Tinubu's education reforms return 1M+ children to school, deploy ₦3.52 trillion in 2026 budget
The Federal Ministry of Education's 2026 NESRI report, presented by APC spokesperson Dele Alake, details President Tinubu's education overhaul targeting six priorities: technical/vocational training, science/medical sciences, out-of-school children, girl-child education, digitalization, and quality assurance. A record ₦3.52 trillion was allocated in the 2026 budget alongside $552 million for the HOPE-EDU programme covering 29 million children, 500,000+ teachers, and 65,000 public schools.
Key programme results: BESDA returned over 1 million out-of-school children to learning, trained 1,400 Tsangaya teachers, and established 200 bilingual centres across 17 northern states. AGILE reached 7.19 million girls with 3.7 million enrolled in secondary schools. TVET attracted 2.8 million applications with 156,446 verified trainees receiving free training, monthly stipends, and start-up support—₦65.7 billion disbursed to trainees and ₦30.2 billion to centres. NELFUND processed 1.66 million student loan applications, disbursing ₦372.62 billion (₦192.89B tuition, ₦179.73B upkeep) across 319 tertiary institutions.
Teacher development: 51,794 teachers joined the first cohort of the six-month Accelerated Teacher Professionalisation Pathway targeting 250,000 by 2027, backed by ₦2 billion. A revised curriculum reintroduces Nigerian History and strengthens Civic Studies. Medical education receives ₦110 billion for 18 federal medical schools; nursing enrolment rose from 81,480 to 114,300. The ASUU dispute was resolved with a 40% salary increase.
Research and innovation: ₦365 million annually via National Laureate Prize, ₦2.5 billion Student Venture Capital Grant to 45 entrepreneurs (up to ₦50 million equity-free each), entrepreneurship certification in 14 universities, and 1,141 diaspora experts engaging 16,675 students through the BRIDGE initiative.
Minister Tunji Alausa insists success will be measured by impact on students and teachers, not budget size. With programmes spanning basic to tertiary education, which initiative—NELFUND loans, TVET training, AGILE for girls, or teacher certification—could most directly benefit your household or community?