The Federal Government has replaced the mother tongue education policy with English-only instruction, citing poor exam performance linked to indigenous language use.
The Federal Government has abolished the national policy mandating the use of indigenous languages as the medium of instruction in schools, officially adopting English as the language of instruction from the pre-primary to tertiary levels.
According to a report from THE CABLE, Minister of Education Tunji Alausa announced the policy reversal on Wednesday during the 2025 Language in Education International Conference organised by the British Council in Abuja.
The 2022 National Language Policy (NLP) had directed schools to teach pupils in their mother tongue or community language from early childhood to primary six, with English reserved for higher education and formal communication. However, Alausa said data showed that students taught primarily in local languages performed poorly in national examinations such as WAEC, NECO, and JAMB.
“We have seen a mass failure rate in WAEC, NECO, and JAMB in certain geo-political zones of the country, and those are the ones that adopted this mother tongue in an over-subscribed manner,” the minister stated. “Using the mother tongue language in Nigeria for the past 15 years has literally destroyed education in certain regions.”
Alausa described the decision as “evidence-based governance,” urging critics to provide data to support contrary positions. He commended the British Council for supporting education reforms.
Minister of State for Education, Suwaiba Ahmed, added that the government has developed a new teacher training package focused on literacy and numeracy for foundation-level classes.
British Council Country Director, Donna McGowan, reaffirmed the organisation’s commitment to support teacher training, school leadership, and language proficiency initiatives.