Community Participation in the Fight against Corruption in Nigeria: The Local Language Policy Perspective

Abstract

Abstract: Decades after Nigeria’s independence, the country is still among the poorest in the world despite the availability of both human and material resources. The image of the country has been damaged by corruption. The level of corruption in Nigeria is beyond imagination. This article explores the role of community participation in the fight against corruption in Nigeria using the local language. The elite theory was used to operate the fight against corruption through community participation via the use of local language and twenty-five scholarly journal articles got from Google scholar, web of science, Sage, and other scholarly search engines were sourced and used. The content analysis tool used for this paper is systematically positioned to review words and themes, within some given qualitative data. The paper opined that local language can serve as a functional vehicle of interaction and an instrument of advocacy in the fight against corruption in Nigeria. The paper further established that local languages are an embodiment of culture, reflecting the depth of the people’s beliefs and knowledge. Hence, using it as a tool in the fight against corruption would be highly effective. The paper concludes that strengthening democratic institutions, including those created for fighting this menace, and the possibility of having a creditable community-sponsored candidate for elective position in the government would create a sense of belonging and indeed, bring a sense of optimism in governance and in the fight against corruption.