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A youth leader from Biase Local Government Area of Cross River State, Mr. Callistus Ogban Egwu, has strongly criticised the Federal Government for reversing the National Language Policy that encouraged the use of mother tongues in schools.
Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa made the cancellation of the policy yesterday at the 2025 Language In Education international Conference organised by the British Council in Abuja. In 2022 when rhe government approved the policy, they wanted the mother tongue or language of immediate community to be taught from esrly childhood to Primary six.
However, there has been many reactions from Nigerians over government reversal of the policy.
Speaking with reporters in Calabar on Thursday, Egwu said the decision was a blow to Nigeria’s cultural identity and amounted to an attempt to please Western interests at the expense of national heritage.
He lamented that local languages, already struggling to survive across generations, would further deteriorate following the policy reversal. “Our mother tongues are what give us identity and embody our cultures and traditions. Somebody just wakes up one morning and, because he wants to please the West, decides to cancel the mother tongue policy that we have not even done well in,” he said.
Egwu questioned the rationale behind the government’s claim that mother-tongue instruction had contributed to students’ poor performance in national examinations. “Does the minister have data on the dilapidated state of our schools? Does he have data showing that the best brains in Nigeria are not in the teaching profession because of how teachers are treated?” he asked.
He noted that most teachers lack adequate training and that public schools across the country suffer from acute shortages of teaching materials and basic infrastructure. “How do you expect children to do well in a society where academic excellence is not rewarded and schools lack the most basic amenities? Instead of solving our real problems, we are creating more. What a nation,” the youth leader lamented.
Egwu further wondered why Nigeria would abandon a policy aimed at cultural preservation when countries like China and India have continued to promote and teach science and technology in their native languages.
Also reacting, a mother of two, Madam Mmakim Ette, described the government’s decision as “a sad development” that could worsen the loss of indigenous languages among younger generations.
“I’m still trying to speak clear Efik, but my siblings can’t even understand our language. The children who don’t know how to say ‘come’ in any Nigerian language will be the worst for it. This policy is robbing us of our identity as a people of culture,” she said.
Akpan David, an activist spoke in same vein, saying he ensures that he speaks his own language, Ibibio, with his children to give them the foundation, and christens them Ibibio names.
He commended local radio stations like FAD FM, Atlantic FM, Tangsio FM, etc, which deliberately emphasise local languages, to encourage locals to speak their own dialects.
He urged Nigerian authorities to emulate countries in East Africa which also emphasise Swahili as their lingua franca.
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