International Journal of Arts and Humanities (IJAH)

This paper views language and communication as veritable tools for actualizing the anticipated ‘change agenda’ of the present government in Nigeria. Prior to the 2015 general elections, the country suffered from tripodal problems of corruption, insecurity and increasing poverty rate among the populace. This horrendous experience midwife Nigerians seek for change and reform which the present government promised during its campaign. However, a major challenge to the change agenda is the problem of effective communication and appropriate use of language(s) within Nigeria’s multiethnic and multilingual environment. Using Roman Jakobson’s functions of language and factors of communication as our theoretical guide, the paper establishes the indispensability of language and communication in the functioning of human society. It considers the prominence given to the use of English language over the indigenous languages in Nigeria as detrimental to the change agenda in a country where majority of the citizens cannot speak or write in English. The paper also notes lack of effective communication between government and the governed as another factor that may hinder the actualization of the anticipated change. It is in this regard that the paper recommends the re-designing of Nigeria’s “multilingual’ language policy to accommodate the use of more indigenous languages for participation of majority in the change process. Also, a participatory communication model should be adopted for use in governance in order to make communication more effective and all inclusive.