The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) has partnered with the Sultan Foundation for Peace and Development to mobilise traditional and religious institutions in efforts to identify and enrol out-of-school children across Nigeria.
The partnership, formalised through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), will leverage the influence of traditional rulers and religious leaders to encourage school enrolment, improve attendance and reduce the number of children who drop out of school.
Under the agreement, UBEC and the foundation will establish national, state and local coordinating committees to drive education advocacy and grassroots mobilisation.
The committees will work with traditional and religious leaders to encourage families to prioritise children’s education, particularly in underserved communities where poverty, cultural barriers and other social challenges limit access to schooling.
The initiative will also involve the production and distribution of educational advocacy materials in Hausa, Fulfulde and Yoruba to improve community engagement.
Other components include identifying out-of-school children through household-level mobilisation, facilitating their enrolment in nearby schools and strengthening community participation in monitoring pupils’ attendance, retention and completion.
Speaking at the MoU signing ceremony, UBEC Executive Secretary, Aisha Garba, who was represented by the Deputy Executive Secretary (Technical), Rasaq Akinyemi, said traditional and religious leaders would play a critical role in addressing barriers to basic education.
She particularly highlighted their influence in promoting girls’ education, shaping community values and encouraging families to support children’s learning.
Garba said the partnership would also introduce accountability mechanisms to recognise communities, schools and traditional leaders that record measurable improvements in access to basic education.
She added that the success of the initiative would be assessed through increased enrolment, improved attendance and retention, better learning outcomes and a sustained reduction in the number of out-of-school children.
Highlighting the commission’s recent interventions, Garba disclosed that UBEC, in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Education and State Universal Basic Education Boards (SUBEBs), had facilitated the construction of more than 4,900 classrooms, alongside the renovation of existing school facilities and the provision of water, sanitation and hygiene facilities nationwide.
According to her, the infrastructure interventions had directly benefited more than 2.3 million learners by the end of 2025.
She also said the commission had implemented community-driven school improvement programmes and teacher professional development initiatives to strengthen school management and improve teaching and learning outcomes.
In his remarks, Kebbi State Deputy Governor, Senator Umar Abubakar Tafida, who represented Governor Nasir Idris, commended the Sultan Foundation for Peace and Development for its contributions to health and social development.
He particularly acknowledged the foundation’s interventions in improving the welfare and educational opportunities of vulnerable children, including programmes supported by development partners such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Tafida also conveyed the governor’s goodwill to UBEC, the Sultan Foundation and the Nasara Foundation.
The partnership comes amid continued efforts by the Federal Government to address Nigeria’s out-of-school children crisis through infrastructure development, teacher capacity building and community-based interventions.
Through the agreement, UBEC aims to strengthen collaboration with traditional institutions and other stakeholders to improve access to quality basic education and ensure more Nigerian children enrol in and complete school.
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