Building a little background is
important to what prompted this response. Someone on a Twitter thread questioned
the benefit of the Hausa language and asked: what has the Hausa language
brought to the North?
For a long time nobody replied to
his question. Like many who passed the tweet so many times, I too was
incredibly paralyzed to respond. I was riding for work. As buildings flew back,
I craned my head through the window, imagining the man basking in glory for the
Messiac act of seeing the truth under our noses. I itched and ached, with a
guilt, weighed down by the moral responsibility to not let this go unchallenged.
Secondly, I am shocked while
going through the Twitter thread to learn that one would be mocked in the South
for speaking indigenous language in public. Quite the opposite in the North. If you speak English in public you will
actually be looked at, though speaking the language is a sign of class and elitism.
But it’s just not our lot to speak English all the time in public as a sign of
advancement. For his penchant to speak in English, as a custodian of Hausa culture,
the Emir of Kano Muhammad Sanusi II was some weeks ago dissed for delivering a
remark in English at SOAS graduation in London while one of the Europeans spoke
in Hausa.
One of the commenters on the
thread averred: “It’s funny because no matter how worldly, cosmopolitan or
sophisticated a Chinese man is, the chances that he speaks Mandarin or Cantonese
is very high. Whereas with us, our sophistication comes along with a loss of
identity and language.”
Another agreed, putting the blame
on colonization. Nations or sub group that “experienced none or less of it
(colonization) are more likely tied to their culture, history and language.”
Compare Northern Nigeria to the
South. “The result of indirect rule in the North caused the political, social
and cultural system to barely budged,” he said. Colonial officers adopted the language
for easier communication and discharge of their duty.
I am surprised, the way our
southern counterparts, mostly Lagos-based, are surprised that we go to work in
caftan. The supervisor at the work place I am currently engaged with, a
consultant from Lagos, has jokingly expressed dismay over our love for coming
to work in Hausa dress. It’s only in Kano, he said, that he sees a bank manager
go to work in caftan. We roared in laughter in protest, all of us Hausas in the
hall, similarly surprised why we should go to work every day in suit and tie,
or as he urged us, to at least appear in jeans and shirt. This is one case from
a larger unifying sense of love for the settled culture in the North. A participant
at a financial inclusion seminar by the CBN Kano disclosed to the stakeholders
that part of the why that undermine the financial inclusion drive is the colonial
dress system of the bankers which scares rural communities away from the banks.
I grew up to a weekly supply of
Alfijr and Al-Mizan newspapers at home. Our father read the Ajami paper while
we perused the Hausa publication for the week. That someone is demanding to
know what benefits has the Hausa language brought to the North is shocking to
me to say the least, almost insulting. The heavy rhetorical question is laced with
scorn, implying that the use of the language in the North is the cause of our
development dilemma.
The question as to how speaking
the language has benefitted the North is a typical psychology of seeing
everything North bad. Excepting that, one can see immense benefit, sure. People
speak the language freely, which helps keep the written and spoken part of it
alive. Even with colonization and English as formal language, Hausa language is
still very active in the North in teaching, learning, governance, business and
diplomacy – nearly as it was before and during colonization – which ultimately
connects the people and culture to the wider world.
Pride in the language, therefore,
encourages foreigners to learn the language for business, and in some instances,
helps in forming cultural ties and discharging diplomatic duties. Chinese
business people in Kano, for instances, and the Indians, not talk of Lebanese
who made Kano their homes and early colonial officers that adopted the
language. While people globally are learning Mandarin, the Chinese learn the
Hausa language, which created not only business ties but also a strong cultural
affinity between the two cultures. There is recently a Chinese Chieftaincy in
Kano by the Kano Emirate (Sarautar Wakilin Ƴan China).
Some international development
agencies also have Hausa language desk to their businesses; technology giants
such as Facebook have since adopted the language, bringing in revenues to the
language practitioners and professionals across the fields in addition to helping
in spreading the language globally. There are over 10 international media
services broadcasting in Hausa language, more than any other language in Black
Africa, including China Radio Online whose language is the next hot cake, and over
dozen print and electronic local media operating in Hausa language.
The Kannywood Industry, which
produces films in Hausa language, has also brought immense economic and
cultural benefits, having a market presence across the West African sub-continent
and some Central African nations and beyond.
The language is also a subject of
studies in academia across continents, bringing several cultures into contact
as researchers come to learn and speak the language in the process of their work.
On the continent, Hausa is the second largest language aside Arabic with most
indigenous language-based literature, thereby preserving the language and
culture through narrative just as the English writers did for their own.
It is also a communication bridge
for the diverse ethnic groups in the North. It’s subtly, and very often,
overtly said that Hausa language is a language of colonization. I can see where
people are heading to with this argument. There might be some semblance of
truth in what they say, however, this falls flat in the face of century-old
effort by the Hausas in using their language and the pride they take in it. Hausa
language did not become Lingua Franca in the North and particularly the Middle
Belt and elsewhere via violent aggression and invasion. The credit is more to overwhelming
use of the language, trade and movement through which the people retain their
intangible cultural heritages. The biggest problem, therefore, is more of
political than the language use.
