Alausa Disputes 15 Million Out-of-School Children Data, Pegs Figure at Around 7m

• Says polytechnics to award B.tech degrees in engineering, others 

•FG: Medical school admission has risen from 5,000 to 12,000 annually, targets 20,000 

•N250bn invested in new student accommodations nationwide

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

The federal government has commenced moves to conduct a nationwide, grid-based household survey to establish the actual number and locations of out-of-school children in Nigeria, with the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, saying the widely quoted figure of between 15 million and 17.5 million may be significantly overstated.

Alausa, during an interview on the Afropolitan Podcast, disclosed that the government was preparing to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) to conduct the exercise across the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

According to Alausa, preliminary information available to the ministry showed that the final figure may not exceed between 7 million and 8 million out-of-school, adding that even at that it remains unacceptable.

According to him, the exercise, which is expected to take about eight months, will provide the government with verifiable data on the number of children who are genuinely out of school, their households and their precise locations.

“We do not have 15 million out-of-school children, and we’re going to prove it. We’re working on clear data to do this.  Our out-of-school population, by the time we complete a full count, will be about 7 million to 8 million.

But it’s still too many. It’s still too many. We want the international community to know that we don’t have that number. UNESCO should not be giving us that data. UNICEF should not be giving us that data. We should be telling the world our own data, very good data that is verifiable,” Alausa said during the interview.

The minister argued that the figures currently being used to estimate Nigeria’s out-of-school population were substantially based on projected population figures, rather than an actual count of children and their educational status.

He noted that Nigeria had not conducted a national population census in decades, making estimates based on population projections potentially unreliable for planning educational interventions.

Alausa explained that while a national census remained the gold standard for establishing the country’s population, a General Household Survey conducted on a grid basis represented the closest available alternative for determining the actual number of out-of-school children.

He said the proposed nationwide exercise would go beyond merely producing a national figure, as it would enable the government to identify the specific households where the affected children live.

Alausa said results from similar exercises conducted in some states had already demonstrated significant differences between estimates and actual household-based counts.

He cited Kaduna State, where the estimated number of out-of-school children was put at about 585,000 before a household survey was conducted, but the figure reportedly dropped to about 190,000 following the exercise.

The minister also said Kano State recorded a significant difference between its estimated out-of-school population and the figure produced after its household survey. According to him, Zamfara and Sokoto states had equally conducted similar counts, with results that differed substantially from previously projected figures.

Besides, Alausa disclosed that the federal government is working with the National Assembly to finalise legislation that will empower polytechnics to award Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) degrees in engineering and science-related disciplines.

Alausa said the bill, which had been expected to reach President Bola Tinubu for assent, was returned to the National Assembly for some amendments, expressing optimism that the legislative process would be concluded and the bill forwarded to the President before the end of the year.

He explained that the proposed reform was part of efforts to restore parity among universities, polytechnics and colleges of education, while making tertiary education more practical and skills-oriented.

According to him, the government had resisted the longstanding practice of converting polytechnics into universities because such conversions reinforced the perception that polytechnics were inferior institutions.

He said the government was instead seeking to create a continuum in which students could progress from technical education to higher qualifications without having to abandon their vocational or technological training.

Alausa said colleges of education had already benefited from a similar reform through the dual-mandate policy, under which qualifying students could progress from the Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) to a Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) degree within the same institution.

He said the policy had helped increase enrolment in colleges of education and reduced pressure for the institutions to be converted into universities.

He lamented that technical education had subsequently been portrayed as an option for students who were academically weak, contributing to the country’s shortage of skilled artisans.

Alausa said the consequences were now evident in the construction industry, where Nigeria had been forced to rely on foreign artisans for specialised work.

On the recent performance of Nigerian universities, Alausa said the government had begun to see the impact of interventions aimed at restoring confidence in public tertiary institutions.

He said the stabilisation of academic calendars had been particularly important, arguing that prolonged disruptions had been one of the major reasons parents and students lost confidence in the Nigerian university system.

Alausa claimed that students were increasingly returning to public universities as academic calendars became more predictable, citing the University of Lagos, among others, as evidence of increased demand.

He also said Nigeria’s showing in the Times Higher Education global university rankings had improved, with 24 Nigerian universities featuring among the world’s top 1,000 to 1,200 institutions in 2026, compared with 21 previously. More significantly, he said 17 of the 24 Nigerian universities ranked were public institutions.

Alausa disclosed that the government invested about N120 billion in 2025 to expand and upgrade 18 medical schools, while another N52 billion was being spent in 2026 on almost 25 medical schools.

He said the investments were aimed at expanding capacity for the training of doctors, dentists, pharmacists and nurses.

The minister disclosed that annual admission into medical schools had risen from about 5,000 students to approximately 12,000, with the government targeting 20,000 admissions annually within two years.

He explained that the increase would take several years to translate into a larger pool of practising doctors because medical training takes about five to six years.

Alausa also said the government was expanding nursing education, claiming that more than 140,000 nurses were now being trained annually.

Beyond medical education, he said the federal government was investing about N110 billion in the rehabilitation and modernisation of engineering faculties, including workshops and equipment, across conventional universities, federal universities of technology and polytechnics.

He added that about N250 billion was being invested in new student accommodation across tertiary institutions.