The Federal Government’s abrupt cancellation of the national mother-tongue education policy has ignited widespread backlash, with the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) describing the move as “national, cultural, scientific, and educational suicide.”
The 2022 National Language Policy, which required children in early education to be taught in their mother tongue or the language of their immediate community, was suddenly scrapped by the Ministry of Education. Dr. Tunji Alausa announced at the 2025 Language in Education International Conference in Abuja that English would now serve as the sole medium of instruction from primary to tertiary education.
HURIWA’s National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Nnadozie Onwubiko, condemned the decision as reckless and rooted in a “colonial mentality and inferiority complex,” accusing the ministry of using “fraudulent statistics” to justify the change. The group noted that mother-tongue instruction is currently used in fewer than six percent of Nigerian schools, and there is no credible evidence linking it to poor academic performance.
“The Federal Government’s action drags Nigeria’s educational and cultural development back by at least a century,” Onwubiko said. “Children in countries like France, Japan, South Korea, and China excel in science and technology while being educated in their mother tongue. Why should Nigeria be any different?”
HURIWA has vowed to mount a legal challenge, mobilizing more than 200 lawyers and cultural organizations to file a class-action suit aimed at halting the policy reversal. The group is also urging state Houses of Assembly to legislate mother-tongue instruction in early education as a safeguard against what it calls a “neo-colonial cultural assault.”
The controversy highlights deep divisions over language, identity, and education in Nigeria. Critics warn that abandoning mother-tongue instruction threatens both children’s learning outcomes and the survival of indigenous languages, while proponents of English-only instruction cite alleged exam failures as justification.
As the debate intensifies, HURIWA’s message is clear: the battle over Nigeria’s educational and cultural future has only just begun.
