By Waziri Isa Adam Gwantu
The Nigerian Academy of Letters, NAL, has charged the Federal Government and the 36 state governments to “decolonize our classrooms” through urgent standardization of indigenous languages and massive investment in mother-tongue education.
The President of the Academy, Professor Andrew Haruna, made the call in his Presidential Address at the 2026 Convocation and Investiture Ceremony of the Academy at the University of Lagos on August 13, 2026.
Haruna said Nigeria cannot build a “21st-century economic powerhouse on the foundation of psychological alienation” caused by the neglect of indigenous languages. He stated that the Academy demands “the urgent standardization and orthographic development of more indigenous languages, a massive, state-backed re-engineering of teacher-training colleges to produce educators literate in mother-tongue pedagogy, and the aggressive funding of localized textbooks in sciences, mathematics, and humanities.”
The Academy noted that for decades, Nigeria has pursued nation-building “using borrowed linguistic tools” and has “mistranslated fluency in foreign tongues as the sole metric of intelligence” while indigenous languages “the vessels of our philosophies, cognitive frameworks, and deepest reservoirs of cultural identity – lie fallow.” According to the address, “when a child is forced to master a foreign language before understanding the concept being taught, we do not merely delay learning; we fracture their identity.”
Haruna questioned why implementation of the National Policy on Education on mother-tongue instruction remains “paralyzed,” asking if it was due to logistical failure or “systemic self-loathing that privileges globalized convenience over local heritage.” He told Nigerians, “Your mother tongue is your primary asset, not a badge of backwardness. Let us stop penalizing our children for speaking their indigenous languages within school walls. True patriotism begins in the language of the home.”
He said the Academy refuses to remain a “passive bystander” and insisted that “the humanities must lead this charge with actionable prescription.” He added that the convocation “must be more than an annual ritual of robes and academic pageantry” but “a crucible for linguistic and intellectual rebirth” that places the mother tongue “at the centre of our national evolution.” He wished participants “a deeply rewarding and transformative convocation.”
At the ceremony, the Academy admitted 46 new members, comprising 11 Regular Fellows and 2 distinguished Nigerians as Honorary Fellows. The Honorary Fellows are HRH, the Shehu of Borno, whose dynasty was established over 1,500 years ago and spans Nigeria, Chad, Niger, Cameroon, Sudan, and Central African Republic; and Prof. Lucas, described as a “literary icon of no mean feat.”
The Academy also observed a minute of silence in honour of its Foundation President, Professor Emeritus Ayo Bamgbose, who was described as the “architectural cornerstone” of the Academy and a “global champion” of African linguistics, mother-tongue education and language policy.
The 2026 Convocation Lecture was themed “Mother-Tongue Education Policy and the Paths to Nation Building,” while the Scientific Session was themed “The Mother-tongue Education Policy: The Journey so far and a Map for the Future.”