Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
The Federal Government has announced plans to conduct a comprehensive nationwide household survey to establish a more accurate figure for Nigeria's out-of-school children, acknowledging that the widely cited estimates of between 15 million and 20 million no longer reflect the current reality. The Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, disclosed this on Wednesday, July 15, 2026, during the 2026 Annual Education Summit of the Education Correspondents Association of Nigeria held in Abuja. Speaking at the event, Alausa said the Federal Ministry of Education would partner with the National Bureau of Statistics to generate reliable, evidence-based data that would guide policy decisions and interventions in the education sector. The minister stressed that the government was committed to replacing assumptions with credible statistics, adding that the nationwide household survey would provide a clearer picture of the magnitude and distribution of the challenge.
According to Alausa, the survey will enable the government to design more targeted interventions to improve access to education, particularly in communities where educational challenges are most severe. He noted that although the government had succeeded in returning more than one million out-of-school children to classrooms over the past two years, obtaining accurate data remained critical to measuring progress and addressing the problem effectively. The minister explained that President Bola Tinubu's administration was committed to evidence-based policymaking, stressing that access to accurate data should empower both the media and citizens to demand greater accountability from public office holders. He further urged journalists to move beyond routine event coverage to investigative reporting that highlights gaps in the education sector and tracks government performance using verifiable evidence.
Alausa also highlighted key reforms being implemented under the Renewed Hope Agenda, including Technical and Vocational Education and Training, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, digital transformation, quality assurance, improved education governance, and expanding access to education. He noted that Nigeria had recorded three consecutive years without disruption of academic activities in universities, polytechnics and colleges of education, attributing the achievement to sustained engagement with tertiary institution unions. The minister also disclosed that Nigeria now has 24 universities ranked among the world's top 1,000 institutions, compared with 21 previously, with public universities occupying the country's top four positions. The summit, themed "Three Years of the Tinubu Administration: Assessing Reforms, Progress and Challenges in Nigeria's Education Sector," brought together policymakers, education stakeholders and journalists to evaluate reforms and challenges in the sector.
Also speaking, the Minister of State for Education, Prof. Suwaiba Ahmad, urged journalists to support education reforms through balanced and responsible reporting, describing education as the foundation upon which a productive economy, democratic institutions, poverty reduction, and social cohesion are built. The Executive Secretary of the Universal Basic Education Commission, Aisha Garba, reaffirmed the commission's commitment to ensuring that every Nigerian child has access to quality basic education regardless of background or location. "The most important objective is that no child should be left behind. Regardless of background, location or income level, every child must have access to quality education," she said.
The announcement of the nationwide survey comes amid growing concerns over Nigeria's education crisis. Estimates of out-of-school children in Nigeria vary widely, with figures often ranging between 15 million and 20 million. However, recent data from the Universal Basic Education Commission suggests the figure could be significantly higher, with millions of children dropping out before completing secondary education. The Federal Government has previously disclosed that about 20 million pupils who enrolled in primary schools failed to progress to senior secondary education, a crisis that has prompted sweeping reforms, including the proposed phasing out of the separation of Junior Secondary Schools from Senior Secondary Schools.
The survey is expected to become one of the government's most important education data exercises in years. It comes as the Federal Government disclosed that Nigeria continued to account for nearly 20 percent of the global population of out-of-school children. The minister acknowledged that the widely cited estimates required updating, stressing that the government's commitment to evidence-based policymaking would guide the allocation of resources to communities where educational challenges are most severe. The survey is also expected to provide critical data to support ongoing efforts to reintegrate out-of-school children into classrooms, a key priority of the Tinubu administration's Renewed Hope Agenda.
As the Federal Government prepares to conduct the survey, stakeholders have expressed cautious optimism that the exercise will provide the data needed to address the education crisis. The survey is expected to provide a clearer picture of the magnitude and distribution of the challenge, enabling the government to design more targeted interventions to improve access to education. The minister's call for evidence-based journalism has also resonated with media practitioners, who have been urged to move beyond routine event coverage to investigative reporting that tracks government performance using verifiable data. For millions of Nigerian children currently outside the formal education system, the survey represents a crucial step toward ensuring that no child is left behind.
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