The Role of Language in Enhancing National Security in the 21st Century: The Case of Nigeria.

Abstract

The paper focuses on how language can play a role in enhancing national security in the 21st century, using Nigeria, a multilingual nation, as a case study. It begins by examining the effect of speeches made by highly placed politicians and political office holders in the country. The paper advocates a restraint in the use of hostile utterances that could result in the disintegration of the country and suggests the use of subtle utterances in order to promote national security in Nigeria. It further tries to elucidate the importance of appropriate use of language in promoting understanding among the populace in the country. The data generation technique for this study is through the content analysis of secondary data such as previous research, journals, magazines, newspapers, text books, and publications on the web. The study is purely historical, and the analysis is descriptive in nature. The paper also seeks to determine the implications of inappropriate use of language on security, peaceful coexistence, business operations, and investment in Nigeria. It advocates the use of subtle/appropriate language in politics, our mundane activities, and the appropriate formulation and accomplishment of policies capable of tackling the basic causes of insecurity in Nigeria.