By Comrade Gbenga Olowoyo milr fcia fimpa JP
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” – Nelson Mandela.
Education is a bedrock of emancipation, development, transformation and technological breakthrough.
The above axiomatic submission is an age-long statement that has outlived many people who are world acclaimed propounders of many educational theories and policies worldwide.
It is anticlockwise, to hear that , be it through scientific proof or research based, or whichever research finding methodology; that 24 million pupils dropped out before reaching senior secondary school.
The questions in the lips of right thinking Nigerians are : what is responsible ? Who is responsible ? What causes it? Where is Nigeria heading to ? How do we curb this sliding scenario in the physic of the government, pupils , teachers, parents, guardians and stakeholders generally.
This information is not a good one for the future, image of Nigeria and that of the three tiers of government. It is an indication of woeful failure on the part of government that kept in introducing trial and error education policy
As a matter of serious concern, the Nigeria Education Management Information System (NEMIS) that provided this information is a reliable platform that can not be treated with kid gloves .
The concerned expressed by the Federal Government over the high rate of school dropouts across the country is not enough to mitigate this dreadful development, can we say the Federal Ministry of Education is not thinking ahead or being proactive enough to see this dangerous dimension before or the stakeholders are not concerned like yesteryears
Even when Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, on Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025 revealed the information in Abuja that about 24 million pupils who enrolled in primary schools failed to advance to senior secondary level Nigerians were not only embarrassed but were also disturbed
According to Minister Alausa, he said that data from the digitised Nigeria Education Management Information System (NEMIS) platform showed that out of 30 million pupils captured from 21 states, only six million progressed to senior secondary school.
In his words, “statistics from NEMIS revealed a disturbing trend that poses a serious threat to Nigeria’s educational development and long-term human capital growth.
“The information as seeing on that digital platform is scary,” Alausa said.
“From the 21 states that have uploaded their data, we have about 30 million children in primary schools.
“From primary to Junior Secondary School (JSS 1), that number drops to 10 million—20 million children gone.
“We can’t find them. Then, from Junior Secondary to Senior Secondary, another four million disappear. It’s scary. But now that we can see the data, we can start looking at evidence-based interventions and monitor outcomes.”
According to him, he stressed that the high dropout rate between primary and senior secondary levels underscores the need for targeted interventions to retain children in school, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Alausa explained that the biometrics of every schoolchild are being uploaded onto NEMIS, a digitised platform, to enable tracking and data-driven policy implementation. He added that beginning from 2026, the annual school census will be fully digital.
“It’s not manual anymore. Paper will be taken out completely,” he stated, that the Ministry plans to integrate West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) data into the system.
There is no doubting the fact that the way and manner our leaders in recent time treat our youths call for serious re-examination so that Nigeria future will not be in the brink
We must not pretend to the fact that Nigeria has the highest number of out of school children in the world, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). A significant portion of these children are from poor and rural backgrounds.
*Identifiable Factors responsible*
Significant factors contributing to this crisis include poverty, insecurity, lack of facilities, and poor enforcement of child rights laws.
Honestly speaking, the statistical analysis of what Nigerian children are facing will shock Nigerians , for instance, 10.5 million primary school-aged children are not in formal schooling , 86% are from rural areas
Poverty: 65% are from the poorest abode.
Gender: Girls represent 60% of out-of-school children .
Other Contributing factors include:
Poverty: Nigeria’s high poverty levels are a major driver of the crisis.
Insecurity and conflict: Armed conflicts have severely disrupted education for millions of children.
Lack of infrastructure: There is a lack of schools, with many existing facilities being under-qualified or under-equipped.
Socio-cultural factors: Misconceptions about the benefits of education and high rates of child marriage, which forces adolescent girls to drop out to care for families, also contribute to the problem.
Policy implementation: Poor implementation and enforcement of laws designed to protect children’s right to education, such as the Child Rights Acts.
With hindsight, the Idea of universal , free and compulsory education started with Chief Obafemi Awolowo government in the Western Region in 1955.
Thereafter, Universal Primary Education (UPE) was introduced in Nigeria by the military government of General Olusegun Obasanjo in 1976.
The military government of General Olusegun Obasanjo launched a nationwide Universal Primary Education (UPE) programme to address educational disparities between the regions.
In 1999 , The programme was later reformed into the Universal Basic Education (UBE) Programme by the former President Olusegun Obasanjo, which was primarily intended to provide greater access and quality in basic education across the country. The most terrible thing is that many State Governments have refused to pay their counterpart money in order to access financial interventions that will enhance and advance primary education in Nigeria.
As a matter of fact, as of August 2025, nine states and the FCT have not yet accessed a portion of the 2024 UBEC matching grant backlog, representing about N40 billion.
Also, 34 states and the FCT had not accessed the initial 2024 grant as of December 2024. The number of states yet to access funds changes depending on the specific year and quarter being referenced.
2024 UBEC matching grant.
As of December 2024, 34 states and the FCT had not accessed the initial 2024 UBE matching grant.Cumulatively, the unaccessed funds by States and FCT is running to N121 billion .
Let us consider the performance of state in the advancement of primary education management:
For instance, in 2020: Abia and Ogun were yet to access the 2020 grant.
2021: Abia, Imo, and Ogun had not accessed the 2021 grant.
2022: Seven states were yet to access the 2022 grant: Abia, Adamawa, Anambra, Ebonyi, Imo, Ogun, and Oyo.
2023: Nine states and the FCT had not accessed the 2023 grant: Abia, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Ebonyi, Imo, Lagos, Ogun, and Oyo.
All the available information as provided are very bad indicators
An up to date record of over 30 million out-of-school children in Nigeria have been established, accounting for a significant portion of the global total. This figure highlights the country’s struggle to meet the Sustainable Development Goal for inclusive education.
Challenges such as poverty, insecurity, and a wide literacy gap, particularly between urban and rural areas are very enormous and unabated.
Nigeria is home to over 30 million out-of-school children, representing the largest number in Africa and a substantial percentage of the global out-of-school population.
Age Group: Over 18 million children between the ages of 5 and 14 are not enrolled in school as a result of Poverty, this Financial hardship prevents many families from affording school fees and other related costs.
Insecurity: Conflicts and safety concerns in the certain areas in the country have forced many children to stay at home.
Governance and Infrastructure: The collapse of public schools and lack of adequate infrastructure contribute to the crisis.
Cultural and Social Factors: Some communities have a lower value placed on Western education, and there are a wide gaps in literacy between urban and rural areas.
Government and NGO Initiatives:
The government has implemented programmes like mass literacy and school feeding, but their impact has been slow.
*Damning revelation*
The situation in Nigeria is part of a broader global stagnation in education progress. UNESCO’s reports indicate that globally, 251 million children and youth are out of school, a trend further aggravated by factors such as , lack of political will, the quality of education and widening gaps between the rich and poor.
*The number of youths both in correctional homes and police custody.*
On a related phenomenon official and regularly updated figures on the exact number of youths in police custody in Nigeria are not publicly available
. However, reports from human rights organizations and Nigerian government agencies shed light on the scope of the issue. A significant number of children and young adults are held in detention, often awaiting trial, rather than serving a sentence in a correctional facility.
Children and young persons A UNICEF report, cited in March 2025, stated that an average of 26,000 children and young persons under the age of 21 are held in correctional facilities annually.
This was further attested to by the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, raised concerns over the incarceration of over 26,000 children in the nation’s correctional homes as published by punch newspaper in March, 2025
An estimated 74% of these youths are on awaiting trial status, indicating they have not been convicted of a crime.
Another report from early June 2025 mentioned that of the 86,000 total inmates in Nigerian prisons, approximately 26,000 are children, and 70% of all inmates are awaiting trial.
A 2019 investigation by Human Rights Watch revealed that thousands of children were arbitrarily detained by the military for alleged association with The unlawful groups and Association, with many held for months or years in degrading conditions.
Following pressure, hundreds of these children were released.
Awaiting trial inmates
Data from the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCS) indicates a significant national issue with prolonged detention before trial. As of March 2025, 67% of Nigeria’s prison population was made up of individuals awaiting trial.
These figures represent the total inmate population, which includes both youths and adults. Statistics show that the age group with the highest percentage of involvement in crime is 26 to 50, followed by 21 to 25.
Challenges with available data
It is difficult to determine the exact number of youths in custody for the following reasons:
Lack of transparency: Authorities often deny external organizations, such as the UN, access to detention facilities, which makes independent verification of numbers impossible.
Inadequate reporting: Many police custody and correctional statistics are not disaggregated by age, particularly for the specific period of time spent in police cells before transfer to a correctional facility.
Age falsification: Police officers sometimes falsify the ages of juvenile offenders to try them as adults, which further skews official data.
The number of pre-trial or remand prisoners, many of whom are youths, fluctuates daily, making official figures an indication of trends rather than a precise count.
Statistical appraisal of crime rate in nigeria –
Nigeria crime rate depends on sex, age group and type of imprisonment. On sex, crime is been committed most by males as the rate is 2388 persons and female is considerably low.
It should be noted that the number of pre-trial/remand prisoners fluctuates from day to day, month to month and year to year.
*The fact of the matter*
The Federal Government must rise to the occasion and make it a matter of compulsion for state governments to utilise the UBEC funds allocated for school development.
Nigeria’s basic education crisis is not due to lack of funds but to state level neglect.
With over ₦250 billion unutilised UBEC grants and more than 30 million children out of school in recent year, the failure of 34 states and the FCT to access or deploy available resources is both systemically wicked and unpardonably negligent.
Despite steady successive federal allocations to Education sectors, Agencies and commissions classrooms remain broken, teachers unstaffed, and millions of children excluded from learning.
To address this, the Federal Government must adopt stronger accountability measures: suspend noncompliant states from future allocations, publish UBEC performance scorecards, and criminalise misuse of education funds. Civil society must also be empowered to monitor spending and outcomes at the school level.
Nigeria cannot build its future on abandoned classrooms and wasted resources. Only by linking funding to performance and demanding results can we deliver the quality education every Nigerian child deserves.
The Honourable Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa should muster a political will and change the narrative in the Nigeria education for the better not with rhetorics , hypothetical postulation , trial and error Policy approach that will not assist the Nigeria Educational system
The Federal Government must further enhance the better condition of service of all teachers in primary secondary and tertiary institutions with sincere heart and human feelings.
Let Nigeria children feel and have access to unhindered primary, secondary and tertiary education so that Nigeria will not go to the brink of extinction in terms human capital development and knowledge regeneration
A word is enough for the wise
By Comrade Gbenga Olowoyo, a Trade Unionst, industrial relations practitioner and Public Policy Analyst 08033570338, gbengaolowoyo3@gmail.com
Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” – Nelson Mandela.