This document discusses a research paper on the effect of public utterances on political and economic stability in Nigeria. The paper aims to identify public utterances, determine their impact on socio-political and economic stability, ascertain the key actors of public utterances, and develop ways to control public utterances. The theoretical framework uses Bakhtin's theory of utterances, which views utterances as responses to other utterances within a community that are shaped by context. The research may help understand public opinions and reactions to inform decision-making for increased stability.

1. THE EFFECT OF PUBLIC UTTERANCES ON POLITICAL AND
ECONOMIC STABILITY IN NORTH-WEST GEO-POLITICAL ZONES
OF NIGERIA
BY
ALIYU AHMAD
Aliyuahmad1434@gmail.com
ISHAQ MOHAMMAD SALISU
Ishaqsalisu@yahoo.com
MARYAM BELLO YUNUSA
Yunusa.maryam@yahoo.com
BILKISU LAWAL
Sayayabilkisu@gmail.com.

2. 1
March 2015
Abstract
This paper discusses the concept of public utterances, how it has influence
political, social and economic stability, it is the key actor of stability, utterances
serves as a determinant of positive and negative response in any given society,
Bakhtins theory of utterances was used to expartiate on the problems of
utterances, finally,it recommends a law governing and regulating public
utterances especially under this democratic dispensation.

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Introduction
Nigeria is a country of diversified regions, tribes and cultures. This
diversity could be attributed to the positive and negative public utterances on
political and economic issues.
Therefore, the way people speak and make public utterances must be
guided by the constitution to attain the political and economic and political
stability.
This paper focus on the North –West geo-poliltical states of Nigeria with
the intent to response to public utterances, that could help in predicting the
future and wishful thinking of the people, to undertake the study the following
objectives were prefered :
1. To identify public utterances.
2. To determine the effect of public utterances on socio-political and
economic stability.
3. To ascertain the key actors of public utterances.
4. To device ways of controlling public utterances.
Problem Statement

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The above research is geared toward investigating the result of public
utterances and the response by the general public. Why is it that whenever a
political figure or a dignitary makes an utterances the general public simply
comply and react to it negatively , agents of companies react to public utterances
and at least magnify the damage done by any noise.
Research Questions
1. Who are the active actors of public utterances?
2. What are the consequences public utterances?
3. Is Nigerian government safeguarding people against their utterances,
socially, politically and economically?
4. Who are the targets of public utterances?
5. What are the kinds of public utterances made by religious and political
leaders?
Related Literature Review

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Utterances are used in a variety of ways, it is the ability to be seen, heard
and known by many people. Open to the general view and happening with
concealments.
According to Alors (1991) “utterances are intonationally and structurally
bounded, usually clausal units.’ Richard Nordquist (2008) defines utterances as “a
stretch of spoken language, that is preceded by sentences and followed a change,
of speaker, (Phonemes, Morphemes, and Words, that are all considered as
segments of the stream of speech, sounds that constitute an utterances.”
Ronald Cartle and Michael McKarthy (2006) define utterances as “a
complete communicative unit, which may consist of single words, phrases,
clauses and combinations spoken in context, in contrast to learn sentence which
we refer for units consisting of at least one main clause and any accompanying
subordinate clauses and marked by punctuation.”
John R. Searle (1983) said “An utterances can have an intentionality, just as
a belief has intentionality whereas the intentionality of the utterances is derived.”
Another beautiful question is how does an utterances is easily derived from
intentionality.
Stability, means a predictable political environment, which in turn attracts
investments, both internally and externally. The resulting virtuous circle of

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poverty, reduction, job creation, increased state revenues, and investments in
welfare and education bring benefits to all in society such that a return to violence
or chaos is in no-ones interests.
Political Stability means a specific kind of stability the rule of law, strong
institutions rather than powerful individual, a responsive and effective
bureaucracy, low corruption and a business climate that is conducive to
investments.” LTC Cross (2005) defines political stability as “the condition of the
government of a country that preludes the possibility of open revolt, because the
government is governing correctly and the people are happy and are benefiting
from the policies of the government.”
Elizabeth Christian (2015) also used Bakhtins theory of utterances and
dialogism in an effort to show the linkage between the two concepts.
Rusell G.Broker, Alverno College, Todd Schaefer, (1961:3) have discussed how
to Measure public opinion in the 21st century.
Douglas C. foyle counting the public in presidents, public opinions, and foreign
policy.

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.
Information Dissemination
The one-way spreading of information that helps the user seek and acquire
alternative sources of information and learn about options. Another level of
dissemination is interactive and provides for a multidirectional flow of
information into systems. Dissemination systems supply information to reduce
costly ignorance (Klein & Gwaltney, 1991).
Economic Stability: Is a situation whereby there is high investment rate, enough
business transaction and importation and exportation and the social situation of
the country is define as equilibrium.
Also this situation is describe if there is less fair in the economic market
that may lead to inflation and also the rate of profit is moving higher.
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
There are a lot of theories that could be used in explaining the concept of
public utterances such as Vygosky Theory and Marxist Social Theory but in this
research I prefer to use Mikhail Mikhalovic Bakhtins Theory due to its construct
and how it critically explain the concept of utterances.

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According to Bakhtins (1986:51) “any concrete utterance is a link in the
chain of speech. Communication of a particular sphere, the very boundaries of the
utterances is determined by a change of speech subjects.” Utterances are not
different from one another, and are not self-sufficient, they are aware of and
mutually reflect one another. Every utterance must be regarded as primarily a
response to preceding utterances of the given sphere.” Have in the broadest
sense)! Each utterances refutes, affirms, supplement, and relies uphon. The others,
pre-supposes then to be known, and somehow, takes them into account.
Therefore, each kind of utterances is filled with various kinds of responsive
reactions to other utterances of the given sphere of speech communication.”
Also Bakhtins further explain utterance as an expression in a living context
of exchange is termed as “word” or utterance.” It is the main unit of meaning and
is formed through a speakers relation to other issue. If, other people, other, words
and expressions and the lived cultural world in time and place.
Bakhtin termed it as “Addressivity and Answerability.” It is always
addressed to someone and anticipates can generate a response and anticipates an
answer: Discourse and strings of utterances are therefore fundamentally dialogue
and historically position within and inseparable from a community history, a
place.

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Any understanding of live speech, a live utterance, is inherently responsive ….
Any utterance is a link in the chain of communication constants of utterances.
According to Bakhtins utterances theory there are fourteen constructs in the
definition of utterances. But this research will use only four construct as follow:
1. Boundaries
2. Responsivity/dialogicality
3. Finalization
4. Generic form
5. What is meant by the first two properties 1) and 2) is obvious from the quote. Number three
finalization• ismade clearinthe followingquote: This change [of speaking subjects] can only take
place because the speaker has said (or written) /everything/ he wishes to say at a particular
momentor underparticularcircumstances. When hearing or reading, we clearly sense the end of
the utterance, as if we hear the speakers concluding /dixi/. This finalization is specific and is
determined by specific criteria• (1986, p.76). The final property is described further in the next
section. The choice of speech genre is determined by the specific nature of the given sphere of
speechcommunication,semantic (thematic) considerations, the concrete situation of the speech
communication, the personal composition of its participants, and so on• (1986, p.78).
2) Speech genres: Where, by the different spheres in which we communicate, Bakhtin means
nothingmore than,say,our family, our work, in banks and post offices, in official documents, our
intimate relations, and so on. All the spheres which, even before we come on the scene, are
maintained in existence by an ongoing communicative process of a particular kind - that is what
givesthem their particular character as the spheres they are. Thus, if we also are to participate in

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them, then we must use the appropriate /speech genre/, the appropriate ways of talking, else
those who are already members will not treat us as competent participants, as people able to
maintain such institutions by reproducing them in our actions^. What Bakhtin calls genre•, when
understoodasa way of seeing,is, asMorson andEmerson(1990, p.282) say, bestdescribedneither
as a form(inthe usual sense) norasan ideology(whichcouldbe phrasedasa setof tenets) but as a
˜form-shaping ideology - a special kind of creative activity embodying a specific sense of
experience.
3) Voices:Responsivity=answerability +addressivityWhatisconstituted in the use of a particular
speech genre is, among many other aspects of a ongoing social world, a particular set of
interdependently related, but continually changing speech positions, positions which on the one
handallowthe use of various/voices/ - inwhich we are /answerable/^for the our position and on
the other,whichpermitspeakerscertainformsof/addressivity/,aimed at certain addressees - it is
in their allowing and permitting of some speech forms and their sanctioning of others, that
institutionsconstitutedbyparticular speech genres are repaired and maintained. For example, in
an educational institution,Imayspeakwiththe voice of a teacher,a pupil,aresearcher,alibrarian,
an administrator, and so on - and neither administrators, nor librarians, nor pupils, are not
supposed to tell teachers how or what to teach; within each department, among the teachers
within it, a particular speech genre will have currency also, and so on. Where the point to
emphasize ishow,inthe neverendingflow of communicationinwhichthisformof life issustained,
every utterance is a rejoinder in some way to previous utterances.
4) Utterances also expected to produce a response: Listening too must be responsive, in that
listenersmustbe preparingthemselves to respond to what they are hearing. Indeed, the speaker
does not expect passive understanding that, so to speak, only duplicates his or her own idea in

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someone else mind(asinSaussursmodel of linguistic communication mentioned above). Rather,
the speakertalkswithan expectation of a response, agreement, sympathy, objection, execution,
and so forth (with various speech genres presupposing various integral orientations and speech
planson the part of speakersorwriters)• (Bakhtin,1986,p.69). In otherwords,the utterance isnot
a conventional unit,like the sentence (inSaussuresorChomskyssyntactical sense), but a real unit,
in the sense that it marks out the boundaries of in the speech flow between different voices
5) The unitof speechisnotthe sentence:Thisisnot the case with sentences: ...the boundaries of
the sentence asa unitof language are neverdeterminedby achange of speakingsubjects (Bakhtin,
1986, p.72). The firstand foremostcriterionforthe finalizationof anutterance is/the possibility of
responding to it/ or, more precisely and broadly, of assuming a responsive attitude to it (for
example,executinganorder)― (Bakhtin,1986, p.76). The trouble withthe sentence isthathasno
capacity to determine directly the/responsive position/ of the other speaker; that is, it cannot
evoke a response. The sentence as a language unit is only grammatical, not ethical in nature
(Bakhtin, 1986, p.74).
6) One own and other voices: This is not to say, however, that when one talks in this way, one
speech is wholly one own, for, in the very nature of speech genres, they preexist the individual;
furthermore,notall are equallyconducive toreflectingthe individualityof the speaker. As Bakhtin
pointsout,there are no neutral wordsandforms; theyhave all at one time oranotherbelongedto,
and been used by others, and carry with them the traces of those uses: A word (or in general any
sign) isinterindividual.Everythingthatissaid,expressed,islocatedoutside the soul of the speaker
and does not belong only to him [or her]. The word cannot be assigned to a single speaker. The
author (speaker) hashisowninalienablerighttothe word,but the listenerhashisrights,andthose
whose voices are heard in the word before the author comes upon it also have their rights (after

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all,there are no wordsthat belongtono one) (Bakhtin,1986, pp.121-122). Indeed,ashe adds later,
a word becomes one own: only when the speaker populates it with his own intentions, his own
accent,whenhe appropriatesthe word,adaptingitto his own semantic and expressive intention.
Prior to this moment of appropriation, the word does not exist in a neutral and impersonal
language (itisnot,afterall,out of a dictionarythatthe speakergetshiswords!),butratherit exists
inother people’s mouths, in other peoples contexts, serving other peoples intentions: it is from
there that one must take the word, and make it ones own (pp.293-4).
7) Hence speakingisanethical act:In theirbiographyof Bakhtin, Clark and Holquist (1984) discuss
a number of early, incomplete texts of Bakhtins - written between 1918 and 1924 - to which they
assign the title /The Architectonics of Answerability/. In these early texts, Bakhtin outlined a
concernwiththe ethicsof everyday life activities which he never ceased to pursue throughout his
whole career: His concern was not with the end product of an action, with what it results in, but
withthe ethical deedinitsmaking (p.63),withhow inthe process of authoring, i.e., in crafting the
complex,time-space relations between self and others, the self is also crafted. Where, what it is
which makes a person as a unique, is the unique place or position I occupy in existence, and the
degree to which, as already mentioned above, I am answerable for that position to the others
around me. As Clark and Holquist (1984, pp.67-8) put it: In Bakhtin, the difference between
humansand otherformsof life isa formof authorship,since the meansbywhich a specific ratio of
self-to-otherresponsibilityisachievedinanygivenaction - adeedbeingunderstoodasan answer -
comesaboutas the resultof effortsbythe self to shape a meaning out of the encounter between
them.What the self is answerable to is the social environment; what the self is answerable for is
the authorshipof itsresponses.The self createsitselfincraftingan architectonic relation between
the unique locusof life activityandthe constantly changing natural and social environment which
surrounds it. This is the meaning of Bakhtin dictum that the self is an act of grace, a gift of the

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other.• But, it must be added that (as we have seen above), if we owe our being to how we are
addressed, how I address the others around me in my authoring of myself also raises ethical
questions - foritis a part of the ethicsof authoringthatI must not inmaking my own being violate
the being of others. How, if the others around me are unique beings whose nature cannot be
predicted, can this be managed?
8) Ethics at the point of action (speaking): It can only be managed at the point of action, so to
speak,duringthe actual executionof the communicative act,the fashioningof an utterance. As we
have already seen above, he rejects a formal, linguistic analyses in terms of sentences - an
approach which seems to suggest that there must be a stage of passive, formal, nonresponsive
understanding in the life of utterances (in terms of the sentence-syntax), /before/ they are
perceived as being in a context. Whereas, what matters for actual speakers, Bakhtin feels, is not
that normatively identical forms exist in the tool- box of language - just as normatively identical
toolsexistinthe actual tool-boxesof carpenters,say - butthat in differentparticular contexts (like
the carpenter’s tools), such forms can be put to use in creative and novel ways. Thus: What the
speaker values is not that aspect of the form which is invariably identical in all instances of its
usage, despite the nature of those instances, but that aspect of the linguistic form because of
whichitcan figure inthe given,concrete context, because of which it becomes a sign adequate to
the conditionsof the given, concrete situation. We can express it this way: /what is important for
the speakeraboutthe linguisticform isnotthatit isa stable andalways self-equivalent signal, but
that it is an always changeable and adaptable sign/― (Volosinov, 1973, p.68).
9) Understanding in order to respond: But if this is the case, how is a listener to understand what
the speaker means? Does’nt the listener first have to recognize the form used in order to
understand its meaning? No, not at all. From a practical-moral point of view, what is involved in

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making sense of words used in particular concrete communicative contexts, amounts, says
Volosinov (1973, p.68), to understanding [a word] novelty and not to recognizing its
identity.Indeed,if we goalongwith Bakhtin and regard every utterance as primarily a response to
precedingutterances,thenthe listeners task (in understanding) is that of formulating what his or
herresponse toa speaker’sutterance should be - they must decide whether they agree with it or
wantto rejectit; whethertheymust comply with it; act upon it; or are insulted by it; and so on. In
short:The listener’stwo-parttaskisi) tograsp how the speaker’s(tool-like)use of words has, so to
speak, moved or repositioned him or her in the changing, intralinguistically specified situation
between them, in order next ii) to ˜answer for their new position within it. The fact is that when
the listener perceives and understands the meaning (the language meaning) of speech, he
simultaneouslytakesanactive,responsiveattitude towardit.He either agrees or disagrees with it
(completely or partially), augments it, applies it, prepares for its execution, and so on. And the
listener adopts this responsive attiude for the entire duration of the process of listening and
understanding...•(Bakhtin,1986, p.68). To understandanotherperson’sutterancemeanstoorient
yourself with respecttoit,to finda proper place for itin the correspondingcontext.Foreachword
of the utterance thatwe are inthe process of understanding, we, as it were, lay down a set of our
ownansweringwords.The greatertheirnumberandweight,the deeper and more substantial our
understanding will be... /Any true understanding is dialogic in nature/. Understanding is to
utterance as one line of a dialogue is to the next. Understanding strives to match the speaker’s
wordwitha /counterword/.Onlyinunderstandingawordina foreigntongue isthe attempt made
to match it with the same word in one’s own language• (mpl, p.102).
10) Checkinganunderstandingforitsappropriateness:Inthis view then, the psychological flow or
˜movementof dialogicspeechconsistsinasequence of utterances,where the boundaries of each
particular utterance are determined by a change of speakers. And where each speaker in their

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utterances,inthe movement betweentheirsense of what they want to achieve in their utterance
and their use of particular words, attempts to successively develop (Vygotsky) suitable
expressions.Buthowisthispossible?How can an expression be developmentally formulated in a
more or less routine way, word by word, and checked in the course of its construction for its
appropriateness?Because,arguesBakhtin(1986, p.88): Neutral dictionarydefinitions of the words
of a language ensure their common features and guarantee that all speakers of a given language
will understand one another, but the use of words in live speech communication is always
individualandcontextual innature.Therefore, one can say that any word exists for the speaker in
three aspects: as a neutral word of a language, belonging to nobody; as an/others/ word, which
belongs to another person and is filled with echoes of the others utterance; and finally, as /my/
word, for, since I am dealing with it in a particular situation, with a particular speech plan, it is
already imbued with my expression. In both the latter aspects, the word is expressive, but, we
repeat, this expression does not in here in the word itself. It originates at the point of contact
betweenthe wordandactual reality,underthe conditions of that real situation articulated by the
individualutterance.Inthiscase the wordappearsas an expressionof some evaluative position of
an individualperson...― Itisina speaker’sparticularuse of a particular word at a particular point
in time - like, say, the carpenter’s particular use of a chisel stroke to slice off a wood sliver at a
particular point in a piece of joinery - that the speaker can sense what its use achieves in the
construction desired. To repeat Bakhtin’s comments above, a word’s meaning does not inhere in
the word itself,but originatesatthe pointof contact betweenthe wordsused,andthe movements
they achieve in the conditions of their use.
11) Inthe combatzone of the word:Thus also,it is precisely here, in this zone of uncertainty as to
who can do what in the construction of a word’s significance, at the point of contact between my
creative use of itin an attemptto reshape the social realitybetweenmyself and another, that I can

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exertmypower, and the other can exert theirs. It is in what Holquist (1983, p.307) very aptly calls
the combat zone of the word, that the struggle over the question of the speaker’s rights and
privilegescomparedwiththoseof the listenertakesplace.And the importance of these rights and
dutiesshouldnotbe underestimated,forevenapparentlysimplesituations,objects,events, states
of affairs,remaininprinciple enigmaticandundetermined/associal realities/ until they are talked
about - where what is enigmatic is essentially the question: who should live in whose reality?
12) Chronotopes (time-spaces): Realities are known by Bakhtin in terms of the time-spaces (or
chronotopes) they constitute. To give an example: He discusses ancient Greek romantic novels. I
shall draw from what he says about novels of the third period he discusses, what he calls the
/biographical novel/. Whereas in earlier Greek writing, events took place in an alien world of
adventure-time,• such that they lay outside of the biographical time of the heroes involved, and
changed nothing in their lives - it is a time that left no traces. In later novels, they took place in a
mixture of adventure-time witheverydaytime,where the transformational events occurring in the
novel - e.g.,Luciusmetamorphosis(inApuleius’s/GoldenAss/) intoan ass - provided a method for
portrayingthe whole of anindividual’slife in its more important moments of /crisis/: for showing
/how an individual becomes other than he was/ - these are times which do leave a trace. In
discussing the different kinds of identity generated by these two genres, Bakhtin has this to say:
That first,we musttake into accountthat, as distinctfromall classical genres of ancient literature,
the image of human beingsinthese novelsisof people as/individuals/, as /private persons/. They
are notparts of a social whole. This gives rise to problems. For this private and isolated person in
the Greekromance oftenbehaves,onthe surface, like a public man, and precisely the public man
of the rhetorical and historical genres. He delivers long speeches that are rhetorically structured
and in which he seeks to enlighten us with the private and intimate details of his love life, his
exploits and adventure - but all in the form of a /public accounting/ (pp.108-9). Thus, in this

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chronotope (time-space representation),the unityof the humanbeingischaracterizedpreciselyby
whatis rhetorical andjuridical init.Turningnow tothe secondgenre - inwhich Lucius as an ass has
the chance to spy upon the inner, intimate details of much of Greek life - Bakhtin has this to say:
The everydaylife thatLuciusobservesandstudiesisanexclusively personal and private life. By its
verynature there can be nothing public about it. All its events are the personal affairs of isolated
people...Byitsverynature thisprivate life does not create a place for the contemplative man, for
that ˜thirdperson whomightbe in a position to mediate upon this life, to judge and evaluate it...
Publiclife adoptsthe mostvariedmeansformaking itself public and accounting for itself (as does
itsliterature).Therefore,the particularpositioningof aperson(a third person) presents no special
problem...Butwhenthe private individual and private life enter literature (in the Hellenistic era)
these problems inevitably were bound to arise. /A contradiction developed between the public
nature of the literaryformandthe private nature of its content/...The quintessentially private life
that entered the novel at this time was, by its very nature as opposed to public life,/closed/. In
essence one could only /spy/ and /eavesdrop/ on it• (pp.122-3). The /biographical novel/ is the
genre which,toan extent,solvedthisproblem.The essence of biographical-time, is the fashioning
of a formof individual whopasses through the course of a whole life. As the development of this
genre ismuch more multiformthanthe other two,I will limitmycommentstojustone of its forms,
what Bakhtin calls the /rhetorical/ autobiography - typified in the encomium, the civic funeral or
memorial speech. It is in such forms as these, suggests Bakhtin, in which people gave a public
account either of others or themselves, that the self-consciousness of the Greek individual
originated. Here, there was at first no internal man, no ‘man for himself (I for myself), nor any
individualized approach to one’s own self. An individual’s unity and his elf-consciousness were
exclusively public. Man was completely /on the surface/, in the most literal sense of the word
(p.133). The conceptof silentthoughtfirstonlyappearedwiththe mystics,andthisconcept had its

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roots in the Orient; even in Plato, the process of thought - conceived of as a˜conversation with
oneself - did not entail any special relationship with oneself, says Bakhtin (p.134), conversation
with ones own self turns directly into conversation with someone else, without a hint of
boundaries between the two.• So: what was the origin of what one might call, an internal self-
consciousness?
13) (Foucault) ˜Testability and the play of questions and answers in conversation: Foucault (1986,
pp.381-2): In the seriousplay of questions and answers, in the work of reciprocal elucidation, the
rights of each person are in some sense immanent in the discussion. they depend only on the
dialogue situation. The person asking the questions is merely exercising the right that has been
given him: to remain unconvinced, to perceive a contradiction, to require more information, to
emphasize differentpostulates,topointoutfaultyreasoning,etc. As for the person answering the
questions,he tooexercisesarightthatdoesnot go beyondthe discussion itself; by the logic of his
owndiscourse he istiedto whathe has saidearlier,andbythe acceptance of dialogue he is tied to
the questioningof the other.Questionsandanswers depend upon a game - a game that is at once
pleasant and difficult - in which each of the two partners takes pains to use only the rights given
him by the other and by the accepted form of dialogue. The polemicist, on the other hand,
proceedsencasedinprivilegesthathe possessesinadvance andwill neveragree toquestion... The
polemicist relies upon a legitimacy that his adversary is by definition denied.• It is the very
universalityof truth-claimswhichmakesthemvulnerabletochallenge - Thatdoes not hold here! It
is only because assertions make demands (for their intelligibility) on the assent of others, and
cannot - as much modern philosophy has supposed - be validated by a method aimed at securing
certainty for the individualistically operating scientist, that they are open to challenge. It is not
truth itself which is linked to power, but truth-claims which cn not be upheld unless they are
shielded from critical probing by manipulation and other forms of power-coercion.

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14) The managementof social actions:i.QuotesfromC.W.Mills: The differingreasonsmengive for
their actions are not themselves without reasons• - Mills Situated actions and vocabularies of
motive.• Motives are imputed or avowed as answers to questions interrupting acts or programs.
Motivesare wordsaccounts. Generically,towhatdo theyrefer?They do not denote any elements
inindividuals.Theystandforanticipatedsituational consequencesof questioned conduct [i.e., the
linguisticallyformulated,anticipatedconsequences,inthe currentintra linguisticreality]. Asaword
[as an account], a motive tends to be one which is to the actor and the other members of a
situationanunquestioned[andunquestionable] answertoquestionsconcerning social and lingual
conduct. A stable motive is an ultimate in justificatory conversation. ii. Austins concern was with
the way in which˜breakdowns™ might reveal the constraints upon actions, and the constraints
reveal the machinery of action: . to examine excuses is to examine cases where there has been
some abnormalityorfailure:andasso often,the abnormal will throw lightonthe normal,will help
us to penetrate the blindingveil of ease and obviousness that hides the mechanism of the nature
successful act• (pp.179-80).The logisticsormanagementof action: In the course of actually doing
these things(gettingweaving[forinstance]) we have topay(some) attentiontowhat we are doing
and to take (some) care to guardagainst(likely)dangers:we mayneedtouse judgment or tact: we
mustexercise sufficientcontrol overour bodily parts: and so on. In attention, carelessness, errors
of judgement,tactlessness,clumsiness,all these andothersare ills(withattendant excuses) which
affectone specificstage inthe machineryof action,the executive stage,tostage where we muff it.
But there are many other departments in the business too, each of which is to be traced and
mappedthroughitsclusterof verbsand adverbs.Obviously there are departments of intelligence
and planning,of decisionandresolve,andsoon...• (p.193). - justifications and excuses: In the one
defence, briefly, we accept responsibility but deny that it was bad: in the other, we admit that it
was bad but dont accept full, or even any, responsibility (p.176).

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Purposes of Utterances
There are many purposes of utterances but for analytical purposes; the three
component of the communication processes would be discuss:
1. Expression (i.e. the act of the speaker in producing an utterances
2. A discussion to select a particular set of utterances
3. The language from which an utterances can be chosen.
Types of Meaning in an Utterances
In any utterances three different kinds of meaning is extracted. These are;
1. Conventional meaning: This is the proposition conventionally attributed by
the community to the sentence instantiated by the utterances.
2. Speaker’s meaning: It comprises of the thoughts expresses by the speaker of
the utterances.
3. Hearer’s meaning: It includes thought uncertain by the hearer in
interpreting the utterances.
Instrument for measuring public utterances

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There are two major ways of measuring public utterances, these ways are:
1. Formal ways
2. Informal ways
Informal ways include the following
1. Elections
2. Interest group and lobby
3. The Media
4. Lifers and calls
5. Protests
6. Straw polls
The Formal Instrument Are
1. Qualitative methods
2. Survey sample
*. Face-to face survey interviews
* Telephone Survey
* Mail Survey
* Internet interviews
* Interceptive interviews
3. The questions

22. 21
4. Individualization of responses
5. Experiment
6. Analysis of mail
7. Quantitative methods
Actors of public utterances
- public figures
- Politicians
- Commercial companies
- traditional leaders
- Religious leaders
- Top government officers.
Application of Bakhtin’s theory of Utterances on Political Stability
The application is easily visual when we look at the utterances made by public
figure such as religious leaders, political extremist, traditional leaders, business
organization experts and public dignitaries.

23. 22
Former military head of state Retired general Muhammad Buhari said in an
interview, on 14th may 2012, while given an explanation on what happened in
2011 election, i.e (alleged rigging) “if the same should again happen in 2015, by
the Grace of God, the dog and the Baboon Would all be soaked in blood”
This statement was as a result of how P.D.P rigged the 2011 election and in
their statement that any attempt to repeat the same will lead to bloodshed. It also
express that the opposition party would not allow such incident to re occur.
Atiku Abubakar former vice president in a sprinted bid to stop Presidents
Jonathan from contesting the 2011 election declared on the 14th December 2010
that” those who make peaceful change impossible make violent change
inevitable”
Alh. Lawal Isah Kaita who in October 2010, while rejecting the emergence
of a president from the south also said: “the north is determined, if it happens, to
make the country ungovernable for president Jonathan or any other southerner.
Who funds his way to the seat of power. Even if he uses incumbent power to get
his nomination on the platform of the PDP: he would be frustrated out.
Governor shettima of Borno State while describing the way Boko haram are
equipped with arm said”. The insurgent are better aimed and better motivated
than our security forces”.

24. 23
Governor Nyako before his impeachment describe president Jonathan
Administration as “a weak administration in fighting terrorism”
On 23rd of January 2014 Malam Nasir –El-rufai said. “The next election is
likely to be violent and many people are likely going to die, and the only
alternative left to get power is to take it by force. This is the reality on ground.”
These statements are made by political activist and dignitaries respected by
Nigerians. Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the Emir of Kano last yearly categorically
stated that” it seems the government could not protect its citizens, for that people
should protect themselves against this insurgent of Boko haram.”
These statement was responded by the group of Boko haram with an
attack at the central Mosque of Kano and many lives are lost.
In a national conference held in Abuja Lastly the Lamido of Adamawa after
observing and noticing the direction of the people of south and the strategy they
used in budget allocation for the petroleum state, categorically, stated that” let
divide the country you should hold your crude oil and lets as feed on our
agricultural resources since we no longer agree to live as a nation.”
Recently,Fomer president of Nigeria chief Olusegun Obasanjo on 16/02/2015.was
shown by the Nigerian television authority while pronouncing his disengagement
from PDP and practically toured his PVC card He continued by saying:” Id

25. 24
rather sacrifice my political party for the interst of Nigeria than sacrifice my
country for a political party led by a drug baron.”
He later added “if there is anything that requires my comment ,position or
views, I will say it ,it is only when you kill me that I will stop doing so”.
The above utterances can be interpreted using the constructof response as a result
of what Chief Obasanjo has noticed that president jonathan is not willing to
conduct election in 2015 and is planning for interim government. He will continue
to react until justice is done to his beloved country Nigeria. Also he also observed
that president Jonathan has policised Nigerian Army.
Application of Bakhtin’s Theory to the Economic Stability
The theory can be used to identify whether utterances may boost economic
growth or not. Utterances is timely a genue source by which the economic could
be described taking for instance in Nigeria, Aliko Dangote last year formerly
announced the reduction of prize of cement to N1000.00 per bag, which as a result
people rush to purchase cement bags, at a time they came to realize it was not true.
In this case people are able to response positively to the utterances. In years back,
it was later announce that some people died as a result of eating intoxicated
“indomie” which infact has lead to massive resistance of “indomie” in North-west
zones and as a result the market value reduce drastically. Until late when the

26. 25
company re-initiated campaign for the product and promotions to encourage users
of the safety in taking indmie.
NAFDAC has always enlighten the public on the danger of using drugs
without NAFDAC No. through the media and newspapers. This has economically
reduce the source of income, to some pharmaceutical companies which produce
genue drugs but could not get immediate approval by NAFDAC due to due
processes.
Diagrammatic representation of utterances.
Findings
1. Utterances need to guided by laws.
2. Utterances usually ignite conflict and crisis
3. It promote transparency in government activities.
AddressivityResponse
Answerability
People
Utterances

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4. It is a source for information dissemination.
5. It allows freedom of speech.
Recommendations
1,utterances must be guided by a rule of law inorder to promote peace
and stability in the country.
2.Governmental activities must be transparent.
3.Citizens right must be observed with some limitations.
4.media and all sources for information dissemination must give
authentic /true information.
Conclusions.S
Public figures and religious leaders have an important role to play in political and
economic stability. The utterances made by the research population would be
positive or negative on a country like Nigeria. These would necessitate the need
for policy on public utterance.
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