NIGERIA’S EDUCATION STRIDES, GLOBAL ACKNOWLEDGMENT: When Evidence Travels from Jigawa

…as President Tinubu set to commission Africa’s largest schools complex in Lagos

By O’tega Ogra

There is a quiet shift happening in Nigeria’s education system. You will not find it in speeches neither will you find it in long policy documents. But if you look closely, you will see it in something far more difficult to dismiss. Evidence.

Last week in San Francisco, at the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES) conference, data from classrooms in Jigawa State was presented before a global audience. Not projections. Not estimates. A record of what is happening inside a public system in Nigeria. 

That distinction matters. For years, much of what the world has understood about education in countries like ours has been assembled from a distance. National averages. Modelled estimates and reports written long after the fact. What was presented this time came from within. Attendance tracked daily. Teachers reassigned based on need. Classrooms observed as they function. All under a digitalised ecosystem.

In Jigawa, under the JigawaUNITE foundational learning digital programme, the numbers tell a simple story. Within roughly 150 days of implementation which commenced at the end of 2024, 95 previously understaffed schools were fully staffed. Pupil teacher ratio moved from 114:1 to 70:1. Daily attendance rose from 39 per cent to 77 per cent. This remarkable improvement was not achieved by expanding the workforce. It came from reorganising what already existed under a digital umbrella.

There is something instructive in that. Nigeria has never lacked policy. What we have often lacked is the discipline of execution. The ability to take what already exists and make it work as intended. That is where the real shift is beginning to show.

But it would be too convenient to reduce this to one programme.

At the federal level, the direction has also been adjusting. The Minister of Education, Dr. Maruf Tunji Alausa, has placed measurable outcomes, foundational learning, and teacher quality back at the centre of policy. UBEC, the Federal Government’s Universal Basic Education body, continues to drive national interventions around school improvement and teacher development, even as it insists that reform must remain system-led and not fragmented.

The First Lady’s education interventions, through the Renewed Hope Initiative, have reinforced education as a national priority, particularly around access, learning materials, and inclusion. These are different levers, but they are part of the same ecosystem.

And then there is the fiscal reality.

Recent reforms under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu have increased allocations to subnational governments, creating more room for states to act. In a federation like Nigeria, that matters. Because education is not delivered from Abuja. It is delivered in states. In schools. In classrooms.

What Jigawa has done is to use that room and the Executive Governor of the state, the State Universal Basic Education Board, and their partners on the JigawaUNITE project, New Globe, must be given kudos.

However, Jigawa is not alone in this journey.

In Kwara, efforts to align teaching with actual learning levels are beginning to correct a structural mismatch in classrooms. In Lagos and Edo, structured pedagogy and closer monitoring are improving consistency in teaching. Across the entire ecosystem, state governments, federal institutions like UBEC, and delivery partners like NewGlobe are pushing at the same question from different angles.

How do children actually learn better?

In a prior reflection, Ifeyinwa Ugochukwu, VP at NewGlobe, captured the urgency clearly. With the right tools, training, and use of data, foundational learning outcomes can improve at scale. The real risk, she noted, is delay, allowing learning gaps to become permanent.

That warning should not be ignored because the context remains difficult. Nigeria still carries one of the largest out of school populations in the world. Learning gaps remain. Progress in one state does not resolve a national challenge, but it does something else.

It proves that movement is possible.

What was presented in Washington did not claim success. It demonstrated function. It showed that a Nigerian sub-national can generate evidence that holds up in a global room. That reform does not always require something new. Sometimes it requires using what already exists more honestly and more efficiently.

The real question now is whether this remains an exception.

Or whether it becomes a pattern.

Because reform at scale is never built on isolated wins. It is built on systems that can reproduce them.

And perhaps that is why the timing matters.

This week, another subnational, Lagos State, is expected to commission the Tolu Schools Complex in Ajegunle, a sprawling 36-school integrated facility spread across 11.7 hectares, designed to serve over 20,000 students, and described as the largest school community in Africa. 

There is a connection here that should not be missed.

On one hand, a classroom system in Jigawa is learning how to organise itself better. On the other, a state like Lagos is building the physical scale required to carry thousands of learners at once.

One is structure. The other is capacity.

Real progress sits where both meet because education reform is not only about what we build, it is about how well what we build actually works.

For once, the data was not explaining Nigeria from the outside.

It was coming from within.

And it carried weight.

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Edukate Africa holds summit to tackle funding barrier in education

By Ifeoma Ikem

Edukate Africa, an edu-fintech platform is set to host the Disrupt Education Summit Africa (Disrupt ED) aimed at tackling funding barriers, skills gaps and curriculum mismatch in Nigeria’s education system.

The Director of Edukate Africa, Francis Omorojie who disclosed this to newsmen explained that the initiative was driven by the high rate of school dropouts linked largely to financial constraints, particularly at the higher institution

Omorojie said the summit scheduled for January 29 at the University of Lagos will bring together government officials, universities, financial institutions, private sector players and philanthropies to rethink education financing and prepare young Nigerians for the realities of today’s digital workforce.

He said that more than 50 percent of students who drop out of higher institutions do so because they cannot afford tuition and related costs, a situation he described as a major contributor to unemployment, brain drain and irregular migration.

“Africa’s youthful population could either become an economic advantage or a liability, depending on how well education and talent development are managed.

“Education is a fundamental need, but financial exclusion has continued to shut out many promising young people. When students drop out, it feeds unemployment and social instability.

“Our mission is to build innovative and sustainable financial models that keep young Africans in school and help them become productive,” he said.

He noted that Edukate Africa is deploying blended financing solutions that include tuition guarantees, technology driven scholarship platforms, gig and remote work opportunities for students, and partnerships with universities and philanthropies to establish endowment and alumni funds.

He said that the platform pays tuition directly to institutions after verifying students’ admission and academic records, ensuring transparency and accountability for donors.

“The summit would focus on aligning education with the fast changing nature of work, driven by digital transformation, artificial intelligence and emerging technologies as any university curricula are lagging behind workplace realities, leaving graduates ill prepared for employment.

“There is a clear disconnect between what students are taught and what employers need. This summit will create a roundtable where government, academia and the private sector can agree on the skills required for today’s economy and how to integrate them into learning.

“It will also examine education financing models, including how banks and financial institutions can design student friendly funding products, and how existing initiatives such as the Nigeria Education Loan Fund can be strengthened and scaled.’’

Omorojie added that Edukate Africa would use the summit to launch the CommUniversity Endowment Fund, a community led investment fund designed to generate sustainable returns that will be used to sponsor vulnerable students and support young entrepreneurs.

Unlike traditional grant models, he said the fund would invest in revenue generating businesses, with dividends channeled into education support and seed funding for student led startups.

He said the initiative would also promote innovation through activities such as Pitch My Dissertation, Africathon and inter university debates, encouraging students to turn academic research into commercial solutions and job creating ventures.

According to him, over 1,000 students and recent graduates are expected at the summit, with a partners’ pavilion providing employers and organisations direct access to top talent.

He added that Edukate Africa has already supported students in Nigeria, the United Kingdom and Uganda to complete their education, in some cases with relatively small amounts that made the difference between graduation and dropping out.

He said that the ultimate goal is to move beyond access to education and ensure that young people graduate with relevant skills, funding support and pathways into employment or entrepreneurship, thereby contributing meaningfully to Nigeria’s economic development.

Also speaking, Tosin Adebisi, Co-Founder of Edukate Africa said the Disrupt ED Summit was designed as a disruptive and transformative convergence that would move beyond familiar conversations to practical collaboration.

Adebisi said the summit was built around a new framework called Communiversity, which seeks to integrate universities, policymakers, industry, the third sector and students into a single ecosystem.

“Rather than everyone working in silos, Communiversity brings together policymakers, universities, industry and civil society, with students at the centre, to address access to education, the future of work and Africa’s competitiveness.

“Communiversity model would leverage alumni networks, high net worth individuals and diaspora support to unlock sustainable funding for universities.

“The summit is being organised in partnership with the University of Lagos and the University of Birmingham, with support from the Federal Ministry of Education.’’

The dignitaries that would grace the occasion include, Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa; the Provost and Vice Principal of the University of Birmingham, Professor Nick, the Chief Operating Officer of Semicolon Africa, Ms Ashley Immanuel; and the Chief Executive Officer of Sterling One Foundation, Mrs Olapeju Ibikwe