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From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, has highlighted major reforms and achievements recorded in Nigeria’s education sector under President Bola Tinubu at the ongoing Education World Forum (EWF) in London.
The minister engaged education ministers and global stakeholders on Nigeria’s foundational learning reforms, describing the initiatives as transformative measures that would positively impact future generations.
Speaking on Nigeria’s Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) programmes, Alausa said the country had successfully harmonised foundational literacy delivery under a unified national standard covering both formal and non-formal education systems.
“We are scaling RANA for Primary One to Three and teaching at the right level for Primary Four to Six across 15 states through the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC). This approach uses structured lesson plans, weekly teacher coaching and regular assessments,” he said.
According to the minister, the Accelerated Basic Education Programme (ABEP), developed by the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC), delivers equivalent foundational literacy and numeracy outcomes for out-of-school children and adolescents within three years.
“Both tracks now report into the Nigeria Education Data Infrastructure (NEDI). For the first time, we can monitor formal and non-formal education coverage from a single dashboard,” he added.
He also highlighted several successful state-led reforms already yielding measurable results, including EKOEXCEL, KwaraLEARN and BayelsaPRIME, which he described as effective data-driven and technology-enabled teaching models.
“The impact is measurable. KwaraLEARN reduced foundational learning deficiencies by half in less than two years, while BayelsaPRIME improved literacy by 20 percentage points within 19 weeks. The model is working and we are now scaling it nationally,” he stated.
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On policy and funding reforms, the minister said foundational literacy and numeracy had become central pillars of President Bola 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 aimed at providing a sustainable legal and institutional framework for reforms across federal, state and non-formal education systems.
“Through our Partnership Compact with the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), 70 percent of funding is tied to measurable outcomes in learning, teacher management and data utilisation,” he said.
He further revealed plans to increase the Universal Basic Education Commission’s share of the Consolidated Revenue Fund from two percent to four percent, effectively doubling federal funding for basic education.
Addressing Nigeria’s out-of-school children crisis, 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 explained.
On accountability and data-driven governance, he said the newly deployed National Education Data Initiative had revealed critical gaps in donor funding effectiveness.
He stressed that Nigeria had shifted its emphasis from educational inputs to measurable learning outcomes, expressing confidence that the ongoing reforms would significantly reduce learning poverty across the country.
“With the National Policy on FLN nearly finalised and one standard across formal and non-formal systems, we are building a foundation that will outlast any single programme cycle. That is how we will end learning poverty at scale,” he added.
