On a recent Saturday, more than 50 people convened at the Johnson Jakande Tinubu (JJT) Park in Ikeja to improve their command of the English language. They swapped words and tried out different pronunciations. A 13-year-old won the spelling bee competition. And everyone went home with a gift.
The event, Grammar Ambulance, was organised by Emmanuel Ujiadughele, a Mass Communication graduate from the University of Benin and a radio host at Inspiration FM. Ujiadughele has built a significant and loyal audience on TikTok by pronouncing English words in their correct form and lecturing on grammar rules.
“It all started with my desire to improve my own grammar during the pandemic,” Ujiadughele told me in an interview at the JJT park, one day after the Grammar Ambulance event. We sat in a small, brown wooden hut furnished with chairs and a table. Birds chirped. Nearby, some men were cutting wood apparently in preparation for the park’s Christmas decorations. Ujiadughele was dressed sharply in a white, buttoned-up shirt embroidered with a black heart and neatly-pressed black trousers.
Ujiadughele told me his love for the English language was deeply influenced by watching British animations and reading books. “Watching cartoons and reading any book you can get your hands on will help improve your grammar,” he said. He also referenced the Cambridge Pronouncing Dictionary, an online resource for standardized pronunciation.
@ikejarecord We were invited to the @thegrammarambulance hangout held at JJT Park, and it was an enlightening experience! From tackling tricky grammar rules to learning tips for clearer communication, the event was both fun and impactful. Would you like to attend the next edition? Let us know in the comments! #thegrammarambulance #lagosliving ♬ original sound – Ikeja Record
The Grammar Ambulance event apparently emerged from his desire to connect more deeply with his online audience. Ujiadughele is worried that many Nigerians, including university graduates, cannot speak proper English and he’s on a mini rescue mission.
Despite his TikTok success, Ujiadughele did not expect the turnout for the first Grammar Ambulance event. “It was fantastic,” he told me. “We brought together people from all walks of life, children, adults, everyone. It was also a wonderful way to unwind. We had a reading segment where attendees read aloud from the books we gifted them. The goal was to show that reading doesn’t have to be boring or condescending, it can be fun and engaging. I believe that if I can do it, other people can, too.”