By Ishola Balogun
The Director/ Chief Executive Officer, Nigeria French Language Village, Ayeleru has said security operatives in the country can fight insurgency and banditry better by learning French language, noting that since it was believed that a large chunk of the insurgents hail from French speaking countries in West and Central Africa with close proximity to Northern Nigeria, the result would help to strengthen the fight against the terrorists.
Prof Ayeleru said if more security personnel learned the language, they would be better equipped in intelligence gathering in order to frustrate their despicable plans.
Prof. Ayeleru, who stated this while interacting with select journalists at the Village Badagry, stressed that French as a second language promotes linguistic duality, adding that even in employment opportunities, French-speaking job seekers stand a better chance than their unilingual counterparts.
“We teach those in Customs, Immigration, Naval officers and Armed Forces generally as well as those in Foreign Service and the DSS. They all know the import of French as it would affect intelligence gathering.
“Like you know, most of these people are foreigners who come from different countries into our own country. We are surrounded by Francophone countries and if our neighbours are Francophone, once we relate with them and we are minimally proficient in French, we can begin to gather a lot of intelligence that will help in checking their operation.
Prof Ayeleru added that translation or interpretation can be distorted and damage the communication process. “That is why there is a saying that if you are doing translation, you have the tendency of cheating in a way. Somebody is saying something, you can decide to make the translation mild or more serious or even keep the fact. But if you speak the language, you do not need to go through any translator or interpreter who can distort the facts. “Besides, if you understand the language, the way you will gather information will be different from somebody who has a document and does not speak French and relies on someone else to do the translation.”
He added that over 72,000 students from various tertiary institutions including other categories of Nigerian learners had been trained in French language over the years.
Ayeleru stated that in line with the mission to which the school was set up, the Nigerian French Village is committed to developing French language in the country, and fostering a culture of transnational bilingualism for nation building, and international cooperation.
“Apart from the fact that students who undergo their Language Immersion course in the French Village exhibit higher levels of competence in French Language after their Immersion programme compared to the few who still travel out of the country for the same programme, the establishment of the French Village has saved the nation millions of dollar in forex,” Ayeleru said.
He said the village also organised workshops and refresher courses for about 561 teachers across the federation, hundreds of personnel from Ministries, parastatal, agencies and private companies such as Ministry of Defence, Nigeria Airspace Management, Nigeria Navy, Nigeria Police Force among others.
He lamented that in spite of the fact that the institution is in the same status with other universities, the school has been delisted from TETFund since 2010, even as it remains as one of the best projects that had emerged on that national educational terrain, the inadequate funding, according to him is a major setback. He surmised that with the dynamic approach of the present management in massive rehabilitation of classrooms and other facilities, poised to take the school to higher level, re-listing into the TETFund and further financial assistance will enable the service tertiary institution achieve its core mandate.
“The unfortunate delisting of the Village from TETfund beneficiary over the years has stunted infrastructure and staff development growth. I hope the issue of TETfund will be addressed soon.
It receives the least allocation of all institutions operating within the ambit of the National Universities Commission (NUC). And small as its budget is, it is only partially released.
“The cost of running the Village almost exclusively on diesel, monthly salary payment to Action Guards, payment of labourers and cleaners all sourced from the paltry Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), the cost of maintaining the Village hostels, classrooms and residential buildings, the environment and vehicles, leave at the end of the day the Village in deficit which continues to mount every month,” he stated.
“In spite of the fact that the institution is in the same status with other universities, it has been delisted from TETFund since 2010. “It receives the least allocation of all institutions operating within the ambit of the National Universities Commission (NUC). And small as its budget is, it is only partially released.
“The cost of running the Village almost exclusively on diesel, monthly salary payment to Action Guards, payment of labourers and cleaners all sourced from the paltry Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), the cost of maintaining the Village hostels, classrooms and residential buildings, the environment and vehicles, leave at the end of the day the Village in deficit which continues to mount every month,” he stated.
“The Village has been experiencing the…
