The Federal Government has abolished the national policy mandating the use of indigenous languages as the medium of instruction in schools, citing poor learning outcomes and widespread failure in national examinations as the major reasons.
Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, announced this on Wednesday at the 2025 Language in Education International Conference organised by the British Council in Abuja.
According to the minister, data gathered from schools nationwide revealed that students taught primarily in their mother tongue performed poorly in major examinations such as WAEC, NECO, and JAMB, and also struggled with English comprehension.
“We have seen mass failure in WAEC, NECO, and JAMB in certain geopolitical zones of the country — particularly those that adopted mother-tongue instruction in an over-subscribed manner,” Alausa stated.
He emphasized that the decision was evidence-based and not driven by sentiment, adding that findings showed that the policy had “literally destroyed education in some regions.”
“This is about evidence-based governance. English now stands as the medium of instruction from pre-primary through tertiary levels,” he said. “Using indigenous languages as the main instructional medium for the past 15 years has severely hampered educational performance in certain areas. We must focus on evidence, not emotions.”
Alausa urged education stakeholders who hold contrary views to present verifiable data supporting their arguments, noting that the government remains open to constructive, evidence-driven dialogue to improve learning outcomes.
Also speaking, Minister of State for Education, Prof. Suwaiba Ahmed, disclosed that the government has developed new teacher-training programmes aimed at improving literacy and numeracy skills among pupils at the foundational level.
She explained that the initiative targets teachers from pre-primary to primary three, to strengthen the early stages of learning and ensure a more solid educational foundation.
On her part, British Council Nigeria Country Director, Donna McGowan, reaffirmed the organisation’s commitment to supporting Nigeria’s education reforms through teacher training, school leadership development, and language proficiency programmes.