The Nigerian Academy of Education (NAE) has issued a devastating rebuke of the Federal Government’s decision to scrap the National Language Policy, warning that the move amounts to “permanent recolonisation and the burial of Nigeria’s future and pride.”
This severe caution was contained within a position paper submitted to the Minister of Education, Maruf Alausa, on the 25th of November, 2025, and subsequently released to journalists on Friday, the 28th of November.
The document, which was jointly signed by NAE President, Emeritus Prof. Olugbemiro Jegede, and the Secretary General, Prof. Chris Chukwurah, directly challenged the Minister to reverse his decision and restore mother tongue as the language of instruction at the foundational levels of schooling.
The Academy’s urgent intervention came after the Federal Government recently cancelled the 2022 policy, which promoted indigenous language instruction in early schooling. This cancellation effectively designated English as the sole instructional medium at all levels, a position Minister Alausa had reiterated at the 2025 Language in Education Conference hosted by the British Council in Abuja.
Arguing that overwhelming scientific data supports early education in indigenous languages, the NAE insisted that teaching pupils first in their native languages demonstrably improves overall learning outcomes, enhances cultural identity, and fosters inclusive national development.
The Academy cited extensive research, including historic programmes such as the Ife Six-Year Project and recent bilingual education studies, which consistently show that students taught in their native languages perform better academically, even later in English, than those introduced prematurely to foreign-language instruction.
The NAE rejected the Minister’s stated rationale for the reversal, asserting that poor public examination results cannot be blamed on mother tongue instruction, which typically ceases at the Primary Four level.
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The Academy further maintained that no empirical data exists to support claims that indigenous language teaching has undermined educational outcomes over the past 15 years, calling the reversal a “grave disservice” to Nigeria’s educational progress.
While demanding the immediate reinstatement of the policy, the Academy reaffirmed its readiness to collaborate with the Ministry to establish a functional and culturally grounded education system for future generations.
The NAE urged the government to strengthen the policy’s implementation by investing in teacher training, improving learning materials, promoting stakeholder engagement, and conducting regular, evidence-based reviews, stressing that safeguarding early-grade learning in Nigerian languages is vital to preserving the national heritage and preventing further decline in literacy.