Nigeria’s Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, has highlighted major successes recorded in the education sector under the administration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, saying the ongoing reforms would positively impact generations of Nigerians.

Alausa spoke on Monday during a special roundtable session at the Education World Forum, where he engaged education ministers and global stakeholders on Nigeria’s foundational learning reforms and strategies for tackling learning poverty.

The minister explained that Nigeria had successfully unified foundational literacy delivery under a single national standard covering both formal and non-formal education systems.

According to him, the Federal Government is currently scaling the Rapid Assessment of Numeracy and Literacy programme for Primary 1 to 3 pupils and the Teaching at the Right Level initiative for Primary 4 to 6 pupils across 15 states through the Universal Basic Education Commission.

He noted that the initiatives utilise structured lesson plans, weekly teacher coaching and regular assessments to improve learning outcomes.

Alausa further disclosed that the Accelerated Basic Education Programme developed by the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council delivers foundational literacy and numeracy outcomes for out-of-school children and adolescents within three years.

According to him, both formal and non-formal education tracks now report into the National Education Data Initiative, making it possible for government to monitor education coverage from a unified dashboard for the first time.

The minister also highlighted several state-led reforms already producing measurable results, including EKOEXCEL, KwaraLEARN and BayelsaPRIME, which he described as successful data-driven and technology-enabled teaching models.

He revealed that KwaraLEARN had reduced foundational learning deficiencies by half in less than two years, while BayelsaPRIME improved literacy levels by 20 percentage points within 19 weeks.

“The model is working, and we are now scaling it nationally,” he stated.

Speaking on policy and funding reforms, the minister said foundational literacy and numeracy now occupy a central position in President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda and the National Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Programme.

He added that the Federal Government was finalising a National Policy on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy aimed at providing a sustainable legal and institutional framework for reforms across federal, state and non-formal education systems.

Alausa also disclosed that under Nigeria’s Partnership Compact with the Global Partnership for Education, about 70 per cent of funding is tied to measurable outcomes in learning, teacher management and data utilisation.

The minister further announced plans by the Federal Government 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 nationwide.

On efforts to tackle Nigeria’s out-of-school children crisis, Alausa explained that the Accelerated Basic Education Programme provides a recognised pathway for children outside the formal school system to transition into Junior Secondary School education.

He noted that ABEP centres and formal schools now use the same coaching tools and learning materials, while State Universal Basic Education Board officers supervise both systems across 15 states to ensure quality and consistency.

The minister maintained that the newly deployed National Education Data Initiative had also exposed critical gaps in donor funding effectiveness, stressing that Nigeria had shifted its focus from educational inputs to measurable learning outcomes.

Expressing optimism over the reforms, Alausa said the ongoing initiatives would significantly reduce learning poverty across the country.

“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.