Don’t reverse mother tongue policy

Today, Friday February 21, 2025 is Mother Tongue Day. In November 1999, February 21 every year was proclaimed as the International Mother Language Day (IMLD) by the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO); all for the sake of preserving peoples’ cultural heritage around the world.

However, two weeks before this year’s celebration of the day, the Minister of State for Education, Dr Suwaiba Ahmad, at a recent extraordinary meeting of the National Council on Education (NCE) in Abuja requested for the reversal of the National Language Policy (NLP) on mother tongue with a view to restricting its use to Early Childhood Care Development and Education (ECCDE) and primary one.

This proposal rather came as a rude shock to educational planners and administrators in Nigeria who, over the years, exerted so much energy, time, and resources to formulate policies on the use of indigenous languages in various sectors of our national life. For instance, the existing National Policy on Education (NPE) provides in Section 2 (20d) that “The medium of instruction in the primary school shall be the language of the immediate environment for the first three years in monolingual communities. During this period, English shall be taught as a Language.” This is even as scientific researches in language use have since established that children learn and understand science and mathematics faster when taught in their mother tongue. Nigeria’s former Minister of Education, Professor Babs Fafunwa, was an advocate of this policy.

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To substantiate her argument, Dr Suwaiba highlighted several challenges hindering the implementation of the policy quoting inconsistencies in policy execution especially in some parts of the country as impediments to implementation. She said the use of English from the start contradicts the policy; adding that “With over 500 languages in Nigeria, implementation becomes complex, making it difficult to select a dominant language in multilingual communities.” Ahmad also mentioned limited instructional materials and textbooks as factors that hinder implementation.

The failure of a policy due to poor implementation strategies is not and should not be a reason to ask for its reversal. The minister should rather call for an examination of the implementation guidelines. For example, the minister should be asking of how the National Institute for Nigerian Languages (NINLAN) located in Aba, Abia State, has fared in the actualisation of this policy. The NINLAN was established in 1993 to strategically address the challenges mentioned by the minister. She should also ask about the extent to which the Federal Ministry of Education monitored the National Language Policy Implementation Guideline (NLPIG). In truth, avoiding a problem through a call for policy reversal is not the best way to addressing it.

In response to the Harare, Zimbabwe declaration of March 1997, Nigeria published its National Language Policy (NLP) in 2022 with its foreword written by the then Minister of Education Malam Adamu Adamu. The NLP is a deliberate policy document that consists of policies for regulating language use in order to meet defined national needs and priorities. With its well-defined framework for implementation, basic thrusts of the NLP are articulated in various legal and policy documents including the country’s National Policy on Education, National Broadcasting Code, and the Nigerian Constitution. For example, Section 97 of the 1999 Constitution provides that while the business of a House of Assembly shall be conducted in English, “The House may in addition to English conduct the business of the House in one or more other languages spoken in the state as the House may by resolution approve.”

In furtherance of the provisions of Section 2 (20d) of the existing NPE, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on November 30, 2022 approved mother tongue as a compulsory medium of instruction in the first six years of basic education. The then education minister, Adamu Adamu explained that while mother tongue would be used exclusively for the first six years of education, it would be combined with the English language at the junior secondary level. However, Adamu noted that the policy would take effect only after government had developed necessary instructional materials. Although the NLP regards all Nigerian languages as equal, Adamu added that the mother tongue to be used in each school would be the dominant language spoken by the community it is located.

The proposal to reverse the mother tongue policy at the basic education level will not only undo a well-intentioned NLP but shall set the stage for the relegation and gradual extinction of some indigenous Nigerian languages. When a language dies, opportunities, traditions, and unique modes of expression are also lost. In Nigeria, 29 minor languages are said to be on the verge of disappearance. A UNESCO report had in 2006 predicted that Igbo language could become extinct after 50 years.

To ensure continuity and also reduce the tendency to goof, Daily Trust advises ministers to seek guidance, particularly on policy matters from technical personnel in their assigned ministries. With profound implications for identity, communication, social integration, education and development, mother-tongues have strategic significance for every human society. Don’t reverse Nigeria’s mother tongue policy in schools, uphold it!