In a nation wearied by hollow rhetoric and reforms that rarely move beyond political theatre, moments of quiet, deliberate governance stand out like revolution. So when two respected voices in Nigeria’s intellectual and policy landscape, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, renowned development strategist and former NIMASA DG, and Prof. Yemi Oke, a distinguished legal scholar at the University of Lagos, independently commend the same public official, it’s not a coincidence. It signals the emergence of real, measurable change.

At the centre of this recognition is Dr. Maruf Tunji Alausa, Nigeria’s Minister of Education, who has, within a short time, quietly introduced some of the most system-defying, future-focused reforms the nation’s battered education sector has seen in decades.

Two of his recent moves, the launch of the Diaspora BRIDGE initiative and the ₦50 billion settlement of long-standing Earned Academic Allowances (EAA), are more than government actions. They represent a shift in how leadership is imagined, delivered, and sustained.

Recently, in a detailed and insightful essay, Dr. Dakuku Peterside described the launch of the BRIDGE initiative as “a deliberate and commendable effort to align global expertise with national priorities.” But that statement only scratches the surface of his deeper analysis.

Nigeria, home to over 18 million diaspora citizens, has long relied on remittances, $20.5 billion in 2024 alone, to power its fragile economy. But Peterside was quick to caution: “Remittances don’t build hospitals or upgrade curricula.” What they do is cover household survival, not national transformation.

What BRIDGE attempts, under Alausa’s clear-headed leadership, is nothing short of visionary. It moves the conversation from brain drain to brain circulation, turning Nigeria’s global talent pool from distant spectators into engaged actors. BRIDGE is not a motivational speech in a town hall; it’s a digital-first, policy-backed platform that connects Nigerian professionals abroad with the institutions at home that desperately need their expertise.

From engineers at Siemens to neuroscientists at the Mayo Clinic, thousands of diaspora Nigerians are registering to voluntarily offer their time, expertise, and mentorship, with the Nigerian government covering logistics but no stipends or handouts. As Peterside rightly puts it: “This alone is revolutionary in a system long plagued by distrust and half-hearted implementation.”

It’s not just the idea that’s revolutionary, it’s the execution. BRIDGE is integrated with TETFund’s TERAS system, allowing each engagement to be tracked from start to finish, with clear metrics, deliverables, and evaluations. It is one of the few public-facing platforms in recent memory designed with accountability built in.

Even more promising is its scalability. Alausa is already working to extend BRIDGE into agriculture, creative industries, and clean energy, envisioning a future where Nigerian professionals abroad shape not just academic syllabi but national innovation itself.

Yet, as visionary as BRIDGE is, it is Dr. Alausa’s second major reform that truly touches the soul of Nigeria’s broken educational system: the payment of ₦50 billion in Earned Academic Allowances (EAA), a debt owed to university lecturers for nearly 20 years.

It was Dr. Alausa who proposed the payment. But it was not a debt he created. It was a debt long ignored by governments past, one that had fuelled bitterness, strikes, and a collapse of trust between academia and the state.

In his reaction, Prof. Yemi Oke offered what is perhaps the most profound insight into the move: “The real issue here is not the quantum or the sum. It is the thoughtfulness, sincerity, and integrity of fulfilling a promise that was not even made by him, but which he took personal responsibility to settle.”

Let that sink in. In a country where leaders routinely distance themselves from inherited problems or shift blame to their predecessors, Alausa stepped up to confront a long-neglected crisis. He didn’t offer excuses or empty pledges, he took responsibility and acted. With a single decisive move, he brought relief to a fractured system and restored dignity to a profession that had endured years of disregard.

Prof. Oke’s reaction is significant not just for what it praises, but for the authority it carries. A scholar deeply embedded in the university system, he has watched successive administrations sidestep this issue. For him to call this “a sign of sincerity and integrity” underscores the depth of what Alausa has done.

What emerges from both Peterside’s and Oke’s commentaries is that Dr. Tunji Alausa is no accidental reformer. He is not ticking off projects or executing presidential instructions blindly. He is thinking systemically, correcting inherited problems, building new architecture, and laying the foundation for long-term credibility.

In just a single year, Dr. Tunji Alausa has demonstrated remarkable range and focus. He has advanced human capital strategy through purposeful Diaspora engagement, reinforced policy credibility by settling long-ignored debts in the education sector, introduced institutional innovation with the launch of the BRIDGE platform, and deepened sectoral partnerships through strategic collaboration with TETFund and key health institutions. It is now good that Nigeria has one minister shaping the present and the future of a sector so comprehensively.

But Alausa’s greatest challenge may lie ahead: sustaining the political will and public trust to outlast the cynicism of the system he’s trying to reform. As Peterside noted, there are still roadblocks, unreliable power, limited broadband, bureaucratic inertia, and public scepticism.

Yet, Alausa’s approach, grounded in sincerity, driven by data, and anchored in partnership, offers a rare model of how to navigate them. In Nigeria’s long and painful story of educational decline, Dr. Tunji Alausa’s reforms are writing a new chapter, not one based on flashy headlines or borrowed blueprints, but one forged in trust, strategy, and sustained action.

Don’t let us consider Peterside and Oke as men easily impressed. They have seen reform attempted and abandoned. Their voices matter because they represent two crucial perspectives, public policy leadership and academic integrity. That they find hope in the same person is no accident.

If Nigeria is wise, it will see in Alausa not just a minister doing his job, but a reformer creating a rare national alignment between trust, expertise, and delivery. And if BRIDGE succeeds, along with the restoration of lecturers’ trust and other quiet reforms underway, Nigeria may look back and find that one man, working behind the noise, helped rebuild an education system we thought was lost.
Gesinde is an award-winning journalist, political scientist and social commentator.
• Gesinde is an award-winning journalist, political scientist and social commentator.