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🇳🇬 Nigeria /Culture & Society

Alausa disputes Nigeria’s 15 million out-of-school children figure, puts estimate at about 7 million

From ThisDay · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources New plan
  • Education Minister Tunji Alausa said Nigeria’s widely cited figure of 15 million to 17.5 million out-of-school children may be significantly overstated, with a preliminary estimate of 7 million to 8 million.
  • The government plans to work with the National Bureau of Statistics on an eight-month, grid-based household survey across all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
  • The survey aims to identify affected households and provide data for education planning, while Alausa said even the lower estimate remained unacceptable.

Nigeria’s education minister says the country may have far fewer out-of-school children than the 15 million to 17.5 million figure frequently cited internationally, but he still considers the likely total unacceptable.

Tunji Alausa said the government is preparing to sign a memorandum of understanding with the National Bureau of Statistics for a nationwide, grid-based household survey. The exercise would cover all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory and is expected to take about eight months.

We do not have 15 million out-of-school children, and we’re going to prove it.

· Tunji AlausaNigeria’s education minister described the planned household survey and disputed the widely cited national estimate.

The survey is intended to establish how many children are genuinely out of school, where they live and which households they belong to. Alausa said preliminary information available to the ministry suggested the final figure could be between 7 million and 8 million. “We do not have 15 million out-of-school children, and we’re going to prove it,” he said in an interview on the Afropolitan Podcast. “But it’s still too many.”

But it’s still too many.

· Tunji AlausaHe said a possible total of 7 million to 8 million out-of-school children would remain unacceptable.

Alausa argued that existing estimates rely heavily on projected population figures rather than an actual count of children and their education status. Nigeria has not conducted a national population census in decades, he said, making projections less reliable for planning education interventions. A national census remains the best standard for determining the population, but he described a general household survey as the closest available alternative.

The minister said similar exercises in some states had produced substantial differences between estimates and household-based counts. The proposed survey would therefore go beyond producing a national figure by identifying the specific homes where children outside the education system live. Alausa also called for Nigeria to provide its own verifiable data rather than relying on figures attributed to international organisations.

We should be telling the world our own data, very good data that is verifiable.

· Tunji AlausaHe argued that Nigeria should establish and publish its own household-based figures.
About this summary

Originally published by ThisDay in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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