TRANSITIVITY IN THE POETRY OF OKIGBO AND OJAIDE AND ITS IMPLICATION FOR SECURITY AND NATIONAL COHESION

Abstract

This paper investigates the "going-on” or happenings in the twentieth and twenty-first century Nigeria in relation to security and national cohesion.  Okigbo’s “Elegy for Alto” and Ojaide’s “Four Pieces” were used for the study.  The analysis was hinged on Systemic Functional Grammar approach.  Data analysis of the two poems reveals that Nigerians in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries experienced economic, social, political and environmental insecurity which is among the challenges on national cohesion and positive nationhood.  The paper among other things recommends that lessons and predictions from nationalistic poetry and other literary genres should be considered in national programmes.