Ongoing Reforms In Education Sector Delivering Measurable Outcomes -Minister
By Alice Etuka, Abuja
Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa says ongoing reforms in Nigeria’s education sector like EKOEXCEL, Accelerated Basic Education Programme (ABEP), National Education Data Initiative (NEDI) KwaraLEARN, BayelsaPRIME and others were delivering measurable outcomes.
Special Adviser to the Minister on Media and Communications, Ikharo Attah disclosed this in a statement on Monday.
Attah said the minister spoke on Monday during a special roundtable session at the Education World Forum (EWF) in London, United Kingdom, where he engaged education ministers and global stakeholders on Nigeria’s foundational learning reforms.
“NEDI data revealed a key issue: 80% of donor funds in the last decade went to the North-West and North-East, yet those zones still have the lowest literacy and numeracy rates. We now have the data to redirect resources where they deliver results,” he said.
Speaking on Nigeria’s Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) initiatives, the minister said the country had successfully 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.
According to him, the Accelerated Basic Education Programme (ABEP), developed by the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council, delivers the same foundational literacy and numeracy outcomes 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,” he added.
The minister highlighted several state-led reforms already delivering measurable outcomes, citing programmes such as EKOEXCEL, KwaraLEARN and BayelsaPRIME as examples of successful, data-driven and technology-enabled 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 said.
On policy and funding reforms, Alausa said foundational literacy and numeracy now sit at the centre 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 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 Universal Basic Education Commission’s share of the Consolidated Revenue Fund from two per cent to four per cent, effectively doubling federal funding for basic education.
Speaking on efforts to address Nigeria’s out-of-school children crisis, the minister explained that ABEP provides a recognised pathway for children outside the formal 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 data-driven governance, Alausa said the newly deployed NEDI had exposed critical gaps in donor funding effectiveness.
Alausa maintained that Nigeria had shifted its focus from educational inputs to measurable learning outcomes, expressing confidence that the country’s ongoing reforms would significantly reduce learning poverty nationwide.
“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 said.
