By Edith Tsokar/Funmilayo Adeyemi
The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, says about 80 per cent of development partners’ education funding invested in two geopolitical zones over the past decade has failed to improve literacy and numeracy outcomes in the affected states.
Alausa said this on Thursday in Abuja at the National Stakeholders’ Workshop on the Nigeria Education Data Infrastructure (NEDI).
He said the trend underscored the need for data-driven planning and evidence-based governance in the education sector.
According to him, records showed that billions of naira in development financing had been channelled to zones with the lowest literacy and numeracy performance, yet learning outcomes remained poor.
“As we look at our data, about 80 per cent of development financing investments in the last 10 years went to two geopolitical zones in the country.
“Those two zones still have the lowest literacy and numeracy rates in the country. So, it is like wasted investment,” he said.
The minister said the newly introduced NEDI platform would address such disparities by providing a unified database to guide investment decisions, policy formulation and monitoring of education outcomes nationwide.
He explained that the absence of reliable and harmonised data previously led to fragmented planning, making it difficult for government and development partners to assess whether interventions were producing measurable results.
According to him, the NEDI system will enable government to track school infrastructure, learner performance, teacher qualifications and investment impact in real time.
He added that this would ensure resources were directed to areas of greatest need.
Alausa described the platform as the country’s “single source of truth” for education data, noting that it would support better budget planning and align interventions with measurable outcomes.
He said the Federal Government was transitioning to outcome-based and result-driven funding models, supported by technology and data analytics, to strengthen accountability and human capital development.
“We know where investments need to go, but as we invest, are we getting the outcomes we need?
“And if we are not getting those outcomes, what do we need to do? How do we return to the drawing board?
“Today, we are doing things based on data,” he said.
The minister said improved use of education data would also help Nigeria maximise its youthful population by strengthening education quality and aligning training with labour market demands.
He added that the Nationwide Learner Identification Number (NLIN), linked to the National Identification Number (NIN), would track every student’s academic journey and strengthen education planning.
According to him, the initiative has enabled government to monitor enrolment, infrastructure, teachers and learning outcomes across more than 240,000 schools nationwide.
Alausa explained that the learner identification number was not a new identity system, but an alignment with the existing NIN framework to create an immutable record for learners from basic to tertiary education.
He said the initiative would end years of fragmented education data that made it difficult to determine the exact number of pupils, teachers, classrooms and facilities across the country.
“With this platform, we can know the number of students, teachers’ qualifications, available classrooms, computers and even water facilities in any school from one dashboard,” he said.
The minister further disclosed that government planned to integrate labour market data into the system to guide students toward courses aligned with national workforce demands.
He added that entrepreneurship training would be embedded in tertiary education programmes to produce job creators rather than job seekers.
Earlier, the NEDI Coordinator, Dr Abubakar Isah, said the platform was designed to improve educational outcomes, optimise resource allocation and strengthen institutional accountability nationwide.
Isah explained that before the development of the system, education data in Nigeria existed in disconnected databases with weak interoperability, inconsistent reporting structures and limited national visibility into enrolment trends.
According to him, the absence of a unified database constrained policy decisions, weakened programme monitoring and prevented government from effectively tracking learners through enrolment, transition and completion stages.
He said the NEDI platform now provides a 360-degree view of Nigeria’s education system by consolidating learner records, institutional information, examination data and programme financing into a single national ecosystem.
Also speaking, the Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajiya Imaan Suleiman-Ibrahim, described NEDI as a critical tool for strengthening child protection, girls’ education and social inclusion across the country.
She commended Alausa for initiating the platform, noting that reliable education data would enable government institutions to identify gaps and target interventions more effectively.
The minister said the initiative aligned with President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, especially in advancing human capital development and social investment priorities.
She added that the platform should be seen as a collaborative tool for building an inclusive, responsive and people-centred education system capable of promoting peace, productivity and sustainable national development.
In his remarks, the Deputy Governor of Enugu State, Mr Ifeanyi Ossai, commended the Federal Ministry of Education for establishing what he described as critical national infrastructure capable of transforming Nigeria’s development trajectory.
Ossai said the initiative went beyond education sector reform and would provide a foundation for evidence-based planning and national growth.
He recalled that upon assumption of office, the Enugu State Government conducted an audit of its education sector and discovered that many public schools were no longer fit for leaders to enrol their children.
According to him, the discovery prompted the state government to launch an ambitious reform programme, including the construction of 267 smart green schools across the state’s 260 administrative wards.
He stressed the need for strong legal and regulatory frameworks to sustain the national education database and urged collaboration between federal and sub-national governments to ensure credibility, accountability and data protection. (NAN) www.nannews.ng
Edited by Tosin Kolade
