One Million Out-of-school Children Returned to Class in 20 Months, Says Alausa
• Seeks deeper UNESCO support for education reforms
• Minster urges VCs to diversify funding, as FG demands stronger advancement offices
Kuni Tyessi in Abuja
The federal government said it had returned more than one million out-of-school children to the classroom in the last 20 months. Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, disclosed this in Abuja when he received the newly appointed United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) Country Representative to Nigeria, Professor Isaiah Barreto Da Rosa, who was on a courtesy visit.
Separately, Alausa charged Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian public universities to urgently diversify funding sources and strengthen advancement offices.
He warned that government allocations alone could not sustain tertiary institutions.
Alausa gave the directive at the National Advancement Forum 2026 in Abuja.
He expressed concern that only four out of 68 federal universities were currently making meaningful use of alternative funding, such as research grants, endowments, alumni giving, philanthropy, and industry partnerships.
“Government funding is not enough. Universities live, function and excel on blended funding,” the minister said.
While receiving the newly appointed UNESCO Country Representative to Nigeria, Alausa revealed that nearly 6.7 million girls had benefited from various government interventions designed to improve access to education and keep them in school.
He said the achievements were part of the federal government’s ongoing efforts to overhaul the education sector.
He stressed that the government was determined to close gaps in access and improve the quality of learning.
Alausa, however, said the government could not afford to concentrate its education interventions on only one gender.
While acknowledging the progress made in promoting girl-child education, he also called for increased attention to the educational needs of boys.
“We must sustain the gains we have made with the girl-child, but we also need to pay attention to the boy-child,” he said.
The minister said Nigeria’s human capital development would only be meaningful if no child was left behind, regardless of gender or background.
He listed the Federal Ministry of Education’s six priority areas as Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET); Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM); reintegration of out-of-school children, data and digitalisation; girl-child education; and quality assurance.
He said the federal government was also investing in skills development, technology and teacher training as part of efforts to produce graduates capable of competing in a rapidly changing economy.
He stated that reliable education data was increasingly being deployed to identify areas of need, target government interventions, and measure results.
On teacher development, Alausa welcomed UNESCO’s technical support for the ministry’s Accelerated Teacher Professional Programme (ATPP) which had a target of training one million in-service teachers.
He also acknowledged UNESCO’s support in TVET assessment, digital transformation, education for peace, and media and information literacy.
The minister urged UNESCO to align its interventions with the reform priorities of the Nigerian government, saying stronger coordination would ensure that technical assistance translates into concrete results.
“We want partnerships that complement what Nigeria is already doing and help us deliver faster and better results,” he said.
Alausa assured the UNESCO delegation that the federal government would continue to combine domestic resources with strategic international partnerships to drive its education reforms.
He said the administration’s focus was on expanding access, improving quality and equipping Nigerian children and young people with the knowledge and skills needed to contribute to national development.
Earlier, the UNESCO Country Representative, Da Rosa, pledged the organisation’s support for Nigeria’s education transformation programme.
He described UNESCO as a technical partner willing to provide expertise in areas where the Nigerian government required assistance.
Da Rosa recalled UNESCO’s longstanding presence in Nigeria dating back to the 1960s, stating that the organisation has supported the country in education, science, culture, communication and information.
He commended the ministry’s progress in digitising education data, describing accurate data as essential for effective planning and policy implementation.
The UNESCO representative said the organisation was ready to deepen cooperation with Nigeria in TVET, teacher development and efforts to bring out-of-school children back into the classroom.
He disclosed that UNESCO-supported programmes had already trained more than 28,000 teachers across different states and reached over 1.7 million students.
Da Rosa added that UNESCO’s specialised institutes remained available to provide further technical support to Nigeria.
Alausa assured the UNESCO delegation that the administration’s focus remained on expanding access, improving quality and equipping Nigerian children and young people with the knowledge and skills needed to contribute to national development.
Meanwhile, Alausa urged vice chancellors to move beyond administering allocated funds to actively building relationships with alumni, businesses, philanthropists and research funders to attract resources for laboratories, scholarships, research chairs and innovation programmes.
He stated, “President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has met you beyond halfway. He has given you the leverage and the opportunity to do your jobs well. You must now take advantage of it.”
He described the current situation as “unacceptable.”
The minister stressed that the call was not a withdrawal of government support.
He said the Tinubu administration currently funded personnel costs in full, allowed universities to retain 75 per cent of internally generated revenue, and continued direct and special interventions through TETFund.
He also recalled that Tinubu approved a framework to move research and endowment funds out of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) to commercial banks of choice, to provide greater flexibility and build confidence in managing such resources.
To strengthen resource mobilisation, Alausa issued immediate directives including, “All University Advancement Offices must report directly to the Vice-Chancellor, not to the Registrar.
“Directors of Advancement must have a minimum internal tenure of 5 years, renewable, to build lasting donor and alumni relationships.
“Advancement Office operation is a professional job.”
He added, “Advancement officers are professional fundraisers who require institutional support, stability and the confidence of university management to deliver results.”
The minister urged universities to develop functional alumni databases and deploy technology to maintain lifelong relationships with graduates in Nigeria and abroad, describing alumni engagement as a strategic component of institutional advancement.
Alausa announced that the ministry, in collaboration with the Nigerian Higher Education Foundation (NHEF), will develop a comprehensive national framework for sustainable financing of tertiary institutions.
The framework will cover: endowment governance, accountability, research grants, Advancement Office structures, alumni giving, industry partnerships, philanthropy incentives, revenue management and transparency.
All public universities will be progressively on-boarded and expected to: build an endowment, establish an effective advancement structure, maintain a functional alumni database, strengthen research funding capacity, and develop partnerships with industry and philanthropists.
“The objective is not to replace government funding or depend solely on internally generated revenue, but to establish diversified and resilient financing systems that complement government support and sustain academic excellence,” the minister clarified.
He assured that the Federal Ministry of Education will continue to provide policy direction and an enabling environment, while expecting university leaders to take greater responsibility for mobilising resources.
“Institutions that fail to diversify their funding base risk limiting their capacity for sustained growth, research and academic excellence,” Alausa warned.