Nigeria’s Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa has announced the cancellation of the recently approved National language policy, instead adopts english language for instructions from ealy childhood schooling to tertiary education, irrespective of community or localities
The minister argues that even though the National Policy on Education articulates that the mother tongue or language of the immediate community should be that of instruction in pre-primary and lower primary education, the implementation has its own encumbrances that have been responsible for mass failure in schools examination, especially in English langauge.
Nigeria’s journey to a National Language Policy began with the 1977 National Policy on Education, which was seen as a crucial step, though with slow pace of implementation.
This policy, which was revised in 1981, 1988, 2004 and 2014, was a landmark attempt to formally address language use in the country.
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More recently, the Federal Government approved a new National Language Policy in November 2022, mandating the use of the mother tongue as the medium of instruction in primary schools.
The official document detailing this policy was subsequently released in May 2023.
But on November 12, 2025, the inclusivity of the policy has come under scrutiny forcing its cancellation
Before now, the national policy on languages had concentrated on the three major languages handed down by the colonial administration; they include Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba.
(Editor: Anoyoyo Ogiagboviogie)
