The Nigerian Government has disbursed the sum of N22 billion to train 224,000 teachers and N2 billion to 1,147 School-Based Management Committees, SBMCs, across all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT.
Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, made the disbursement on Monday while flagging off the National School-Based Committee- School Improvement Programme, SBMC-SIP, and Teacher Professional Development, TDP, Programme in Abuja.
Alausa disclosed that each state received over N598 million for targeted training in key areas to improve quality education, while each SBMC received up to N1.8 million to support over 15,000 different improvement projects.
The minister maintained that the huge investment would reach over 56,000 schools and impact more than 17 million learners.
“About 2 billion Naira will be disbursed to about 1,147 school-based management committees across all 36 states, including FCT.
“This money will support over 15,000 different improvement projects, which are focused and will be directed towards the innovation of our classrooms, purchasing of furniture, building work facilities, and improving security in our schools. Each school-based management committee would receive up to 1.8 million Naira today.
”For teachers’ professional development, this programme will disburse 22 billion Naira to train 224,000 teachers and education management across all 36 states, including FCT.
“Each state will be receiving 598 million Naira for targeted training in key areas to improve quality education. This investment will reach over 56,000 schools and would impact more than 17 million learners,” he said.
The minister noted that the SBMC and TPD initiatives funded by the Universal Basic Education Commission, UBEC, represent a strategic leap in the collective effort to revitalize basic education in Nigeria.
“At the heart of today’s event lies a simple but powerful belief that every child, no matter where they are born, deserves access to quality education delivered in a safe, functional, and supportive environment.
“This belief is fully aligned with the vision of His Excellency, President Bola Tinubu GCFR, whose renewed open agenda places education and even capital development at the core of national transformation. The precedent has been clear. Our children must learn, our teachers must be equipped, and our schools must become engines of opportunity for every single Nigerian household,” he said.
Alausa said government is determined to ensure Nigerian educators are not only trained once, but are continuously equipped to deliver modern skill-based curriculum, adding that the ministry has directed the Development and Nationwide Dissemination of Teachers’ Guide to support the new curriculum rollout by the 2025 and 2026 academic session.
The minister, who stated that the government was working hard to reduce the burden of out-of-school children, announced that Federal Minister of Education has launched the Nigerian Education Sectoral Renewal Initiative, adding that an expansive technical and vocational education and training agenda that we will be launching in the next few weeks.
He also expressed the Ministry’s support for UBEC’s 2025-2027 commitment to intervene in te development of inmsfrastrcure as well as provision of furniture for schools.
“As part of our shared commitment to education transformation, I will affirm the federal government’s support for UBEC 2025-2027 road commitments, which will construct over 7,000 new UBE facilities, provide more than 7 million units of classrooms furniture, renovate more than 95,000 classrooms nationwide, deliver about 23,000 morals and 28,000 toilets across our country.
“As part of this board initiative by UBEC, about 14,000 school fencing would also be done to improve safety, particularly for girls. These are just not abstract targets. They are life-changing investments for the learners and their communities,” he said.
Also speaking, the Minister of State for Education, Prof Suwaiba Ahmad, said the initiatives being financed under the federal government’s UBE intervention demonstrate the current administration’s commitment to addressing the infrastructural and quality gaps in basic education.
“Recognizing the importance of creating a conducive atmosphere for learning and improved outcomes in universal basic education delivery, the present administration has made outstanding educational investment that cannot be overlooked.
“Such investments include placing increased emphasis on the reintegration of out-of-school children back into the education system by constructing 7,200 new schools, renovating 195,000 classrooms, producing 1,680,000 school furniture, training 970 teachers and supplying over 2,000,000 teaching aids and also distributing 103,000,000 textbooks among others,” Ahmad said.
The minister also announced that the ministry is also in the process of launching a new initiative, the LUMINAH Girl Child Initiative.
“It is aimed at ensuring that every girl child in Nigeria, especially in the hard-to-reach communities, have access to basic education and vocational training. In addition, the implementation of the World Bank-supported Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment, the Agile Program, has been expanded to cover an additional 11 states, making a total of 18 participating states,” she said.
On her part, the Executive Secretary of UBEC, Hajia Aisha Garba, said the flag-off marked a milestone in the collective mission to provide equitable, quality basic education for every Nigerian child, regardless of location or circumstance.
“This is more than a launch; it’s a reaffirmation of our commitment to Nigeria’s future. We are unleashing the promise of a nation—that every child deserves a strong foundation through quality education. Yes, we’ve made progress; enrollment has risen by 7% in just a few years.
“But with 17 million children still out of school—mainly in rural, low-income areas—and only 9% of rural children showing age-appropriate literacy and numeracy skills, the task ahead is urgent and clear,” she said.
Garba lauded President Bola Tinubu, “whose Renewed Hope Agenda treats education not as a budget line, but as the backbone of national development.’
“Let it be remembered that in 2025, Nigeria chose not just to build classrooms but communities of learning. We chose not to blame teachers, but to equip and support them. We chose not to talk education, but to deliver it,” she said .
