ISSN: 2158-7051
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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF
RUSSIAN STUDIES
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ISSUE NO. 1 ( 2012/1 )
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ISSN: 2158-7051 ==================== INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RUSSIAN STUDIES ==================== ISSUE NO. 1 ( 2012/1 ) |
RUSSIAN
STUDIES IN NIGERIAN UNIVERSITIES: 1965 TO THE PRESENT
KAYODE. O. OMOTADE*
Summary
Russian
Studies in Nigerian Universities has been a subject of discussion at various
academic fora. This paper thus discusses the birth, growth and sustenance of Russian
Studies at the Universities of Ibadan and
Key
words: Russian Studies, Foreign Language
Departments, University of Ibadan, and University
of Lagos.
Introduction
Russian
Studies has come a long way in the history of university education in
Russian
Studies is just beginning to take its desired place in the constellation of
other European languages introduced after independence in the 1960s. Hitherto,
the scope of learning a foreign language has been limited, in that not much
opportunity has been provided because of the colonial situation in which many
African countries found themselves until after 1960. This has so much affected
our Nigerian universities that they are still struggling to ward off many of
the Western European traditions that still permeate their curricula in order to
truly reflect on the needs of
It
is, perhaps, in recognition of the importance of language and foreign language
acquisition that Healy (1967:24), asserts that:
Language
,whether one’s own or one acquired later , is a gateway to a culture, as well
as a means of communication; to show students how to pass through these
gateways is surely a worthwhile task, and one which our Universities must never
relinquish.
This
paper, therefore, investigates the history of Russian Language/Studies in
The Birth of Russian Studies at the
Odunuga
(2004), avers that Russian Studies had been introduced into the
The
introduction of Russian Studies is further articulated in the revised edition
of the Students’ Handbook, Department of
European Studies (2010:01) thus;
Russian
was introduced in 1965 with one lecturer to provide ancillary tuition for
science and agriculture students. Further development of Russian language
culminated in the creation of a full honours degree programme in 1979. Thus, by
the close of the 1970s, three first-degree programmes had been fully and firmly
established in the department.
The
three degree programmes set up in the Faculty of Arts of the University College
Ibadan (UCI), are French, German (1959/60) and Russian, (1965). It is also
necessary to mention the submission of Emeritus Professor, Ayo Banjo, while
delivering the keynote address at an academic conference held in honour of
Professor Segun Odunuga:
Professor
Segun Odunuga has pioneered the teaching of Russian at University level in this
country, and this conference marks his exit from a Department in which he has
worked for almost forty years and whose orientation he has helped to shape over
the years. (Banjo, 2004)
In
a similar vein, Omotade Kayode (2004:134), in line with Banjo’s assertion
states that: “Odunuga is the first Professor of Russian language, south of
Sub-Saharan Africa. An awardee of the highly prestigious and contentious
Pushkin medal of honour” It was therefore not by accident that he became the
flagship of Russian Studies in
Aduke Adebayo (2004:viii), while commenting on
the birth, sustenance and growth of Russian Studies in Nigeria, and specifically
at the University of Ibadan, extols the
virtues of Odunuga and Russian Studies, submitting
that he was “the first Nigerian to study the Russian language, he started his
studies at the Friendship University, Moscow in 1960. He has encouraged many
Nigerians to take up the study of Russian”. In view of the foregoing, it is pertinent
to take an insightful look into Odunuga’s contribution to the growth of Russian
Studies in
Segun
Odunuga was appointed a lecturer in the erstwhile Department of Modern
Languages in March 1966, where he taught singlehandedly until 1976, when
another lecturer was appointed to teach the increasing number of students. He
facilitated the academic linkage programme between the Pushkin Institute,
Moscow, wrote the Russian syllabi for both the University of Ibadan and the
University of Lagos, and has continued to show keen interest for the language
he gave birth to in Nigeria, some four decades ago (Adebayo, 2004).
Russian Studies and
Modern European Languages
The
Department of European Studies, formerly known as the Department of Modern
European Languages, was one of the first departments created by the new
The
department adopted its present designation of ‘European Studies’ during the
1995/96 session. This present designation is to adequately reflect the broad
focus of the department in the teaching and study of European civilization and
culture, and contemporary European societies. This focus includes not only
languages and literature, but also regional histories and institutions,
politics and economies, thoughts as well as European Studies.
Odunuga too has this to say:
I
changed the name so as to change the orientation of the Department of European
Studies. From what I envisaged, Language would be one of the core courses to be
taken, but then, you must have a broad knowledge of
Odunuga
was in a position of authority as Head of Department when he changed the
nomenclature of ‘Modern European Languages’ to ‘European Studies’ after due
deliberation at a Departmental meeting.
The Departmental
Students’ Handbook (2010) states that the
vision of the Department is to be a foremost Department providing first class
knowledge in European languages, cultures and literatures for relevant
development of the individual, the nation and the international community.
Based on this postulation, it becomes evident that languages go beyond acquisition of basic skills in the humanities;
it involves firstly, the language, culture, society, history, politics and environment
such that it becomes a useful tool also for the scientists, agriculturists,
social scientists and policy makers. Whoever has business in
The
revised Departmental Handbook (2010:02),
while explaining the mission statement of the Department submits that:
The Department of European Studies which offers Bachelor’s degree programmes in French, German and Russian and also Postgraduate programmes in French, Translation and European Studies, is set to produce competitive and accomplished multilingual graduates who, in addition to English and other languages, have a good oral and written mastery of the languages offered in the Department. Furthermore, the Department aims at producing graduates who will be able to participate effectively, with their vintage multilingual competence and well-informed knowledge of transnational issues as well as of linguistics, in the administration and management of Education, Technology, Computer Science, Commerce, Industry, International Trade, Diplomacy, Information and the Civil Service.
Apart from producing Russian Studies graduates, as mentioned above, services and competent advice is also provided at the University and national level in the areas of transnational issues, linguistics, translation/translators, interpretation/interpreters, travel and tourism and feasibility study for intended businessmen and women in Russia and Nigeria.
On
her justification of a Department of European Studies that offers foreign
languages, Russian being one, the Departmental
Handbook (p,2) states thus:
For
The
argument embedded above is a clarion call for the Nigerian government,
stakeholders, policy makers and education enthusiasts to incorporate a foreign
language department in all higher institutions as a means of educational,
national and capacity development.
Russian Studies at the
The
Department of European Languages is one of the oldest departments in the
Faculty of Arts of the
According
to the Department of European Languages
Brochure, the philosophy of Russian Language in the university
curricula states that with the
imperative need for Nigeria to be an integral part of the Global Village and in
the context of the leadership role that Nigeria has to play in international
politics and diplomacy, ...the importance of major European Languages cannot be
relegated to the background in the curriculum of Nigerian Universities, whose
central objective is to prepare and provide the much needed manpower for the
development of our country and also for the sustenance of its administrative
machinery. The Russian language as the lingua franca of the transnational language
of the old
The Russian language programme of the
In
sum, Russian Studies is a degree course in only two federal Nigerian
Universities. There should be a geographical spread for language departments, at
least in Nigerian universities.
The Educational Year Abroad Programme (E.Y.A.P) at
the
The
Educational Year Abroad Programme (E.Y.A.P), otherwise known as the immersion
programme, is an integral part or year in the four − year degree Russian
language course at the Universities of Ibadan and
Odunuga (2004:20), asserts that:
By
1980, we had started the programme and we had to go on a year abroad. Professor
Olaide (then V.C) and I went to
During
the Soviet period, the Year Abroad Programme had been sponsored jointly by the Soviet
and Nigerian government up till 1990, but when the Soviet Union collapsed in
1991, due to centrifugal forces and its internal ethnic dynamics, the
Educational Year Abroad Programme (EYAP) was subsequently abolished due to the
democratic reforms of capitalism in the new Russia, while the Nigerian
government failed to take responsibility for full sponsorship.
Besides the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Educational
Year Abroad Programme also witnessed a plethora of problems that prevented the
students from going to
I did
scrap the Year Abroad Programme. I had to scrap it. The intention was to send
students to Moscow for one year, then to come back and graduate...but they,
(the students) were no longer coming back and graduate ...at a stage, I had no
final year students anymore...what is the essence of sending them on the Year
Abroad which is meant to improve their knowledge of the language and they
turned it into an escape route?...Our own students for economic reasons don’t
come back (Odunuga, 2004:24).
Educational Year Abroad Programme; Which way
Forward?
The Educational Year Abroad Programme is an
integral component of any foreign language learning. This is meant to integrate
the students with the owners of the language being studied and their culture.
Without mincing words, the study of Russian language in
Those
who have benefitted from the E.Y.A.P will willingly testify to the huge
difference between learning Russian with and without the E.Y. A P. The students
that refused to come back after their immersion programme in Russia (and
Germany, for German Studies) did so due to better conditions of living and
learning abroad; more viable economy;
stable and crisis−free educational calendar; and access to excellent learning
conditions, such as infrastructure, language laboratory, electricity, modern
and recent books, well equipped library, student and staff development
programmes amongst other issues.
The
A more practical approach can be applied to
avoid the E.Y.A.P brain drain. Students on the E.Y.A.P should be allowed to
spend a specific period of time, maybe at the first or second year in Russia, and
then complete their final− year first or second semester there, so that, the
issue of not returning to Nigeria is settled. This is the approach used in the
language department of Ghanaian Universities where Russian is studied as a
degree programme. The
Furthermore,
knowledge of people and society, of the human mind and recorded human
experience, of knowledge of others and, consequently, a thorough understanding
of our own, is the essence of education in the humanities. It must also be mentioned that students of the
Russian unit of the
The Challenges of Post
− Colonialism and Russian Studies in Nigerian Universities
The
knowledge of Russian varies from faculty to faculty and also between
individuals, but something that is common is, perhaps, this misunderstanding of
referring to Russian Studies only in terms of the Russian language. This is
borne probably out of ignorance of academics and the general readers who should
know better.
On the
challenges of post-colonialism, Dele
Layiwola, in his inaugural lecture aptly titled: “A Place Where Three Roads Meet: Literature, Culture and Society,(2009/2010)
cites Achebe (1982:550) thus:
What
are the factors which have conspired to place English in the position of
national language in many parts of
Layiwola
(p,13), sheds more light on the influence of colonization by arguing that the
colonial factor in language and cultural events has been a critical factor in
the intellectual and artistic output of artists in Africa, Europe, the
Americas, Asia and the Pacific. It is true that in Africa and Asia, the English
language has always contended with indigenous languages on the school
curriculum so that the question is not so much on the absence of a (mother)
tongue but on the need to discover a (father’s) voice.
Ayo
Banjo, in his keynote address, while asking rhetorically whether, in spite of
colonization in Africa, we should still be teaching European Languages and
European Studies in African Universities,
answers in the affirmative by stating that a university, wherever it is
in the world, is not a propaganda outfit but an institution dedicated to the
disinterested pursuit of Knowledge. It so happens that
The
development of foreign languages in
It is a known fact that language is a means of
communication and communication is the fundamental purpose of learning any foreign
language. It is also important to mention that many African countries
introduced French and English (in Francophone and English speaking countries,
respectively) as a matter of priority in order that communication with
neighbouring countries could be easier. As a result of this, French became the
dominant and most popular modern language, being taught in
Currently,
there are relatively many secondary schools (public and private) in
Oladele
Awobuluyi (2010), however, contends that language is uniquely a human
phenomenon and that language and state or nation are inseparable. Giving
credence to the above assertion, Josef Stalin, one time leader of the
disintegrated
A
nation is a historically constituted stable community of people, formed on the basis
of a common language, territory, economic life, and psychological make-up
manifested in a common culture.
(http:/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation,pp9-10)
Specifically
on the Russian language within the Soviet space, Stalin, while referring to the
Russians, concluded that the Russians were “the most outstanding nation of all
nations within the
From
the aforementioned, language, in sum, serves as a means of uniquely identifying
that nation and differentiating it from others in the world (Awobuluyi,2010:06).Thus,
the Russian language is identified with the Russians and the Russian
federation.
Russian Language: Modern, Foreign or European?
Within
a given faculty, the need for foreign languages (Russian) varies; the science
students need a knowledge of Russian for purposes of reading in the original
technical or scientific literature related to his/her field, because quite a
large amount of material, especially scientific, is published in that language
and since much is always lost in translation to others, the political and
economic situation of the former Soviet Union and Russian federation is so
attractive that they feel compelled to study the language. Others also need the
language for administrative purposes, tourism, conferences, seminars and
intended study in
This
apart, Russian is a language in which a considerable part of world literature
is written. Most of the writers are quite known and prominent in
the West, such as Tolstoi, Chekhov, Dostoyevsky and Pushkin, especially through
translation. There are others whose works are still being sought after by
scholars who realize that the depth of thought and the quality of the message
being conveyed can only be reached in the original. Pushkin, who started the
“Golden age” of Russian literature in 1825, for instance, is not as widely
known as Tolstoi or Chekhov. This is not because his work is of less importance
but because it has always been difficult to translate adequately from Russian
into any other language. The works of the great Russian critic, Belinsky
suffers a similar fate.
However,
we need to draw a line of demarcation between those who need the language for a
limited purpose and those who have to use it on a much wider scale. These days,
Russian is not taught purely as an academic subject, with wider contacts
between African countries and the
. It is, perhaps, the interconnectedness
of the world and the diplomatic relationship between
Arising
from the visit of President Medbedev,
President Medbedev, during the
bilateral talks, also agreed to expand cooperation between
Graduates
of Russian studies will be found useful in the continued partnership between
Conclusion
With
In
this connection, therefore, it is recommended that, to enable the services of
Russian lecturers reach a wider audience, non-language courses in other departments
should be taught by experts in Russian Studies. It might be said that some
courses, such as Political and Economic Geography of Russia, Russian History and
Politics be handled by specialists in those fields, but the truth is that,
since it is the interest of universities to make maximum use of the present
teachers of Russian, these teachers should help widen the scope and knowledge
in such courses mentioned above.
Russian
Studies, in spite of its present low but appreciating status in Nigerian and
African universities curricula, is a course that has good reasons to spread, as
demonstrated in this paper. Once it is introduced into higher institution
curricula, it will take its desired place, alongside French and German, as a foreign, modern and European language.
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*Kayode. O. Omotade - PhD., Department of European Studies, Faculty of Arts.
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