A poor education system in Nigeria is among the causes of the declining quality of spoken English in the country reports Today. Scarce English language teachers, cultural and environmental influence, influence of mother tongue and the influence of Pidgin English are among other factors that have led to the poor quality of English in the West African country according to polls.
The survey also revealed that there is relatively poor reading culture in Africa’s most populous country, with only 4 percent of Nigerians reading a book or a piece of literary material daily. It further revealed that only 65 percent of Nigerian citizens understand or communicate effectively in English.
The survey recommended that English proficiency should become mandatory when recruiting candidates for employment in the country to put pressure on prospective candidates to learn basics of the language.
At least 89 percent of Nigerians are willing to pay a fee to improve their written and spoken English. However, the report recommends that only competent teachers should be employed to teach English language, in addition good reading culture should be promoted across Nigeria, as well as continuous training of English Language teachers and there should be improvement of the standard of education in public schools.
Recent results published by the National Examinations Council showed that Nigerian students performed poorly in English.
English is the official National Language in Nigeria and is also rated as the world’s most popular language.
