Nigeria’s education sector, burdened by rising costs, more than 10 million out-of-school children, poor learning outcomes and a persistent skills gap, is undergoing a broad reform under Education Minister, Dr. Tunji Alausa. From NELFUND and student accommodation to TVET, teacher training and digital learning, the interventions are shifting attention from classrooms alone to the wider conditions that determine whether students enter school, remain there, graduate and secure livelihoods, OWEDE AGBAJILEKE reports.

When President Bola Ahmed Tinubu assumed office in May 2023, Nigeria’s education crisis went beyond inadequate classrooms and dilapidated school buildings. Millions of children were out of school, tertiary education was becoming increasingly expensive, universities faced recurring disruptions, while employers complained about the mismatch between academic qualifications and practical skills.

Against that background, the reforms under the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa are attempting to redefine what government intervention in education should mean. The focus is increasingly moving beyond physical infrastructure to the circumstances that determine whether a student can access education, stay in school, complete a programme and acquire skills that can translate into employment or entrepreneurship.

The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), has become perhaps the clearest expression of this approach.

Latest figures show that NELFUND has processed more than 1.65 million applications, with more than N190 billion paid to beneficiary institutions for institutional charges and over N160 billion provided to students as upkeep support.

The significance of the scheme is that the cost of tertiary education extends beyond school charges. Accommodation, feeding, transportation, textbooks and internet access can determine whether financially vulnerable students remain in school.

At the University of Lagos, 300-level Theatre Arts and Film Studies student Migwe Obinna Nicholas said the loan saved him from dropping out. The first university student in his family, Nicholas said financial difficulties had forced him to consider abandoning his education. “I was thinking about dropping out, but I had to take that loan because I didn’t want to stop,” he said.

He said NELFUND had paid his school fees but complained about delays in receiving the N20,000 monthly upkeep allowance. His experience captures both the strength and weakness of the scheme: tuition support can keep students in school, but the impact of the upkeep component depends on its adequacy and regularity.

At the University of Ibadan, final-year Veterinary Medicine student Olaiya Adewumi also described the allowance as useful for feeding, transportation, data and other academic expenses. But with her monthly expenses approaching N100,000, she called for the allowance to be increased to between N30,000 and N40,000 and for payments to be made promptly.

Another University of Ibadan graduate, Sunday Oyebode, offered perhaps the strongest testimony, saying the loan enabled him to complete his university education after rising fees became increasingly difficult to afford. “The greatest benefit is that it made me complete my university education. I can say I am a graduate because of the loan,” he said.

These accounts put a human face on NELFUND’s statistics. For some beneficiaries, the scheme is not simply government assistance but the difference between completing university and dropping out.

The agency has described demand for the scheme as overwhelming, reflecting the financial pressure facing students and their families. President Tinubu has also directed that additional funding sources, including certain recovered public funds and unclaimed dividends, should support NELFUND as applications increase.

But the education reset extends beyond student loans. More than N200 billion has been committed to student accommodation, while campus transportation interventions and renewable energy projects are being expanded across federal tertiary institutions. These may appear less prominent than major school construction projects, but they address practical barriers that can affect students’ ability to learn.

Reliable power, for instance, is essential not only for hostels and libraries but also for laboratories and workshops. In technical institutions, electricity is directly linked to whether students can acquire practical competencies.

That connects with another major pillar of the reforms: technical and vocational education and training, TVET.

The Federal Government says more than N150 billion has been committed to TVET infrastructure as it attempts to respond to youth unemployment and the persistent mismatch between graduates’ qualifications and labour market requirements.

For decades, Nigeria’s education system has placed disproportionate emphasis on university degrees. The renewed attention to TVET represents an attempt to broaden the definition of educational success by giving technical and practical skills a more central role in national development.

The Student Venture Capital Grant complements this direction by seeking to support students with viable business ideas and innovative projects. If properly funded, transparently administered and supported with mentoring and market access, the initiative could help shift some students from future job seekers to potential job creators.

Another important dimension is academic stability. The administration has continued engagement with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), while implementing a revised agreement covering university workers. It has also released eight months of the Consolidated Non-Academic Staff Tertiary Institutions Allowance (CONTA) for non-academic staff of federal tertiary institutions, as part of efforts to address outstanding welfare obligations and strengthen industrial harmony. These measures are consistent with President Tinubu’s stated objective that a four-year programme should take four years.

That goal is significant because prolonged academic disruptions impose costs on students, parents and the economy. Every delayed academic session postpones graduation, entry into the labour market and the opportunity for young people to become economically productive.

Teacher quality presents an equally important test.

The Federal Government has begun preparations for an accelerated professionalisation programme targeting 250,000 serving teachers without recognised teaching qualifications. The objective is to strengthen classroom capacity through training and professional development.

This is critical because Nigeria’s education challenge is not simply about getting children into classrooms. It is also about what they learn once they get there.

However, the latest learning-outcome figures remain troubling. National assessment data show that 49 per cent of Primary 3 pupils, 67 per cent of Primary 5 pupils and 86 per cent of JSS2 pupils did not attain minimum proficiency in mathematics in the 2022 assessment.

The out-of-school crisis is similarly daunting, with current estimates putting the number of children excluded from education at more than 10 million.

The Miniater has disclosed that more than one million out-of-school children have returned to classrooms within the past 20 months, alongside interventions aimed at improving access and retention for millions of girls. The government is also conducting a fresh nationwide survey with the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) to improve data on out-of-school children.

That data exercise matters. Without knowing where excluded children are, why they are out of school and what prevents them from returning, interventions risk being based on estimates rather than evidence.

The digital component of the reforms is another attempt to respond to changing educational and workplace demands. The government has expanded teacher digital training and deployed smart boards and other learning technologies, while online platforms provide curriculum-aligned resources and professional development materials.

But technology itself is not the measure of success. The real question is whether teachers can use the tools effectively and whether pupils demonstrate measurable improvements in literacy, numeracy and other foundational skills.

This is where the education reform agenda enters its more difficult phase.

The scale of intervention is significant, but success cannot ultimately be measured by the amount of money committed, the number of projects announced or the number of beneficiaries recorded.

NELFUND must remain financially sustainable, reach eligible students efficiently and make upkeep payments more predictable. The adequacy of the allowance will also remain a concern as the cost of living continues to rise. The Federal Government must, therefore, take decisive action against institutions such as Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, which increased tuition fees by 108.39 per cent for the 2026/2027 academic session, to ensure that fee hikes do not undermine the objectives of the laudable scheme.

TVET investment must translate into employable skills. Accommodation projects must provide affordable and functional spaces. Renewable energy installations must remain operational. Entrepreneurship grants must produce sustainable enterprises rather than one-off beneficiaries. Teacher training must improve classroom practice, while academic stability must become the norm rather than an occasional achievement.

Most importantly, the gains in tertiary education must be matched by stronger outcomes in basic education. Nigeria cannot build a competitive knowledge economy while millions of children remain outside school or pupils progress through the education system without acquiring foundational literacy and numeracy.

This may ultimately prove to be the central test of Alausa’s tenure.

The emerging model under the Tinubu administration is broader than the traditional government approach of building classrooms and supplying infrastructure. It attempts to address the entire student journey: getting into school, staying there, acquiring relevant knowledge and skills, completing on time and transitioning into productive economic activity.

The experiences of students such as Nicholas, who says NELFUND saved him from dropping out, and Oyebode, who credits the scheme with enabling him to become a graduate, demonstrate what such interventions can mean beyond government statistics.

They also underline the central promise of the reform agenda: that a student’s financial circumstances should not automatically determine whether he or she completes higher education.

But the harder work lies ahead. For the Tinubu administration, the ultimate measure of the education reset will not simply be how much government spends, but whether Nigerian children learn more, fewer students drop out, graduates leave school with relevant skills and education becomes a more credible pathway out of poverty and into productive employment.