The Federal Government has abolished the use of indigenous languages as a medium of instruction in Nigerian schools, making English the sole language of teaching from early childhood to tertiary level.

Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, announced the new directive on Wednesday at the Language in Education International Conference 2025 organised by the British Council in Abuja.

The two-day conference, themed “Language, Education and Inclusion: Empowering Every Learner,” brought together policymakers, educators, and experts from across Africa, South Asia, and the UK to discuss strategies for improving learning outcomes through language.

Dr. Alausa explained that while preserving Nigeria’s local languages remains important for cultural identity, English offers a more effective and globally competitive medium for learning.

“The English language should be used to teach our students at all levels as a means of instruction,” he said. “Over the years, the use of mother tongues in schools has contributed to poor performance in national examinations. The national policy on language has therefore been cancelled.”

He described English as a “unifying tool” for Nigeria’s diverse population, noting that research showed students taught primarily in English perform better in exams like WAEC, NECO, and JAMB.

According to him, the decision marks a shift from emotional attachment to local language identity toward evidence-based education policy.

Meanwhile, the British Council reaffirmed its support for inclusive and equitable learning across Sub-Saharan Africa.

Julian Parry, Director of English Programmes for the region, said language can serve as “a bridge to inclusion, identity, and opportunity.”

Also speaking, Chikodi Onyemerela, the British Council’s Director of Programmes in Nigeria, highlighted the organisation’s Pan-Ethnic Classrooms Programme, launched in 2015, which helps teachers apply inclusive and language-responsive teaching practices.

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The Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, has revealed that a federal university in Nigeria has about 1,200 staff members despite having less than 800 students.

Mr Alausa’s comments came as he tried to justify the Nigerian government’s decision to place a seven-year ban on the establishment of additional federal tertiary institutions.

Speaking after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting held at the presidential villa on Wednesday, the minister described such situations as a waste of government resources.

“Let me give you specific examples of one university in one of the regions in the country. They have less than 800 students, and they have a staff strength of 1200,” he said.

“This is the commonality in our federal institutions. Several federal universities today have less than 2000 students. So, it’s just a waste of government resources.”

Mr Alausa did not name the university. However, it is likely to be one of the newly established federal universities.

Premium Times reported how the government created more than eight universities in less than two years.

He said the challenge with Nigeria’s tertiary institutions was not access, noting that the government would rather improve the quality of the existing ones.

Mr Alausa had directed the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), an intervention agency for Nigerian tertiary institutions, to use the institutions’ 2025 funding for the rehabilitation of existing infrastructure.

The minister earlier decried the proliferation of bills for the creation of universities at the National Assembly, calling on the lawmakers to stop considering such bills.

According to him, there were over 200 bills seeking the creation of federal universities in parts of the country.

Funding crisis in tertiary institutions

Meanwhile, the existing Nigerian tertiary institutions currently struggle with underfunding from the federal government.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the largest lecturers’ union in the country, had routinely decried the proliferation of universities.

ASUU said the government had developed a habit of establishing universities, leaving their funding entirely to TETFund, straining the intervention agency’s resources.

Also, persistent underfunding has remained a key source of conflict between university workers and the government.

ASUU recently warned of an imminent strike over the government’s failure to conclude the renegotiation of an agreement with the union.

The agreement, which largely covers funding for the universities and the academics’ welfare, was first signed in 2009 with an agreement of a period of renegotiation.

However, renegotiation efforts in 2013, 2017, 2020, 2021, and 2024 have stalled with successive governments failing to sign the draft agreements.

The last committee, inaugurated in October 2024 and chaired by the Pro-Chancellor of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Yayale Ahmed, submitted its draft report to the government eight months ago.

But the government has yet to sign or begin the implementation.

Premium Times

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