By Omoyeni Ojeifo
More than one million children have been moved from the streets into schools across Nigeria in the last two and a half years, the Minister of Education, Dr. Maruf Tunji Alausa, has disclosed.
Alausa spoke in Abuja at the weekend while receiving the outcomes of the 2025 Nigeria 2050: Child Foresight Analysis for Futures Literacy and Intergenerational Equity, an initiative of the Office of the Vice President implemented with technical support from UNICEF.
The Child Foresight team was led to the Minister’s office by its Director General, Chris Ngwodo, and the Special Assistant on Special Duties to the Vice President, Mohammed Ahmed.
PersecondNews correspondent reports that the team was at the Ministry to present the findings of the foresight analysis, which examines the risks, opportunities and major drivers that could shape the lives of Nigerian children and young people towards 2050.
According to the Minister, about 70 per cent of Nigeria’s estimated 220 million people are below the age of 30, making education, skills development and productive opportunities critical to converting the youthful population into a demographic dividend.
He said the government’s efforts were focused on providing quality education, relevant skills and productive opportunities, while moving national development towards long-term planning.
Speaking on the broader reforms under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Alausa said the changes were already producing measurable benefits rather than remaining political rhetoric.
“And these are not just rhetorics we are hearing now. These are things we are seeing, with a lot of tangible benefits and tangible change in the country, particularly across education, skills development, training, planning and national development.”
Alausa announced that President Tinubu had delivered on almost 100 per cent of the promises made during the 2023 presidential campaign, adding that Nigeria had moved beyond the uncertainty that previously characterised national development.
He said education remained central to the administration’s ambition of moving Nigeria towards a $1 trillion economy, with the Nigerian Education Sector Renewal Initiative driving reforms across the education system.
The initiative focuses on TVET, STEM education, teacher quality, quality assurance, reducing out-of-school children, education data and digitalisation.
On the renewed focus on Technical and Vocational Education and Training, the Minister said practical skills were essential to preparing young Nigerians for employment, entrepreneurship and the demands of the modern economy.
“Skills are the present and the future, and Nigeria can no longer afford an education system that does not prepare young people with practical abilities, relevant knowledge and opportunities to succeed in today’s changing economy,” said the minister.
Alausa stressed that technical education had once been integral to Nigeria’s education system, providing pathways for young people to become skilled workers, artisans, entrepreneurs and professionals, before decades of neglect weakened the sector.
He said the Federal Government was deliberately restoring TVET to the centre of national education because of its importance to employment, productivity and economic growth.
Alausa also linked investment in medical education and professional training to shortages of nurses and other health professionals and the migration pressures commonly referred to as “Japa”.
Government, he said, was expanding access to nursing education and increasing training capacity within existing teaching hospitals, federal medical centres and specialist hospitals rather than relying solely on new institutions.
On the expansion of professional training, Alausa noted that government was creating more opportunities for Nigerians to train locally while building a workforce capable of competing internationally.
“The objective was to give more Nigerians the opportunity to acquire high-quality professional training at home while building a skilled workforce capable of competing internationally and contributing meaningfully to Nigeria’s development,” he said.
He said the wider education reforms were intended to give young Nigerians the knowledge, skills and opportunities required to build productive lives and contribute to national development.
Alausa questioned long-standing estimates putting Nigeria’s out-of-school population between 15 million and 17 million, saying they had been repeatedly cited without sufficiently comprehensive household-level assessments.
In Kaduna, he said a survey covering more than 90 per cent of households reportedly found fewer than 190,000 out-of-school children against an earlier estimate of about 585,000.
He also cited another Kaduna estimate of about 1.2 million children which, according to him, fell to less than 100,000 following a general household survey, while Jigawa had recorded similar differences.
Despite the variations emerging from household surveys, Alausa stressed that the government’s priority remained ensuring that every child has access to education.
“Even if there’s significant reduction, any child out of school is still too many, because every child deserves access to quality education, protection, opportunity and the chance to develop their full potential.”
The Minister disclosed that more than one million children had been moved from the streets into schools nationally over the past two and a half years, while Jigawa alone had moved more than 180,000 children into school over the last two years.
He disclosed that the next challenge was sustaining enrolment, keeping children in school and preventing new cases of exclusion, with reliable data needed to identify gaps and target interventions.
More than 56 per cent of public schools had entered their 2026 Annual School Census information, while 41 per cent of private schools had populated their records on the digitised Nigerian Education Management Information System.
The Ministry had also conducted a national assessment to establish a baseline for literacy, numeracy and cognitive development among learners at primary, junior secondary and senior secondary levels.
Explaining the importance of digital education records, Alausa said reliable information was essential for identifying gaps, directing resources and measuring the impact of government interventions.
“Without data, you’re flying blind. Data will tell you everything, where children are, where schools need support, where infrastructure is lacking and whether our interventions are actually producing meaningful results.”
He added that the data would help the Ministry monitor enrolment, plan infrastructure, identify gaps in access and participation and assess the effectiveness of education interventions.
Alausa cited that the education reforms were directly relevant to the Child Foresight Analysis because securing the future of Nigerian children required long-term planning, reliable data, relevant skills and sustained investment in human capital.
He commended the Office of the Vice President, the Office for Strategic Preparedness and Resilience and UNICEF for supporting the initiative, describing it as a tool for moving Nigeria from reactive governance towards anticipatory action.
He said the Ministry would align the findings with NESRI, particularly in future literacy, long-term education planning, skills development, data systems and intergenerational equity.
The Minister urged stakeholders to move beyond theoretical scenarios and connect the foresight findings to tangible reforms already underway in education and other sectors.
The 2025 Nigeria 2050: Child Foresight Analysis for Futures Literacy and Intergenerational Equity is part of the Anticipatory Governance and Foresight Capacity Programme of the Office of the Vice President, with technical support from UNICEF.
The initiative examines the risks, opportunities and drivers likely to shape the lives of Nigerian children aged 0 to 17 and young people aged 15 to 35 towards 2050, with the aim of strengthening futures literacy, anticipatory governance and intergenerational equity in national planning.
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