Tinubu’s 2-Year Administration: Mixed Reactions Trail Strides In Education Sector

-President has left indelible footprints on education landscape –VC

-Sector has not fared better considering some unresolved issues –ASUP

APPRAISAL

Key stakeholders differed on performance index of the education sector as they appraise the midterm progress, growth and development initiatives of President Bola Tinubu’s administration in the last two years.

Theirs’ is a consensus: it is not yet Uhuru for the education sector two years of President Bola Tinubu administration, despite the silent progress so far recorded. Contrary to stakeholders’ expectations, Nigeria’s education sector has not attained the expected leap and appreciable level of growth, despite the various interventions initiated by the government in the last two years.

The efforts of the government at all levels and other critical stakeholders to set the sector on the path of optimal performance, have been stunted due to age-long challenges rocking the sector.

Indeed, the education sector, the fulcrum of national development, like other critical sectors of the national economy, has over the years been hampered by a series of challenges that have remained unattended to or unresolved by successive administrations.

These challenges range from inadequate funding arising from the poor yearly budgetary allocations both at federal and state levels, neglect and lack of proper attention resulting from absence of the right political will on the part of previous administrations to reposition the ailing sector.

Over the years, the sector, particularly at the tertiary level has been constrained by crisis of incessant strikes by staff unions, especially the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), NASU; and the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) and other unions, leading to closure of the institutions in the last three decades.

Besides, the sector has suffered poor facilities, low literacy rate, lack of policy focus and policy inconsistency, low enrollment and retention in schools, insecurity, and high rate of out-of-school children, among others.

The education sector is also ravaged by the problems of human capital flight, the JAPA syndrome, limited admission spaces in university systems, dearth of facilities and laboratory equipment, poor library facilities, and insufficient qualified teachers in schools.

Policies and interventions

But, faced with these crises, President Tinubu’s administration on assumption of office on May 29, 2023, swung into action by initiating several interventions that have brought about expected exponential growth in the sector for the transformation and development of the country.

However, in his unwavering support for education and commitment to quality education provision, President Tinubu under his administration’s “Renewed Hope Agenda” initiated some moves to reposition and recalibrate the sector. In the last two years, these efforts have shown a steady growth in a number of ways.

Firstly, to address the problem of insufficient admission space in the existing tertiary institutions, the government in the years under review has approved the establishment of several universities, polytechnics and colleges of education across the country to meet students’ demands for admission.

Still as part of the efforts, President Tinubu introduced the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) under the Student Loans Act, 2024 for students at government-run universities in the country.

There has never been any profound intervention to reinvent the wheel of educational advancement…

So far, NELFUND has disbursed a total of N54 billion, out of which N30 billion was paid directly to the 303 institutions to cover students’ fees, while N24 billion was disbursed as stipends or pocket money to 293,000 students who are Nigerians, studying at the tertiary level in Nigerian government-owned institutions.

The Students Loans (Access to Higher Education) Act, 2023, was signed into law in June 2023, to offer interest-free education loans and provide easy access to higher education for Nigerians in the drive to providing education for all Nigerian children. On the challenges of Out-ofSchool Children (OOSC), the federal and state government were said to have committed efforts at reducing the staggering figure.

The government has also initiated reforms focusing on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), vocational education, and teacher training. Though the system has over the years characterised by incessant strikes, the last two years has witnessed a strike-free system as no union has embarked on strike due to the leadership style in government.

With two Ministers of Education – Prof Tahir Mamman (August 21, 2023 to October 23, 2024), and Dr Tunji Alausa (October 23, 2024 till date, the Federal Government introduced the DOTS Framework that focuses on Data Repository, Out-of-School Children Education, Teacher Training and Development, Skill Development and Acquisition to address systemic issues across the education value chain.

Other policies of Tinubu’s administration include the National Education Data System, which centered on approval of a comprehensive national census of schools, teachers, and students in order to establish a reliable database for effective educational planning and decision-making.

There is curriculum reform, under which vocational and entrepreneurial subjects have been integrated in the curriculum to improve employability and reduce youth unemployment in the country.

Also, stakeholder engagement, was initiated to improved dialogue between the Ministry of Education and private stakeholders, while the President Tinubu-led government strengthened Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) by converting federal science and technical colleges into federal technical colleges, based on the critical role of technical education in bridging skills gap.

Now, the Federal Technical Colleges will provide free tuition, free accommodation, and monthly stipends to students, even as the new TVET programme will focus on a dual-training model with 80 per cent practical training and 20 per cent classroom time, targeting 650,000 enrollees initially and aiming to train five million youths in globally relevant skills within four years.

Challenges

Despite the interventions, one of the major challenges of this administration is the negative impact of high electricity tariff imposed on educational institutions, research institutions and colleges of medicine, which were moved to ‘Band A Tariff’ by the Electricity Distribution Companies (DISCOs).

Other challenges of the present administration include the introduction and hike in tuition fees and other ancillary charges in public universities, and other tertiary institutions of learning.

Notwithstanding the Tinubu’s intervention to rescue the ailing sector, the system is still characterised by poor lecturers’ welfare, low teachers remuneration and poor working conditions in the school system resulting inadvertently in mass exodus of Nigerian professors, lecturers and teachers under the JAPA Syndrome to other countries in search of greener pastures, have remained the bane of the sector.

Meanwhile, ASUU last week challenged the unresolved crisis in the tertiary level, particularly the 2009 FGASUU Agreement and Renegotiated Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with the university staff unions, and the nagging issue of Universities Revitalisation Fund, threatening a nationwide strike, if the government fails to implement the agreement and to pay the expected N150 billion, as agreed.

There is also the issue of the controversial policy of admission age limit into higher institutions and pegging of 18 years age limit for students to write the Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE), which stakeholders vehemently kicked against before the government resolved to reverse the policy so as to maintain the status quo ante. Added to the shortcomings of the BAT administration is the sectoral budgetary allocation, which is still a far cry.

Though the quantum of funds allocated to the sector in the last two years has increased tremendously compared to previous years, it is still less than the 20-26 per cent stipulated by UNESCO, while less quantum of funds released is being used by the management of the institutions for the purpose it is meant due to systemic corruption.

Stakeholders

In their assessment of the midterm performance of President Tinubu’s administration in the education sector, stakeholders are divided over the achievement of the government. While some applauded the administration over its silent progress through several reform initiatives put in place in the last two years, others believed that the performance rating was short of expectations.

For instance, while appraising the President’s mid-term stewardship, the Vice-Chancellor, African School of Economics (The Pan-African University of Excellence), Abuja, Prof Mahfouz Adedimeji said President Bola Tinubu’s administration has so far in the last two years left indelible footprints on the education landscape.

The don, who stated that there was every reason to believe that more impactful reforms are still on the way, listed some of the policies of the administration to include the Universal Basic Education Enhancement and 12-4 system, which allows basic education to end after secondary school; and the establishment of NELFUND, which undertakes the disbursement of the Student Loan Scheme.

President Tinubu’s administration also established about 70 tertiary institutions, comprising 23 new universities, 33 new polytechnics and 12 new colleges of education within the past two year. “Just this month, the dual mandate was introduced which would allow qualified Colleges of Education to award degrees.

This is good because the jostling to convert the colleges to universities will reduce with the degree window granted to the qualified colleges of education,” Adedimeji explained. He, however, stressed that the increasing access to education through establishment of more institutions would be a good development in the sector; while on curriculum development, he said the new curriculum review focuses on STEMM education – Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine.

The Vice-Chancellor highlighted some of the achievements of the administration as including increased minimum wage which also impacted on the teachers, and none strike by ASUU and other staff unions since the start of this administration, describing this as great achievement for the sector, as well while the disbursement of N50 billion for the payment of Earned Allowances of staff is a morale booster.

Added to this, Adedimeji hailed the renewed focus of the Federal Government on developing Technical and Vocational Training Education with provision of scholarships and other incentives to encourage students and their parents.

Despite this, the Vice-Chancellor lamented the inadequate funding challenges confronting the sector, saying a situation in which only 7.08 per cent of the 2025 budget was allocated to education, is grossly insufficient, and needed to be jerked up to the recommended 15 per cent for more impact. While appraising the sector in the last two years, the National President of Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), Mr Kpanja Shammah, said the sector has not fared better considering some unresolved issues in the system.

According to him, President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration in 2023 earmarked the sum of N300 billion to be released for provision of facilities for effective teaching and learning under the NEEDS intervention fund for tertiary institutions.

Shammah expressed regrets that the fund has not been released under this administration despite all pressure from the unions; while in 2025, the Tinubu’s administration also proposed to release the sum of N150 billion for the same purpose. “If we compare this amount and what was earmarked as far back as 2023, especially taking into consideration the inflation rate, we will all agree that there is much to be desired, even when the N150 billion is yet to be released,” he stated.

ASUP President condemned the administration for proliferation of federal polytechnics, colleges of education and universities across the states for the purpose of equity, but applauded the administration for setting up a committee through the Federal Ministry of Education to develop a road map for education, which has become the ministry’s education road map for the period 2024 to 2027.

He identified policy summersault as one of the bane of education administration in the country, blaming President Tinubu-led government for failure to establish the National Commission for Polytechnics, despite that bill having passed through the first and second reading as well as public hearing at the National Assembly.

Another positive point scored by this administration, according to him, is the decision to stop the payment of tuition fees in all federal science and technical colleges, which he described as good development. Shammah also condemned the conversion of polytechnics to universities, insisting that the government needs to improve the funding of education to enable the institutions to meet their mandate.

Other stakeholders

The Vice President, South-West of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), Dr Abdussobur Salaam, in his review, argued that the education sector in the last two years has been a mixed bag.

According to him, the sector in the first one year of President Tinubu was largely lacklustre and lacking in clear direction, as the nation witnessed the introduction of policies that appeared not to give direction to the sector, and appeared that the policymakers were majoring in the minor and minoring on the major.

He condemned the issue of the 18-year admissions policy, and scant attention paid to issues of curriculum, infrastructure, and the industrial health of the sector. But, he noted that the sector has taken a new focus in the last second year, especially with some innovations that have been introduced, stressing that the focus on vocational development is one that is quite laudable.

Salaam, who hailed the reversal of the 18-year admission policy, added that the emphasis on STEMM – Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine by the Minister of Education gives a sharper focus and direction for the education system. The union leader, who frowned at the challenges of Out-ofSchool children, applauded the government that the nagging issue appears to also be at the front burner of the minister’s attention and this is quite laudable.

Meanwhile, he condemned the proliferation of universities, saying the manner in which universities are being established in the last two years gives cause for concern. Salaam said: “The proliferation of universities while being unable to fully cater to the existing institutions is not helpful to the system. You do not attempt to solve a problem by creating new problems.”

In fact, he insisted that there was a need to address potential industrial tensions in the university system, one which is already brewing if not nipped in the bud, recalling how in 2022, all university-based unions embarked on a strike, which led a MoU that a payment of N50 billion should be allocated for the payment of Earned Allowances for all university workers, which has not been fully met.

A Professor of Linguistics and lecturer at the University of Ibadan (UI), Francis Egbokhare, was indifferent in his review, stating that there was an expectation of radical changes and positive outcomes in the sector when President Tinubu came on board

But, unfortunately that was not to be as things have gotten worse, even he noted that the removal of oil subsidy, massive devaluation of the naira and spiraling inflation have taken a serious toll on the education sector, which like other sectors of the nation’s economy couldn’t absorb the shock due to several factors.

According to him, the education sector is import dependent as there is no local supportive production system locally, while every slide in the value of naira deals a massive blow to the education sector. Egbokhare stated that the uncontrolled expansion of the sector in terms of new public tertiary institutions, excessive programme expansion would further complicate the funding crisis and capacity gap.

“Moreover, the model of higher education is too resource intensive, based on western style education that has standalone competition rather than collaborative approach,” the don said, lamenting that we need to also consider the fact that we are still implementing a supply side over centralised control-based approach to governance and management of education.

The don insisted that some of the issues have nothing to do with funding and predate the current government, saying that as regards the Tinubu government, income inequality is characteristic of the government where university workers are underpaid with consequent mass discouragement in the system.

Curiously, Egbokhare bemoaned a situation in which the search for IGR is now the primary preoccupation of most vice-chancellors, rectors and provosts, saying the implication is that quality has become diluted.

He, however, warned that if the nation continued in the current trajectory, the public tertiary sector would end up like public secondary schools, beaten, battered, broken and useless. Thus, he hinted further that money only would not change the status quo, because more funding without structural, process, systems and legislative reforms would only lead to massive negative consequences. Egbokhare added:

“We need to find ways to integrate our national assets into the education sector. This will help reduce government investment in infrastructure and leverage scale to reduce the overall cost of education in Nigeria. And indeed for things to change, we need to do things differently and do different things.”

Meanwhile, the former Vice-Chancellor of Ekiti State University (EKSU), Ado-Ekiti, Prof Dipo Kolawole, said it is difficult from an objective perspective to see any remarkable initiative in the education sector under the President Tinubu administration in the last two years.

This is as he insisted that it has been two years of initiative barrenness as there has never been any profound intervention to reinvent the wheel of educational advancement at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels. The former Vice-Chancellor noted that two glaring examples of policy inertia are discernible given the continued geometric increase in universities without corresponding improvement in post-graduation employment opportunities.

“The truth is that some of the new universities are at best glorious secondary schools lacking meaningful capital take-off base, infrastructure, outlook, prestige and dignity of universities,” Kolawole stressed, adding that universities are now being granted approval on impulse rather than meeting critically defined and refined criteria that put the future of education into focus.

He lamented how some of the parastatals in the Ministry of Education are failing in meeting the objective purposes of setting them up, noting that the JAMB has become a behemoth failing the purpose for which it was founded in 1978.

“Its new inclination for yearly technological experimentation and the resultant failures as reflected in the last Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) is a clear testimony to its failure in utility valueness,” he stated. Kolawole also faulted overcentralisation of admission in a federated state, saying this is a contradiction and bastardisation of federalism.

Giving an appraisal of the education sector in mid-term administration of President Tinubu, the National President of National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPSS) Nigeria, Chief ‘Yomi Otubela, highlighted the progress, ongoing challenges, and suggested pathways for the sectoral sustainable improvement. In the area of policy initiatives and commitment, he said the President in the last two years has initiated several reforms that are aimed at revitalising Nigeria’s education sector.

He listed these to include the Federal Government’s DOTS Framework that focuses on Data Repository, Out-of-School Children Education, Teacher Training and Development, Skill Development and Acquisition. According to him if the initiative is properly implemented, it would address systemic issues across the education value chain.

Otubela lauded the National Education Data System, which centered on approval of a comprehensive national census of schools, teachers, and students in order to establish a reliable database for effective educational planning and decision-making. He also applauded the Student Loan Act introduced by the administration, adding that the increased budgetary allocation to education earned a pass mark.

“The education sector received ₦2.16 trillion in the 2024 budget, representing 6.39 per cent of the Federal Government’s total budget, saying though this is an improvement from previous years, it still remains below the UNESCO benchmark of 15-20 per cent. NAPSS commended the government’s curriculum reform, as the inclusion of vocational and entrepreneurial subjects in the curriculum aimed at improving employability and reducing youth unemployment in the country, and for including NAPSS in the stakeholder engagement initiative.

Despite the achievements of the administration in terms of policy formulation to accelerate sectoral development, NAPSS President insisted that there are still clogs in the wheel of education sector development. Otubela identified the nagging challenges as Out-of-School Children in which an estimated 18.3 million children are out of school in Nigeria, with 10.2 million at the primary level and 8.1 million at the junior secondary level, according to UNICEF report.

Also, the problem of literacy rates, where the national literacy rate stands at 62.02 per cent, with stark regional disparities of Southern regions having 89 per cent rate; Northern regions having a worrisome figure as low as 34 per cent, and which needs to be bridged for the sector to move forward.

Other challenges confronting the education sector is an abysmally low teacher-student ratio, with a primary school ratio of 43:1, indicating a dire need for production and recruitment of more qualified teachers in order to maintain education quality and student engagement.

© New Telegraph