The Minister of Education, Dr. Maruf Alausa, says the ongoing National Education Data Infrastructure (NEDI) initiative will enhance planning, budgeting and coordinated interventions in schools.
Alausa said this at a stakeholders meeting held in Abuja, Nigeria, for seamless implementation of the NEDI initiative, which has relevant information about learners and schools across the country in a dashboard.
He said the meeting, attended by representatives of relevant ministries, commissioners of education, researchers and scholars, was designed to further expose stakeholders to the benefits, effectiveness and rationale behind the establishment of the data infrastructure.
The Minister said; “NEDI was designed to capture comprehensive information about the education sector in Nigeria, including detailed data on students, infrastructure, curricula, teachers, locations and other critical elements required for policy formulation and implementation.
“Government will use it for evidence-based planning and policy development, effective budgeting at all levels, and targeted investments in infrastructure and capacity building, among others.
“Schools and communities will use the infrastructure to monitor learners’ outcomes, track investments and improvements in education delivery, and promote multi-stakeholder participation and ownership.
” The initiative has so enabled government to monitor enrolment, infrastructure, teachers, and learning outcomes across more than 240,000 schools nationwide,” Alausa said.
Support Development Partners
The Minister emphasised that NEDI would also support development partners in aligning interventions with verified national priorities, while fostering transparency and joint accountability.
Alausa further explained that Nigeria had, for several years, operated “blindly” with regard to data, particularly in education planning, research and implementation, a development which NEDI has come to salvage.
According to him, “NEDI would assign every learner a unique identity through the National Learners Identity Number (NLIN) linked to his or her National Identity Number (NIN) to prevent identify fraud, theft and examination malpractices.”
In a presentation, the Coordinator of NEDI, Abubakar Isah said that NEDI would serve as the single source of truth for education data across all levels, from basic to tertiary education.
“It is technology-driven, hence it collects, harmonises, analyses and utilises data at scale,” he said.
Isah explained that NEDI would track every learner’s academic journey from school to the workplace, while also promoting transparency and accountability in education management.
Technology Driven
The Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Imaan Suleiman-Ibrahim said the NEDI initiative reflects a strong commitment to building a modern, evidence-based education system capable of supporting inclusive learning and improved outcomes for Nigerian children and young people.
Suleiman-Ibrahim said that “This initiative is particularly important because reliable educational data will strengthen our work in child protection, family development, girls’ education, social inclusion and support for vulnerable groups.
“Accurate data enables government to identify gaps, target interventions more effectively, improve coordination across institutions, and ensure that vulnerable children are not left behind. Education is closely linked to the welfare and empowerment of women and families.”
Suleiman-Ibrahim stressed that stronger educational data systems have become even more urgent in view of the realities of out-of-school children, inequality and limited access to quality education in some communities.
“Integrated and reliable data will support better policy decisions, equitable resource allocation, improved monitoring, and stronger social protection responses for children and families across the country,” she said
Chief Education Officer of UNICEF, Venasa Lee said with NEDI, Nigeria is ready to harness the power of data to provide quality, inclusive education to children.
“With this transformation, more children will learn and more children will grow up achieving their potential,” she said.
Lee, however said it should be made conditional so that the states, the LGA and the schools commit to inputting the data and sharing their data in the digitalised platform so that all children can mapped out.
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