International Journal of English Linguistics; Vol. 4, No. 5; 2014 ISSN 1923-869X E-ISSN 1923-8703 Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education 52 Language Attitudes among the Political Class in Nigeria: Implications for National Development Wasiu Ademola Oyedokun-Alli 1 1 Department of English and Literary Studies, Federal University, Oye – Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria Correspondence: Wasiu Ademola Oyedokun-Alli, Department of English and Literary Studies, Federal University, Oye – Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria. E-mail: wasiu.oyedokun@fuoye.edu.ng or demolaoyedokun@gmail.com Received: May 9, 2014 Accepted: September 1, 2014 Online Published: October 1, 2014 doi:10.5539/ijel.v4n5p52 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ijel.v4n5p52 Abstract It is an acknowledged fact that language plays pivotal roles in issues relating to national development. However, in most developing bilingual/multilingual societies, Nigeria inclusive, despite the claim to the contrary, people still cling to primordial sentiment over and above nationalistic ethos. This study seeks to examine language attitude among the political class in Nigeria, and these (attitudes) affect the country’s attempt towards national integration and development. The thrust of the paper is that contrary to the widely-held view that economy and technology are the major (or main) indices of development, language issues are also of paramount importance in national growth and development. It recommends a much more proactive measure in tackling language issues in our national discourse. Keywords: language attitudes, political class, national development 1. Introduction All over the world, languages play vital roles in politics, economy, information, culture and education. The preponderance of language as an integral part of culture in a nation’s life cannot be too strongly emphasized. This is why Nkosi (1999) submits that: The relationship between language and national culture cannot be too strongly emphasized. Like other people black African possess a rich and living heritage in philosophy, ethics, religion and artistic creation, the deepest roots of which are embedded in the rich soil of African languages. To repossess that tradition means not only unlocking the caskets of syntax, disentangling metaphysics from poetry and proverbs, it also means extracting social philosophy, habit of moral thoughts from the rhythm, imagery…sometimes from the very circumlocution of the nature African speech. From the foregoing, it becomes intuitively evident that, giving the stimulus-response theories of the behaviorists, and within the theoretical framework of behaviorism, Lyons (1981).Language attitude is seminal to any discourse in politics and administration, especially in developing countries, Nigeria inclusive. What is basic is that language is a means of communication for the purpose of human social intercourse and a major instrument of thought. Dunmoye (1991) contends that it is misleading to equate “nation with state” or think that a nation is synonymous with a “country”. In his analysis, a nation consists of a people, culturally distinct who share a common language, common customs and traditions, who occupy a fixed territory, entertain a sense of belonging, and also share the willingness and hope of living together in future”. He defines a “state” as a political community, an organization which exercises coercive authority over all inhabitants of a territory from this analytical view point, one can rightly conclude that, Nigeria as it were is a multinational state. 1.1 Language Situation in Nigeria Nigeria, like many countries of the world is a multilingual state. According to Lasisi (1989), citing the authority of Hansford (1971), the number of Nigerian languages is estimated between 390 and 400” of all these languages is Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba constitute the dominant languages and serve as the lingua franca in the erstwhile three regions of the country-North, East and West respectively. In yet another account it is established that “there are about 400 languages in Nigeria (Bamgbose, 1971; Osaji, 1979), many of them vernaculars, out of which only