West Africa’s Linguistic Evolution: Balancing Colonial Legacy and Indigenous Identity
In APRIL 2025, Niger offcialy designated Hausa as its national language, making French a working language. This reminds me of Mali's adoption of a new constitution in June 2023 that removed French as the official language, though French remains a working language. Some may suggest that these significant changes are inspired by a desire to move away from the colonial legacy in promoting national unity, while others may say they are an effort to assert cultural sovereignty in rendering the influence of the coloniser. Others will have different opinions about these changes. But what was the linguistic structural status in West Africa before these changes, and is this change what our region needs? Why don't we dive together into this story of West African languages told through data to understand the situation? Maybe we can get answers to all the questions our curious minds are asking. The Colonial Legacy: Official Languages of West Africa Let’s begin with the languages that d...