By Farooq Kperogi I have watched this video of Nnamdi Azikiwe’s November 16, 1960, inauguration as Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief o...
By Farooq Kperogi
I have watched this video of Nnamdi Azikiwe’s November 16, 1960, inauguration as Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria many times. Four things struck me about it.
%20with%20political%20associates,%20October%201960.jpg)
First, remove the dates and the names Azikiwe mentioned and the speech would still be relevant in today’s Nigeria. We are still stuck in national babyhood, endlessly quibbling over why we should or should not be a country.
Second, our linguistic habits have remained remarkably unchanged since the 1960s. Although the people in this video were taught directly by white people, their English pronunciation is not markedly different from that of those of us who never heard native English speakers in our primary and secondary schools. Azikiwe, for example, pronounced “northerners” as “notanas.” Like many modern Nigerians, he also used the expression “comity of nations” to mean community of nations, not its standard meaning of the courteous respect countries have for one another’s sovereignty.
Third, our obsession with acknowledging post-nominal alphabets of esteem is an original “sin.” After mentioning the name of his predecessor, James Robertson, Azikiwe affixed to it those annoying bits of alphabet soup: GCMG, GCCO, KBE.
Finally, notice that the colonially sanctioned national anthem sung at this event is the very anthem Tinubu restored in 2024, which suggests that Nigeria’s future is actually in its past.
No comments
Share your thoughts and opinions here. I read and appreciate all comments posted here. But I implore you to be respectful and professional. Trolls will be removed and toxic comments will be deleted.