Nigeria’s Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, has highlighted major achievements recorded in the education sector under the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, saying the reforms would have a long-term impact on future generations.
Alausa spoke during a special roundtable session at the Education World Forum in London, where he engaged education ministers and global stakeholders on Nigeria’s foundational learning reforms.
According to a statement issued by the Minister’s Special Adviser on Media and Communications, Ikharo Attah, Nigeria has introduced the National Education Data Initiative (NEDI), a unified digital platform integrating data from educational institutions across the country.
The minister said the initiative would support effective resource allocation and improve learning outcomes nationwide.
READ ALSO: Education Minister Emerges Most Innovative Cabinet Minister
Speaking on Nigeria’s Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) initiatives, Alausa disclosed that the country had unified foundational literacy delivery under a single national standard covering both formal and non-formal education systems.
“We’re scaling RANA for Primary 1 to 3 and Teaching at the Right Level for Primary 4 to 6 across 15 states through UBEC. This uses structured lesson plans, weekly teacher coaching and regular assessments,” he said.
He explained that the Accelerated Basic Education Programme (ABEP), developed by the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council, provides foundational literacy and numeracy education for out-of-school children and adolescents within three years.
“Both tracks now report into NEDI, so for the first time we can monitor formal and non-formal education coverage from one dashboard,” the minister added.
Alausa also highlighted state-led reforms already producing measurable results, citing programmes such as EKOEXCEL, KwaraLEARN and BayelsaPRIME as examples of successful technology-driven teaching models.
“The impact is measurable. KwaraLEARN halved foundational learning deficiencies in less than two years, while BayelsaPRIME improved literacy by 20 percentage points in just 19 weeks. The model is working, and we are now scaling it nationally,” he stated.
On policy and funding reforms, the minister said foundational literacy and numeracy now occupy a central place in President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda and the National Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Programme.
He disclosed that the Federal Government was finalising a National Policy on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy to provide a sustainable legal and institutional framework for reforms across federal, state, and non-formal education systems.
“Through our Partnership Compact with GPE, 70 per cent of funding is tied to measurable outcomes in learning, teacher management and data utilisation,” he said.
Alausa further revealed plans to increase the share of the Universal Basic Education Commission from the Consolidated Revenue Fund from two per cent to four per cent, effectively doubling federal funding for basic education.
Addressing Nigeria’s out-of-school children challenge, the minister explained that ABEP provides a recognised pathway for children outside the formal school system to transition into Junior Secondary School.
“ABEP centres and formal schools now use the same coaching tools and learning materials, with SUBEB officers supervising both systems across 15 states. There are no parallel systems, lower costs and consistent quality,” he said.
On accountability and governance, Alausa said the newly deployed National Education Data Initiative had already exposed significant gaps in donor funding effectiveness.
He maintained that Nigeria had shifted its focus from educational inputs to measurable learning outcomes and expressed confidence that the reforms would significantly reduce learning poverty across the country.
