CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS OF TEACHING AND LEARNING RUSSIAN IN NIGERIA: THE UNIVERSITY OF LAGOS EXAMPLE (1970-2022)

Abstract

The study of Russian language at the University of Lagos for over 50 years calls for reassessment of the programme with a view to determining its challenges and possible prospects.  When the course was first introduced at the University of Lagos, it was with anxiety over its sustainability and success being the only university in Nigeria apart from the University of Ibadan where the course is taught and learnt.  With the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991 which depleted the vibrancy and usage of the language amongst the states of the former Soviet Union, there is the need to reassess the programme. In this work, therefore, efforts are made to critically analyze the study of the language from the time of its introduction in the University of Lagos’s educational curriculum till date with a view to ascertaining its level of growth and efficiency when compared with how it is taught in Russia, its problems and relevance in this 21st century. Phenomenological methodology is used to assess the teaching of the language so far and to ascertain the problems inherent in the study of the language in the University. At the end, recommendations for improvement in teaching and learning the language in the University are given.