A PRAGMATIC INTERPRETATION OF CORRUPTION- INFESTED NIGERIAN SOCIETY IN IKE CHUKWUEMEKA’S OUR CHILDREN ARE COMING

Abstract

The study x-rays the Nigerian society by looking at the confessional statements of the different characters in Ike Chukwuemeka’s Our Children Are Coming! The novelist critically examined Nigerian society, especially through the prism of the political and the elite members of the society who are either leaders today or would-be leaders of tomorrow. The objectives of the study are to highlight the rot in the society perpetrated through corruption and moral decadence by the elite members of the society. This study aims to address societal ills by analyzing monologues and dialogues conversations in the novel in order to make the Nigerian society a better place for living. The methodology for this study involved extracting the monologues or self-confessional statements of the characters as well as the open confessions of the adults who appeared before: The Presidential Commission on Juvenile below Twenty-one Years and the young characters who appeared before: The National Commission on Parents Over Twenty-one Years. These statements were extracted and numbered appropriately for ease of analyses of their Implicature for good governance and corruption-free society. The theoretical framework of analysis is Grice’s (1975) Conventional and Conversational Implicature of the statements. The findings revealed the extent of the rot in Nigerian society and the consequences on good governance and national development in Nigeria. The study has also shown that high level intellectualism does not guaranty high moral probity and corruption-free individuals. The study recommends the need for a national reorientation and rebirth for the elite youths and adults in the Nigerian society.