NAL, DISCIPLINES, DEMAGOGUERY AND DEMOCRACY
Victor C. Ariole contends that Nigerian Academy of Letters and others are poised to give a new orientation to disciplines, and to ensure humans matter
Nature makes itself available for all to observe and to deduce knowledge processes. It understands its multilinguality disposition and it is open to many cultural interpretations, not just science culture, or science language. Consequently, Democracy is just an epiphenomenon or epi-cultural knowledge that must be true to nature… – Anonymous
Nigerian Academy of Letters (NAL) just ended its 26th Convocation and lecture entitled: “Democracy and Demagoguery” at the time Nigerians are in protest mood of either proving that democracy works
or that it is a mere illusion as it harbors a lot of demagoguery; and that if true democracy is humane and embodies great respect for humanity all disciplines relating to how best to make the planet enjoyable to humans ought to get the government to rethink its inhuman policies. How can one say that democracy is a game of numbers and almost all the children who came out protesting against bad governance in Nigeria on August 1st speak, hear and act in Hausa language and culture in a Northern Nigeria where Hausa language is spoken by most of the people but not true and true centripetally Hausa culture, as the majority of Almajiri Children and the Hausa people are oppressed by covert cultural minorities like the Fulani, Bambara and Zarma (North-West) making their Zanga Zanga move irrelevant; Kanuri, Shuwa and Bade (North-East) not minding that Hausa is their common language; so many other languages that in Gwoza area alone you can count up to 20 languages and their cultural expressions – Kanuri, Cineni, Dghwede, Glavda, Guduf, Gvoko, Mafa, Waja, etc.
Two of the lectures delivered in the gathering of NAL are about linguistic democracy and how to make Nigerians speak their mother tongues as a democratic right notwithstanding their correlation contrast with poverty just as it is for the relative majority in Nigeria who speak Hausa. The second paper expresses the right or not to withhold the immense knowledge available in over 600 Nigerian languages being solicited by the current Artificial Intelligence revolution in the world, through Digital Humanities.
Coincidentally in the same University of Lagos where NAL was holding its conference entitled: “Demagoguery and Democracy”, Unilag Distance Learning Institute (DLI) was also holding its conference entitled: “The massive and ubiquitous invasion of the Education landscape by Artificial Intelligence: whither Open, Flexible and Gistance learning?”, hosted and chief hosted by Prof. Risikat (Happiness/Joy) Dauda and Prof. Folasade Ogunsola, Director and Vice-Chancellor respectively. In between them at the honors’ table is the (Emeritus) President of Nigeria – Matthew Aremu Okikiola Olusegun Obasanjo, (Ph.D NOUN), not honorary, well deserving as an accolade of what Artificial Intelligence does and why Distance Learning on AI must be supported. What interested me mostly in that setting is how to debunk the great dose of demagoguery going on currently in the world as AI is about to be connected in it – politically correctness of gender multiplication, artistically corrupted pictures, fake news, liberal mindsets devoid of nature friendliness, etc.
Seun Okinbaloye and Ayo Makinde, the anchors of Unilag DLI colloquium were also attracted by the outlook of Obasanjo, well known for his Africaness, conservative and doggedness in keeping in tune with Nature and what is best for Africa, looking very young as shielded by two beautiful and elegant ladies in that gathering – both knowing the power of womanliness without being on the political correctness of gender, non-binary brouhaha. That again, another area AI should be shielded against. For DLI, it is mass production of quality human beings like Obasanjo and his NOUN (National Open University of Nigeria) experience. Akinbaloye threw a great challenge to the AI practitioners to produce a human robot like President Obasanjo if AI is to be trusted, so that Nigeria will be autopiloted and avoid Zanga Zanga protests. When you have an “Okanlawon” which for now seems to be Obasanjo, just like the DLI gathering projected, not fake one, shielded by two great ladies, it will be hard to enter into “Kumolu” state in Nigeria as the protest and hardship cry is portraying. Okanlawon and Kumolu are issues in dialectics among the Yorubas like Ahamaefula and Obiageri are to the Igbos. Both, full of Democracy and Demagoguery as anyone could decide to make “Okanlawon” a non-issue as well as “Ahamaefula”, as long as African languages find themselves in the template of Artificial Intelligence giving expressions to the multiplicity of cultures in Africa that remain greatly complementary in making Nature come out in its greatest beauty. Hausa language and culture see it in a better way, as cross-dressing is allowed towards bringing correction. For the Hausa, the current demagoguery of political correctness or not of binary gender issues is not new. Yan Dauda (Gay intents) for example, is seen as part of the dialectics of Babu Nakasashe and Sai Kasasshe according to some Hausa scholars. Whether you choose to behave like a man or a woman, as long as it does not lead to death or disability, no qualms. This is expected of the new disciplines in scholarship called Terminology and Localization. With such disciplines multiculturality and multilinguality will come to be truly global. It is research in perpetuity as languages and culture metamorphose the way a language is currently brewing in Antarctica based on its newness to humanity.
The President of Nigerian Academy of Science (NAS)
while commending NAL and its collaborative works with
NAL acknowledges such design that culminates in the greatest beauty and what Africa can do to showcase itself as the friendliest continent of Nature. Another elegant woman manning NAS – Professor Ekanem Ikpe Braide.
Both the Nigerian Academy of Science, and Nigerian Academy of Letters combined with the Distance Learning Institute of the University of Lagos are poised to give a new orientation to disciplines and to make sure humans matter.
Demagoguery is part of “Human DNA” and as scientists say, the chimpanzee is quantitatively more endowed in DNA than humans; that is why it leads better in imitating Nature. Humans have just 99% of Chimpanzee’s. Chimpanzees can operate in the night as well as in the day; they can also jump up and down seamlessly, they can mix up with humans on a dining table without being detected in the night; they harbor viruses that humans cannot withstand, and there are human beings who are almost becoming chimpanzees in the current world of mistrust and distrust; the politicians are in great numbers as chimpanzees; hence to avoid the human race facing anaphylactic shock that could lead to its death, there is need to remove the hands of chimpanzees in the conviviality of humanity and great garden of Nature that feeds humans before darkness comes, because when darkness comes those hands could no more be discernible. They would be seen as human hands. So, let world disciplines in our universities start disproving the demagoguery contents of their courses and bring humanity to a better state. Nigerian government should hear that for the greater well-being of Africans and avoidance of a lot of policy somersaults that renders human beings as dispensable.
Ariole is Professor of French and Francophone Studies at University of Lagos
