (memory) come back to the victim belatedly and repeatedly when such action repeats 138 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 itself. therefore, memory helps the victim to recall his or her experiences in the forms of dreams, flashbacks and hallucinations etc.. felman explains that literature appreciated, and literature of traumatic experiences remains opens with all horror, nightmares, silence both cognitive and linguistic breakdown. according to patricia clough, trauma is the engulfment of the ego in memory. but memory might be better understood not as unconscious memory so much as memory without consciousness and therefore, incorporated, body memory, or cellular memory. sigmund freud located traumatic memories in an unconscious psyche, which is the mind. patricia clough and other affect theorists, such as brian massumi, located traumatic memory entirely within the brain/body. hence, there is a strong connection that exists between affect theory and cathy caruth's well-known view of trauma. caruth explains that trauma is experienced as the literal registration of an event … modern neurobiologists have in fact suggested that the unerring “engraving” on the mind, the “etching into the brain” of an event in trauma may be associated with its elision of its normal encoding in memory (152). however, contemporary literary trauma theory further asserts that trauma creates a state of terror excited by sudden appearance of danger which divides or destroys identity. this serves as the basis for a future argument that suggests that identity is formed by the intergenerational transmission of trauma. trauma, in my analysis, refers to an emotional response to an overwhelming event that disrupts previous ideas of an individual's sense of self and the standards by which one evaluates a given society. the term, “trauma novel” refers to a work of fiction that conveys profound loss or intense fear on an individual based on recollected memory. one characteristic of the trauma novel is the sudden transformation of the self (personality) ignited by external factors such as terrifying experiences that expose previous recollected experiences which inform the new perceptions of the self and the society. therefore, the experience that elicits an extreme response from the protagonist is not necessarily bound to a collective human or natural disaster such as war. the traumatic experience can include, for example, an intimate personal experience of female sexual violence and rape as found in the selected text. the major trauma theory employed in a given literary piece depends on the nature of the experience which is used to assert the position that traumatic experience produces a “temporal gap” and dissolution of the self. for example, hurt kali tal writes: “accurate representation of trauma can never be achieved without recreating the event since, by its very definition, trauma lies beyond the bounds of “normal” conception”(15). the above explanations represent the freudian concept of trauma and memory which emphasizes the importance of understanding trauma through narrative recall of a given experience. many contemporary african literary scholars such as chika unigwe and others have depicted the ugly and bizarre experiences of girls and women who have been sexually molested in order to expose its negative consequences on the female gender, their growth, and development as individuals in different societies. dynamics of female trafficking and exploitation in chika unigwe's on black sisters' street opponents of immigration often prefer to ignore the tragic forces that compel people to risk death in order to reach our lands of plenty, not to mention the horrors that often await the "lucky" few, once they arrive. unigwe focuses specifically on the very precarious situation of women, particularly on the issue of sex-slavery. on black sisters' street renders an account of how four african sex workers 139 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 in the city of antwerp strategically relate to exoticist definitions of african womanhood that are central to the sex industry, while it is simultaneously conveyed that their personal histories surmount these. the story portrays four female characters '—sisi, efe, ama and joyce. the first three women all left nigeria on their own accord to go and work in antwerp as prostitutes, in the hope of creating better lives for themselves and after earning enough money to start afresh. crucially, the protagonists' stories diverge beyond these broad common features: sisi. whose real name is chisom, is a university graduate who has been unable to find a job in nigeria because she does not have the right "connections" (22); efe has to support a son whose father, a married man, refuses to acknowledge the child; and ama, who was abused by her devoutly christian stepfather in enugu and, upon denouncing him, set off to her mother's cousin place in lagos, finds no satisfaction in her "predictable" and "circular" job (159) at her relative mama eko's small restaurant. of the four main characters, only one, joyce, is tricked into coming to belgium under false pretences. the young woman, whose real name is alek, is originally from the sudan, where her family were massacred by a janjaweed militia. following the tragedy —during which she is also raped— she spent several months in a refugee camp, where she falls in love with a nigerian soldier, polycarp. the couple soon settles in lagos but the man, pressured by his family into marrying a girl from his own igbo ethnic group, arranged for alek to be sent to belgium — allegedly to work as a nanny. the novel firmly situates the life narratives of four african women within today's geopolitical power relations. the women's narratives include tragic episodes of poverty, war experience, sexual abuse and families torn apart in their home countries, which made them vulnerable to the call to enter the global woman's traffic network run by oga dele. on arrival at belgium, they soon find out, however, that they have escaped their circumstances for a mirage of a better and wealthier life in europe, and soon see their dreams shattered. the novel draws on life writing to portray the experiences, and memories of the four protagonists' may not seem entirely unexpected. voicing the memories and experiences of four african women in flanders, the novel offers, a dreary portrayal of the submerged world of illegal prostitution in the red light district of antwerp city. it suggests the descent into disorientation and denial of worth that they face. working as sex workers, the women must pay back in monthly instalments the fee of 30,000 euros to dele, the costs of their exportation to belgium. with their fake passports withheld by madam and living under her close surveillance, the four women are almost literally imprisoned in the house in the red-light district but also objectified in the position of black sex workers satisfying white men's sexual desires. "as for liking black women, oga dele had told her [efe] that they were in great demand by white men, tired of their women and wanting a bit of colour and spice." (84) primarily, the women are indeed socially constructed through exotic, sexualised codes of black womanhood. the four women are indeed not victims of dele's antics, as the novel conveys, but agents in a transnational world making choices, strategic choices that are restricted by circumstance. if they want to be successful as sex workers, the women are to abide to gendered and racialized norms and codes of behaviour. the novel is indeed not so much an account of four african sex workers with a glitter and a matching g-string, boots up to her thighs or as one who stood behind the glass, and prayed that no one would notice her." (134) the novel clearly suggests the constructed nature of black sexualised womanhood by describing how the four women dress up and act upon the role behind the window that is expected from them. if it is true, in the terms of eva pendelton, in her article whores and other feminists that "sex work is drag in that it is a mimetic performance of 140 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 highly charged feminine gender codes" (pendelton, 183), to which we may also add racial codes, then the novel portrays the four protagonists in the process of performing these highly charged exoticist codes of black femininity. the four protagonists cannot generally be seen to change or subvert the normative scripts they must follow; until sisi's failed attempt to escape at the end of the novel, the women almost conscientiously do, say and behave according to what madam and others tell them. the disruptive potential, however, resides not in the women's rewriting of the codes of black sex workers, but in the narration of how they act out these codes. unigwe juxtaposes scenes of the women's performance as black sex workers to self-reflexive fragments that explicate their doubts, uncertainty, embarrassment or feelings of freedom, while being disguised and text portions in which the women are seen to take an emotional distance or critically comment on their behaviour. unigwe describes what goes on in the heads of the women, while they try to the best of their capabilities to please the men that approach them. in so doing, their work is revealed to the reader as a strategic lie. joyce piously scrubs the make-up off her face on request of a regular customer who calls her "etienne's nubian princess." she is ready to change the script and to change costume, as it were, whenever this is desired. her ultimate goal is not, however, to please white men's desire. the latter is but a means to achieve economic purposes and upward social mobility. or in the terms of ama: "the men she slept with were just tools she needed to achieve her dream. and her dream was expansive enough to accommodate all of them" (169). more specifically, on black sisters' street inherently connects the issue of storytelling to constructions of black womanhood. narrating their histories to each other life writing being a formal way to underscore the narrative dimension of identity the women change the story about themselves alongside the rapidly changing circumstances that have occurred to them. sisi and joyce have changed their names and are originally called respectively chisom and alek, the latter, as she reveals, is sudanese, not nigerian like she made everyone in the house believe. alek refers to the un refugee camp she lived in for a while as "a collection of sad stories" (194). on arrival to belgium, sisi is determined to "shed her skin like a snake and emerge completely new" (98). madam invents the story of an escape from liberia that sisi must tell about herself in the immigration office. reiterating one of unigwe's points in becoming black in seven lessons, madam further adds: "white people enjoy sob stories. they love to hear us killing each other, about us hacking each other's heads off in senseless ethnic conflicts. the more macabre the story the better." (121) sisi agrees to be libyan, "in the next months she would be other things. other people. a constant yearning to escape herself would take over her life" (121). while the performance of sexualized definitions of black womanhood is central to the four women's lives as sex workers, their family histories emphasize their identities as a series of narratives invented strategically to suit the circumstances. reading the novel as a narrative of community reveals how the text structurally resonates with ongoing mobility and circular movements of migration, rather than with linear-chronological notions of progress and plot development. also, on black sisters' street can be seen to defy exotic notions of black female identity and community, notions which define the four women when they are at work in the public space in antwerp. the chapters entitled "zwartezusterstraat" render an account of events that occur in the present, and are geographically situated in the city of antwerp more precisely in the house in zwartezusterstraat. these chapters are interwoven with chapters focusing on the individual life stories of the women and bring into view their separate, idiosyncratic pasts and futures. eventually, ama and joyce return to nigeria, efe stays in belgian prostitution but 141 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 moves up on the social scale as she now employs african women. sisi's ghost leaves her body and travels back to nigeria too. their individual stories follow the on-going movement back and forth between nigeria and belgium. similarly, the basic story line prioritises circularity and ends where it begins, with an account of sisi's death. female trafficking and sexual exploitation appears to be the central themes of the novel as it focuses on the exploitation by senghor dele who 'exports' the girls abroad for his 'personal gain which has no negotiation, thirty thousand euros; which he makes very clear to all of his girls (commodities). "no try cross me oooo. nobody dey cross senghor dele!"(268). the girls are denied their freedom by oga dele assisted by madam until they pay the money used for their 'export". the madam also benefits from this exploitation as she is in charge of the girls in belgium. the girls have no holiday at all, except for period breaks. and it is seen in the moment when madam goes into sisi's room to find her lying down instead of preparing for work like the others. she questions, "what's going on sisi? shouldn't you be leaving for work? everybody else has gone!" (272). sisi tells madam she is on her period. madam doesn't believe her but agrees still. this depicts the kind of bondage they're in and the exploitation involved. the four girls happen to be victims of sexual exploitation, but that of joyce happens to be worse, as she is sexually violated and raped at age twelve by the janjaweed militia. also, in the case of the other girls, oga dele informs them of the reason for going abroad, but in joyce's case, he tells polycarp that she will be taken to belgium, 'make you go look after people. nanny work,' dele tells her. 'yes. look after children. dele will find you a job as a nanny in belgium.' she bears that in mind, until she gets there and finds another different job altogether. joyce's only mercy is that polycarp pays her debt to dele for her, so she gets to save her money. and unlike the other girls, "she enjoys a level of favouritism from madam. the female characters are considered unfortunate victims of the actions of prurient men and their exploiting advances. after the death of sisi, they realize that they know basically nothing about each other especially late sisi, despite having each other as their only family in belgium. this unfortunate incident causes them to recount their different stories to each other, starting with efe. efe is the head of the three......the skin on her neck looks burnt, flaky ochre with interspersions of a darker shade of brown. it is her neck that hints at the fact that at some point in her life, she was darker than she is now (38). ama calls her the imelda macros of wigs, as high-heeled shoes and wigs were her trademark. sisi teases her after she complains of the pain in her feet from too much dancing with high heeled shoe. 'but you always wear high heels! you'll complain today and tomorrow yow will be in them again,' to which she replies, 'with my height, if i no wear heels, i go be like full stop on the ground.' and sisi replies her again 'you're not short you just like your heels high.' (11) unigwe's description of her is not really short. at least, she's not much shorter than who described her height as 'average'. 'average' translated in her passport to five feet seven. but of all four women, efe was the shortest and this gave her a complex (ii). efe begins by narrating how she first discovers sex at sixteen at the back of her father's house. she had felt cheated, in her own words, like pikin wey dem give coin wey no dey shine at all at all (49). efe loses her virginity to titus, a man old enough to be her father, in exchange the basic necessities of life for herself and siblings; denied them by their father after the untimely death of her mother. the reader learns of the pedophilic nature of titus through his wife on the day efe goes to show him his son, a product of their love affair. titus fools and deceives the naive efe into believing that his wife is old and has creaky bones. 142 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 everything efe knew about titus's wife, titus told her. she was tucked away in their ikeja duplex with five bedrooms and three sitting rooms. she was old. almost as old as titus was. he also said her bones were creaky, krak krak, and he needed someone with young bones to make him happy. he told efe she made him the happiest man in lagos, the happiest man in nigeria even. 'i go to bed with a smile and wake up with a smile because of you, my efe.' (54) efe discovers upon arrival to titus's house that all she heard about the bones of titus's wife were all lies, and her bones didn't creak, krak krak. after receiving her own portion of the insult as the five other women with offspring from their individual affairs with titus before her, he learns of his wife's determination to not let any woman lay claim to the fruit of her patience. none would share the money she had waited so patiently and so good-humouredly to make. it was her right and her children's legacy, and so she guarded it jealously (74). unigwe portrays titus's prurient nature through his wife as the reader learns that: from the day she married titus and caught him ogling at her chief bridesmaid, his wife had known he had a roving eye. as long as women swayed their hips at him he would respond, like a drooling dog chasing a bitch in heat. it was not his fault; it was just the way he was created. she could live with it (71). also, his paedophilic nature is revealed as his wife narrates his "specs" in the girls he chose, as he slept around without a 'raincoat.' titus had the sense to stick with inexperienced young girls, young women like the one who had disturbed their lunch this afternoon (efe), stupid enough to think they could waltz into their home with his child (74). unfortunately, what efe had not known, for who would tell her was the sixth woman in as many years to come to titus with an offspring from an affair. and all six the wife had dismissed in more or less the same way, marching them to the door with orders never to return, asking the house help to bolt the door behind them (71). efe the naive under aged girl falls victim to the deception of titus, with the untamed libido. she tries to transfer the aggression of titus's denial on the baby. “efe felt she ought to hate the baby; after all, she never asked for him. he kept her at home and was a visible sign that she was damaged goods” (75). refusing to let her past define her, without any help from her father, efe is determined to provide her son with-the kind of life she had dreamed for him when she thought she would be able to get titus's help. this pushes her to work two jobs in a day. every morning, before she went to her cleaning job at an office in gra, she whispered in her son's ear as he slept, 'i promise you, i shall get you out of here. i don't care how i do it." she had never been more serious about anything in her entire life (77). efe worked two jobs and desperately prayed for a third job, just to save up more money for l.i's upkeep. “she finds an advertisement for a cleaning woman on randle avenue. randle avenue was close to the location of the second job and she was sure she could juggle all three. three jobs meant more money, more bonuses, which equalled a better life for l.i. and a better life for l.i. totalled a happier life for her” (78). she gets the job, which happens to be in dele's office after a series of questions from him "interview". dele turns out to be the most generous of her three bosses, giving her huge bonuses at holidays and even complimenting her. she secretly nurses the hope that dele would one day ask her out. he never did, and it is not until seven months later when she starts to complain about finding a good nursery school for l.i., so that rita could go back to school, that dele asks her if she would like to go abroad. 'belgium. a country wey dey europe. next door to london.' he made it sound as if you could walk from one to the other. from one door to the next (81). she accepts, and tells her father and siblings that she is going to work as a kitchen help for a rich family. her siblings are of the belief that she is 143 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 travelling to go and make pots of money for them. on the day of her departure, she, upon the insistence of rita to not take l.i. to the airport, takes him as the only luggage of worth in her head. a strong memory of l.i. holding on to rita, crying as efe walked through security at lagos airport. she wanted to soak in the smell of his skin. and right up until she had to hand him over to rita, she had had her nose in his hair where the scent was the strongest. she wanted to take the smell and store it where she could have easy access to it (87). unfortunately for her, without spending up to three weeks in belgium, she struggles to remember the smell amid all the other ones that were suffusing the space around her. unigwe points out that she only gets to remember the smell and see her child before her eyes which pushes her to cry in a way she believes she would never do again. the focus moves over to ama, another victim of the paedophilic act of her step-father. ama allows her past control her as a person, to the point of attitudinal changes and mood swings. ama is portrayed as an aggressive character with a short temper, which can be understood by the reader as a psychologically, mentally and sexually abused character. even her flat mates complain about this, especially efe, where she confronts her, after ama picks up a bottle of leffe beer and starts to drink. after drinking, she flings the bottle onto the floor. efe eyes it as it rolls, slows down and finally stops 'isn't it too early to be drinking, ama? day never even break finish!' efe tells her. 'it's early and so fucking what?' ama burps. tugs at her crucifix. 'you dey always get ant for your arse. every day na so so annoyance you dey carry around.' 'fuck off (25) apart from the face-off with efe, there are other instances of such arguments with the other girls. for instance, during the preparation for lya ijebu's burial party, efe's "supposed grandmother", she engages in an argument with sisi, which would have led to a brawl but for the timely intervention of efe. 'how could you burn the rice, sisi? i can't get the fucking pot clean!" 'i don't know what's eating you, ama, but i don't want any part of it. whoever sent you, tell them you didn't see me, i beg of you.' she flung the dish towel she had been using over her shoulder and raised her hands in surrender. i don't want to fight abeg (6). 'fuck off. why don't you fuck off on one of your long walks?' ama's voice was a storm building up (6). she picks another in efe's comment about telling her to dance in the sitting room in a bid to appease her. 'i can see you don dey ready for the party ama. ooh, shake that booty, girl! shake am like your mama teach you! (7). the mention of her mother clearly annoys her as she recoils, 'oh, shut it! what has my mother got to do with my dancing? (7) ama moved away from efe. the crucifix around her neck glinting. every now and then, the reader sees instances of her, frequently tugging at a crucifix on her neck. the reader finds that the crucifix is given to her by mama eko, her aunt, who seems unconvinced and uncomfortable about dele taking her abroad. mama eko sneaks a tiny gold crucifix into her hand. 'may god go with you, nwa m.' ama was touched. nobody had ever cared for her in that way, given her a sense of totally belonging.....(170). the reader follows a series of events that happen in ama's life, that brings about a relationship with mama eko begins and progresses before she travels to belgium. after her eighth birthday she is sexually molested, by "her holier than thou father', brother cyril, who is the assistant pastor at the church of the twelve apostles of the almighty yahweh, jehovah el shaddai, jehovah jireh, one of the biggest churches in the city. he belonged to a church where everyone was sister and brother. according to ama, her father didn't give her a chance to dance to her desired music; he would have none of that. ''it's the devil's music; he said. 'they do not edify the things of our lord. the devil shakes his waist and sways his horn when he hears music like that. he claps his hands and stokes his fire for the many souls that he's winning (128). 144 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 so for ama, instead of the kind of music she heard from across the street, their house was infused with music from voices of the cross, the calvary sisters, jesus is the saviour band, ndi umuazi jesu. voices that grated on her nerves. she never thought of telling her father that the voices irritated her. she knew what would happen if she did. the things of the lord were not to be abused. nor slighted. nor ridiculed (128)she would be flogged with 'discipline', the cowhide cane. brother cyril is portrayed as a self-righteous man who uses his self-righteousness as a yardstick for determining a good or bad person. for instance, whenever he sees a lady whose cloth didn't cover her knees, the sight would throw brother cyril into a righteous coughing fit, coughing out curses on 'the daughters of eve who destroy the reputation of women", and always ended with him calling for his wife, 'a woman fit for christian eyes," to soothe him and get him a glass of water.(130) he always insisted on wearing white safari suits and dashikis which his wife rose had to always boil, in a pot of water just to ensure that the cloths' whiteness glowed and this is, because of his anticipation to meet the lord, at any given moment. (131) after anna's eighth birthday party, which was the happiest day of her life, brother cyril floats into her room in his white safari suit, which scares ama to the point of screaming. he covers her mouth immediately. he has a carnal knowledge of her, and the only thing she talks to are her pink walls.(132) unable to tell her mother about brother cyril's wicked acts, ama consistently keeps to herself and the pink walls. she stops eating pap because of the sticky whiteness which gushes out of him. it's warm and yucky,' she complained to her walls. 'i'll never eat pap again (132) unigwe portrays the wickedness of the selfrighteous brother cyril in the way he quotes the bible whilst forcefully having sex with her. whenever she stiffens her body, her father would demand. 'what's the fifth commandment?' 'honour thy father and thy mother,' she would reply, her voice muffled by the collar of her nightgown in her mouth. and then she would relax her muscles, let him in and imagine that she was flying high above the room (132). this evil act of the righteous brother cyril continues right until she turns eleven, when her period starts. as she gets older, she begins to think that her mother walked around in a deliberate state of blindness otherwise, she should have seen right through her. this event makes her confront brother cyril after he insults her for failing her jamb examination twice and then he kicks her out of his house, with the support of her mother and reveals the truth about not being her father. her mother disbelieves her, ignorantly slaps her and throws some crumpled naira notes at her as her bus fare to lagos the very next day. she leaves, after taking a bath, without food to the park. her journey to lagos turns out to be stressful as all she thinks about is her father and all the possible lies she must have been told, on an empty stomach. she finds it hard to believe that her sinless mother bears a child "out of wedlock. she lives with mama eko who treats her like a daughter until she meets dele. she initially refuses his offer to take her abroad, but after giving it much thought, she succumbs, after all, brother cyril takes it from her without her permission and it wouldn't be in nigeria. it pains mama eko to watch her leave, and for that she gives her that crucifix which ama holds so dearly to her heart. in the end, ama, would be the one to open a boutique. she would take mama eko as its manager. mama eko would tell her she always knew she would make it. they would never talk about her years in europe. unigwe has a deep understanding of poverty and its hungers. she portrays her four major characters as cool-eyed gamblers, not passive victims, as women willing to play "the trump card that god has wedged in between their legs" (26) in exchange for the material goods they crave, the chance of coming home rich enough to buy their families cars, apartments and businesses. unigwe conveys both what is miraculous about the west to foreign eyes and what is awful, how 145 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 people live and die alone, unmourned, without the sustenance of family and neighbours. and she shows her readers how the women who survive their pact with dele choose to deploy their hard-won wealth. while efe stays put, running her own brothel, joyce and ama prefer to build their businesses back home. on black sisters' street also pursues a nuanced construction of identity. here, we have four women, living the same life but all with different personalities, background, biases, emotional baggage and different futures. sadly, to the western men, they are just objects much like westerners have reduced the identities of africa. conclusion the incidents in on black sisters' street are portrayed as happening all at once. the novel simultaneously divulges the backgrounds of the four women, how they got into sex work and how they collectively cope with sisi's murder. this method is effective in that it reinforces the prominence of the women's past in their decision-making. for example, sisi's decision to become involved with sex-work is very much tied to her parents' inability to fulfill their dreams, whilst efe's is in a bid to provide a bright future for her son and siblings. though the reader knows the death of sisi beforehand, the circumstances that lead to her death are also the conflicts of the themes of the novel. in the novel, sisi's demise is an image about what may have gone wrong with the lives of the characters before their arrival at antwerp. the novelist gives four faces to two corrupt systems, the sex industry in belgium and the hierarchy of dishonest wealth in nigeria. works cited adeleye, modupe. "victims, actors and violence: human trafficking and prostitution in communities along nigeria-benin republic border". human trafficking for sexual exploitation in nigeria. ifra nigeria, republique francaisc. 2011. akor, linus. "trafficking of women in nigeria: causes, consequences and the way forward" corvinus journal of sociology and social policy, anyingba, vol.2, no. 2, 2011. caruth cathy. unclaimed experience: trauma, narrative and history. john hopkius university press. 1996. daniel, iyabode omolara akewo. transliteration as communication weapon in nigerian english. journal of nigeria english studies association. 15.2:, 98-117, 2012. freud sigmund. beyond the pleasure principle, john hopkins, 2018. greenbaum, . the oxford english grammar. oxford university press, 1996. sidney leys, ruth. trauma: a genealogy. university of chicago press, 2000. melrose, sherri. creative clinical teaching in the health professions. http://epub-fhd.athabascau.ca/clinical-teaching/ nder, matthias. "the experience of nigerian ladies in international sex trafficking and prostitution: a reading of akachi adimorah's trafficked" iosr journal of humanities and social sciences, vol. 13, no. 5, 2013. nwachukwu, evelyn uraina and chukwuka, ogbu nwachukwu. "human trafficking: commercial sexual exploitation and forced domestic labor in african literature". journal of language and cultural education, de gruyter, 2017. odinye, ifeoma, "girl-child" trafficking and sex slavery in african fiction: an analysis of akachi adimorah-ezeigbo's trafficked. mgbakoigba, journal of studies vol.7, no.2., 2018. omolola, lola. main trends in african history from the earliest times to 1900, omolayi standard press co, 1982. 146 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahukewjlp_cfkzr-ahvnqueahca6btiqfnoeccyqaq&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fsidney_greenbaum&usg=aovvaw13ejm-l2rp8c_wi716oy8u http://epub-fhd.athabascau.ca/clinical-teaching/ oshadare, olabode timothy. “the past and present dimensions of slavery in nigeria” paper presented at the first national conference of the faculty of arts and humanities, held at the kogi state university, anyigba from 28th – 30th april, 2004. patricia clough. the affective turn: theorizing the social. durham, nc: duke university press, 2007. shoshana felman the juridical unconscious: trials and traumas in the twentieth century, harvard university press. 2002. tal, kai. worlds of hurt: reading the literatures of trauma. cambridge up, 1996. unigwe, chika. on black sisters’ street. ohio, 2012. 147 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 4, 2023 page 145 page 146 page 147 page 148 page 149 page 150 page 151 page 152 page 153 page 154 page 155 page 156 text book journal pdf sis. noelle 01 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 abstract kingship and power politics remain significant in africa's post-colonial development discourse. debates on the role of this age-old political institution in modern governance however remain polarised. for the modernists, traditional political institution has become anachronistic and has little role in a rather 'sophisticated' system of governance. in contrast, the traditionalists submit that since the kingship custodians have identifiable jurisdiction in the periphery, the best the wielders of modern political powers could do was to collaborate with them for inclusive nation-building project. in this context, the paper discusses how the traditional rulers in akokoland showed resilience through the tactical deployment of power politics as instrument of control, stability and order. the historical approach was adopted using primary and secondary sources. in-depth interviews were conducted with purposively selected informants based on their knowledge of the history of kingship and power politics in akokoland for primary data while secondary data were sourced from books, journal articles, theses and materials from the internet. data were subjected to historical analysis. the paper argues that the tactical use of the different components of power politics was informed by the desire of the traditional rulers to ensure the continued survival of the kingship institution, their powers and relevance serve as viable social mobiliser, pillar of communal cohesion and integration. the paper concludes that despite some of the challenges facing traditional rulers, they have continued to show dynamism through adaptation and continuity as worthy agents of change and progress. it is, therefore, the position of this paper that efforts should be made by government to help reduce the incidence of bitter kingship/chieftaincy disputes to avoid the further disintegration of the institution and allow its custodians play their roles as reliable partners in the nation-building project. keywords: kingship institution, power politics, akokoland and northeastern yoruba land introduction akokoland is a conglomeration of many towns located in the northeaster part of yorubaland, south west nigeria. in the context of this paper, power politics was used to represent the complexity of power play and the dynamics of power relations among akokoland kings and other traditional rulers in the twentieth century especially after independence in 1960.while reference shall be made to the years before independence, the adoption of power politics as instrument of control by the traditional rulers in akokoland after the exit of colonial rule up to 1999 shall also be appraised. kings have had the responsibility of representing and uniting all social groups within the kingdom—rival clans, city dwellers and country folk, the living and the dead, the nobles and the commoners, the free people and the slaves. kings have stood ogunode, sunday abraham sonniee2@gmail.com&sunday.ogunode@aaua.edu.ng department of history and international studies, adekunle ajasin university akungba-akoko, ondo state kingship institution and power politics in akokoland northeastern yorubaland in the twentieth century above and apart from all groups, even from the royal relatives. however, kings have rarely pleased everyone and have often made enemies. as a result, they have frequently faced attacks from dissatisfied subjects, power-hungry relatives, and opponents within and outside the kingdom. the violent histories of many kingdoms, such as zulu, benin, yoruba and buganda, show how dangerous it could be to be king, and how often a ruler's grip on power has been 1 loosened. the point here is to show that colonial rule negatively impacted the powers and relevance of the traditional rulers who during their hay days were held in great awe and their words were laws. the divisive politics of divide and rule coupled with the injection of nonblood members to the ruling lineage remain one of the potent causes of threatening chieftaincy disputes in the period under review. african kings have also faced problems related to kinship, marriage and succession. as heads of royal kin groups, they are expected to give wealth and privileges to their younger kin in return for support and loyalty. if royal relatives have grown too powerful or ambitious, they have sometimes tried to overthrow the king. rulers have worked to avoid such situations by carefully balancing ties with the kingdom's most powerful clans, often through marriage. polygamy, the practice of taking multiple wives, has allowed 2 kings to spread such ties across all regions, ethnic groups, and major clans within their realms. this is the aspect of royal power politics that this paper represents. power politics also played out while dealing with succession related issues. kings have had two general methods of dealing with the question of succession which also presents complex power politics among the different royal and non-blue blood families laying claims to the throne. sometimes, they have named their heirs or established a system of regular inheritance, in which the throne might go to the oldest son or to the firstborn son of the primary wife. this method has prevented conflict over the question of succession, but it has also disappointed and angered relatives and kinship groups by cutting off their access to the throne. the other method has been to declare no heir and to let clan leaders or others choose a new king from among the many competing royal sons and relatives. this approach has often resulted in conflict and disorder upon the king's death. ambitious royal kins have posed one of the principal dangers to a king. african rulers have used two strategies for surrounding themselves with loyal supporters. some, like the ganda and the zulu, have depended heavily on their mother's relatives, who cannot inherit the throne in patrilineal kingdoms but can enjoy power 3and privilege as long as their son rules as king. the other method, used in the kingdom of benin and muslim states of west africa, has been to appoint royal servants or even slaves as court officials or generals. these people, dependent on the king's favour and unable to rule on their 4own, have generally made loyal and dependable deputies. essentially, power politics is the complex but necessary instrument that reflects the various strategies used by akokoland kings in their various domain of royal jurisdiction to contain the challenges and threats to their powers and thrones. moises naim has excellently 5 argued that power is easier to get, harder to use and easier to lose. he appraised the extent to which recent developments have made traditional repositories of power – whether political, corporate, or cultural increasingly vulnerable to challenges by smaller entities. the threats from smaller entities within the context of this paper came from competing royal sons, ambitious relatives, chiefs, and non-blue blood members but strongly connected royal power seekers. how the kings confronted these challenges and still stay relevant in the scheme of things is what the current study explained using power politics. the various manifestation and components of power politics in akokoland, north-eastern yoruba land are discussed below. coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 02 03 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 ancient landmarks ancient landmarks were basic requirements to be fulfilled before laying claim to royalty, tenancy and other rights in the period before 1900. as different people moved in groups or bands from their original settlement (apole) to settle at a new location, certain agreements were reached through covenants or oaths by some selected elders (usually leaders of the migrated groups) to seal the bond that brought them together. all the items used for the oaths and the secrets behind them were not often revealed to one person because of its sensitive nature and for the sake of unforeseen development which may warrant one group taking 6 advantage over the other in the period of dispute. the british establishment of their imperial presence and colonial rule in nigeria began before 1900. this was manifest in the british declaration of colonial rule in lagos in 1861 ten years after the bombardment of same, the granting of royal charter to the royal niger company (rnc) in 1886 and the activities of the company particularly in the north. the establishment of the company's headquarters at lokoja brought british informal colonial interest near akoko. in 1895, two out-stations of the rnc were established at kabba and omuo-oke (a northern town of akoko). eventually, after rnc forces had trounced nupe forces in 1897 liberating akoko communities from nupe imperialist rule, the rnc commenced company rule in akokoland – a rule that served as a precursor for formal colonial rule. acting under the pretense of establishing a lasting peace or instituting pax britannica, the rnc agents clearly established mechanisms that were later to be operated for colonial administration with all its attendant exploitative features. of course, the picture later became clearer to the people that the company's agents wanted more than mere restoration of peace and trading relations. in a clear demonstration of their readiness to assume proper control, the british government revoked the 1886 charter of rnc in december 1899, and assumed full 7 control of the, “territories of the niger” on january 1, 1900. this marked the official commencement of colonial in nigeria and akokoland. the british coins was introduced 8towards the end of the nineteenth century and banknotes in the 1920s. the colonial phase of currency in the west africa sub-region can be divided in to namely: 1914 and 1958 the british west african pound was used and the nigerian pound came into force in 1958 and its usage 9 stopped in 1960. from the 1920, the traditional rulers especially the king who was the symbol of the monarchy became the salaried agent and tool of the colonial authority under the district head 10system in akokoland and throughout nigeria. the introduction of stipends by the british administration led to the gradual commercialization of the kingship institution in the period of the study. as the kings became salaried agents of the british, their survival and continued 11 relevance became the prerogative of the colonial government officials. kings in akokoland who could not quite adapt to their new subservient status dissented but due to the lack of concerted efforts amongst them lost the fight. colonial government took advantage of the disunity among traditional rulers in akokoland to alter their political traditions by imposing untitled persons as kings. the introduction of outsiders through colonial manipulation into royalty became a serious issue after the attainment of independence in 1960. strangely, communities that, hitherto, settled disputes through internal mechanisms became enmeshed in 12 protracted legal tussles to reclaim 'stolen' titles and settle chieftaincy disputes. to this end; various commissions of inquiries have intervened to settle decades of kingship/chieftaincy contests in akokoland. available information in most court judgments revealed that owa ale of ikare-akoko, asin of okaland and the alakungba of akungba-akoko secured respite from the court of law because of the strong traditional evidence provided. they were all able to trace their lineage to ife, presented list of previous kings that ruled in their lineage and the tradition 13 of beaded crown. adetona buttressed the place of ancient landmarks in laying claim to royalty when he observed that: you see, before one can lay claim to royalty, certain requirements must be met. historically, a special building called ile olori and later afin oba must be linked to the claimant, verifiable list of previous obas that had reigned in their lineage and the tradition of right to wear beaded crown. again, the ife link is also central in the claim to royalty. so, ambitious chiefs though aware of these requirements, have over the years repeatedly tried in futility to alter well respected tradition of kingship in ogbagi-akoko and other towns in 14akokoland. the ajowa-akoko example of a yoruba town with seven kings living in harmony for over five decades was interrogated in line with the potency of ancient landmarks. alhassan was clear when he observed that: by the time we moved from our different apole to ajowa-akoko, we started with love and there was a solid agreement by all the eight towns to come together as a mega settlement with each having its leader. it is true that we are in modern time with its own sophistication and dynamism, the place of covenant or oath taking in the unity of ajowa-akoko cannot be played down. the elders that met to conclude on how affairs of each town would be managed were very frank with the need to respect the agreements reached before the establishment of the town. consequences of betraying the terms of agreement to bond despite the obvious diversity in traditions and cultural were constantly re-echoed at important meetings. it was, therefore, very hard for anybody to wake up one 15morning to alter the structure. marriage marriage remains one of the best mediums of bonding in traditional african societies. the ancient odesan (inter-cousin) marriage in okaland and the arokun so omiye (conjugal union between relatives) in akungba-akoko played a key role in the strong bond between the different communities that make up the two prominent akokoland towns. this marriage system has proved helpful in the survival of the traditional political institution and the overall progress of the two towns in the period of the study. although this marriage system had been practiced as far as the history of the two towns are known, the period of its commencement is not the concern of this paper but the bond of kinship and fraternal ties it has engendered up till the late 1990s in the two towns. through this marriage system, family members related to the throne of the two towns married close relatives which have produced strong extended bond among the different interest groups. in most cases, daughters of powerful chiefs with potential of creating serious problems for the throne were the ones married to either the king or relatives. coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 04 05 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 the married daughters often served as checks on their powerful fathers and also regularly gave useful pieces of information on plans that might be inimical to the throne and the kingdom. afa in okeagbe-akoko presented a good instance of how marriage was used by one of their kings as instrument of power politics to stay in control of his domain. adewumi in his response to the place of power politics in the survival of kingship in akokoland reminisced on how one afa king that reigned in the 1930s outsmarted his opposition with the unlikely weapon of marriage. he revealed that: the oba omoegunarasanyi i took 15 wives. during his reign, there were many powerful men who were equally ambitious in the three communities in afa, okeagbe-akoko. he therefore, married daughters of these powerful people who he thought were potential threats to his power and leadership. these wives helped the oba gather intelligence report which the kabiyesi 16 relied on to stay in control and survived all threats to his throne. the omiye bond (relationship built on the basis of belonging to the same fraternal cord through marriage) as we have it in oka, akungba, okeagbe and other parts of akokoland remained one of the most reliable factors responsible for the relative peace, good concord and stability enjoyed in the affected towns. stephen buttressed the place of marriage in the survival of the throne when he argued that in most towns in akokoland with few exemptions where only one ruling family exists like in isua-akoko, marriage is one of the socio-cultural instruments used to build strong fraternal closure. despite the age long chieftaincy dispute between the asin of oka-odo and the olubaka of okaland, the two traditional rulers have not found a good reason to go into a full fledge war with each other. although the olubaka sometimes in 1992 tried to force allegiance of the asin to him as the paramount ruler of okaland by not allowing the latter hold the annual new festival for that year. this unfortunate incident was expected to have generated serious conflict between oke-oka and oka-odo, but tradition forbids them because 17 of the close relationship that was built over the years through marriage. while the debate on the role of marriage as viable instrument of power politics in future research efforts continues, one fact that has been established was that marriage formed one of the strongest links to the continue survival of the kingship institution in akokoland during the period examined. festival and market festival and market were also employed to ensure loyalty to the throne. the parade at the annual oka-day celebration which started since 1990 has been a very potent instrument used by the olubaka of okaland to publicly enforce loyalty of all chiefs and communities under his jurisdiction. at the warm glare of dignitaries present at the venue of the celebration, each community head chief with selected delegates in a well-co-ordinated marching parade took turn to pay homage to the kabiyesi and openly pledge their loyalty to his leadership. the quarters' parade allowed the people to collectively revere the king despite their divergent history and tradition. the odunijesutitun (new yam festival) in oka-odo, the supare, oba, ajowa, ikare and ogbagi day celebration play key role in the survival of the kingship institution and the culture of the people. like the oka-day celebration, the kings in the above listed akoko towns used the festival to measure the quality of support they have from the people. the kings during the festival and as a matter of necessity expected all their chiefs and eminent sons and daughters to be in attendance to show solidarity. when a chief(s) and key individuals who have confirmed their attendance failed to attend the festival, the kings, as expected, would summon a meeting of his council-of-chiefs with the festival organising committee to review the situation for further necessary action. this was discovered from the information gathered to have helped the kings to know those that needed to be reached out to, those to be managed for their peculiarity and those to be 'avoided'. this lent credence to the fact that festival can be deployed as instrument of power politics to regulate power and ensure 18 allegiance. one of the traditional things that promote communal spirit and cohesion is trading. apart from buying and selling, the market performs socio-religious functions. traditionally, people tend to relate well when they meet in an atmosphere with social appeal. across many yoruba towns, the common nomenclature for market around the palace is ojaoba (the king's market) which does not necessarily mean that the king owned all the businesses operated around the palace. the name is beneficial to the throne and the merchants dealing in different items in the market. as expected, such market helps to give wide coverage to the institution and its custodian as visitors needed not ask if such town has a king. sometimes, some visitors even requested to pay courtesy visits to the throne and when they returned to their different domains, they proudly reported their adventures. markets in akokoland due to their location some distance away from the palaces were named after the town where the kings ruled. oja oka19 akoko, oja okeagbe-akoko, oja iwaro, oja oba, oja supare-akoko, oja ikare-akoko and many more. the case of oka-akoko and okeagbe-akoko deserved mention. each of the fifteen quarters in oka-akoko before the colonial era operated their market differently without any hitch. the appointment of the olubaka as the paramount ruler of all the quarters that hitherto enjoyed virtual independence under their village heads changed the status quo with regards to market operation. the king must ensure his acceptance by all and to do this, he must ensure that the people buy and sell in one central market which has his direct approval. quarter by quarter market was, therefore, cancelled with the establishment of the oja oke-oka (upper oka market) where all the communities under the olubaka carry out their trading activities. as observed by omosola, “the current king is a lover of peace but very strategic in ensuring his acceptance through collective loyalty from the people of the town. originally we had different markets on quarter by quarter basis; this was the situation until the colonial masters pronounced the olubaka as the paramount ruler of okaland. this development meant one thing: the alteration of the old order to allow the needed changes to be effected. one market was established by the king to ensure inclusion and collective allegiance to the throne by all and sundry. the king could not have allowed the town to run independent of his total grip. while the central oka market might have promoted cohesion and communalism, the ultimate 20concern of the king was to ensure collective loyalty through the subtle instrument of market”. okeagbe-akoko also presented a good case of how market served as instrument of ensuring loyalty to the crown. like oka-akoko, the four okeagbe-akoko communities of afa, aje, oge and ido observed different market day as independent community under their coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 06 07 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 different ruler before their relocation to their present settlement. to also promote and entrench a deep sense of togetherness, the four communities since relocation in 1924 collectively agreed to have one unifying market. the initial name for the new market was enyenyen which was originally an afa market. to avoid bad blood among the other three communities who might naturally view afa as usurping its advantage as the biggest of the four towns, the ajana of afa met and agreed with other kings and renamed enyenyen as okeagbe market. this development greatly endeared the people the more to their leaders. the market thus, allowed the people to see the survival of their communities as a collective responsibility as instability in one community would naturally have spill over effect on the others. the collective support enjoyed from the people of okeagbe-akoko allowed the traditional rulers the latitude to administer their domain and collectively see to the inclusive development of the area. as a show of solidarity and good wishes from the throne, the kings also sent palace messengers with the long beaded royal staff carrying a small beaded crown to convey their prayers and wishes for smooth trading among the traders. the iyaloja (the traditional head of the market women) and associations got words of commendations for their role in ensuring order among the different business interest in the markets. through this, the people reaffirmed their readiness to support the reign of the king who has shown warm disposition towards them as their fathers and rulers concerned with their wellbeing and progress and partners in progress. compulsory meeting another means of ensuring loyalty to the leadership and power of the oba in akokoland is through the imposition of compulsory meeting period for all chiefs with the oba-in-council. this development has continued beyond 1999. oka-akoko presented a good example of how the olubaka has been able to ensure loyalty of his chiefs through the mandatory meeting with them. tuesday of every week is the day for a compulsory meeting of oka chiefs-in-council with the kabiyesi. except when the kabiyesi is unavoidably absent, he presides over the meeting to provide leadership and direction on important issues that bothered on the growth 21and development of the kingdom. specifically, the council is like agboibawi (place of admonition) where notes are compared and ideas are shared on how to move the community forward. also, the last sunday of every month has been set aside by the olubaka of okaakoko as the time of general meeting of all the chiefs' resident in oka-akoko and those living outside to meet with him to discuss the problems and progress of the town. this arrangement has seriously helped the kabiyesi to detect dissenting chiefs and as a leader and father of all, he has always found a way to win them back as friends ready to work with him for the progress of 22 the kingdom. as it would be discussed later, the olubaka like his counterparts some akoko 23towns did not succeed in bringing all the dissenting chiefs back to his fold. in aje, okeagbeakoko, the oba presided over the ajoilu attended by the male elders (agbaokunrin) and the chiefs of the town. at this meeting, important issues that concerned the progress of the town are collectively discussed. the king ensured that definite conclusions were reached before the end of the meeting. the general meeting of the entire town (ajogbogboilu or apejoilu) is then called. the general meeting holds in front of the oba's palace. again, the king presided over the meeting but everyone interested in making presentation was allowed to do so without 24 constraints. the strategy is to ensure that the king takes control and stay in charge. afa in okeagbe-akoko also showcased how the king used compulsory meeting venue to secure loyalty to his power and authority. there are two lines of high chiefs in afa, okeagbe-akoko: iyares (the father chiefs which are the highest ranked in afa and the elegbe representing the lower chiefs. the ajana of afa and his deputy the rawa are both iyares. just as the ajana is the head of the community, he is also the head of the iyares and the rawa the second in command. for strategic reason, the iyares members as a matter of compulsion meet 25in the palace of the king at all its meetings. the osunla heads the elegbe chiefs and they meet at the osunla's house. the king allowed the meeting of the elegbe outside the palace to allow the chiefs engage themselves freely in discussion without the limitation that their meeting in the palace could have imposed. this tradition continued in afa until 1932, when something 26 unusual happened during the reign of oba omoegun arasanyi i. the year marked an important chapter in the history of ascendancy to the throne of the ajana of afa. for the first time, two people contested but prince omoegun won. while the people preferred his candidature, his second-in-command rawa aliu did not like him. due to the high level of education of rawa aliu, he manipulated ajana omoegun who was of less educational 27 exposure. this negative tendency of rawa aliu did not go down well with the ajana who saw his action as deliberate attempt to usurp his powers and authority. oba omoegun now decided that both the elegbe chiefs and the iyare chiefs should, henceforth, meet in his palace, because he knew that if he allowed some dissenting chiefs to meet separately outside the palace, his power, authority and control might be seriously threatened. records available during data gathering revealed that the change in the meeting venue of the elegbe chiefs has played key role in raising the relevance and power of the ajana as loyalty to the throne was made stronger and better. this has helped in the effective management of the town by subsequent ajana that reigned after the demise of oba omoegun arasanyi i. like the oyomesi in oyo empire, a powerful age grade called the oyereswas the organ saddled with the responsibility to check the excesses of the ajana of afa, okeagbe-akoko. tradition provided that the oyereage grade members must meet at the king's palace. unlike the iyare and elegbe chiefs, the oyere have their own kind of mini-palace located within the main palace. this mini-palace is called omodeowa. the king is forbidden by tradition from visiting the omodeowa despite its location in his official residence. membership of the group comprised hunters picked from the three quarters of ogosi, oguna and ogotun in afa. the oba hunter is also chosen from the palace to represent him in the oyere age grade. this is where power politics come to play. traditionally, the kabiyesi is not allowed to attend their meeting since it is the only body that can call him to order in the event that he erred. in fact, it was revealed that the oyere is so powerful that no ajana has ever risked joining issues with them. interestingly, the palace hunter out of respect for the oba is naturally allowed to assume the leadership of the oyere. this translates to the kabiyesi having control over the membership or decisions of the group. the head of the group also functions as the eye of the oba as he was expected to give first-hand useful pieces of information on developments in the town. the quality of information provided and the actions taken by the palace representative either make or mar the position of the ajana. his loyalty to the kabiyesi and his readiness to always pursue the interest of the throne are key to determine the usefulness of the game of power play between the ajana and the oyere on the one hand, and his relationship with the other three members of the group. coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 08 09 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 management of ambitious royal family members/chiefs and others the introduction of the district head system from 1920 which was due largely to the reorganization exercise carried out by the colonial authority to 'strengthen' the oba governing council led to the creation of new forces as chiefs who showed loyalty to the colonial policies got upgraded. this development meant that the oba could no longer influence the judicial council as hitherto less powerful chiefs had been upgraded to crown wearing kings. essentially, the ease of tax collection became enhanced as the salary of the traditional rulers was largely consequent on the frequency and quality of tax remittances to the colonial authority. the introduction of salary and other monetary inducement by the colonial authority made the kingship/chieftaincy institution made it to become economically attractive and source of envious desperation as those who would traditionally worked toward the continued survival of the institution became locked in threatening battle of wits for the royal throne even though they were not qualified by tradition. this economic dimension visited on the traditional political institutions across nigeria communities and villages with the introduction of salary for the traditional rulers since the colonial period, has created cut-throat quest for royalty by both the qualified and outsiders. even chiefs with no link to royalty have suddenly become awakened with the desire to upgrade to obas. it is very true that all royal male members of the ruling family are qualified to desire the throne but the final decision rests in the hands of the kingmakers and the collective decisions of the people. interestingly, isua-akoko presented a unique example of ruling family in akokoland. only one ruling house produced the oba. so, managing the intra-royal family crisis becomes a very easy task. the records available revealed that isua-akoko oba (then and now) have not had serious issue with equally qualified princes and where such cases were reported, the king has been able to handle them with traditional wisdom without resulting 28in serious legal frenzy. committees with different community related assignments to be carried out by designated individuals also play important role in the survival of the kingship institution in akokoland. interestingly, the committees are headed by chiefs or individuals who posed serious threat to the power and authority of the kings. this strategy has really worked in aje, okeagbe-akoko, oka-akoko, ogba-akoko, ajowa-akoko, isua-akoko and others for many decades. the result of this strategy has been awesome, as the king through his seeming benevolence imposed a moral burden on the head of each committee to deliver the set goals. through this, the chiefs are made to see the unity and progress of the town as a collective responsibility that can be achieved when they give the king who is the eye of the town the 29needed support. for the assurance of loyalty, the different committees meet in the oba's palace at an agreed date. the head of each committee reports directly to the king who was expected to give approval to all issues agreed upon. it is, however, important to say that, the king do not usually attend the committee meeting, except when there is a pressing issue that required his intervention. holding the meeting in the palace is enough to compel loyalty from the committee members. while some members appointed into the different committees were often those loyal to the throne, others are there to help the king close ranks and ensure that they are positively engaged in activity that give them a sense of inclusion as partners in the development of the community. they see themselves as stakeholders who must do everything possible to ensure the unity and stability of their towns. some of the kings interviewed also believed that dialogue can be used to manage aggrieved members of the town, especially the princes and chiefs. in one of his speeches at the ajoilu, the kabiyesi (ewi) oloruntoba bello was apt when he observed that: i am aware that some of the princes that contested with me would be sad at the turn of event, but having emerged after fulfilling all that was required of me by the extant provisions of our customs and tradition and with the collective acceptance by the people of aje, i am ready to be the father of all which by virtue of my royal office i am expected to exhibit at all times. aggrieved princes and other interest groups have the natural right to vent their anger, but in doing so, they should ensure that their actions do not in any way endanger peace, unity and stability of the community. i am not oba of my household; i am the father of all and the rallying point, whatever the issues are, remember we could always talk and reach valid conclusions for the good of all. aje was handed over to me united and i forbid anybody for whatever reason start any bad history during my reign. while the unity of all in this town is not 30 negotiable, the place of dialogue cannot be over emphasized. momoh also stressed the place of dialogue in handling cases that involved aggrieved members of the society especially in the royal circle when he submitted that: “i soft pedal a little to avoid shooting myself in the leg. remember the princes are very much free to interact with the people of the town and if the oba in power fails to manage these princes and allow them to muster ready and willing hands to revolt against the power of the reigning king the result can be 31 damaging”. oyekan also lent his voice to the importance peaceful resolution of problems in the society. although he acknowledged that he went through the most harrowing experiences before ascending to the throne of his fathers, he never avenged those who were bent on taking all from him. he captured his experience thus; at emergence and after winning all the court cases, i extended hands of friendship to my aggrieved uncle who contested with me. despite my appeal to him, he went ahead to institute legal process against me at the high court. he lost and never appealed because he was convinced that his case has no merit for further legal interrogation. thankfully, we mended fences and the peace that followed has been very tremendous. interestingly, i made a point of duty to visit all those who were not in my support and i even slept in their houses as a king. my open-mindedness and sincere love has allowed the chieftaincy disputes in epimi-akoko to die a natural death. they have come to accept the 32 fact that, only little can be achieved in crisis and vice versa. the olusin of owalusin who hitherto, was a member of the council of chiefs in okaland suddenly renounced his membership due to his conviction that he is more than a high chief. his consistent absence from meetings of oka chiefs-in-council with the olubaka of okaland was perceived as disrespect to the paramount of the consenting authority in okaland. the chiefs, the people and the kabiyesi held divergent opinion concerning the decision of the olusin to become a king. while the first two groups, especially those of oke-oka collectively coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 10 11 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 condemned the action of the olusin, the olubaka held a contrary view. while acknowledging the painful decision taken by one of his trusted high chiefs to become king, he submitted that: as the paramount ruler of okaland, i have managed the unfortunate development, the point must be made that choices made by conscious individuals must be respected and where there are conflicts that cannot be resolved with the available traditional mechanisms; the parties concerned can approach a court of competent jurisdiction to settle the matter. whatever the outcome of the court intervention might be, the disputants remain one big family strongly linked together by the bond of one ancestry, omiye tie and language. we will always disagree to agree and this is good for communal 33 bonding, fraternity and collective progress. as noted earlier, it is important to state here that the olubaka has not succeeded in resolving issues with all the alleged dissenting chiefs. for example, the asin of oka-odo has consistently refuted the claim that he is a chief under the olubaka. pieces of information gathered through extensive interviews, archival documents and court proceedings have 34 proved to the contrary that the asin is a chief under the paramount of the olubaka. in the same vein, the olusin of owalusin who fell out with the olubaka of okaland has also argued that he is an oba in his own right not a chief. while clarifying issues on his decision to become independent of the olubaka, he argued that: “as you now know and can confirm, there is an old palace traceable to my lineage. my claim to royalty was not accidental. my forefathers came from ile-ife with the beaded crown. yes, there are a lot of issues surrounding my claim to kingship, the question is not whether i am qualified to be a king but why on earth was the old palace from where i oversee the affairs of my people built? does a chief build palace, only royalty uses palace and that is the class i belong. until our plurality is respected and accepted, there will always be issues to fight over. oba agba la fi moagba. if the higher king cannot tolerate the existence of the smaller ones with their own unique story of migration and 35 crown history, there will always be an issue to argue over”. the support of the people and wielding the big stick kings through the ages were and are still looked upon as the father of all. they are expected to provide leadership with traditional finesse and native wisdom. as the yoruba elders would always say: ojul'obaya, obakiyaenu (the king should be patient in observing more, but never in 36 hurry to make pronouncement especially when he is angry). while patience is a long term strategy, kings who are not super humans, are sometimes, although rarely, forced to wield the big stick to arrest some disturbing situations that could threaten peace and order in their domains. it is equally a fact that the survival of the traditional rulers on the thrones of their fathers is largely premised on the quality of support they get from the people. while the support of the chiefs is critical, the place of the people from whom the kings derive their power and relevance is more central to the overall wellbeing of the throne and the administration of the society. the people factor in the survival of kingship in akokoland was given credence after the sad event of 1957 that led to the burning down of zakiof arigidi-akoko old palace by some elements that supported the opposing memudu olanipekun family is worthy of mention. despite the deposition of the then zaki, the leaders of the rebellion was unable to achieve his inordinate ambition of becoming the new king as he met stiff opposition from the people who insisted that since their king was not dead, he must be allowed to return home and continue his 37 reign as the paramount ruler of the town. interestingly, those who led the rebellion of 1957 were also responsible for the return of the deposed oba from exile in 1985. omosola agreed that grass roots mobilisation remains a factor in any rural society where a ruling king or traditional ruler desire to stay relevant and have the support of his people at all times. a wise king will count on the support of the people by running an open government and leading 38aright. the masquerade menace of 1998 in epinmi-akoko was a good instance of wielding the big stick can be used to court loyalty and allegiance. gbiri of epimi-akoko detailed the situation when he recounted how hard it was for him to use extreme measure to restore order and take charge of his domain which was at verge of anarchy due to unnecessary crisis secretly orchestrated by some vested interests in the town. he submitted that: “there was a religious crisis that seriously threatened the peace of my kingdom but i was able to arrest the situation through careful dialogue. but since some vested interests were bent on complicating issue and thereby making the management of the town difficult for me, i had to assert my authority as the 39 oba by involving the police to arrest the menacing masquerade. through the intervention of the law enforcement agents, some respected son and daughters of epimi-akoko and with my resolve to take the centre stage as the father of all, peace was restored and the town has 40remained united since then”. the most reliable means of ensuring loyalty and respect of the people for the throne in a more inclusive way was summarised thus: “once you understand the people you are managing, you can be sure of their commitment and loyalty. it is normal for some chiefs to dissent but the king in power must also show that there is the need to ensure that such dissent is managed properly to the extent that it does not affect the peace and stability of the kingdom. it must be stressed also that, the king may have to sometimes wield the big stick in the event that a dissenting chief or aggrieved royal family member(s) refused to accept amicable resolution 41after due intervention from stakeholders”. conclusion the foregoing has discussed the different components and manifestations of power politics used by traditional rulers in akokoland as instrument of control, stability and order in their domains. given the dynamic nature of every human society, the need to always evolve new methods of staying in charge becomes a necessity. kings and other traditional rulers in akokoland and yorubaland in general have continued to show dynamism on the workings of modern governance and how to stay relevant. while the colonial masters used power politics to alter the traditional institutions and create divisions amongst ruling families, set the indigenous people against each other, the traditional rulers in akokoland used same to build trust, loyalty, communal cohesion and inclusive society. aware of the fact that their powers had coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 12 13 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 weaned appreciably, traditional rulers in akokoland wisely took the part of caution through the tactical adoption of power politics to ensure that their stakes as custodians of traditions, customs and history of the people as well as viable grassroots mobilisers are protected. the myriad of challenges faced by the traditional rulers notwithstanding, through the progressive adoption and application of power politics, they have continued to show dynamism through adaptation and continuity. the government of the day must come to the realisation that the traditional rulers have good roles to play in the efforts at nation-building and emplacing a better society safe enough for all to co-habit and contribute to the development of the country. on the strength of this, the controller of the instrument of state should continue to see the traditional rulers as development partners and work towards ensuring that their place in the scheme of things is properly outlined and assured through the necessary instrument of the state. endnotes 1. kings and kingship: http://geography.name/kings-and-kingship accessed on 14/5/2017 2. kings and kingship: http://geography.name/kings-and-kingship accessed on 14/5/2017 3. kings and kingship: http://geography.name/kings-and-kingship accessed on 14/5/2017 4. kings and kingship: http://geography.name/kings-and-kingship accessed on 14/5/2017 5. lililoofbourow, “the end of power by moisesnaim review – a study in mass alienation” https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/15/the-end-of-power-moses-naimreview accessed 06/10/2016 @ 9:45pm 6. ipinlaiye, a.e. 82, olojeof igashi-akoko, igashi-akoko, ondo state, nigeria. 15/4/2016. 7. for details on colonial rule in nigeria and akokoland see: f. lugard, 1965. the dual mandate in british tropical africa, london: frank cass & co. ltd., m. crowder, 1973. west africa under colonial rule, london: hutchinson & co.; adeyeri, j.o., 2015. “british rule and the transformation of akokoland, 1897 – 1960”, ph.d. thesis department of history, university of ibadan, ibadan, nigeria; akomolafe, c.o., 1976. “akoko under british rule, 1900-1935”, m.phil. thesis, department of history, university of ife, ile-ife; crowder and obaroikime eds. 1970. “west african chiefs; their changing status under colonial rule and independence”, ile-ife: university of ife press; obaro, ikime 1968. “reconsidering indirect rule: the nigerian example”. journal of the historical society of nigeria, vol. 4, no. 3, december, pp.421-438. 8. dan, o. chukwu 2010. “trends and changes in the nigerian currency system, colonial period-2008”. stud tribes tribals, 8(2), p.88 9. for details on the history of currency in nigeria see: kirk-greene, a.h.m 1960. “the major currencies in nigerian history”. journal of the historical society of nigeria, vol. 2, no. 1, december, pp.132-150; dan, o. chukwu 2010. “trends and changes in the nigerian currency system, colonial period-2008”. stud tribes tribals, 8(2), pp.87-101. 10. igbafe, p. a. 1967. “the district head system in benin, 1914-1935”, odu: university of ife journal of african studies, vol. iii, no. 3, january, pp. 3-21. 11. for details on the impact of the introduction of financial inducement on the monarchy by the colonial masters in nigeria see: edo, v.o., 2001. “the benin monarchy, 18971978: a study in institutional adaptation to change”, phd thesis, department of history, university of ibadan, ibadan. p.v, pp.60-62, obaro, ikime 1968. “reconsidering indirect rule: the nigerian example”. journal of the historical society of nigeria, vol. 4, no. 3, december, pp.421-438. 12. ipinlaiye, a.e. 82, olojeof igashi-akoko, igashi-akoko, ondo state, nigeria. 15/4/2016. for details on traditional rulers and chieftaincy disputes see: oguntomisin, g.o. (2004). the processes of peacekeeping and peace -making in pre-colonial nigeria. ibadan: john archers and olaoba, o. b. (n.d.). “the traditional approaches to conflict resolution in the south-west zone of nigeria,” nigerian army quarterly journal, vol., no.1, negatons (w.a) ltd. 22-37. 13. except the owa ale whose tradition of beaded crown was questioned by the morgan commission, the other two had valid tradition of beaded crown traceable to ile-ife. the morgan commission however, agreed that the owa ale's feathered crown (iyaade) was an ancient one used by his ancestors as one of the symbols of royalty. 14. adetona, victor ojo. 53, owa of ogbagi-akoko, his palace at ogbagi-akoko, ondo state, nigeria. 18/4/2018. for details on kingship tradition in yorubaland see: johnson s. the history of the yorubas, from the earliest times to the beginning of the british protectorate. lagos: css bookshop limited, 1921. 15. alhaji alhassan adesina, elela sasere (elela ii), 82, the olora of ora. interviewed at his palace in ora, ajowa-akoko, ondo state, nigeria. 7/4/2018. for details on covenant or oath taking in yoruba traditional institutions see: thorpe, c. o. àwon èèwòilè yorùbá. onibon-oje press. ibadan, 1972. 16. adewumi, ojo stephen, 70, high chief ologotun-igase, he is the high priest of afa community in okeagbe-akoko. ogosi quarters, afa, okeagbe-akoko, ondo state, nigeria.12/4/2018. for more details on women influence in yoruba traditional systems see: ukpokolo, f.c. “gender politics and african culture: concepts, issues and practices" in oguntomisin, g.o. and edo, v.o. (eds.). african culture and coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 14 15 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 civilization, ibadan: gsp university of ibadan, 2005. 17. interview with oba stephen olorunteleogunoye, 57, the olusin of owalusin, olusin's palace at iwaro, oka-akoko, ondo state, nigeria. 30/7/2018. for more details on yoruba traditional marriage and its significance see: fadipe, n. a. (1970). the sociology of the yoruba. ibadan: university press. 18. interview with chief ojo, s.a., 58. community leader, no. 1, shine shine villa, ikese, oka-akoko, ondo state, nigeria. 30/7/2018. for more details on festivals in yorubaland see: ajetunmobi, r.o. (2009) “traditional festivals in nigeria” in ajetunmobi, r.o. and osiyale, b.o. (eds.) themes in nigeria as a nation. abeokuta: gabby printing (nig.) enterprises. 19. the market at ikare-akoko can be partly regarded as oja oba because of its proximity to the palace but oja ikare appear to be the accepted name among several buyers and sellers. for more details on market in yorubaland see: olaoba, o.b. (1999). rural and urban market in yorubaland: bodija market in ibadan 1987-1995. ibadan: john archers limited. 20. omosola, a.b., 76, farmer/ community leaders, ewuikanmu, oka-akoko, ondo state, nigeria. 30/7/2018. for more details on market as instrument of socio-economic relations see: hodder, b.w and ukwu, u.i (eds.) (1969). markets in west africa. ibadan: ibadan university press. 21. interview with chief ojo, s.a., 58. community leader/farmer, no. 1, shine shine villa, ikese, oka-akoko, ondo state, nigeria. 30/7/2018. for more details on yoruba traditional political structure see: oguntomisin, g.o. “through the changing scenes: traditional rulers in nigeria”, journal of african studies. 2. no. 1 (1997) olota. 22. interview with chief ojo, s.a., 58. farmer/community leader, no. 1, shineshine villa, ikese, oka-akoko, ondo state, nigeria. 30/7/2018. for details about politics and interaction among the akokos see: olukoju, a.o. (1989). “the siege of oka, ca. 1878-84: a study in the resistance to nupe militarism in northeastern yorubaland”, in toyin falola and robin law (eds.). warfare and diplomacy in pre-colonial nigeria: essays in honour of robert smith. madison: university of wisconsin. 23. same was the case in erusu-akoko where the osunla have failed to reconcile with chiefs from amo, aga and okesan, the zakiof arigidi-akoko has also failed in his many attempts to reconcile with chiefs from iyu, imo and osin quarters. interestingly, these three arigidi-akoko quarters have their king makers. this has made reconciliation more difficult. 24. this arrangement was commended by many in aje community and linked to one of the major reasons why the king is widely supported and accepted by the people. 25. adewumi, ojo stephen, 70, high chief ologotun-igase, he is the high priest of afa community in okeagbe-akoko. ogosi quarters, afa, okeagbe-akoko, ondo state, nigeria. 12/4/2018. for details on this see: faboyede, o. “akokoland before colonial rule: earliest times to 1900”. international journals of arts and humanities (ijah), (bahir dar-ethiopia, 4, no.1 (2015). 26. adewumi, ojo stephen, 70, high chief ologotun-igase, he is the high priest of afa community in okeagbe-akoko. ogosi quarters, afa, okeagbe-akoko, ondo state, nigeria.. 12/4/2018. for details on this see: ogunode s. a. “an appraisal of the roles of the warriors' guild in addressing pre-colonial security challenges in okaland south-west nigeria.” international journal of humanities and cultural studies (ijhcs), vol.1, issue 3 (2014). 27. adewumi, ojo stephen, 70, high chief ologotun-igase, he is the high priest of afa community in okeagbe-akoko. ogosi quarters, afa, okeagbe-akoko, ondo state, nigeria. 12/4/2018. for more details on this see: ibid. 28. interview with akande sunday, 30, palace staff, olisuapalace, isua-akoko, ondo state, nigeria. 18/5/2018. for details on traditional wisdom see: olaoba, o. b. “the traditional approaches to conflict resolution in the south-west zone of nigeria”. nigerian army quarterly journal, vol. no.1, negatons (w.a) ltd. 29. onipinla, emmanuel elegbelye, 84, clergy and community leader, s40a, aje, okeagbe-akoko, ondo state, nigeria. 12/4/2018. for details on power and status of yoruba chiefs see: falola, t. (2006). “power, status and influence of yoruba chiefs in historical perspective” in falola, t. and geneva, a. yoruba identity and power politics. new york: university of rochester press. 30. oloruntoba, bello, 70+, the ewiof aje, aje's palace, okeagbe-akoko, ondo state, nigeria. 12/05/2015. the use of dialogue to manage ambitious princes, chiefs and other members of the town was also buttressed by the owa of ogbagi-akoko, the zakiof arigidi-akoko, the osunlaof erusu-akoko and the olubaka of oka-akoko. for details on the use of dialogue see: nwosile, o.b. 'ed.' 2005. traditional models of bargaining and conflict resolution in africa: perspective on peace and conflict in africa. ibadan: john archers ltd. 31. interview with oba akadiri saliu-momoh iv, the olukare of ikare-akoko, 80. olukare's palace, ikare-akoko, ondo state, nigeria. 18/08/2016. for details on this see: faboyede, o. (2015), cited. 32. interview with oba george olusegun oyekan (jp), the gbiri of epimi-akoko, 57. gbiri's palace, epimi-akoko, ondo state, nigeria. 7/6/2018. for details on this see: faboyede, o. “elitism in pre-colonial akoko society: its disorientation from sociocultural value in contemporary akoko”, lumina, vol. 22, no.1. (2013) 33. interview with hrh oba adeleye, yusuf adebori, 73+, olubaka of oka-akoko., olubaka's palace, oka-akoko, ondo state, nigeria. 6/8/2018. see ibid for details. 34. interview with hrm ambassador regent adekemi omorinbola, asinof okaland, ondo state, nigeria. 27/7/2018. for details see: orojo, j. o. (2008). a short history of arigidi-akoko. lagos: royet and day publication ltd. 35. interview with oba stephen oloruntele ogunoye, 57, the olusin of owalusin, olusin's palace at iwaro, oka-akoko, ondo state, nigeria. 30/7/2018. for details see: kolawole, d.o. a history of oka. ibadan, demman consultancy & printers, 2009. coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 16 17 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 36. same advice was given to alafin abiodun adegoolu when he was installed as the new oba of oyo in the epic movie titled: “basorun gaa” directed by adebayo faleti. for details on proverbs and conflict management see: ademowo, a.j. & noah balogun. 2014. “proverbs and conflict management in africa: a study of selected yoruba proverbs and proverbial expressions.”. international journal of literature, language and linguistics, vol. 1, no. 1, 1(1). 37. interview with francis rotimi alabi, 50, edibo of ogo quarters, arigidi-akoko, ondo state, nigeria. 6/4/2018.for details see: orojo, j. o. 2008, cited. 38. interview with pa omosola, a.b., 76. ikanmu, oka-akoko, ondo state, nigeria. 30/7/2018. for details on the personality of the ruler see: sofola, j.a. 1973. african culture and the african personality: what makes an african person african, ibadan: african resources publishers co. 39. interview with oba george olusegun oyekan (jp), the gbiri of epimi-akoko, 57. gbiri's palace, epimi-akoko, ondo state, nigeria. 7/6/2018. for details on this see: ayo b. public administration and the conduct of community affairs among the yoruba in nigeria. california: ics press, 2002. 40. for details on this see: foluso, a. and kolawole, a. akoko land: history and distinguished people. ibadan: lizab nigeria ltd, 1997. 41. interview with hrm ambassador regent adekemi omorinbola, 24, asin of okaland, ondo state, nigeria. 27/7/2018. for details on these reactions see: faboyede, o. “the akoko elite”. unpublished phd thesis, ekiti state university, nigeria, 2013. page 1 page 2 page 3 page 4 page 5 page 6 page 7 page 8 page 9 page 10 page 11 page 12 page 13 page 14 page 15 page 16 page 17 text book journal pdf sis. noelle coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 01 abstract: this paper qualitatively examines the euphemistic means of mitigating vulgarity in nzema discourse. the paper focuses on certain expressions that involve the activities of sex, sexual organs and menstruation; with the intent to discussing how the people of nzema use a 'fair' and 'polished' means to engage in such 'tabooed' utterances in order to avoid unpleasant speeches. the paper adopts goddard's (2006) ethno-pragmatic model, which maintains that speech practices are best understood from culture-internal perspective. data were collected mainly from a primary source, through recordings from interviews with native respondents. some data were also tapped from spontaneous natural speech contexts as well as introspections based on the researcher's intuitions as an indigenous speaker. the paper reveals that the nzema euphemistically describe the male genitalia as 'a stick/tree', 'a pestle', 'a gun' and 'a match', while conceptualising the female genitalia as 'mortar', 'bible/book', 'property', and 'chief's palace' among others. it demonstrates that the nzema as part of their culture do not plainly utter vulgar words; especially those related to sexuality and menstruation. rather, they resort to culturally established euphemistic strategies to cover up the tabooed words and to strip off the discomforts and embarrassments that might be caused when a listener hears such 'plain' utterances. these polished means of discussing sexuality and its related notions are best understood by the people of nzema as a cultural group. in essence, any member of the nzema traditional society who explicitly makes such utterances without 'fairly beautifying' them is regarded 'uncultured' and lacking proper parental upbringing. key word: communication, vulgarity, euphemisms, linguistic taboos, ethno-pragmatics. 1.0 introduction among the nzema of ghana, like in many other african societies and perhaps beyond, certain utterances are culturally regarded as taboo; which are not mentioned without linguistic hedges and safeguards. agyekum (2002) describes taboo as a system of placing prohibitions and restrictions on certain acts and utterances in a society. taboo may be behavioural or verbal (agyekum, 2002; agbedor & johnson, 2009) which is a universal phenomenon practised by every human society around the globe; however, the concept of taboo is language and culture1 euphemistic-metaphors in nzema discourse in sexuality mohammed yakub yakubm88@gmail.com department of akan-nzema education, university of education, winnebaghana 1nzema is part of the niger-congo kwa group of languages, which is spoken mainly in ghana and some part of la côte d'ivoire (see annan, 1980; kwesi, 1992).the language and people who speak it are referred to as nzema. the nzema people occupy the south-west part of the western region of ghana. specific, in that what may be forbidden in a particular society may be a norm in another society (agyekum, 2002: 370). in the view of wardhaugh (2006), taboo is a way through which a society expresses its disapproval of certain kinds of attitudes and behaviours that are believed to be harmful and destructive to its members, either for supernatural reasons or because such attitudes are violations to cultural and moral codes. describing linguistic taboos, fakuade, kemidirim and nwosu (2012) opine that some expressions are to be avoided because resorting to their direct use in public is tantamount to disregarding certain moral ethics in terms of religious and cultural norms. this implies that certain concepts are banned to be spoken freely in the public domain. a part of such unmentionables, which shall be the focus of our discussion, has to do with communications that involve human sexuality and menstruation, particularly among the nzema of ghana. akanbi (2015: 173) avers that, the culture of a people can determine what to say and what not to say; and that there is always a kind of decorum in the speech of individuals. this is true of the nzema, in that people do not make haphazard choice of words in communicative situations; rather, they display communicative competence by resorting to acceptable utterances in appropriate contexts of speech interaction. in nzema traditional setting, matters concerning sexual activities and sexual organs are not discussed straightforward because they are perceived to be obscene, profane, and sometimes offensive; which largely come with embarrassment and displeasure in the ears of the listener. in this vein, the language speakers have established certain 'cover up' mechanisms in order to lessen or absolutely get rid of such unpleasant sayings, so as to sanitise their sexual-related discourses. these euphemisticmetaphors are formulated based on the cultural values, norms, beliefs and cognitive experiences of the nzema people. several scholars have posited various definitions on the concept of euphemism. for example, allan & burridge (1991, as cited in al-khasawneh, 2018: 218) described a euphemism as a courteous means through which a harsh, inappropriate, obscene, or offensive word is substituted or replaced by a more polite one. in a more concise sense, a euphemism, as in the literature has also been referred to as 'verbal hygiene' (see cameron, 1995), 'polished and beautified expression' (agyekum, 2002; 2013), 'implicit and comfortable expression' (liu, 2016), 'fair speech' (annan, 2017), 'inoffensive language', 'clean language', 'cover up utterance', 'polite expression', 'coined and indirect utterance' and 'circumlocutory language' among many other associated connotations. however, in my view, all these connotations on the subject of euphemism converge to a common notion that it is a way of mitigating and/or expelling shocks, embarrassments and discomforts in communication. euphemistic utterances are capable of neutralising the unpleasantness of certain tabooed terms. they actually serve as face-saving mechanisms to both the speaker and the hearer (wardhaugh, 2006). 1.1 the rationale and research objectives the effective use of euphemisms in discourse is culture internally constructed, though the phenomenon is perceived as a universal feature of language usage (brown and levinson, 1987). the fact that the notion of euphemism is a wide-spread and a cross-cultural concept has 02 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 stimulated enormous literature on it cross-linguistically. in japanese, for instance, ivanova (2015) studied euphemisms from the perspective of some thematic fields. gathigia, ndungu, and njoroge (2015) also investigated sexual intercourse euphemisms in gikuyu, a bantu language spoken in kenya. karimnia and khodashenas (2016) examined euphemistic strategies used by iranian efl learners with focus on death and dying, while raduloviæ (2016) did a comparative study of euphemisms in english and serbian public discourse. lui (2016) tackled a comparative analysis of euphemisms in english and chinese, mocanu (2017) studied taboos and euphemisms in the religious language, while almufaez, alawani, and altalhi (2018) also undertook a contrastive study of euphemisms in english and arabic. from a sociolinguistic perspective, fakuade et al (2012) examined linguistic taboos in igbo. ofoegbu and okoli (2018) also did a morphological analysis of euphemistic expressions in igbo, while akanbi (2015) looked at the use of vulgarity in yoruba proverbs. abijo and ajandeo (2018) explored linguistic taboos in yoruba society and their relevance to teachinglearning in nigerian secondary schools. specifically, in the area of ghanaian linguistic and anthropological research, a number of studies have also been undertaken by some renowned scholars, including agyekum (2002) who extensively discussed euphemistic means of expressing menstruation among the akan. agbedor and johnson (2009) also focused on ewe verbal taboos from the perspective of indirection, alhassan (2012), in his phd dissertation, titled “the construction and reproduction of gender in dagbani”, also highlighted some euphemistic means of talking about sex organs and avoiding sexually-explicit terms. gleaning from the foregoing studies, it appears that there is a rich body of cross cultural scholarly contributions on tabooed and euphemistic expressions in the literature; however, i have not yet found any work that focuses on extensive exploration of the convenient ways of engaging in sexual-related discourse among the nzema. to the best of my knowledge, the only study on nzema euphemisms was done by tomekyin and nyame (2019), which sheds light on euphemistic utterances related to pregnancy, birth, deadly sicknesses/diseases, death, sexual organs and sex. tomekyin and nyame did a good work; however, they provided scanty information on euphemisms concerning sex. in other words, their discussions did not demonstrate exhaustive exploration of 'nzema euphemisticmetaphors on sexuality', perhaps because they did not consider the subject as the focus of their research. this present study, thus, seeks to fill an essential gap; revealing the most interesting aspects of nzema euphemisms on sexual discourse, and to expand the frontiers of the previous works. it is also prudent to mention that the dominant theoretical framework adopted for most of these previous studies is the politeness theory espoused by brown and levinson (1987). unlike this present study, none of the works indicated above adopted the ethno-pragmatic model (goddard, 2006) as its theoretical backing; which aptly renders this study different from those previous ones. the study is guided by the following objectives as to: 1. ascertain how the nzema conceptualise the male and female genitalia. 2. discuss the euphemistic means of discussing sexuality in nzema. 3. highlight the appropriate means of making reference to menstruation in nzema. coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 03 1.2 notes on nzema euphemisms the goal of this paper, though, is to unearth the euphemistic strategies adopted to 'refine' discourses related to sexual activities, sexual organs and menstruation among the nzema, i deem it relevant to provide a brief overview of some of the various communicative instances of deploying euphemisms in nzema traditional rhetoric for audience to have more insights and best appreciate the discussions. somewhat in the form of idiomatic expressions, the people of nzema relish in using traditional euphemisms to conveniently discuss matters concerning old age, death, theft, disgrace, madness, ignorance, unnecessary wandering, lactation, as well as bodily effluvia and excretion such as defaecation, urination and flatulence among other things that are regarded offensive to be discussed freely. table 1 shows briefly, some of these euphemistic concepts; nonetheless, the core data of the paper shall be critically examined in section 4. table 1: some euphemistic concepts in nzema rhetoric 04 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 tabooed concepts english translation i. on defaecation tabooed word ebinli ii. on urination tabooed word miene iii. on death tabooed word ewule iv. on theft tabooed word awule a. mek? baka zo b. mesoho me gyak? a. mek? meah?gua nzule b. megua aze a. yeh? ye ?k?la nzi b. yela ye b?ne zo a. ? sa wale/? sa le tendenle b. ? sa ?nga ? nwo a. i am visiting the tree b. i am escorting my legs a. i am going to pour water b. i am pouring water down a. he has returned to his soul b. he has slept on his left hand a. his hands are long b. his hands do not touch his body 2. theoretical framework the analysis/discussions of data in this paper are intended to be in the lens of goddard's (2006) ethno-pragmatic model. goddard asserts that, though pragmatic 'universalist' over the years has gained dominance, a new pragmatic paradigm which he calls 'ethno-pragmatics' has refused to dash away. the basic assumption of ethno-pragmatics therefore maintains that, speech practices are best understood from culture-internal perspective. it focuses on understanding discourse from the point of view of specific cultural perceptions, linguistic choices and communicative practices that are best conceived by a specific cultural group. though culture is perceived to be a universal phenomenon, every cultural group is believed to have certain peculiar ethno-pragmatic concepts based on socio-cultural worldview and traditional experiences which enable the people of such particular local culture to better understand their own speech practices. 2it can be gleaned from table 1 that the tabooed words (in italics) are not explicitly mentioned in the various euphemistic expressions that are used by the nzema to refer to their respective concepts. more significantly, euphemistic speeches are noted to be culturally-oriented, and that they are conventionally understood by native speakers of a particular society. in other words, any 'outside member' who may not actually have a fair knowledge of a particular culture in terms of their values, beliefs, morals, general worldview including their linguistic patterns would find it difficult to understand their speech practices (goddard, 2006; see also sharifian, 2011 on cultural conceptualisations and language). for example, among the nzema, if a woman sits with part of her panties unconsciously exposed, someone on seeing the panties would simply alert the woman by saying; kp?la ? bonyi zo 'wipe on top of your nose'. this same euphemistic utterance is applicable in informing a man to cover up his private part in case it is exposed. the expression, kp?la ? bonyi zo, among others which are meant to avoid profanity in nzema are best understood specifically by the people of nzema. therefore, the choice of the ethnopragmatic framework to underpin this study may be quite appropriate, since the nzema within their own cultural setting had instituted certain euphemistic mechanisms to sanitise their verbal interactions related to sexuality and other shocking comments; which are best understood by members of the culture. 3. methodology the paper employs the qualitative research approach, which is concerned with a method of describing an event or a phenomenon without making use of numerical data (patton, 2002; creswell, 2009). the choice of the qualitative approach is motivated by its flexibility in nature, providing the opportunity for a researcher to make adequate and comprehensive description of a particular phenomenon. data for this ethnographic study were gathered from a primary source, involving information obtained from interviewees, and from participant and non-participant natural speech encounters. my knowledge as a native speaker of nzema is also crucially brought to bear on this study. the people of nzema constitute the dw?m?l? district, ell?mb?l? district and evalo? (nzema east district) in the western part of ghana. in order to avoid biases, and to obtain more reliable data for analysis, which could yield a true reflection of the linguistic choices and etiquettes of sexual discourse among the nzema, i considered respondents who are indigenous speakers and are residence of communities in the three nzema districts. the various communities visited were axim and bameang? (in the nzema east district), adoabo and kekam (in the ell?mb?l? district) as well as awiane and mgb?t?ba (in the dw?m?l? district). these six (6) communities (two from each district), apart from being larger communities with many indigenous inhabitants, were also selected for the study because the researcher could easily get access to the places. in this ethnographic study, eighteen (18) indigenous speakers of nzema were selected and contacted as respondents for interviews. from each community (as shown above), i interviewed three (3) people. in this endeavour, prominence was given to grown-ups between the ages of fifty (50) years and seventy (70) years. the rationale is that old people have more experience and broader communicative competence as compared with the young ones (rababa’h & malkawi, 2012). further, the elderly in many african contexts are perceived as 'the custodians of cultural values and etiquettes’, ‘the coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 05 symbol of wisdom’ and ‘society’s reservoir of memory’ (see also thompson & agyekum, 2015: 23). therefore, twelve (12) out of the eighteen (18) participants were elderly people, while the remaining six (6) comprised the youth between the ages of twenty (20) and thirty (30) years. this was done to find out whether the younger generation (youth) may be employing certain ‘contemporary’ euphemistic means of avoiding vulgarity in relation to sexual discourse among the nzema. regarding their gender, the females were nine (9) and the males were also nine (9); this is because both genders do engage in sexual-related discourse. in essence, the technique for sampling the respondents is worth describing as purposive. the techniques for obtaining the primary data involved elicitation through interviews, as well as participant and non-participant observations. the interviews were guided by a list of questions for the purpose of controlling the interview process. i visited the communities on different occasions and met the respondents separately for the interview sessions. as a matter of ethics, i began each session by seeking the consent of my respondent and explaining the purpose of the exercise. this maximised cooperation and enabled me tape-record the interviews/discussions. i picked additional data when i observed and sometimes took part in arbitration proceedings among the nzema, which were meant to resolve conflicts and issues related to marriage/divorce. here, some discussions on sexuality obviously took place, which i hand-recorded in a data collection notebook. i also tapped some data from interlocutors in spontaneous speeches, including my native speaker intuitions. the recorded data were later transcribed and translated for analysis. 4.0 data presentation and discussion this section deals with the analysis and discussion of data. as part of the data presentation, the researcher has indicated the examples (euphemistic utterances) obtained through spontaneous discourse by abbreviating them as (sd). some personal examples, which were generated through the researcher's intuitive knowledge, are also indicated as (pe). other examples that are not referenced are those gathered during the interviews and observations. 4.1 conceptualising the male and female genitalia in talking about both male and female sexual organs, the people of nzema use 'circumlocutory jargons' in metaphorical sense to describe such 'sacred' parts of the human body. the following expressions in (1-4) show how the nzema, in their daily communication, perceive and conceive the male sexual organ as a tree, a gun, manhood and total self of the man. 1. ye baka m?? la ye ?z?l? nu la ?n-le ekyi 3sg tree comp sleep 3sg thigh. pl inside cdet neg-cop small 'his tree that lies between his thighs is not small'. 2. me-die me-di k? ? hu etu ne te kpal? 1sg-collect 1sg-eat comp 2sg.poss husband gun def shoot well ‘i believe that your husband's gun can shoot properly'. 06 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 3. ye mrenyia nu y? se (pe) 3sg.poss manhood inside cop hard 'his manhood is strong'. 4. ? nwo w? ? nwo gy?l??nye (pe) 3sg self exist 3sg self proper 'his self (body) is indeed active'. the expressions in (1-4) are meant to avoid direct mentioning of the male sexual organ, which is originally (traditionally) referred to as toal? 'penis'. in (1) and (2), we observe that the tabooed word toal? is not overtly mentioned; instead, baka 'tree' and etu 'gun' are respectively deployed to represent the male sexual organ. the metaphoric description of the concept of penis seems largely applicable in the sense that the penis, when erect, appears as straight and as hard as a tree or a gun. among the nzema, the male sexual organ is perceived to be a symbol of 'absolute manhood', and so they describe it as mrenyia nu 'manhood' or 'inside of a man' as evidenced in (3). in (4), the somewhat unmentionable, toal? 'penis' is replaced by nwo 'self' or 'body' of a man. here, also, it is assumed that the penis makes up the total body of a man, without which the man is not complete. all these utterances are best understood by the people of nzema as part of the convenient ways of speaking about the male sexual organ without making any explicit pronouncement of toal? 'penis'. the female sexual organ is another sensitive part that the nzema always try to avoid mentioning plainly; especially in public discourse. in examples (5-11), i show some of the euphemistic ways of conceptualising the female genitalia in nzema discourse context. kpond? dol?se keda w? ?ba ne azo (sd) search. imp panties cover 3sg.poss '?ba' def top ‘look for panties to cover your ?ba’. 6. keda w? agyapade? ne azo cover. imp 3sg.poss property def top cover your property’. 7. ? -le raal? ?ti siezie w? ahenfie ?k? 2sg-cop female conj sanitise. imp 2sg.poss palace there 'you are a woman, and so keep your palace tidy'. 8. n??zo biala b?-si ye duba ne anu (sd) night every 3pl-pound. hab 3sg.poss mortar def inside 'they pound in her mortar every night'. 9. saa ?bia a, koto nrinzi w? aze bo? cond 2sg-bathe con. pt squat clean 2sg.poss down well 'if you take your bath, squat and wash your under properly'. coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 07 10. saa raal? nwu nrenyia nd? a, ? nwo buke cond female see male early con. pt 3sg self open 'if a girl engages in premature sexual affairs, herself enlarges'. 11. nyila ?-b? me mraal? nu (sd) boil perf-hit 1sg.poss womanhood inside 'a boil has swollen within my womanhood. in the context of discussing issues related to the female genitalia, the original word tod?l? 'vagina' is considered obscene and therefore not stated openly. in essence, the tabooed word 3is rather called ?ba , as indicated in (5). another means of keeping away from the direct mentioning of tod?l? 'vagina' in nzema is to describe it as agyapade? 'property' as shown in example (6). it is described as 'property' because it is owned by the woman, given to her by god, out of which she could gain a lot of wealth from men. example (7) demonstrates the 4nzema conceptualisation of the vagina as ahenfie 'chief's palace'. the nzema depend on expression (7) to also prevent hearers from feeling uncomfortable within the context of holding discussions on the female genitalia. the vagina is described as a 'chief's palace' in the sense that a man is not supposed to have an opportunity to 'enter' the vagina on a silver platter; he needs to perform necessary marriage rites before getting access, just as one cannot easily enter a chief's palace without first consulting the chief's spokesperson for necessary arrangements. in (8), tod?l? 'vagina' is metaphorically termed as duba 'mortar' as the man uses his 'pestle' to pound inside it. the vagina is located between the thighs of a woman; which is somewhat at the lower part of the body, and so the nzema describe it as w? aze 'the under of a woman' as illustrated in example (9). in (10) and (11), the woman's sexual organ is conceived as something that makes her a real/whole woman; hence, in order to do away with vulgar speeches, the average nzema speaker would resort to ? nwo 'herself'/'her whole body' and yemraal? nu 'her womanhood' respectively. 4.2 conceptualising the act of sex in nzema traditional communication related to sexuality, the activity of sexual intercourse is conceptualised as a means of undertaking a particular task, embarking on a journey and as an activity that involves mutual engagement for satisfaction. these notions are examined in turn as follows: 4.2.1 sexual intercourse as performing a task the act of having sex with a woman is traditionally known in nzema as raal??lil? 'eating a woman' (having sexual intercourse with a woman). however, as a way of preventing such 08 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 3 found among women, is euphemistically described by the nzema as ?ba. 4ahenfie is the akan variant of belemgbunli sua nu(in nzema), which means 'chief's palace'. the nzema had therefore borrowed the akan version as shown in expression (7). ?ba is a personal name in nzema, which is used to refer to females. therefore, the tod?l? 'vagina', since it is coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 09 vulgar expression, speakers rather perceive the act as a means of doing a particular work, thereby resorting to these expressions exemplified in (12) and (13): 12. me-kola me-y? me ye anwo gyima kpal? (pe) 1sg-can 1sg-do 1sg. poss wife self work proper 'i can work on my wife very well'. 13. ? -n-gola n??zo gyima ne y? (sd) 3sg-neg-can night work def do 'he cannot do the night work'. in examples (12) and (13), we can deduce that the activity of sexual intercourse is a task that is controlled by the man. in both cases, the woman is portrayed as a passive recipient for whom such work must be done properly. 4.2.2 sexual intercourse as embarking on a journey the nzema also escape vulgar language in terms of sexuality by comparing the activity of sexual intercourse with the process of travelling. for instance, instead of saying ?ngola raal? di 'he cannot have sex with a woman'; which is considered obscene, they 'polish' the statement as indicated in (14-16): 14. ? -n-gola adenle zo k? (sd) 3sg-neg-can road top go 'he cannot travel'. 15. ? -n-gola ?-n-g? moa (pe) 3sg-neg-can 3sg-neg-go far 'he cannot go a long journey'. 16. ? -n-gy? na ye-adwu aze (pe) 3sg-neg-keep long conj 3sg-drop down 'he does not keep long on the way, he alights so quickly'. the expressions in (14), (15) and (16) show that the 'journey of sexual intercourse' is a responsibility of the man. in the context of discussing sexuality among the nzema, if a man is unable to satisfy a woman in bed, or if he ejaculates shortly after the insertion, these expressions are used to metaphorically describe the man's inability to make the woman reach her orgasm. 4.2.3 sexual intercourse as mutual engagement for excitement the activity of having sex is also seen as a mutual responsibility between a man and a woman. each has a role to play; which further suggests that it is 'a face-to-face affair' (see also tomekyin and nyame, 2019). thus, in order not to make explicit reference to the 10 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 tabooed expression such as b?l?di b? nwo 'they are having sex', the nzema employ some 'refined' statements as follows: 17. b?-l?-fa b? nwo (sd) 3pl-prog-take 3pl self 'they (male and female) are taking each other'. 18. y?-nwu y? nwo 3pl-per. see 3pl self 'we (male and female) have seen each other'. 19. y?-gya y? nwo na y?-t?-y?le nrenyia nee raal? 3pl.perf-marr 3pl self conj3pl-neg-do man conj woman 'we have got married, but we have never done man and woman before'. 20. saa y?-yia ?kpazo a, y? nye die (pe) cond 3pl-meet bed top con. pt 3pl eye. pl happy 'if we meet in bed, we both become excited (satisfied)'. from (17, 18 and 19), we notice the mutual contribution that needs to take place during sexual intercourse. in (17) and (18), b? nwo 'each other' and y? nwo 'each other' rightly emphasise that the exercise is not meant for one person, and that both man and woman need to co-operate for maximum satisfaction to be achieved. examples (19 and 20) also stress that the exercise is a mutual face-to-face engagement (meeting) which takes two parties (man and woman), as evidenced in y?t?y?le nrenyia nee raal? 'we have not done man and woman' andsaa y?yia?kpa zo a 'if we meet in bed' respectively. 4.3 contemporary conceptualisation of the act of sex in the course of gathering data for this study, it was noted that the younger generation (in nzema society) had established certain 'recent' euphemistic-metaphors in engaging in discussions concerning the act of sex. the data precisely showcased the conceptualisation of sexual intercourse as a process of piercing an object, a process of driving a vehicle and as a process of reading a book. these are further examined below in turn. 4.3.1 sex as a piercing process in the context of discussing sexuality, the nzema (particularly the youth), keep themselves away from the direct use of the unpleasant word ?lil? 'sexual intercourse' by redefining it as an activity that deals with 'piercing' of an object. examples (21) and (22) underscore this observation: 21. saa me sa s? ye a, me-ba-w? ye kpal? cond 1sg.poss hand hold 3sg con. pt 1sg-fut-piece 3sg well 'if i get hold of her, i will piece her very well'. 22. m-raal? ?-bu, y?-l?-tua b? noko (sd) pl-woman perf. cop-common 3pl-prog-penetrate 3 plconj 'women have been in abundance, and so we (the guys) are piercing them'. in both (21) and (22), the process of penetration; where the male sexual organ is 'injected' into the female sexual organ, becomes the basis for conceptualising ?lil? 'sexual intercourse' as w? and tua 'to piece' a woman. 4.3.2 sex as a process of driving a vehicle when talking about sexual intercourse, the youth also describe the phenomenon as a manner of driving a vehicle. as a way of refraining from the vulgar word ?lil? 'sexual intercourse', they conceptualise the activity as kale ?hanl? 'driving a car', so as to 'purify' their discourse on sexuality. some examples from the data are shown as follows: 23. kale ?hye koame a ka a car dem psn foc drive. hab emph 'it is koame who drives this car'. 24. kale z?hane me-ha dedee me-gyakyi car dem 1sg-perf.drive continuous 1sg.perf-stop 'i have continuously driven that car and stopped'. in these expressions (23 and 24), which are highly based on context of discussion, the activity of sexual intercourse is metaphorically likened to driving a vehicle; since the man largely takes control and usually manipulates the woman in the process, just as a vehicle driver does. it is worth noting that in both examples, the interpretations transcend the basic (physical) activity of driving a vehicle which may contain a number of passengers. here, the implication is that a man used to have sex with a woman. 4.3.3 sex as a process of reading a bible (book) another interesting conception of sexual intercourse among the youth of nzema has to do with its metaphoric description as a means of reading a text (bible). this also serves as an avenue through which they (the youth) escape unpleasant utterances on sexuality. let us see two examples from the data as provided in (25) and (26): 25. me-h?-genga baebolo ne 1sg-go.perf-read bible def 'i have gone to read the bible'. 26. w?-genga nzema baebolo too noko ?-n-gola nzema ka 2sg-read.perf nzema bible long conj 2sg-neg-can nzema say ‘you have read nzema bible for a long time, but you still cannot speak nzema'. as can be learnt from (25) and (26), the activity of sexual intercourse is perceived as a way of reading a bible, since it usually happens with the woman's legs widely opened apart, just as coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 11 the way a bible (book) is read by opening/separating the leaves apart. in both examples, reading the bible does not actually mean the act of reading the divine scripture; rather, it is culture internally understood that the activity of sexual intercourse is being described euphemistically and metaphorically. in (26) for example, reading nzema bible for a long time, in this context, does not basically mean that a man had continuously read a bible that is translated into the nzema language; rather, the folks (especially the youth) by this utterance try to imply that a man (who may be a stranger) had lived and had had sexual intercourse with an nzema woman for a long period, yet he could not speak the nzema language. 4.4 discussing chastity in nzema cultural tradition, girls (young ladies) are usually advised to 'keep themselves' (to hold their chastity) to avoid premature pregnancies and to bring respect and honour to their parents (families). therefore, in the context of discussing chastity, as part of sexual discourse, the people of nzema dwell on euphemistic expressions in order to prevent an overt (obscene) statement like: nrenyia ?t?dile ye ?l? 'she has never had sexual intercourse with a man'. some examples of the appropriate utterances in this regard are presented below: 27. ? -n-ze nrenyia (sd) 3sg-neg-know man 'she does not know a man'. 28. ? -t?-nwunle nrenyia ?l? (sd) 3sg-neg.perf-see man ever 'she has not seen a man before'. 29. ? -le amunli 3sg-cop green/unripe 'she is green' (she is not ripe). the expressions in (27) and (28) do not actually mean that the young lady cannot recognise a man when she sees one, or has never seen a man with her naked eyes; rather, the examples show euphemistic means of communicating that the lady's virginity has never been broken. in (29), a young lady who has never 'tasted' sexual intercourse is likened to a kind of unripe fruit (which is often green in colour). these are strategies for swerving indecent (vulgar) utterances in connection with chastity. 4.5 discussing impotence the concept of impotence is another crucial and sensitive area of discussion in terms of sexual discourse among the nzema. if a man is not able to bear a child, people (especially his peers) mock at him and his dead body, as a cultural practice, is made to 'suffer' a particular ritual at the cemetery prior to burial. in this vein, the nzema had culturally constructed many euphemistic means of talking about the subject of impotence so that they could desist from making any inconvenient statement such as: ? toa ?wu 'his penis has died' or ?ngola ?nli raal? 'he cannot have sex with a woman'. one thing that seems quite interesting here is that the nzema people have various expressions to describe three different levels of impotence, depending on the state, degree or severity of the man's condition. these are highlighted in the following sub-headings. 12 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 4.5.1 expressing absolute malfunction of the male sexual organ in the context of discussing impotence, examples (30), (31) and (32) are usually quoted to specifically indicate that a man's sexual organ has completely become 'dead' (does not erect at all). some of the 'purified' expressions are: 30. ye etu ?-d? nzule nu (sd) 3sg.poss gun perf-fall water inside 'his gun has fallen into water'. 31. ? -n-le nrenyia (pe) 3sg-neg-cop man 'he is not a man'. 32. ? nwo ?n-le ?k? (pe) 3sg self neg-exist there 'his self (body) is not alive'. in (30), the malfunctioning status of the male sexual organ is metaphorically described as a gun that has fallen into a pool of water. obviously, if a gun is shot while it is kept in water, it cannot sound and 'fire' effectively, and so this is the essence of describing the malfunctioning nature of the male sexual organ as a gun that is drowned in water. examples (31) and (32) are used more or less to show the nzema perception that a man's sexual organ (a stronger one, of course) is what actually keeps him going as a real and complete man; despite his wealth. therefore, when it does not function, the man is taken not to be a real/whole man and sometimes he is not accorded much respect if people realise his status. 4.5.2 expressing decline in the strength of the male sexual organ the nzema also have special expressions to talk about the condition where a man's sexual organ may erect though, but may suffer a decline in strength, resulting in the inability to undertake vigorous sexual intercourse. in this regard, the expressions (in 33-35) are commonly deployed euphemistically to demonstrate a man's inability to maintain erection, such as the following: 33. ye anwoseseb? ?-ha aze 3sg strength perf-go down 'his strength has gone down'. 34. ye mrenyia ?-ha aze 3sg manhood perf-go down 'his manhood has gone down'. 35. ? nwo ?-ha aze 3sg self perf-go down 'his self (body) has gone down'. coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 13 in all the above examples (33, 34 and 35), we can find the incorporation of the words ?ha aze, which means 'has gone down'. these permeate the utterances to indicate a reduction/decline in the ability of the male sexual organ. in (33), the man's strength that is said to have gone down does not actually make reference to a reduction in his physical strength to either fight or perform any herculean task that may require heavy muscles; rather, in this context, reference is being made to the fact that his ability to maintain erection and continue to 'work' perfectly (during sexual intercourse) has indeed reduced. in (34) and (35), as has been hinted earlier, a man's sexual organ is considered to be his 'total manhood' and 'total body'. thus, if there is a decline in the strength of his sexual organ, then the whole of his manhood and body could be described to have deteriorated. 4.5.3 expressing a man's inability to impregnate a woman the inability of a man to make a woman conceive can be another level of impotence as the data showcased. in the context of discussing this level of impotence, the nzema conveniently rely on some euphemistic metaphorical expressions in order to refrain from making such a profane statement like: ?di raal? a ?nnrenz? 'if he makes sex with a woman, she does not get pregnant'. two of such utterances that could be made to avoid profanity in this category are presented here: 36. ye etu ?n-gu nane 3sg.poss gun neg-kill animal 'his gun does not kill an animal'. 37. ye makyese ?m-kpa senle (sd) 3sg.poss match. pl neg-catch fire 'his matches do not burst into flames'. both examples (36) and (37) are used to communicate a man's inability to make a woman take seed after sexual intercourse. here, the man's sexual organ may erect alright, yet may not be able to fertilise the woman even when she is in her ovulation period. in (36), the man's inability to impregnate a woman (after sexual intercourse) is likened to a hunter who could aim at an animal and shoot his gun, but could not eventually kill the animal. in (37), the man's condition (impotence) is comparable with a match that cannot burst into flames, though the box may be containing the sticks. 4.6 discussing prostitution/adultery when it comes to discussions on promiscuity; where a man or woman would have multiple sexual partners, the nzema make use of euphemisms in a way to 'save the face' of a person who may have numerous sexual partners, and to prevent unpleasant speech. some of these euphemistic utterances in the context of discussing prostitution and/or adultery are outlined as follows: 38. ? -n-nea ?leka ko (sd) 3sg-neg-watch place one 'she/he does not look at one place'. 39. ? nye ?n-ga aze (pe) 3sg.poss eye. pl neg-touch ground 'his/her eyes do not touch the ground'. 14 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 40. ? -le twea (sd) 3sg-cop dog 'she/he is a dog'. 41. ye-va ? hu / ye anzi (sd) 3sg.perf-take 3sg.poss husband/wife back 'she/he has passed behind her/his husband/wife'. 42. ye-dwu ye dwoma ye-do ? k?me zo 3sg.perf-raise 3sg.poss pestle 3sg-put 3sg.poss neck top 'he has raised his pestle and placed it on his neck'. the expressions in (38-41) could be used to describe either a man or a woman who may be having many sexual partners in a manner that is not acceptable per nzema cultural values and tradition , while example (42) is used specifically to refer to a male fornicator. in (38), the interpretation goes beyond not physically gazing at a particular place; rather, it actually means that a man or woman does not stick to one sexual partner (according to nzema cultural context). similarly, example (39) does not merely imply that the person's eyes are raised constantly in the sky; rather, it is a suitable means to communicate that someone (man or woman) is promiscuous, and so does not properly conduct himself/herself sexually . example (40) is usually said metaphorically to describe a man or woman who may behave like a dog; having indiscriminate sex with countless partners anywhere. the expression in (41) is used to imply that a man/woman has indeed committed adultery. in the context of discussing adultery, passing behind one's wife or one's husband implies that a man had sneaked to have sex with another woman who is not a 'legal' wife to the man, and the vice-versa. all these expressions (in 37-40) are meant to do away with an unpleasant statement like: ?le alimrenyia 'she is a prostitute'or ?le alimraal? 'he is a fornicator'. example (42) is used particularly to define a man who sleeps with several women (who may not necessarily be his wives). in (42), the man's sexual organ is comparable with dwoma 'pestle', as it is used to pound inside the woman's 'mortar'. here, a man placing his 'pestle' (sexual organ in this case) on his neck means that he has made it available for several women besides his wife; thus, he makes sex randomly with multiples of women. 4.7 discussing the phenomenon of menstruation as a natural phenomenon in the growth and development of women, the subject of menstruation have often been discussed among the nzema by employing interesting euphemistic expressions. this is because the people attribute menstruation largely to filthy and unhygienic condition. it is considered to be an eyesore, and so every 'cultured' nzema speaker tries to prevent an explicit pronouncement of the word fual? 'menstruation'. so, in order to avoid the tabooed expression such as yey?fual? 'she has menstruated', the nzema resort to a number of euphemisms; some of which emerged during the data gathering as follows: 5 6 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 15 5 6 although the doctrines of christianity have caused some reduction in the practising of polygamy among nzema men, many of them still enjoy polygamy and so they believe that the acceptable cultural tradition is to perform all the necessary marriage rites when a man finds a woman. if someone behaves impulsively and haphazardly; without being vigilant and steady, the nzema also use the utterance in (38) to rebuke the person euphemistically. 43. ye-bu ? sa 3sg.perf-break 3sg.poss hand 'she has broken her hand' 44. ye-h? amozi 3sg-perf.go far away 'she has gone far from home'. 45. ye n-y?vol? ne m? ?-ra 3sg pl-visitor def pl perf-come 'her visitors have arrived'. 46. ? -l?-tua ye siane kak? 3sg-prog-pay 3sg.poss month debt ‘she is paying her monthly debt'. the expressions in (43-46) are intended to mitigate inconveniences when talking about menstruation. in (43), for instance, a woman in her menstrual period is rather described as having broken her hand (for the purpose of making a 'fair' and 'polite' speech). in the olden days, menstruating women were seen to be unclean, and so they were sometimes not permitted to cook (especially for their husbands). therefore, such women were said to have 'broken their hands' so that people would not easily know why they were not going to the kitchen to prepare meals. the nzema also refer to a menstruating woman as someone who has 'gone far from home' as expressed in (44). this indicates that the woman (in that state) is somewhat isolated and prevented from certain duties in the home, including cooking. in (45), the flow of blood (which occurs monthly) is described by the nzema as a stranger who comes to visit the woman periodically. in (46), the period of menstruating is considered as a kind of debt that is paid by the woman in such circumstance. once the month ends (that is, the time for her menses is due), the woman must pay her monthly debt, and that is the process of menstruating. all the foregoing examples, which are culturally established, are euphemistic means of discussing sexuality and its related matters within the socio-cultural milieu of the people of nzema. conclusion this paper sought to explore the euphemistic-metaphoric ways of mentioning certain words that are deemed unmentionable in the context of discussing sexuality among the nzema; basing the analysis on the notions of goddard's (2006) ethno-pragmatic paradigm. the paper has brought to the fore various sexual discourse categories and how the nzema employ convenient means to discuss them; indicating that nzema communication about sex and its related issues are 'context-dependent'. the paper found that the nzema euphemistically describe the male sexual organ as 'a stick/tree', 'a pestle', 'a gun' and 'a match', while conceptualising the female sexual organ as 'property', 'mortar', 'palace', 'bible/book' and '?ba'. it demonstrated that the nzema as part of their culture do not 'freely' utter vulgar words; especially those related to sexuality and menstruation; instead, they resort to culturally established euphemistic strategies as 'a face-saving mechanism' and to mitigate the discomforts and embarrassments that might be caused when a listener hears such obscene utterances. among other interesting observations, as the discussions showcased, was that the youth (young men) besides the traditionally recognised sexual euphemisms, had constructed what i refer to in this paper as 'recent euphemistic16 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 metaphors' in describing the act of sex; perceiving the activity as a means of piercing an object, driving a vehicle and reading a text. the findings further explicated that the nzema endeavour to escape the mentioning of fual? 'menstruation' because it is perceived to be filthy and an eyesore; in essence, they 'beautify' it by describing it as a stranger/visitor, a way of paying monthly debt, among others. ndlovu (2018: 133) rightly postulates that: “in africa, words for sex, penis, vagina, anus, buttocks, and such terminologies are tabooed; rather, euphemisms are created for them”. it is evident from the findings of this research that nzema traditional values and attitudes regarding the mention of sexual organs are highly supportive of ndlovu's assertion. overall, it is revealed that one's understanding of sexual discourse among the nzema requires a fair knowledge of their cultural etiquettes regarding their linguistic choices on sexuality. appendix abbreviations used psn personal name 1sg 1st person singular 2sg 2nd person singular 3sg 3rd person singular 1pl 1st person plural 3pl 3rd person plural neg negative marker def definite article cond conditional marker con.pt conditional particle cdet clausal determiner perf perfect marker poss possessive marker emph emphatic conj conjunction hab habitual marker fut future marker prog progressive marker imp imperative dem demonstrative pronoun pl plural marker comp complementiser foc focus marker cop copula verb coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 17 18 coou journal of arts and humanities (cjah) vol. 5 no. 3, 2020 references abijo, j. a., & akandeo, o. 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