Nigeria restores English as medium of instruction ^{CEFR B2}

The Federal Government’s reversal of the 2022 National Language Policy restores English as the sole medium of instruction from pre-primary through tertiary education. The 2022 policy, introduced by the Federal Ministry of Education under Mallam Adamu Adamu, had required Indigenous languages for the first six years of schooling and encouraged development of curricula, teaching materials and teacher training for mother-tongue instruction.

Minister of Education Tunji Alausa announced the reversal at the Language in Education Conference in Abuja on 12 November 2025. The decision had been adopted earlier at the 69th National Council of Education in Akure, Ondo State, from 3 to 7 November 2025. Alausa cited high failure rates and students’ struggles with English comprehension, saying there had been "a mass failure rate in West African Examinations Council (WAEC), National Examination Council (NECO) and Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) in certain geo-political zones" and declaring that "English now stands as the medium of instruction."

Scholars and cultural organisations criticised the abrupt reversal. The Nigerian Academy of Letters called for reinstatement; its president, Professor Andrew Haruna, argued that depriving children of mother-tongue education limits access to deep sources of knowledge and harms intellectual potential. The Linguistic Association of Nigeria launched a petition signed by 999 verified signees. That petition urged several actions:

• Retain and strengthen the National Language Policy (2022) rather than reverse it.
• Fully implement Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education across the federation.
• Provide sustained funding and capacity building for teachers and developers.
• Engage stakeholders and experts in transparent dialogue instead of unilateral reversal.
• Uphold Nigeria’s vision for inclusive and quality learning for all.

At the Nigerian Languages Summit on 28 November 2025, linguists and community representatives said the 2022 policy was based on decades of research and warned that its cancellation contradicts empirical findings and harms educational goals, national cohesion and cultural survival. Some voices supported the reversal: Mr. Tosin Adeoti argued the policy was impractical given hundreds of languages and a shortage of trained teachers, textbooks and infrastructure, and he proposed alternatives such as compulsory local-language classes, cultural programmes, translation projects and digital preservation. The Federal Ministry of Education has not indicated it will reverse the decision.