NAL: FG MUST REDESIGN, NOT ABANDON MOTHER-TONGUE POLICY, SAYS CANCELLATION WAS CAPACITY FAILURE

• Prof Udoh lists teacher training, funding, and public communication as key lessons from 2022-2025 policy

By Waziri Isa Adam Gwantuw

The Nigerian Academy of Letters has said the Federal Government should redesign and invest in the National Language Policy rather than abandon it, describing the 2025 cancellation as a failure of capacity, not of policy goal.

Prof. Imelda L. Udoh, FNAL, FLAN, Professor of Linguistics and Nigerian Languages at the University of Uyo, stated this on Thursday, 13 August 2026, during the 28th NAL Convocation Lecture at the J.F. Ade Ajayi Auditorium, University of Lagos.

Speaking on “Lessons from the 2022 National Language Policy Experience”, Prof. Udoh said the 2022–2025 period, with its ambition, resistance, and cancellation, offers important lessons for future planning.

She said the period shows that Nigeria can formulate an evidence-based language policy, but such planning must be treated as a responsibility at all levels of government. It requires public communication, administrative coordination, sustainable funding, and the capacity to act over time, she added.

The don listed the real constraints as limited teacher training, weak materials, uneven writing systems, inadequate funding, poor monitoring, and public misunderstanding.

“But let us be clear that these are capacity problems. They are not proof that the policy goal is wrong,” she stated.

According to her, the appropriate response is redesign, investment, sequencing, and accountability, not abandonment.

Prof. Udoh said with that distinction in mind, stakeholders can address the objections that often generate public resistance to mother-tongue education.