Nigerian Languages and Rural Development: Problems and Prospects

Nigeria as a country has so many languages and dialects which may not be mutually intelligible. However, these languages are what the people use in their daily endeavours which lead to their development and advancement in education, trade, enterprise, farming, etc. For some time now, development has been left only in the urban areas as reflected in industries, enterprises and other facilities available in these areas. Fortunately, attention is now focused on the development of rural areas and it is possible that all Nigerian languages should explain the nature of development so that the rural people can feel and be part of the programme themselves. But can this be feasible following the multilingual nature of the country? The paper therefore examines the problems that may militate against Nigerian languages for this purpose of rural development The solution on how to overcome these problems were suggested; such as: (i) Translation of government ideas and plans into all Nigerian languages for easy understanding and participation, and (ii) Promotion of Nigerian languages by government, and non - governmental organizations as well as individuals who are well to do in the society, e.t.c.