State governments have unveiled their strategies towards meeting the desired educational needs and targets. The states revealed plans to upgrade schools infrastructure, train and recruit new teachers. Some also outlined plans to improve teaching and learning as well as improve vocational education and school curriculum. However, some of the government officials were not available for interviews on their plans. Victoria Amadi, Fanen Ihyongo, Kano; Kolade Adeyemi, Jos; Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin; Duku Joel, Damaturu; Uja Emmanuel, Makurdi; Ahmed Rufa’i, Dutse; Augustine Okezie, Katsina; Adamu Suleiman, Sokoto and Victor Gai, Jalingo report.
Over the years, Nigeria has made significant strides in education development. This has been achieved through policy reforms, infrastructure improvements and enhanced access to schooling.
But, many educators have constantly been advocating for more reforms to change the educational agenda from the colonial period. They argued that educational institutions were established primarily to serve the interests of the British Empire.
However, the post-independence efforts to improve the sector have been focused on forging a national identity and fostering socio-economic growth. This has also engendered its own challenges due to a growing population, lack of infrastructure, high school turn-outs, poverty, conflicts and inadequate funding.
The issue of out-of-school children, poor quality and low academic performance as well as increase in conflicts leading to closure of schools and destruction of classrooms and the need for 21st century’s skills are putting more pressures on the education sector.
The three-tier of government must judiciously fund education to improve standards and provide the required soft skills, through capacity building for educators and strengthening technical and management systems.
The Nation correspondents in states spoke with government officials on their agenda to improve education this year.
We plan to invest in vocational studies, infrastructure, says Lagos
The Lagos State Commissioner, Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education, Mr. Jamiu Tolani Alli-Balogun, has disclosed that the ministry would venture more into the technical and vocational studies for primary and secondary schools in the state.
He made this known during an interview with The Nation on Tuesday in Lagos.
According to Alli-Balogun, these vocational and technical centres would be made open to pupils once every week. This is to lay the foundation of skills acquisition for the pupils in the state at early stage.
“For this year, there is a lot on ground for us to leverage on. Basically, the focus is on technical education and vocational studies in which the Federal Government has also made an announcement.
“From primary school, we would re-awaken that spirit. We have all the centres across all the primary schools in the state, whereby they go once a week to learn about vocational skills and other technical subjects. They will start going to these centres once they are in primary one to six.
“We are also leveraging on our technical and vocational centres across the state where we produce graduates and give certification every now and then,” he said.
He added that the state government would also employ and deploy more teachers to primary and secondary schools in the state.
He disclosed that the state governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, would commission not fewer than 12 schools this year.
“We would have more teachers in our school spaces. As some retire, we employ more on board. The state government is not stopping.
“We are improving on our schools infrastructure. The governor has built more schools. He is going to commission about 12 new schools this year. Also, six blocks of class are being donated in Epe, and other places across the state,” he said.
Kano plans to recruit 10,000 teachers, reduce out-of-school population
As part of his unwavering measures to reverse the unfortunate situation in the Kano State education sector, Governor Abba Yusuf allocated 31 per cent of the 2025 N719.7 billion budget to the sector.
He has also just sworn in a new commissioner for education, Gwani Ali Abubakar Makoda, who he feels will deliver better in the implementation of the state of emergency he declared in the sector.
The governor said his cardinal plan for the education this year is to reduce the out-of-school population in the state.
As such, he has approved the employment of over 10,000 teachers to improve the teacher-to-student ratio.
On Monday, he distributed free school uniforms to 796,092 primary school pupils across 7,092 public schools in the state.
“The free uniforms will promote education and alleviate financial burdens of families struggling to meet their children’s education needs,” he said.
Yusuf said his administration has committed several billions of naira to free uniforms, the construction of 336 new classrooms, the rehabilitation of 119 defective structures, and the distribution of 53,652 three-seater desks catering to 160,956 pupils across 484 wards.
To succeed, the Yusuf administration has paid a backlog of counterpart funding for SUBEB since 2021, and reopened all boarding schools to return students to school.
About 45,000 students are also befitting from the administration’s monthly transfer of N20,000 conditional cash to Kano students.
Kwara announces capacity-building for teachers, inclusive education
Kwara State Government is poised to build capacity of teachers, their training and retraining in 2025, Education and Human Capital Development Commissioner Sa’adat Modibbo Kawu has said.
Mrs. Modibbo Kawu told our correspondent: “Basically, our focus as a ministry in line with Governor AbdulRaman AbdulRazaq’s administration is to increase access and inclusivity and ensure we save the system through capacity building of teachers; to train and retrain of teachers and also ensure that through the Quality Assurance Bureau of the Ministry of Education and Human Capital Development, we will continue to monitor both private and public schools to ensure qualitative delivery and access to basic education and senior secondary education.”
She added that part of the focus was the recent employment of no fewer than 1,811 teachers by the State Universal Basic Education Board (KWSUBEB).
This followed the recent interview involving no fewer than 55,713 applicants from across the state.
The breakdown of the successful applicants included 1,500 teachers, mostly from STEM subjects and 311 non-teaching staff comprising drivers, security guards, and office assistants for schools in the 16 local government areas.
Yobe unveils cardinal objectives, others to strengthen education
Yobe State Ministry of Education is divided into two ministries – the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education and the Ministry of Higher Education, which deals with the tertiary institutions in the state.
From the Ministry of Basic Education, the Commissioner, Dr. Abba Idris Adam, in an interview with The Nation, disclosed that the state government is focused on four cardinal objectives in the year 2025.
He said: “The cardinal objectives of the Yobe State Basic Education, especially for the year 2025, are focused on four key areas.
“The number one area is out-of-school children. One of the major problems of education in the state is the issue of out-of-school children, which is caused as a result of conflicts. Yobe has suffered so much because of the insecurity, which has resulted in some of the children dropping out of school.
“Because of the insecurity in the state, some parents along with their children were displaced from their schools and this is raising the concern of the administration of Governor Mai Mala Buni for this year.
“Secondly, the issue of enrolment is another area that we intend to tackle in the state. Our approach on enrolment is in three aspects because we believe that enrolment alone does not solve the problem. So, we are looking at boosting enrolment itself, the retention of the pupils in the schools and the completion of the pupils for the school they have enrolled.
“Our number three focus is children that are lost in transition. After a critical survey, we realised that we are losing students at all levels of education. We found out that some pupils will finish primary schools, but they won’t continue to secondary schools. Some will finish secondary and won’t continue etc. We discovered that this is caused by poverty, insecurity and climate change and as a government, we intend to frontally deal with the situation.
“We also want to have a comprehensive education policy, which will focus basically on the actual education needs of the state without purely depending on the federal policy of education, which is more or less general. So, in Yobe, we are looking at our challenges and peculiarities. It is more or less a home grown solution to strengthening our basic and secondary education in the state,” Dr. Adam disclosed.
His counterpart in the Ministry of Higher Education, Prof. Bello Kawuwa, disclosed that his ministry in the year 2025 will be introducing three new modules in the curriculum of the higher institutions in the state.
“In the year 2025, Yobe State University will be rolling out 12 new undergraduate courses and 13 post-graduate courses and admissions will commence this academic session in the disciplines at the university. A new department will be established at the Faculty of Law at the university and we are going to make sure that the college of medicine at the university gets full accreditation.
“By way of innovation, this year, we are going to expose all the final year students to three new modules of life skills, employability, entrepreneurship as well as financial literacy. These skills will change their thinking of looking for jobs but rather creating jobs for themselves and others after graduation. They will become self-employed and earn money for themselves.”
Benue to unlock counterpart funding, others
In addressing poor and dilapidated infrastructure in Benue State basic schools, reducing high teacher-student ratios and stemming high dropout rates in our education sector, Benue State Governor Hyacinth Alia has committed N3.2 billion to the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) towards unlocking counterpart funds of the same proportion.
Governor Alia, during his presentation of the 2025 budget estimate to the House of Assembly, said: “The expectation is to efficiently channel these funds to education infrastructure renewal to eliminate these negative ratios. “Additionally, N566,998,322.50 only was provided to cover registration fees for final year students writing the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), National Examinations Council (NECO) and National Business and Technical Examinations Board (NABTEB) exams in government secondary schools.
According to Alia “this initiative aims to curb student dropout rates and provide financial relief to parents’’.
Jigawa allocates N184b for education
The Jigawa State Governor Malam Umar Namadi has allocated over N184 billion, representing N26.4 percent of the budget, to education. The budget made the sector as one of the administration’s top priorities.
The governor reaffirmed his commitment to improving education outcomes, particularly through programmes like the Partner-Assisted New Globe Education Digital Learning Project to continuously address the infrastructural and human resources deficits bedeviling the education sector.
The Capital Expenditure Allocation to the sector also includes about N19.7 billion.
Katsina yet to roll out plans for education
Plans for Education in Katsina State in 2025 is still on the drawing board, as neither the Commissioner for Education, Zainab Musawa, who is said to be outside the country nor any top ministry official was willing to talk to The Nation as at the time of visit, despite prior request for interview.
This came as primary and secondary school teachers in Katsina State have decried the poor attendance of pupils as schools resumed across the 34 councils. Investigation by The Nation revealed that current economic hardship might have been the major factor responsible for this.
During a visit to Danmasani Bala Saulawa Primary School situated at Gidan-Dawa, a classroom teacher, Malam Umar Lawal, told The Nation that the turnout of teachers was impressive while that of the students was extremely poor.
Sokoto set to turn fortunes of basic, secondary schools
Sokoto State government has rolled out a comprehensive strategic work plan for the transformation of education in 2025 with emphasis on basic and secondary education to make the state a hub for educational excellence.
Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Prof. Ahmed Ladan Ala, who spoke to The Nation in Sokoto, said more and regular recruitment and training of teachers would be encouraged to ensure quality manpower.
Prof. Ala explained that the work plan will focus on areas that would drive the sector to glory through innovative approaches while leveraging on technology and skills acquisition curricular.
“We will also ensure responsive reforms and policies that would boost the system visionary plan for agricultural boost,” Ala disclosed.
He said these would be driven by attractive investment, research and development of strategic partnerships with relevant stakeholders.
Accordingly, the commissioner said it would drive its plan components to project inclusivity, discourage disparities and marginalisation and provide support services.
“We will develop these strategies to align with national goals and our local needs towards meeting the desired targets.
“Schools infrastructure will be upgraded, repaired and renovated including construction of new ones with classroom and other adjourning facilities,” he stated.
Read Also: Sen. Monguno pledges commitment to advancing education
Plateau: improved infrastructure, curriculum, digital literacy our focus
With an allocation of N52 billion in the 2025 budget by the Plateau State government, Governor Caleb Mutfwang has made a deliberate move to turn around education in the state for good.
The higher education sub-sector is expected to spend N8 billion to reposition the institutions, while the balance is reserved for the secondary and primary education sub-sector.
With this allocation, the government hopes to lay solid foundation for the proper education of children and youths in the state within the 2025 fiscal year.
“We said solid foundation because the standard of education generally has been messed up in the state through negligence on the part of previous administration,” Commissioner for Higher Education, Dr. Kachollom Gang, who stated this in a chat with The Nation in Jos.
He added: “Our focus for 2025 is to improve the infrastructure in the schools, because there are many of the schools that since they were established, nothing has been done to improve their infrastructure.
“So, specifically we want to look at improving the infrastructure, so that we can attract pupils back to the schools. We have observed that many of the students from Plateau State prefer to go to other states for their education, like in Gombe, Bauchi and Nassarawa. At the secondary and primary level, the Commissioner for Secondary Schools, Muhammed Nyalum, said: “What we are focusing on this year is digital literacy, with the capacity building for our teachers and students. We want to empower our teachers with digital knowledge, so that they can train our students in those skills.
“We have plans to also establish some smart schools because we have to catch up with the advanced world to attain global competitiveness. Moreso, very soon, SSCE and NECO will be computer based and we have to equip our teachers and students ahead, so that they could meet up with the test of time.”
Taraba set to begin schools building, distribution of materials
As part of the free education policy and plans for the new year, the Taraba State government would begin the construction of schools and the distribution of school materials, the Commissioner of Basic and Secondary Education, Dr. Augustina Yahaya, said during a phone interview.
According to her, the government also has plans to revitalise technical schools, convene an education summit as well as cater for the welfare of teachers and their training to meet up with the 21st century challenges.
She said: “We will look at rebuilding the schools to start. Our governor has purchased burnt bricks making machine and part of our plan is to start rebuilding the schools and it would be done zone by zone.
“Our government has purchased some school materials from last year. Right now, as I am talking to you, he has set up a committee to get the contractors to take inventory of what has been produced so that we would start distribution. They include: uniforms, shoes, games wears, exercise books, school bags and data capturing machines for primary and secondary schools. “Another plan is to organise an education summit in the state and the purpose is mainly to attract investors, focusing on our technical schools. Our technical schools are a shadow of what they are supposed to be. They have been turned into conventional secondary schools. The technical aspect is not well elaborated. We have plans to revitalise the technical schools to turn them into industrial hubs so as to attract investors and the World Bank. I know that they have funding for technical schools and it is not active in Taraba State.
“We are starting this year on a good note because the governor has implemented the N70, 000 minimum wage. Our plan is to do up-scaling for our teachers and serious training on 21st century skills. Teachers welfare is very important to us.”
