The Implications of Vocationalizing the French Language for a Secured and More Profitable Nation

Yekini Tokunbo M.

Department of French, School of Languages

Federal College of Education, Kontagora, Niger State

E-mail: yetba@yahoo.com 

Abstract

Vocationalizing Languages in general would refer to the practical application of Languages to day-to-day affairs of the society. Its implication would go far beyond the theoretical nature and curriculum of language, well into the professionalizing of its basic essence; communication. Many today talk of profiting from Language as a vocation. Not just as “word mongers” like media broadcasters and journalists, but also as interpreters, translators, bilingual authors and secretaries of United Nations’ standard. People can actually eat-off the mastery of a foreign language such as the French language. This paper “The implications of vocationalizing the French language for a secured and more profitable nation”, emphasizes the world of good the proficiency in the language would do the nation and highlights also the rudiments of its acquisition.

Keywords:  Implications, Vocationalizing, French Language, Secured, Profitable Nation

Nigerian Federalism and the Challenges of Ethnic Identity since the 1999 Democratic Era 

Maiyaki M. Mejida

Department of History

Nasarawa State University, Keffi, Nigeria

Email: maiyaki2006nsuk@gmail.com

Abstract

The intellectual debate about modern federalism – its meaning and significance- tracks back to the late eighteenth century. The peculiar circumstances that surrounded the shift from confederation to federation in the United States of America in the years between 1781 and 1789 shaped and moulded the nature of the subsequent intellectual debate in a way which had far-reaching consequences for understanding one of the most important historical innovations in modern government and politics. The American federal model established in 1789 was based upon a set of core principles that were consciously imitated by others, and in consequence it helped to spark an enduring analytical debate about what it meant to be ‘federal’. Federalism is the darling of various developing and even developed nations. Many nations opted for this marriage of convenience due to the multi-ethnic nature of their cultural groups. Thus, the adoption of federal structure became popular as a way of managing the diversity of culturally heterogeneous societies. Nigeria opted for it as it is a nation of over four hundred diverse cultural groups in 1963 when it became a republic. The Nigerian federalism, modeled along the American Federalism, was hoped that the system will ensure inclusion rather than exclusion of all the cultural groups in representative governance. The aim of this study, using the principle of inclusive governance, is to give an assessment of this compromise arrangement in Nigeria, its feasibility in the face of the current ethnic nationalities challenges that besiege it since the commencement of this presently uninterrupted democratic governance which came on board in 1999. The findings of the study showed that Federalism will only work effectively in Nigeria if less premium is placed on political power calculation of extreme measures to win and to maintain political power.