Speechmaking and Public Discourse in Nigerian Traditional Governance: Communicative Authority in Igbo and Hausa Royal Courts

This study examines the communicative forms and rhetorical authority structures of formal speechmaking in Nigerian traditional governance institutions, comparing the oral discourse conventions of Igbo and Hausa royal courts as living professional communication traditions that inform and interact with modern Nigerian public discourse. Traditional governance institutions in Nigeria, from Igbo community assemblies led by Oha na Eze councils to the elaborate protocol courts of Hausa Emirate systems, maintain distinctive oral rhetorical traditions that have received comparatively little attention from professional communication scholars despite their significant role in community governance and social regulation. The study employs an ethnographic and discourse analytical methodology, drawing on recorded and observed formal speeches from traditional court settings in Anambra State and Kano State, supplemented by interviews with 20 traditional title holders, protocol officers, and community communication specialists. Analysis examines speech genre conventions, the role of intermediaries and spokespeople in royal discourse, the use of praise poetry and historical reference as legitimation strategies, and the register distinctions between ceremonial, administrative, and judicial speech acts. Findings reveal that both Igbo and Hausa traditional rhetorical traditions embody sophisticated professional communication principles including audience calibration, hierarchical address, and strategic indirection that have direct relevance to contemporary professional communication training. The study argues for the incorporation of indigenous rhetorical traditions into Nigerian professional communication curricula as locally grounded models of formal spoken authority. Keywords: traditional governance, oral rhetoric, professional communication, Igbo, Hausa.