Suwaiba Ahmed: Education reforms breaking grounds under Renewed Hope Agenda
By Uji A Iliyasu, Abuja
The Federal Government is implementing far-reaching reforms aimed at reshaping Nigeria’s education system, with renewed emphasis on better learning outcomes, teacher development, wider access to tertiary education, skills acquisition and opportunities for children currently outside the formal school system.
The Minister of State for Education, Prof. Suwaiba Said Ahmed, said the reforms, being implemented under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda and led by the Minister of Education, Dr. Maruf Tunji Alausa, are designed to strengthen every level of the education value chain.
Speaking on the reforms, Ahmed said the government was moving beyond simply expanding infrastructure and enrolment to addressing the quality of learning and ensuring that education equips Nigerians with relevant skills for life and work.
At the basic education level, she said the national curriculum was being reviewed to reduce subject overload and shift learning away from excessive memorisation towards a competency-based system.
Under the new approach, greater emphasis would be placed on what learners understand, what they can apply and what they can demonstrate. The curriculum for pre-service teachers is also being reviewed to ensure that new teachers are better prepared for the realities of the modern classroom.
Teacher development, Ahmed said, remains central to the reform agenda.
She disclosed that although about ₦20 billion was provided to states for teacher training in 2025, available data showed that only about 10 per cent of teachers benefited.
A baseline assessment also revealed that some teachers had spent between 25 and 30 years in service without participating in professional development.
To close the gap, the Ministry has introduced a zero-rated digital teacher development platform that allows teachers in both public and private schools to access training using Android devices, including in rural communities.
More than 60,000 teachers have already participated in the first phase.
Ahmed said the government was working towards making continuous professional development more structured and eventually mandatory, with the Comprehensive Teacher Policy providing a framework for recruitment, training, welfare, deployment and career progression.
The policy is being developed in collaboration with the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria and the Nigeria Union of Teachers.
The government is also changing how resources are allocated to basic education.
Ahmed said the Universal Basic Education Commission has revised its disbursement guidelines and funding formula to make interventions more responsive to the actual needs of schools.
Greater attention is also being paid to procurement and value for money, particularly in school construction.
A new school grading framework will classify schools from A to D based on infrastructure, facilities, teacher qualifications and learner achievement. The grading is expected to help government identify schools requiring urgent intervention while also recognising institutions that sustain good performance.
At the tertiary level, Ahmed said the government was expanding capacity in medicine, pharmacy, science and engineering.
She disclosed that 10 medical institutions had been established or strengthened, while admission quotas in some institutions had been doubled or tripled to create additional opportunities for students.
More than ₦400 billion, she said, had been invested in expanding capacity in critical fields, alongside stronger accreditation and verification processes.
Ahmed stressed that accreditation must no longer be treated as an end in itself, insisting that institutions must maintain adequate facilities, equipment and academic staff after accreditation.
She said the seven-year moratorium on the establishment of new universities and other tertiary institutions would give existing institutions the opportunity to strengthen infrastructure, staffing and academic quality.
Student financing is another major pillar of the reform.
Ahmed said the Nigerian Education Loan Fund had supported more than 1.6 million students from about 322 universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.
She explained that participation in the scheme was voluntary and required annual application and verification. Once approved, NELFUND provides assurance for payment of approved institutional fees, enabling beneficiaries to proceed with registration.
While acknowledging that there had been delays in some cases, she said the processes were being improved to make the scheme more responsive.
For children outside the formal education system, Ahmed said the government was working to first establish a reliable picture of the problem.
Existing estimates of out-of-school children range from about 10 million to more than 20 million, making accurate data essential for effective intervention.
The Ministry is therefore developing a national education data platform alongside a nationwide mapping exercise.
The National Commission for Almajiri and Out-of-School Children Education and the National Commission for Nomadic Education have completed their mapping exercises, while the Agency for Mass Education is nearing completion.
Ahmed said the exercise would not end with the production of statistics.
The mapping is being linked directly to enrolment and intervention, while traditional and religious leaders are being engaged to help government reach communities with large numbers of out-of-school children.
One of the practical responses is the establishment of bilingual schools that combine religious and conventional education.
The initiative is being prioritised in eight states with some of the highest numbers of out-of-school children. Three schools are planned in each state, with four planned in two of the states.
The schools are designed to accommodate between 1,500 and 2,000 learners.
Ahmed said the model was already operational in Maiduguri and Kano, with preparations ongoing in the other participating states.
She also highlighted the Almajiri Policy, which defines the responsibilities of the Federal Government, state and local governments, parents and communities in educating children in the Almajiri system.
A major feature of the policy is the integration of religious and conventional education through an Accelerated Basic Education Curriculum that condenses basic education into four levels while accommodating learners who enter the system at an older age.
The policy also provides a minimum age for entry into Alharma schools and was developed through consultations with Islamic sects, Alharma teachers and other stakeholders.
Beyond conventional academic education, the Ministry is expanding Technical and Vocational Education and Training to equip young Nigerians with practical skills.
Ahmed said a national skills-gap assessment identified about 40 trades, with 25 selected for immediate attention.
The first application cycle attracted about 1.3 million applications, while more than 100,000 beneficiaries were trained through public and private training centres.
Participating centres received ₦30,000 per trainee, while beneficiaries received ₦22,500 for transportation.
The second cohort attracted about 1.8 million applications, with support increased to ₦50,000 per trainee for participating centres and ₦30,000 for beneficiaries.
Participants are expected to undergo assessment under the National Skills Qualification Framework and receive starter packs to help them move into employment or establish their own businesses.
The government is also encouraging university students to become innovators and entrepreneurs.
Ahmed cited the Student Venture Capital Grant, which provides up to ₦50 million for students with scalable innovation projects.
She also highlighted the Entrepreneurship, Business and Innovation Centre programme, which started at the University of Lagos and is being expanded to 16 additional universities.
The programme is designed to provide students with entrepreneurship training, mentoring and access to funding alongside their academic studies.
According to Ahmed, data and digitalisation will be critical to determining whether the reforms actually deliver results.
The Ministry is strengthening learner-level data, digitising processes and expanding electronic monitoring to improve planning, resource allocation and assessment.
School grading, national assessments and e-monitoring, she said, would help government determine whether interventions are improving learning outcomes, teacher capacity, access and institutional performance.
For Ahmed, the ultimate test of the reforms is not the number of policies introduced or programmes launched, but whether Nigerian children learn better, teachers become more effective, more young people acquire useful skills and fewer children remain excluded from education.
Drawing from her own experience as a product of Nigeria’s public university system, she stressed the importance of keeping public education strong as a pathway to opportunity and national development.
She reaffirmed her commitment to working with Alausa to sustain the reform momentum and ensure that government policies translate into tangible improvements for learners, teachers and institutions.
The broader objective, she said, is to build an education system capable of producing the skills, knowledge and human capital needed to drive Nigeria’s development and deliver the promise of the Renewed Hope Agenda.