A United States–based language expert, Dr. Foluso Okebiorun, has called for the inclusion of Nigerian Pidgin English in the national school curriculum, describing the language as a vital unifying force and cultural asset that reflects the nation’s creativity and resilience.
Okebiorun, a former faculty member at Northshore Community College in Massachusetts and a former public school teacher in Lagos, made the call in a recent study on Nigerian Pidgin usage.
The study was first presented at the Society of Pidgin and Creole Languages Conference in the United States in 2022 and later published in an academic volume in 2024.
She observed that although attitudes toward Nigerian Pidgin vary, the language has become an indispensable means of communication across social classes and media platforms—citing the BBC News Pidgin service as a major example of its growing influence.
“Nigerian Pidgin is more than just a language; it is a societal symbol that unites Nigerians. It reflects our history, resilience, and creativity,” she argued.
Her research, which examined inscriptions on public transport vehicles in Nigeria, found that Pidgin expressions were often preferred to those in other languages. These expressions, she noted, commonly convey “defiance, protest, aggression, experience, and advice,” demonstrating the expressive power and cultural depth of the language.
Okebiorun emphasised that Nigerian Pidgin possesses proverbs, idioms, humour, and linguistic patterns characteristic of a fully developed language. She maintained that incorporating it into schools would enrich learning, validate students’ lived experiences, and affirm the linguistic creativity born from the fusion of English and indigenous languages.
She also highlighted Pidgin’s potential to promote national unity, noting that in a multilingual nation with over 500 languages, it serves as a common lingua franca that transcends ethnic and regional divides.
“It is time for Nigeria to embrace its linguistic reality,” she said. “By incorporating Nigerian Pidgin into the school system, we can preserve our cultural identity, promote inclusivity, and foster mutual understanding among students from different regions.”
The scholar recommended that Nigerian Pidgin be taught as a subject in secondary schools and called for the development of a standardised orthography to ensure formal recognition and consistency in its use.
She further urged policymakers, educators, and parents to see Pidgin not as a threat to English proficiency but as a bridge to it—arguing that its deep borrowing from English vocabulary can create a more inclusive and comfortable learning environment.
To overcome challenges around teaching materials and standardisation, Okebiorun proposed collaboration between the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council, linguists, and researchers to produce textbooks, dictionaries, and teacher-training programmes.
Daniel Ayantoye @ThePUNCH
