The Minister of Education, Dr Maruf Tunji Alausa, has highlighted 26 initiatives and reported achievements of President Bola Tinubu’s administration aimed at transforming Nigeria’s education sector through reforms, infrastructure development, teacher training, digital learning and student empowerment.
The initiatives, outlined in an A–Z document titled From Reform to Results, were shared by Alausa on his X account on Tuesday as part of the Federal Government’s Nigeria Education Sector Renewal Initiative (NESRI).
The document highlights interventions across basic, secondary and tertiary education, with programmes targeting students, teachers, researchers, technical education trainees and other stakeholders.
Among the initiatives is a new agreement with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), which provides for a 40 per cent increase in academic staff remuneration, a revised Consolidated Academic Tools Allowance and improved provisions for earned academic allowances.
The government also highlighted the Better Education Service Delivery for All (BESDA) programme, designed to address the challenge of out-of-school children, particularly in 17 northern states.
Under the Campus Mobility Initiative, the document reported that 780 electric tricycles had been deployed across 48 universities to improve transportation within campuses.
Another intervention, Diaspora BRIDGE, connects Nigerian professionals abroad with students and tertiary institutions to strengthen teaching and knowledge exchange. The government reported that 1,141 experts had registered, benefiting 16,675 students across 107 tertiary institutions.
On teacher development, the government cited EduRevamp and the Accelerated Teacher Professionalisation Pathway (ATPP), which support professional development, certification and licensing. According to the document, 53,553 teachers had registered on EduRevamp, while 51,794 had registered for the first ATPP cohort. The programme also has a reported ₦2bn investment and targets 250,000 teachers by 2027.
The document further highlighted free technical education for students in federal and selected state technical colleges, covering tuition, boarding, textbooks and uniforms. It also reported the rehabilitation of 38 federal and state technical colleges.
On girl-child education, the government said 7.19 million girls were benefiting from direct interventions under the Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) across 21 states. It added that 3.7 million girls were enrolled in junior and senior secondary schools, while more than 422,720 had completed life-skills programmes.
The HOPE-Education programme, supported by $552m in World Bank funding, was also listed as a major intervention targeting foundational education. Its objectives include supporting 29 million children, more than 500,000 teachers, 65,000 public schools and 10,000 non-formal learning centres.
Other initiatives include Inspire Live!, which provides online lessons for pupils from Primary One to Senior Secondary School Three, with artificial intelligence-assisted support to improve access to teaching and learning.
The government also highlighted reforms to the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) admission process, including the removal of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination requirement for admission into National Certificate in Education programmes and revised entry requirements for selected National Diploma courses.
Under its knowledge economy initiative, the ministry is promoting research, innovation, entrepreneurship and the commercialisation of research findings in tertiary institutions. The document also listed an annual National Laureate Prize worth ₦365m to recognise excellence in research and innovation.
In medical education, the government reported an increase in annual nursing enrolment from 28,000 to 115,000, while medical and dental enrolment rose from 5,000 to 12,000. Pharmacy enrolment also increased from 3,644 to 7,419. A separate ₦110bn intervention is supporting the rehabilitation of 24 medical schools.
The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) featured prominently, with the document reporting that 1,659,853 applications had been processed. It listed ₦192.89bn disbursed as institutional fees and ₦179.73bn paid as upkeep allowances, bringing total reported disbursements to ₦372.62bn across 319 beneficiary institutions.
On out-of-school children and Almajiri education, the government said more than one million children had been reintegrated into learning, while 200 bilingual learning centres had been established and 1,400 Tsangaya teachers trained. The initiative also includes plans for the construction or rehabilitation of 13,000 classrooms.
The Tertiary Institutions Staff Support Fund was another intervention highlighted, providing financial assistance of up to ₦10m to eligible academic and non-academic staff in public tertiary institutions. According to the document, ₦28bn had been disbursed to 15,000 beneficiaries across 153 institutions.
The administration also cited curriculum and quality assurance reforms, including the reintroduction of Nigerian History into classrooms and a stronger emphasis on Civic and Heritage Studies.
Under renewable energy interventions, the government reported the construction of solar mini-grids in 37 federal universities and seven teaching hospitals, alongside the installation of compressed natural gas refuelling stations in 20 federal and state universities.
Student entrepreneurship also featured in the document through the Student Venture Capital Grant, which attracted 30,639 registrations from 404 tertiary institutions. The government reported that 65 finalists were selected and more than ₦2.5bn disbursed to 45 student entrepreneurs, with each receiving up to ₦50m.
The Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) initiative was also highlighted, with more than 2.8 million applicants and 156,446 verified trainees. The document reported that over ₦65.7bn had been disbursed in stipends and start-up support to verified trainees, while training centres received ₦30.2bn.
Other interventions focus on university financial autonomy, digital access, workforce expansion and youth entrepreneurship.
The government said 58 of 63 federal universities, 37 of 41 federal polytechnics and 27 of 29 federal colleges of education had been onboarded onto the Federal Tertiary Institutions Governance Portal.
Through the National Education Data Infrastructure, more than 40 million learners and 215,000 schools had been mapped to improve education planning. The document also reported the enrolment of 16,000 learners in the first cohort of the Digital Technical Academy and the deployment of 1,000 smart boards across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
In addition, the ministry is working to expand specialised degree programmes and clinical training in occupational therapy, audiology and speech therapy, while its entrepreneurship initiative is being implemented in 14 federal universities to equip students with business and innovation skills.
The final intervention focuses on reducing the cost of accessing digital educational resources through partnerships with the Nigerian Communications Commission and other stakeholders. The Education Internet Exchange Point is also expected to improve access to educational materials and digital resources at reduced or no data costs.
The 26 initiatives form part of the Federal Government’s broader efforts to improve access, strengthen institutional capacity, promote skills development and reposition Nigeria’s education system for national development.
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