Former Minister of Aviation, Osita Chidoka, has described Nigeria’s growing education crisis as one of the country’s most urgent national emergencies, warning that millions of children pushed out of school by policy failures may never recover lost opportunities.
Chidoka made the remarks following the recent National Stakeholders Meeting on the National Education Data Infrastructure convened by the Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, where stakeholders reviewed new national education data systems aimed at improving planning and policy implementation across the sector.
Reflecting on the meeting, Chidoka said the consequences of education failure differ sharply from delays in other sectors, noting that while roads, airports, and infrastructure projects can still be completed years later, children excluded from education often lose opportunities permanently.
According to him, Nigeria’s estimated 15 million out-of-school children continue to lose critical years that may never be recovered, even when reforms are eventually introduced.
He described the newly introduced Nigeria Education Management Information System as a major breakthrough capable of transforming education governance through real-time, evidence-based policy decisions.
Chidoka explained that the platform provides detailed nationwide data ranging from school enrolment figures and infrastructure conditions to teacher-student ratios, making it easier for policymakers to compare performance across states and identify gaps within the education system.
The system, designed by Ernst & Young, was also praised for its simplicity and policy relevance. Chidoka noted that the technology mirrors a similar education data infrastructure previously deployed in India.
He said some of the statistics presented during the stakeholders’ meeting exposed disturbing realities within Nigeria’s education system, particularly the sharp decline between primary school enrolment and junior secondary school enrolment.
According to him, the significant drop raised troubling questions about the fate of children who disappear from the education pipeline between Primary Six and Junior Secondary School.
Chidoka also pointed to the growing number of repeat candidates sitting for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, describing it as evidence of severe admission bottlenecks within Nigeria’s tertiary education sector.
He noted that the data helped him better understand recent policy directions by the Federal Ministry of Education aimed at easing admission pressures and expanding access to higher education opportunities.
“The power of credible, real-time data is that it humbles assumptions and forces policymakers to confront reality,” he stated.
Chidoka further disclosed that the Nigeria Research and Education Network had committed to expanding digital connectivity and infrastructure across tertiary institutions this year, with plans to extend similar services to secondary schools by 2027.
He added that although many of the ongoing reforms may not yet dominate public discourse, important structural changes are gradually taking shape within Nigeria’s education system, with evidence increasingly replacing assumptions in national policy conversations.
Chidoka concluded by challenging other sectors of government to embrace data-driven governance and evidence-based decision-making in the same manner now emerging within the education sect
