The Language of Glitches: A Metaphor Analysis of System Failure in Nigerian Electoral and Educational Discourse

Abstract

This paper investigates metaphorical framings of technological and institutional failure in Nigeria, focusing on the 2023 general election and the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME). Drawing on Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT), it explores how language particularly metaphor is used by institutions, media, and the public to frame system “glitches” in high-stakes national events. Data were collected from official statements, news articles, and social media posts, analyzed using the Metaphor Identification Procedure (MIP). Findings reveal systematic use of metaphors from conceptual domains such as WAR, MACHINE, GAME, and DISEASE. These metaphors function to either legitimize or delegitimize institutions and reveal the cognitive and ideological underpinnings of public discourse. Notably, while INEC’s failures were framed as battles lost or machines broken, possibly because elections are high stake contested arenas hence a battlefield, JAMB’s crisis was couched in medical and game metaphors, portraying JAMB as a body with systemic dysfunction that needs diagnosis and healing. This conceptualization suggests a greater tolerance for technical failure in education than in politics. The study concludes that metaphor is a potent sociolinguistic tool for navigating institutional trust and public accountability in technologically mediated governance.