Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Izesan Limited, Anthony Osekhuemen Otaigbe, has described the Federal Government’s decision to adopt English as the exclusive medium of instruction from pre-primary to tertiary levels as a policy misstep that could reverse years of progress in Nigeria’s education system.

Otaigbe, who spoke in Abuja, said the move contradicts existing national education policies and undermines decades of global and local evidence showing that children learn best when taught in their mother tongue.

He noted that the policy shift effectively overrides key provisions of the National Policy on Education (NPE),revised in 2013,which mandates that “the language of the immediate environment shall be the medium of instruction for the first three years of primary education,” with English introduced only as a subject.

Similarly, the National Language Policy (NLP) approved in 2022 had extended indigenous-language instruction through Primary Six, aligning Nigeria with UNESCO’s Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education framework.

“The new directive does not only contradict existing policy; it disregards the empirical evidence that has guided education reform globally for decades,” Otaigbe said. “Mother-tongue education is not a cultural luxury,it is a scientific necessity.”

The policy, he added, also contradicts the provisions of the Universal Basic Education (UBE) Act and guidelines by education bodies such as the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) and the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN).

Otaigbe argued that describing the decision as “evidence-based governance” is misleading, given that research from UNESCO (2016) and the World Bank (2021) consistently supports the opposite approach,showing that pupils taught in their first language perform 30 to 50 per cent better in literacy and numeracy by Grade Three and transition more easily to English proficiency later.

He said multilingual nations such as Ethiopia, Tanzania, and the Philippines have recorded significant literacy gains after introducing local-language instruction in early grades, while English-only models in linguistically diverse societies tend to produce rote learning and shallow comprehension.

“Over 70 per cent of Nigerian 10-year-olds still cannot read a simple sentence,” Otaigbe said. “That failure is not because we teach in local languages,it is because we failed to properly implement bilingual education policy, train teachers, and invest in resources.”

Otaigbe’s firm, Izesan Limited, has worked with state ministries of education to digitise and promote indigenous-language learning tools across states including Benue, Adamawa, Jigawa, and Edo. He said field evidence shows that children taught in the language they speak at home engage better and retain information faster.

“The federal directive is detached from classroom realities,” he said. “It’s a bureaucratic decision made without consulting teachers, state commissioners, or education technologists who work daily to bridge the learning gap.”

The Linguistic Association of Nigeria (LAN) also condemned the move, describing it as a threat to inclusive and culturally grounded education. Meanwhile, some states appear to be charting a different course,Kano State House of Assembly recently passed a resolution mandating the teaching of Hausa at the primary level, a direct contrast to the federal directive.

Otaigbe warned that bypassing the National Council on Education (NCE),which includes all state commissioners of education, heads of key education agencies, and the FCT education secretary,raises procedural and constitutional concerns.

“Major shifts like this must be debated and approved through the NCE,” he said. “Education reform cannot succeed by decree; it requires collaboration with all stakeholders, including private innovators and language-technology experts.”

He further cautioned that adopting English-only instruction risks widening the gap between urban and rural learners, eroding self-identity among young Nigerians, and hastening the extinction of indigenous languages.

“No country develops by erasing its linguistic roots,” Otaigbe said. “Japan, France, Korea, and China built world-class economies by first teaching their citizens in their own languages. Nigeria should follow that path.”

He urged the government to modernise, rather than discard, mother-tongue education by investing in bilingual teacher training, piloting regional programmes, and leveraging technology,such as AI translation tools and e-learning platforms,to scale local-language content.

“The government’s action represents not evidence-based governance, but evidence ignored,” Otaigbe concluded. “Education begins in the language of the heart, and when a nation forbids that language, it also forbids understanding.”