Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, has challenged education correspondents across Nigeria to embrace data-driven journalism by using official education statistics to hold state governments, local government councils and other stakeholders accountable for improving learning outcomes and expanding access to quality education.

Speaking on Wednesday at the Education Correspondents Association of Nigeria (ECAN) 2026 Annual Education Summit in Abuja, Alausa urged journalists to go beyond routine reporting by interrogating education policies and performance with credible data available on the Nigeria Education Data Infrastructure Management System (NEDIMS).

The summit, themed “Three Years of the Tinubu Administration: Assessing Reforms, Progress and Challenges in Nigeria’s Education Sector,” brought together policymakers, heads of education agencies, journalists and other stakeholders.

According to the minister, access to comprehensive education data now provides the media with the necessary tools to scrutinise issues such as teacher shortages, classroom deficits, enrolment trends and school infrastructure at the grassroots.

“Like President Bola Ahmed Tinubu would say, if you don’t use data, it is like you are flying blind. We want you journalists to go to the website and use those data to challenge governors and local government chairmen. You can now know the teacher-to-classroom ratio, student-to-teacher ratio, student-to-classroom ratio and facilities available down to the school level,” he said.

Alausa commended ECAN for sustaining a platform that promotes informed discourse on education and keeping Nigerians updated on developments within the sector.

Describing education as the bedrock of national development, he said President Bola Tinubu’s administration had prioritised the sector under the Renewed Hope Agenda through strategic reforms focused on six key areas: Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), digital transformation, reducing out-of-school children, quality assurance and strengthening education governance.

He explained that the reforms were deliberately designed to produce measurable outcomes rather than being implemented in isolation.

Highlighting achievements recorded in the last three years, the minister said sustained engagement with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and unions in polytechnics and colleges of education had ensured uninterrupted academic activities across tertiary institutions.

“For once, in three years, we have not had any stoppage in our tertiary education system. This is a big deal,” he said.

Alausa also noted improvements in Nigeria’s global university rankings, revealing that the number of Nigerian universities among the world’s top 1,000 institutions had risen from 21 to 24 in 2026, with 17 of them being public universities.

He added that public universities now occupy the country’s top four positions in national rankings, describing the development as evidence that reforms in the tertiary education sector were yielding positive results.

The minister, however, identified access to junior secondary education as one of the country’s biggest challenges, revealing that although Nigeria has nearly 25 million pupils in primary schools, only about five million progress to junior secondary education.

He attributed the gap partly to inadequate infrastructure, noting that while Nigeria has about 90,000 primary schools, there are only about 16,000 junior secondary schools nationwide.

On the out-of-school children crisis, Alausa disclosed that over one million children had been returned to classrooms within the past 24 months through targeted government interventions. He added that the Federal Ministry of Education was collaborating with the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) to generate more accurate data for planning.

Also speaking, the Minister of State for Education, Prof. Suwaiba Ahmed, urged journalists to support ongoing reforms through responsible and balanced reporting capable of keeping Nigerians informed on progress and challenges within the sector.

She described education as the foundation of economic growth, poverty reduction, innovation and social cohesion.

Executive Secretary of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Aisha Garba, reiterated the commission’s commitment to ensuring every Nigerian child has access to quality basic education regardless of background, location or economic status.

Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), FCT Council, Grace Ike, called on journalists to continue promoting accountability in the education sector, stressing that government, parents, school administrators, policymakers and the media must work together to improve learning outcomes.

Special Adviser to the Minister of Education on Media and Communication, Ikharo Attah, also advocated evidence-based reporting, urging journalists to rely on facts rather than assumptions while encouraging public information officers in education agencies to effectively communicate government reforms.

Earlier, ECAN Chairman, Chuks Ukwauta, said the summit was organised to critically assess the achievements, reforms and challenges in Nigeria’s education sector over the past three years.

He noted that while significant policy initiatives had been introduced under the Tinubu administration, issues such as inadequate funding, infrastructure deficits, teacher development, research, technology integration and the challenge of millions of out-of-school children still required urgent attention.

The summit concluded with the presentation of awards to the Minister of Education, Member Representing Isuikwuato/ Umunneochi Federal Constituency, Hon Amobi Godwin Ogah and several heads of education agencies for their contributions to sector reforms, alongside technical presentations by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and the National Universities Commission (NUC).