The Use of Hausa by the Kano State House of Assembly and Kano Emirate Council: A Revitalization Strategy for Language Sustainable Development
Keywords:
Hausa, Kano State House of Assembly, Langauge developmentAbstract
This paper looks at the use of Hausa as a working language by the Kano State House of Assembly (KHSA) and Kano Emirate Council (KEC) as a revitalization strategy of the language for sustainable development. It finds out that the Kano State House of Assembly conducts its legislative official sittings in Hausa language and the Kano Emirate Council deploys Hausa in its correspondences with the Districts Heads, and the Ward and Village Heads reply or generate their routine administrative and operational reports to the District Heads for onward delivery to the Emirate in Hausa. The Emir, District, Village and Ward Heads in the Emirate respond to the visitors in Hausa while at the court, hosting subjects and at community events etc. The use of Hausa in these two official domains will not only maintain, preserve and document the language, but earns more prestige to the language and make people use it and pass it to the younger generation who will also pass it to their children and so on from generation to generation. The need to revitalize any indigenous language became imperative because of the deleterious threat of endangerment languages are facing which dictates that languages’ owners devise means to keep them alive, delay or prevent their untimely death. The paper argues that the use of Hausa by the KSHA and KEC may help to engender sustainable development as it leads to proper representation of the masses by the representatives, proper enlightenment of the masses and entrenching democracy. It recommends amongst others that: the KSHA should cap it all with keeping the minutes of its proceedings and its other duties in Hausa just as it chose to conducts its sittings in Hausa, advocacy to document the minutes of the KSH’s proceedings and its other duties in Hausa be embarked upon by the stakeholders, formulating, translating various terms relating to legislative duties and the honourable members be given refresher courses on the use of the Hausa language. Secretaries under Kano Emirate Council right from those at village, district heads to the Emirate Council secretary be given training on Hausa orthography from time to time by the stakeholders to further strengthen their duties.
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Lawan Badamasi is the Clerk/Permanent Secretary, Kano State House of Assembly, on 30/11/2016 at his office at the State Assembly Complex, Audu Bako Secretariat, Kano.
