Conference Paper

Language Policy and Social Conflict in Contemporary Nigeria: Examining Minority Language Exclusion in North-Central Nigeria

Language policy is an important factor in shaping live of an individual and creating national harmony in multilingual societies like Nigeria where we have over 500 indigenous languages co-existing such as Yoruba, Igbo, Uhrobo, Tiv, Isekiri, Hausa, Eggon, e.t.c. In Nigeria, language is not only a means of communication but also a means of identity, power, and access to state affairs. However, despite this diversity, English language remains the official language, while a few indigenous languages such as Hausa, Yoruba, and Igbo are more recognized and used in different sectors like education, media, politics and governance. This set up has cause the marginalization of many minority language groups, particularly in the North-Central of the country, where language diversity is tied to ethnic identity and politics. We examined how minority language exclusion influences unpleasant thoughts and emotions thereby leading to social conflict and cohesion in our country today thereby using qualitative approach to analyze data from sources like newspapers, television interviews, journals. We examined the rapport between language policy, cultural recognition, and resentment among minority communities in North-Central Nigeria and findings shows that the exclusion of minority languages in education, public administration, politics and media contributes to the conflict in our society. Therefore, we concluded that inclusion of language policies, particularly promoting minority languages in education and governance, can improve national integration thereby reducing social conflict in our nation. Our paper proposes stronger implementation of multilingual policies that acknowledge language diversity as an instrument for peace building and democracy in Nigeria. Keywords: language policy, conflict, marginalized languages, North-Central of Nigeria, minority language