A Sociolinguistics Application of Language, Culture and Communication as Panacea to Incessant Conflicts and Banditry in North-West, Nigeria

Abstract

The tenant of peace has been distorted with bunches of crises, especially in the Northern part of Nigeria. Security in the Nigerian states has become a major problem in recent times. Cases of abduction, kidnapping, terrorism, senseless killings, maiming, nihilism, burgeoning restlessness, banditry and others vices, have been unabatedly rampant. Therefore, Nigerian citizens, despite the state security apparatus to ensure the safety and protection of lives and property, are incessantly living in perpetual fear and worry. It is against this backdrop that this research article employs other means of trying to resolve the scenario of crises and banditry through the application of sociolinguistics, language, culture and communication as a panacea to incessant crises and banditry in Northern Nigeria. The principal aim of the study is to identify how language and culture could lead to the achievement of peacebuilding across the Northern Nigerian states, especially in North-west Nigeria. Interviews and questionnaires were complementarily adopted to gather data for the study. Whorf Hypothesis Theory was used as the theoretical framework of analysis for the study. On the whole, the study discovered among other things that, language, culture and effective communication are better instruments for settling disputes rather than the use of force. Therefore, the study concludes that the roles of language, communication and culture in the management of crises and other conflict-related activities can never be over-emphasized in the settling of disputes among warring parties.