Nigeria reverses mother-tongue education policy

• The Nigerian federal government has officially reversed the 2022 National Language Policy (NLP), which previously mandated instruction in Indigenous languages for the first six years of schooling.
• English has been reinstated as the sole language of instruction from pre-primary through tertiary education levels.
• Proponents of the reversal, including the Minister of Education, point to poor standardized test results and a lack of infrastructure for multi-language instruction.
• Opponents, including the Nigerian Academy of Letters and the Linguistic Association of Nigeria, argue the reversal harms educational equity and cultural heritage.

Background: The 2022 Policy

• Introduced under former Minister Mallam Adamu Adamu, the NLP required mother-tongue instruction for the first six years of primary school.
• It included provisions for developing curricula, creating teaching materials, and training teachers in Indigenous languages.

Government Justification

• Minister of Education Tunji Alausa announced the reversal on November 12, 2025, following a decision by the National Council of Education.
• The government claims the move is "evidence-based," citing high failure rates in national examinations (WAEC, NECO, UTME) in regions that heavily adopted mother-tongue instruction.
• Officials argued that implementing instruction in dozens of different languages is logistically unsustainable without proper resources.

Opposition and Advocacy

• The Nigerian Academy of Letters (NAL) president, Professor Andrew Haruna, argued that depriving children of mother-tongue education limits their intellectual potential.
• The Linguistic Association of Nigeria (LAN) launched a petition with 999 signatories demanding the reinstatement of the 2022 policy.
• A November 2025 summit of linguists and community leaders urged the government to maintain the policy, citing it as the product of decades of research.

Alternative Perspectives

• Some commentators, like Tosin Adeoti, argue that while Indigenous languages should be preserved, using them as the primary medium of instruction in a country with over 500 languages is impractical.
• Proponents of this view suggest focusing on mandatory language classes, literature, and digital preservation rather than using them for core instruction.