A Critical Study Of Vehicle Sticker And Inscription Texts That Transport Group and Individual Identities in Nigeria

Previous studies have focused on vehicle sticker and inscription texts from a wide range of perspectives. They include the stylistic, linguistic and pragmatic analyses of vehicle inscriptions, the transmission of moral and cultural values of sticker texts across borders, vehicle writings as conveyors of humours, slang and witticism and inscription and sticker texts that construct social, political and economic vices that are prevalent in Nigeria. However, none have worked on individual and group identity sticker and inscription texts in relation to agitation, high-handedness, over-bearing manner and all forms of lawlessness in Nigeria. In this paper, we examine individual and group identity sticker and inscription texts that relate to agitation, high-handedness, over-bearing manner and all forms of lawlessness in Nigeria. The Ethnography of Communication forms the kernel of our theoretical framework. Our data include nine pieces of sticker and inscription texts that communicate the inherent identities of the different academic and professional organizations, the perception of the public about the organizations, information from some Nigerian dailies and captions of the popular EndSARS protests in 2020. We argue that group and individual texts on automobiles signal to the reading public a lot about the organizations which include agitation, high-handedness, over-bearing manner and other forms of lawlessness in Nigeria. The paper reveals that what is contained on the bodies of most of the organizations’ vehicles does not always reflect the activities of such organizations.