Nigeria Drops Mother-Tongue Policy, Embraces English

The Federal Government has officially halted the use of indigenous languages as the primary medium of instruction in early education, declaring English the uniform language of teaching across all levels of Nigeria’s school system.

The announcement was made on Wednesday by the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, at the 2025 Language in Education International Conference in Abuja, signalling the end of the National Language Policy introduced in 2022.

The scrapped policy had mandated teaching in pupils’ mother tongues or community languages from pre-primary up to Primary Six, with the objective of improving comprehension, strengthening cultural identity, and boosting literacy. However, Dr. Alausa said recent national data showed that the initiative had not only failed to deliver expected results but had contributed to declining performance in key examinations.

According to him, states and regions that fully embraced the mother-tongue model “recorded the highest failure rates” in WAEC, NECO and JAMB assessments, prompting the government to revise its position.

He noted that an “evidence-based review” linked poor English proficiency and low exam scores to prolonged instruction in indigenous languages, arguing that the policy had weakened learning outcomes rather than enhanced them.

“With what we have seen over the past 15 years, the use of mother tongue as the main language of instruction has significantly damaged foundational learning in certain areas. We cannot rely on sentiment; we must rely on data,” he said.

He confirmed that the National Language Policy “has been cancelled in its entirety,” adding that English will now be the official medium of instruction from early childhood education through tertiary institutions.

The minister encouraged critics of the policy reversal to present verifiable research and stressed that the government remained open to informed debate. He also acknowledged the British Council for its continued support in teacher training and language development.

Minister of State for Education, Prof. Suwaiba Ahmed, revealed that the government has begun rolling out new teacher-training modules focusing on foundational literacy and numeracy to address learning gaps.

The reversal has sparked mixed reactions among education experts, parents and analysts. Some stakeholders welcomed the decision, arguing that mother-tongue instruction was unrealistic without trained teachers, adequate materials and long-term investment. Others insisted that the three-year implementation window was too short to judge its success, describing the policy’s cancellation as abrupt and underfunded.

The broader debate, analysts say, underscores Nigeria’s challenge in balancing the preservation of its diverse linguistic heritage with the realities of a national curriculum and a globally competitive education system where English remains dominant.