IGBOSCHOLARS INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF IGBO SCHOLARS FORUM, NIGERIA

This paper looks at the speech of one of the notable women in Nigerian, Hon. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who has played a key role in handling Nigeria’s financial matters as a minister of finance in one of the efforts to solve the country’s key financial challenges. It aims to appraise her political/economic effort in speech delivery, as a determinant of how well women can perform in key affairs that affect the country. Specifically, the paper appraises whether the speech meets the maxims of quality, quantity, relevance and manner, which are the qualities of a good speech as stipulated by Grice.The paper observes that the speaker, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala succeeded in presenting a speech in the international setting which fulfilled the requirements of a good speech, fulfilling the maxims of quantity, relevance and mann; thus, producing a speech capable of making the right impact on the gathered audience. Obviously, the speaker did not fulfil the maxim of quality to the zenith. This is understandable, given that she has to defend and speak in favour of her government which she represents. In general, the speaker met the requirements for a good speech. The paper recommends that further roles be given to the women-folk in leadership, with regards to the growth, development and enhancement of proper perception of Nigeria by the outside world, as the potential of the country will not be hindered as widely feared; rather, will equally receive proper boost as expected by the general public.

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