The standardization processes of Nigerian pidgin seems to have started during the post-colonial period. Naturally, Nigerian pidgin appears to be the first choice of most Nigerians in informal situations, especially when they are among those from different ethnic and linguistic background. Thus, the selection process has tactically taken place. Among all the languages used in Nigeria today, English inclusive, Nigerian pidgin could be said to be the most widely spoken. Evidence abounds in motor parks, parties, congregations and most social occasions. There is also ample evidence in the electronic and print media, especially in political propaganda, campaigns and product advertisement. Thus, in terms of spread and extensive use, Nigerian pidgin could rightly be called a national lingua franca.

  The use of Nigerian pidgin in contemporary Nigerian could be described as most productive, extensive and complex. It appears that the standardization processes-selection, codification, elaboration of functions and acceptance-which started in the post-colonial era, are as now being completed in contemporary Nigeria. The reason for this assumption is simple-apart from its complex use as a lingua franca, languages of media advertisement, social interaction, unofficial military training and limited literary output, Nigerian pidgin gas attained widespread acceptability in the media, political propaganda and campaigns as well as soap operas. It is also the language of radio and television jingles. Most electronic media now use appreciable percentage of their airtime to cast news and give reports in Nigeria pidgin. Even though its use in some newspaper columns has declined, especially with the demise of the ‘Waka About’ column in the Daily Times, it is however found extensively in some newspaper advertisements

  In places like Warri, Sapele and Port Harcourt, there were reports that teachers at lower primary level taught their pupils in Nigerian pidgin. This unofficial adoption of the Nigerian pidgin as the language of the lower primary education by those teachers is justifiable considering the provision in the National Policy on Education, which states that in addition to English, the major language in the child’s environment could be used at the elementary level of education. Similarly, Nigerian pidgin has become a language of religious preaching, especially Christianity. In most rural and even urban centres where congregation are not all very well-educated, pastors resort to the use of Nigerian pidgin.

  The use of the Nigerian pidgin as a literary language tends to have started in the sixties with the work of Achebe, Soyinka and others. But it is in the contemporary times that it has become most widespread. The number of poems, novels and plays written and published in Nigerian pidgin is growing even more rapidly. Many more literary writers now attempt to experiment with the language. Therefore, the evidence of codification and elaboration of functions and the partial or tactical acceptance of Nigerian pidgin are clearly visible.

  I was on top of one of my palm trees yesterday, tapping the tree and collecting the wine for the morning when I saw two soldiers at the foot of the tree. They made signs at me, so I concluded that they wanted my palm wine. On descending from the tree I gave them the wine to sample, as is customary. Not only did they drain all the wine in the calabash, they said they had come to conscript me into the army. I ask them weather they wanted me or somebody else, and they said they had come for me. I asked them weather an enemy sent them or they came on their own. To cut it short, they said i was wasting their time s they had to catch twenty men that day. Only a foolish man willingly disobeys armed soldiers. I told them I had something very important to say.
‘Say it, then’ one of them cut in impatiently, looking at his watch. It was approaching midday, by which time it was considered unsafe to drive around in a car for fear of enemy planes which had learnt to strafe individual vehicles on the highway.
‘Yes, what I want to say is simple’ I said, ‘My first son, the boy who should have succeeded me when I died, joined the army voluntarily with my full backing. He was a brilliant boy, always first in his class. He was in his last year at school when the war began. He was killed. The two children who came after him are girls. The next boy is still in primary school. If he were old enough, I would have asked him to join the army not, minding that the fact that my first son’s head had already been sacrificed to the same war. For no person who breathes, will say that he has no part in this war.
‘But let me add this: - If this war has reached the stage when a man of my age is given a rifle by force and sent to the war fri9ont, then the time has come for you to blow the whistle and end the war. That is all I want to say!’.

  Millons of people today are in serious ‘debt’. This can be a major factor in wrecking their cars, damaging their careers and even ruining their marriages. It can adversely affect their health and lifespan. It is a deficit that contributes to immune suppression, creating susceptibility to various infections. Conditions as different as diabetes, heart diseases, and extreme obesity, as well as other health problems have been linked to it. Yet, most victims are oblivious of this debt. The debtor is the one who does not have enough sleep needed for well-being. This can be caused by voluntary sleep deprivation resulting from a person’s life-style or by involuntary sleep deprivation because of illness and other causes. Medical researchers estimate that the earth’s population is now getting on the average an hour less sleep per into both the variety of sleep-related illnesses and their impact on the quality of life.

 The medical world once viewed the chronic inability to sleep as just one disorder, commonly called insomnia. However, a commission created by the U.S. Congress recognized 17 distinct sleep disorders. At any rate, insomnia has so many causes that it is often considered to be a sympt5om of other problems, much as fever suggests some sort of infection. Even occasional deprivation of sleep can be disastrous. Consider the case of Tom, although an experienced truck driver, he plunged his 18-wheel vehicle over an embankment, spilling 400 litres of sulphuric acid onto a major highway. Tom admits: ‘I fell asleep.’ Students of two U.S. highways estimated that drowsy drivers caused some 50 per cent of the fatal crashes.

  With hundreds of thousands of sleep-related auto and other accidents happening annually, the worldwide coast to productivity and family is enormous. What factors may contribute to lack of sleep? ‘One is the social phenomenon often called 24/7- operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The newspaper, USA Today, described this as a cultural earthquake that is changing the way we live, noting that a new wave of round-the-clock retailers and services is profiting by mocking the clock. In many lands, people watch all-night television programmes and access the internet when they should be sleeping. Then there is the toll taken by emotional disorders, often involving anxieties heightened by stress occasioned by the pace of life. Also, there are a variety of physical diseases that can contribute to lack of sleep.

  Many doctors note how difficult it is to get their patients to take sleep seriously. One doctor complained that chronic fatigue is even considered ‘a status symbol’ by some. And because their condition often worsens very gradually, victims of sleep deprivation may not recognize that they suffer from a serious sleep disorder. Many of them reason, ‘I’m just getting old’ or I’ can’t cope with life, so I tend to shut down’ or ‘I’m tired all the time because I can never get the long rest I need.’ Reversing this sleep debt is a complex challenge. But understanding how a healthful sleep cycle works and learning to identify the signs of sleep debt can provide the motivation to change. Recognizing the symptoms of a serious sleep disorder can save lives and this should be a warning to many Nigerians, particularly those who engage in long night journeys.