What about its awful societal usage?
Thank God for War Against the Falling Standard of English Project (WAFSEP).
Here are ten things you need to know about the brains behind it.
1. Oladele
Saheed was a victim of the fallen standard of education in Nigeria. He did not
only attend a public secondary school that left much to be desired but also
celebrated mediocrity. These circumstances turned him to a post-secondary
school self-developmental student. Six months indoor life became his turning
point as the dozens of books he read on English prepared the solid foundation
for his future career and projects. Reading 12 hours daily is unarguably
herculean but the fruit is sweet. Before Oladele Saheed gained admission to the
University of Ibadan to study linguistics, he
had written his first unpublished material that demystified WAEC English.
2.
During
his undergraduate days in the University, despite marital responsibilities,
Oladele Saheed participated in several extra-curricular activities such as
campus journalism, media reportage, and literary and debating among others.
Yet, this did not derail him from graduating with the first class grade he had maintained from his first year.
3. Immediately
after graduation, Oladele Saheed was hired by Adiat School of Basic Studies,
Agbowo, Ibadan to teach WAEC GCE English. His handwritten pre-university
material did wonders as majority of the over 120 candidates he taught mainly
from public schools had distinctions in
English. This is what inspired him to start the Erudite Centre for Language Proficiency at the tail end of his
National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme to deal with the numerous
teaching prospects.
4. As
a corps member at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Osun State, Oladele
Saheed’s good grasp of syntax availed him of the opportunity to co-teach linguistics courses with
Professor Lawrence O. Adewole across undergraduate levels. This
distinguished him from other corps members serving in the University. Despite
the academic and other tasks, the NYSC year witnessed the beginning of two of
his books.
5. During
his Master of Arts programme in linguistics, Oladele Saheed was a University of Ibadan Scholar. As a way
of rewarding his academic excellence, the University did not only wave his
tuition, accommodation and other fees but also paid him monthly stipends.
6. Oladele
Saheed’s online exposure to international services offered by language
companies abroad led to the establishment of Erudite Millennium Limited to bridge the gap in the supposed
Nigeria Language Industry and create jobs for language graduates and other
related professionals. His enthusiasm for arresting the poor mastery of English
in schools and its awful usage in society formed the basis of his War Against the Falling Standard of English
Project (WAFSEP) which has attracted
the attention of many scholars.
7.
Through
the instrumentality of Erudite Millennium
Limited, Oladele Saheed has
successfully co-trained federal and state government officials, journalists,
private school proprietors and teachers among others. It is important to
mention here some of the scholars that have made the Erudite training
experience worthwhile: Professor Francis Egbokhare and Doctor Demola Lewis of
the Department of Linguistics and African Languages; Doctors Olayinka
Egbokhare, Bisi Olawuyi and Raphael Ojebuyi of the Department of Communication
and Language Arts; Doctor Kester Ojokheta of the Department of Adult Education;
Misters Charles Akinsete, Akin Tela, Gabriel Faniyan and Ms Bimpe Aderibigbe
and Esther Opeyemi Atolagbe of the Department of English and Ms Bimbo Benson of
the Department of Theatre Arts, University of Ibadan, Nigeria.
8. Even though
training is one of its key instruments, WAFSEP
has three major research goals. The first is to develop a tool for Practical
Oral English Teaching and Examination in Nigerian Schools that will not only
serve as a reference material for teachers but also a self-practice tool for
students. It may interest you to know how far this has gone. In 2014, Oladele Saheed launched Remedial English Pronunciation Software
to rid users of learning and examining oral English on paper and boards in
schools. Emeritus Professor Ayo Banjo among other dignitaries that graced
the launch considered the software a very helpful tool that would revolutionize
the teaching and learning of English in the country and urged the author to
keep updating it till it becomes the standard of oral English teaching in every
Nigerian school. In 2015, based on this golden advice and request from schools,
Oladele Saheed developed a comprehensive
lesson plan for easy use of the software from JSS1 to SSS3 and included
tongue twisters and other necessary features skipped in the software. Today, Remedial English Pronunciation Software has
been approved and recommended as
instructional material in oral English by the Federal Ministry of Education and
the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC). If
everything goes according to plan, REP-Software and its comprehensive lesson
plan will soon turn Paper 3 of the Nigeria School Certificate English, Test of Orals, to Alternative to Practical Oral English as done in Chemistry and
other related subjects. This will raise the standard of English speaking in
Nigeria and improve our international intelligibility.
9. The second goal
of WAFSEP is to bridge the gap
between the static Nigerian English curriculum and dynamic English, as a
subject and medium of instruction in schools through up-to-date research
findings. It is surprising that the kind and manner of English learnt in school
or read in books two decades ago is still promoted by the Nigerian curriculum.
This is why the noun is still defined as ‘the name of any person, animal, place
or thing’ or just ‘a naming word’ and the verb as ‘an action or doing word’ in
Nigerian schools. Hasn’t anything changed or developed? Oladele Saheed’s New
Dimensions in English for Up-to-date Communication to be launched in a
couple of months is expected to challenge English language teachers, curriculum
planners, concerned English language users and other stakeholders.
10. The last goal of WAFSEP
is to devise a new vocabulary scheme that will lead to a paradigm shift from
the current emphasis on impressionistic vocabulary items to simple English
words for the right purposes. If many Nigerian graduates, after sixteen years
of education in English, cannot adequately describe the human body in English
let alone knowing the simple English words for common Afro-English concepts,
what is expected of secondary and primary school learners? Oladele Saheed’s Multipurpose
English: an Ideal Vocabulary Handbook (2017, forthcoming) will not only
facilitate the learning of ideal vocabulary for efficient communication which
is the focus of current English dictionaries but also form the basis of the Erudite Centre for Language Proficiency’s
Diction Plus Competition using an ultra-modern interactive
learning application for all Nigerian secondary schools. Oladele Saheed
believes that spelling bee is not
enough without testing pronunciation and understanding of words. To him
language learning begins where some people think it ends.