The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) has declared plans to educate and economically empower one million underserved Nigerian girls under the Learning, Uniting, Modernising, Innovating, Nurturing, Accelerating, and Harmonising (LUMINAH) 2030 initiative.
The Executive Secretary of UBEC, Aisha Garba, said this at the opening of a 5-day programme on LUMINAH 2030-UBEC Migration and Establishment Agenda, in Abuja on Tuesday.
She said the commission has formally taken over the initiative from the Federal Ministry of Education, saying that the takeover of the project was a timely and necessary step to guarantee sustainability and long-term impact.
Garba said, “LUMINAH 2030 illuminates the path to education and empowerment. It integrates schooling, skills training, caregiver support, and community engagement to address the root causes that have kept our girls out of school.”
The UBEC chief, who was represented by the Deputy Executive Secretary, Technical, Razak Akinyemi, commended the contributions of Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE), the global support programme that has nurtured LUMINAH 2030 since inception and noted, however, that AGILE’s international framework has a limited lifespan.
Garba said that embedding LUMINAH 2030 within UBEC ensures institutionalisation, alignment with Nigeria’s education priorities, and a lasting legacy.
She said, “By institutionalising Lumina within UBEC, we ensure that it will not fade away, but endure. It is fully aligned with UBEC’s seven pillars in the 10-year roadmap (2021–2030) and the national education transformation agenda. Our expectations are clear: to deliver an inclusive, scalable, and data-driven model that reaches the most marginalised girls.”
Garba outlined UBEC’s commitment to strong partnerships with state governments, civil society, the private sector, and local communities, while emphasising accountability and measurable impact through rigorous monitoring and evaluation.
She urged participants to treat the migration process as more than a formality, but as a transformational moment that must yield concrete actions.
“Every educator trained, every caregiver empowered, and every community mobilised is a victory for Nigeria,” she added.
Launched in March 2025 and assisted by the World Bank, the project is to educate and economically empower over one million underserved girls and women across Nigeria by 2030.
Other objectives of the project are to provide vocational skills and financial support to female caregivers, establish flexible, safe learning centres for girls, promote gender-equitable education policies, and build a scalable, data-driven model for national adoption.
The initiative is currently implemented in the 12 states of the federation including Yobe and Taraba in the North East, Kano and Jigawa in the North West.
Others are Benue and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, in the North Central, Ebonyi and Anambra in the South East as well as Bayelsa and Akwa Ibom States in the South-south.
Speaking earlier, the National Coordinator of the LUMINAH 2030 initiative, Mrs Amina Buba, described the transfer of the programme’s implementation structure as a “strategic step towards sustainability and impact.”
Buba said the transition was not just an administrative shift but a deliberate move to strengthen the institutional framework needed to deliver on the initiative’s ambitious goal of educating and economically empowering at least one million underserved adolescent girls by the year 2030.
She recalled that since its inception, the Ministry of Education, under the leadership of the Minister of State for Education, Prof. Suwaiba Ahmed, had established strong governance structures, including a National Steering Committee chaired by the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, as well as sub-committees co-chaired by ministry directors.
“With this migration to UBEC, we are embracing a more specialised and flexible system that will deepen stakeholder collaboration, enhance resource mobilisation, and ultimately deliver measurable impact,” Buba noted.
She urged all stakeholders to “innovate boldly and work together” to ensure that the promises of the LUMINAH 2030 initiative translate into tangible improvements in the lives of Nigerian adolescent girls.
On its part, the implementing partners of the LUMINAH 2030 initiative, Neem Foundation, said the project’s commitment to creating learning that integrates education with financial literacy and market-driven skills resonates deeply with the foundation’s approach to education.
Represented by its Senior Programme Officer on Education, Minoe Duamwan, the Foundation noted that true learning can only thrive when education is combined with healing, resilience and empowerment.
“With our proven experience and technical expertise in trauma-informed education, Neem Foundation stands ready to support the implementation of this vision, LUMINAH 2030’s focus on financial inclusion, skill development, and collective participation aligned with our commitment to creating safe, inclusive spaces where girls can learn, heal, and lead,” Duamwan said.
