* Delivers First Inaugural lecture.
The Rector Federal Polytechnic Idah, Dr. Danjuma David Baba has urged management of tertiary institutions in the country to ensure appropriate language is adopted in running their administration.
This he said , will kick against the use of words that has dual meaning leading to misunderstanding of the intended response.
The Rector gave the charge on Wednesday while presenting the first ever inaugural lectures with the theme” A Sociolinguistic Exploration of Administrative Codes and Writing Techniques among Federal Tertiary Institutions in Kogi state , held at the Judith Attah Lecture theater Hall , Idah , Kogi state.
Dr. Baba noted that language is crucial to human existence and relationships as poor communication breed discord and disconnect that will trigger challenges to the Management
He explained that the code which is the specific language used for communication is meant for production and comprehension, saying any noise between the sender and receiver will cause disharmony within the system
He said words have two components , restricted and elaborate, stressing that technical words should only be used for the intended audience with common occupation, tradition, culture for effective comprehension.
The rector, who noted that , he was challenged to kick-start inaugural lecture after over four decades of the institution is to spur and institutionalise the academic tradition in the polytechnic.
He charge the Senior Academic staff of the polytechnic to keep the flame burning with regular participation in this reverred academic tradition, even though it is not common with the polytechnics.
He said the theme of the lecture became apt as many managers of higher institutions are grappling with non adherence to appropriate language or code in communicating with the management and staff and vice versa.
He said codes as it is used in the lecture refers to a set of organising abbreviations and acronyms behind the languages spoken or written by members of a social group.
Baba explained that the deficit theory is one of the first Sociolinguistic theories to acknowledge the conflict between language used and existing Social stratification based on class, age ,status and other considerations.
He explained that codes , which is the specific language being used, symbolises their identity, because language is influenced by social or economic class in the society, thus it enhance linguistics affinity of the same social status.
According to him every profession, being it Medicine, Engineering,, Journalism, Management etc have terminologies associated with them , making communication
within the spectrum easily understood.
” Since, codes are used for communication by people who share in common; jobs , tradition and biases , thus Engineers,lawyers , Doctors and other professionals, likewise , there are some administrative codes that are shared among tertiary institutions workers being academic and non academic.
” The expression of the lecture is
In fact administrative code . These codes may not be understood by laymen but those within the administrative circle in an organisation.”
While restricting the lecture to the federal tertiary institutions in kogi state which he is not oblivious of the state own institutions, the degree of adherence to official code of communication by management and staff will define the level of success of the administration.
He challenged management and staff of the polytechnics to devote their energy to conveying restricted code while sending official correspondences rather than using elaborate codes that has different meaning to staff and Management.
The rector who conducted the research for the lecture at the three federal Tertiary institutions in kogi-Federal University Lokoja, Federal Polytechnic Idah and Federal College of Education Okene , said communication among staff was largely based on restricted codes for easy understanding and quick action on the correspondences.
He advised officials to use appropriate words while dealing with official correspondence to attract quick response leading to successful service delivery.
While using his personal experience as Rector, federal Polytechnic idah, said any manager who want to succeed in his mandate must pay attention to the codes associated to his organisation.
He Commended the chairman governing council, past and present, Deans , Heads of Department, Senior lecturers, staff and students for making the lecture a huge success.
