Soldiers have been told that they must learn the three major Nigerian languages. Here’s why. If you want to join the Nigerian army today, you’ve got to be fluent in the country’s three major languages of Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba.Serving soldiers must also be able to communicate in the three major languages. Minority languages be damned!Sorry, we didn’t make the rules, the army did. A statement by army spokesperson Colonel Sani Usman, detailed reasons why the army hierarchy arrived at the decision to make mastery of indigenous languages a must for battle ready personnel.We look at five of those:1. It’s a global thingAccording to the army top brass, soldiers being multi-lingual is a globally accepted practice. Why shouldn’t Nigeria borrow that leaf? “The Nigerian Army has introduced a new Language Policy. The study of foreign and local languages is world-wide practice among armies, in which officers and soldiers are encouraged to be multi-lingual”, the statement read. Ok, we get it.2.
