‘NYSC member can’t speak English’

[Muhsin]

Written by Aliyu M. Hamagam, Gombe     
Sunday, 04 May 2008 
DailyTrust Newspaper

The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in Gombe State has rejected the posting of one Miss Ikpeama Doris Ifeoma, over her inability to speak the English language.

Sunday Trust learnt that Ikpeama, a 28 years old Accountancy graduate of the Enugu State University of Science Technology (ESUT) and a serving corps member in the state could not communicate or write in English.

Speaking to Sunday Trust, the state coordinator, Dr. Ogo-ochi Agbo Emmanuel, said she had undergone three weeks orientation programme without being discovered until she was posted to Government Girls' Secondary School Doma Gombe for her primary assignment as classroom teacher.

She was reportedly screened by the school principal who found out that she could only speak her native language, Igbo.

She applied to the NYSC state secretariat before any complaints from the school principal that she could not go on with her primary assignment on health grounds.

While making the complaints, she was asked to lodge a formal complaint in writing by the state coordinator, Dr. Emmanuel, after some difficulty in communication with her.

Dr Emmanual said she could not write the letter, adding that the state secretariat later got the rejection letter from the secondary school, complaining of her inability to speak English.

He said the NYSC secretariat alerted the NYSC headquarters, saying that Ikpeama is now at the state secretariat pending further directives from the headquarters.

He added that she claimed to have attended the community primary and secondary schools Eziagu, her hometown, before enrolling into ESUT.

The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in Gombe State has rejected the posting of one Miss Ikpeama Doris Ifeoma, over her inability to speak the English language.

Sunday Trust learnt that Ikpeama, a 28 years old Accountancy graduate of the Enugu State University of Science Technology (ESUT) and a serving corps member in the state could not communicate or write in English.

Speaking to Sunday Trust, the state coordinator, Dr. Ogo-ochi Agbo Emmanuel, said she had undergone three weeks orientation programme without being discovered until she was posted to Government Girls' Secondary School Doma Gombe for her primary assignment as classroom teacher.

She was reportedly screened by the school principal who found out that she could only speak her native language, Igbo.

She applied to the NYSC state secretariat before any complaints from the school principal that she could not go on with her primary assignment on health grounds.

While making the complaints, she was asked to lodge a formal complaint in writing by the state coordinator, Dr. Emmanuel, after some difficulty in communication with her.

Dr Emmanual said she could not write the letter, adding that the state secretariat later got the rejection letter from the secondary school, complaining of her inability to speak English.

He said the NYSC secretariat alerted the NYSC headquarters, saying that Ikpeama is now at the state secretariat pending further directives from the headquarters.

He added that she claimed to have attended the community primary and secondary schools Eziagu, her hometown, before enrolling into ESUT.

[gogannaka]

Nigeria kenan.

I know many of them that we serverd together that can only speak pidgin.
Honestly you wouldn't want to see their letters,yet they look at the northerners as the illeterates.

If you are from the north and you speak proper english they start asking you where u studied
musamman ma yarabawa.

[Muhsin]

When discussing this story with friends yesternight, two guys who have had just finished their serving NYSC at Enugu and Kwara, respectively, shared two other stories with me.

The first one told me (us) of one lady on their compus. She lost her credentials and were luckily found later. On call to identified herself to claim back her valuables, she was asked questions--you know to make certain that she's the right owner of them. She suddenly start fretting and blurtly confessed that they are not hers but some body's. Do you understand why? She was fooled to fear she was just captured using some body's particulars as her and thats why she was called.

Later it came out in wash that ashe duka takardun ba nata bane.

The second guy told us also his. One corper was sent to one particular secondary school. He's unexpectedly called home. On his departure, he left a request letter for leaving to the principal of that school. And suddenly coprs supervisors arrived while he was away. They asked the principal where was his/her corps serving teacher. She told them that he leaves due to so-so reason but he left a letter. She handed them it. They couldn't decipher the letter cos its written in pidgin. Ka ji fa! Daga nan...

[manasmusa]

Wai! Da a Arewa ne da abin ya mana yawa (shege da hauka) ???

[King]

Gogonnaka and Muhsin, you guys may be reaching a rather erroneous conclusion regarding your association of English with intelligence or English and Education. So the youth corp member could not communicate in English as reported by the paper. So what? What if his/her education was acquired in a language other than English? What if she was raised all his/her life in a non English speaking environment? Here in Florida, most older Hispanic immigrants that have lived in America for over three decades often can't speak English in an English speaking nation. In most cases, they are not interested in learning and that is not so much of a barrier for them because of the large Hispanic community here.

Now, there are Chinese, German, Russian, Arabic, Mongolian Engineers, Doctors, lawyers, Educators, Scientists, etc that do not speak English even though thousands of their fellow country men and women do. Does that make them less intelligent? The bottom line is that education can be attained in any language. English is not the standard by which education or intelligence is measured. So it is still colonial mentality and black inferiority complex to reject someone from a Federally mandated program based on the individual's ability to 'speak English'. This is why Nigeria and by extension Africa, is lost in darkness.

To make matters worse, here are two of you celebrating your own intelligence and making an ethnic argument over what you perceive to be your wonderful mastery of the White man's language.
There are some participants in this forum that write in Hausa all the time. Do you ever see me complain even though I do not understand a word of what they write? When that happens, I see it as the individual's preference, or a language they are most comfortable in communicating their ideas and expressing themselves in. I don't think by a long shot that they are ignorant or dumb. So wake up people. The truth is, as educated as most Nigerians believe they are, general American population usually have a hard time understanding most Nigerians because of the strong Nigerian accent. In many cases, there are ignorant Americans and others that think our English is horrible (even though it is proper and grammatically correct spoken English) simply because they do not understand it. Indians also have this problem. They speak proper English, yet people get frustrated because no one can understand them.

So please, get this mentality out of your heads. Which Nigerian language is internationally spoken? Does any foreigner care about any of our languages?

[HUSNAA]

Calm down king... honestly GGNK and Muhsin are not making any aspersions on any tribe or anything. What they are trying to point out is the prevalence of mugu mugu, cuwa cuwa or what ever u choose to call it that is so rampant in our educational system whereby its so easy to go and buy yrself a set of qualifications.
What ever the language setting for learning, at least in Nigeria, the language of communication or formal learning  is undoubtedly still English. So its only assumed that anyone who has passed thro the university education must have learned some modicum of it to be able to at least PASS his/her exams. Failing to do that of course must raise the question of whether u have gone throu the system at all. So its not  the inability of these ppl to speak English that is under scrutiny here, its the implication behind the inability.. did they do wuru wuru to squeeze throu undetected so far??

[King]

Husnna, I undertand where your point, and I do understand where Muhsin and GG are coming from, but I also had to make my point the way I did just to ensure we are not confusing English comprehension with knowledge. Regarding whether or not those students went through college under wuru wuru scheme, they probably did, and should we be really surprised? Honestly, should we be surprised at all? We ought to weep because education in Nigeria has declined so miserably, and the fault lies with the leadership. Just take one look at the so called Federal universities/colleges and judge for yourself if you will refer to them as cradles of learning. Schools are not funded for one, teachers are not paid their salaries on time, there are no incentives  in the academic field, etc. As a matter of fact, until very recently, academic staff of Nigerian Universities were always knocking heads with the government and embarking on endless strike actions to protest their pathetic working conditions. All the while, our government embezzles billions of dollars, ignore education, ignore health care, ignore the average working families struggling tooth and nail to make a living, and the list goes on.

The question is, how exactly do we think our university 'graduates' would turn out under these horrendous socio economic condition? Can we even blame these half baked student for not knowing a damn thing upon graduation? Yes, they cheat. They cheat their way through the system, and that should not come to you or anyone as a surprise. If the leaders are leading with example, what do we expect the youth to do? Copy them of course. For the past 30 years we've had dysfunctional and horribly corrupt governments. Over time, they've gotten bolder in their mismanagement of the nation. In many cases, they even publicly implicate themselves in their criminal activities, and simply continue holding office to the dismay of Nigerians. Now, wasn't it just a few years ago when some Senators and members of house were being quizzed for forged diplomas and certification? Many others even refused to show proof of their acclaimed academic background. This is the legacy that Nigeria has built in the past three decades. We shouldn't expect college graduates to excel on any level when the leaders are so deficient.

[HUSNAA]

I cant fault yr argument. You 've hit the nail on the head.

[Lawwali]

Muhsin,GGNK, King & Aunty Husna contributed well. But my point is that let keep all prejudice aside irrespective of region, section or creed affiliation. There is no place in nigeria where a graduate cannot communicate in English (oral or written). The cardinal question is that with what language of instuction were that graduates thought in the Primary, secondary and finally the  tartiary level?. What king is aserting is practically not obtainable, if there could be an educator in the US that cannot communicate in English speaking naton, then it means he is using the sign language to educate people. Please let put sentiment aside and call a spade a spade. These crop of people are only obtainable in Universties and colleges that do mobolises FAKE corp members. Those institutions were listd by the NUC and are mainly from the southern part of the Country.

[Muhsin]

Wallahi tallahi, tha means I swear with my creator, I'd never expected that you King could have written above words. Had it been it was some body who told me that you did write these words, I would vehemently say he was utterly lying. Why? Am afraid to say but anyway so I have to in order to wash my self from being (further) shadowy understood or rather miscalculated.

Frankly speaking, by failing to grasp the actual what I and GGNK had earlier said, you appeared apparently obtuse. Sorry if that hurts. Thats unintended and unintentional. Rather, I wholeheartedly believe what I have had said is not out-and-out what you attached to me saying.

Let me shade a bit light of who me I. Just a common student. Youngest at KanoOnline. And I believe, there are always many inconsistencies in my English for language is never my forte. Hence, what would have come up to my head to see some body as dumb or whatsoever for not understanding it while I too know I don't yet understand it?

And to paraphrase what I said; I didn't mention these two corpres ethnicity nor their religion. I only revedaled they were on compus with these guys--the story tellers.

Secondly, I'm too in some ways against using foreign language as our medium of instruction in school. That in one of the obvious reason that we are left still undeveloped.

***edit***

While posting, Lawwali's reply was submitted. It reminds me of one very vital point I forgot to pointed-out earlier.

Thats absolutely true, Lawwali. Neither a reason nor justification could be given to protect any, I mean any, graduate who cannot speak or write English as far as Nigerian education is concern. With what language has she been taught through her primary, secondadry and her university stay? And remember or read the story that she 'read' Accountancy. Haba! Thats an ostentatious and conspicous bluffing. She, as the report says, cannot even write a letter of complain of few lines to the state secretary NYSC. Kai jama'a! Amma some body come up here trying, indirectly, to say she's not faking!

[Dan-Borno]

do you know what? if at all there is one person that registered
in this forum solely to attack Muslims or notherners in this forum
is KING.

Hardly you see Kind posting a reply in any of the general threads
except in threads that has to do with religion or in rare cases, like
in this thread things that bothers on region/tribe.

I am not surprised when King became the 4th person to reply, infact
i expect him to reply early than he did.  I am sure this is not unconnected
with the mention of the NYSC victim as coming from the southern
part of Nigeria.

regarding your association of English with intelligence or English and Education. So the youth corp member could not communicate in English as reported by the paper. So what? What if his/her education was acquired in a language other than English? What if she was raised all his/her life in a non English speaking environment?

I never expect you KING to even raise this matter as a defence while
you clearly knew that English is the official language just as you assert
that Nigeria is a secular country.

I am not saying that these groups of people are not found in the
north, no, they are everywhere, but KING you just decided to come
in because she is from the north and like a Christian, that is why you
said

as reported by the paper.

because you are in doubt as to
the authenticity of the story.

I want you to understand something, I dont know how experienced
you are regarding Nigeria.  From the family i grew up we have Christians
and Muslims.  So also, in both the north and southern part of the country
you have converts either from Christianity to Islam or Islam to Christianity
and they both have their good reasons for the conversion.  You can not
boast of not having Muslims in either your immediate or extended family
or even your tribe as far as you have one.

Why I am saying this is, you should maintain a balanced measure each
time you are sending in your contribution in this forum, you are not new
here we all know who you are and we learn from each other all day.

I doubt if there is anywhere in Muhsin and GGNK's post mentioned or even
directed at mentioning anything that has to do with religion.  However,
GGNK spoke authoritatively that our brothers from the southern part of the
country and he even specifically mentioned Yoruba (based on his experience)
that whenever they met their fellow brother who studied from the north
and can not speak English fluently, they first see you as an animal (haakuya).

No one is better than the other.  Uptil now, most white men still see
the black man as a devil and that blackness was due to lack of something.
God created us all, no one is superior to his fellow being.

Until when we stop seeing wrong in what ever other people do and embrace
reality, we will never move ahead.

[Muhsin]

Well said, DB.

[gogannaka]

King

To make matters worse, here are two of you celebrating your own intelligence and making an ethnic argument over what you perceive to be your wonderful mastery of the White man's language.

I couldn't help but laugh. No one celebrated anything.

1.Miss Ikpeama, a 28 years old Accountancy graduate of the Enugu State University of Science Technology (ESUT)

2. She applied to the NYSC state secretariat before any complaints from the school principal that she could not go on with her primary assignment on health grounds.

Your assertion that she might have been taught using her native language is out of order as the English language is the only means of instruction in all Nigerian Universities and all exams are taken/written in English.


Like DB said,i had a good experience,as i beleive many here do,as regards the way the Yoruba people boast of their superior intelligence.The same people, because they have loud mouths see whatever comes from the North as dumb.
Sorry if you are yoruba but that is the way most of them behave.I am not saying all of them o! cos they got really good ones.

FYI i am not at a tribalist at all.

[King]

Gentlemen, you guys need to settle down. You are all over-reacting for nothing. In any discussion people are going to take the opposite view from yours sometimes and at other times, may agree with your positions. The mere fact that I express certain opposing views does not mean I am your antagonist.
Muhsin and GG especially, you both need to stop being over dramatic. Dan Borno, you are placing the religion card here and accusing me of being anti Muslim. You claim that I only respond to religious issues. That is ludicrous and I reject your characterization of my posts on this site.

If you would go back and check some of my postings, you would see clearly that I respond to all kinds of discussion regardless of the subject. Not long ago, I expressed my views concerning the British Airways abuse of Nigerian passengers. Was that a religious argument? I have on numerous occasions written against the horrible Obasanjo administration and the impact of its actions on the Nigerian public. Is that a religious argument aimed at opposing Muslims? I this tread here, I criticized the government for the deplorable state of education in Nigeria. Was that religious bashing? So get your facts right before you begin to make baseless accusations.

Dan Borno, why in this World would you not expect me respond? Is the purpose of beginning a thread not for people to respond? Why then should I be silent? Listen, you cannot always expect people's opinion to mirror yours in a public forum like this. Most importantly, you shouldn't always expect opinions to be all jolly jolly. If you can't take a small spirited argument without personal feelings being hurt, then what World do you live in? I don't know about you, but in my experience, I am used to facing off on touchy, controversial, and even unpopular topics in the workplace, social gatherings, etc. I would encourage you to be a good sport and learn to allow things roll off your back.

Now having said that, you did mention after the fact that you've encountered similar non English speaking students in the north of Nigeria. You left that part out before, and then accuse me of ethnic baiting. If as you've stated now that there are non English speaking graduates nationwide when the official spoken language is English, then it goes to prove my point that the entire education system is in shambles.
This should concern you gravely because even the graduates that communicate in English are just as academically deprived as the rest.     

[HUSNAA]

King, DB (Dan Borno) is confusing you with someone who used to be on this board. That was why he took the hostile approach. Now I am not sure if u are he, though I dont think so, because you sound totally different from the other. However there is sometimes a very tinny feeling of deja vu (especially regarding yr other post on Obama and his views on jews muslims etc, when u called my sources hogwash and u did sound rather virulent and in character) but I give u the benefit of the doubt. You sound by far more intelligent than our (me and DB's) mutual friend and friendlier and not on the offensive  which is what our mutual friend is ALWAYS at.. riling and provoking ppl with ill concealed hate posts and abusive language. So far u have sounded considerate and circumspect. So I am not hoping it is the same person, but if it is, WOW! YOU HAVE CERTAINLY CHANGED (a bit only... ;D ;D ;D)