Join national education database, FG urges states, private schools

The Federal Government of Nigeria is calling on state governments, local education authorities, and private school proprietors to actively participate in the Digitalised Nigeria Education Management Information System (DNEMIS). Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, emphasized that accurate and comprehensive education data is indispensable for effective planning, policy formulation, and improving learning outcomes nationwide.

Alausa launched the digital platform in Abuja, describing reliable data as the backbone of successful education reform. He warned that without credible statistics, governments cannot effectively address the sector's challenges. The DNEMIS is designed to be Nigeria's central hub for education data, providing real-time information on schools, teachers, learners, and essential infrastructure like classrooms, sanitation facilities, and electricity.

"Data allows us to monitor, design interventions, evaluate outcomes and plan proactively for the future. Without accurate data, meaningful development is impossible," Alausa stated. The platform aims to enable governments at all levels to identify infrastructure gaps, optimize teacher deployment, track enrollment trends, and direct investments to areas of greatest need.

Despite implementation delays, the platform has already captured data on over 40 million learners, 1.19 million teachers, and 730,000 classrooms. However, out of 213,235 schools, only 124,548 have submitted data, representing a 58.4% reporting rate. This highlights the significant data gaps the government hopes to close, addressing long-standing issues where weak and fragmented data has hampered effective policymaking and resource allocation in one of Africa's largest education systems.

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You have to get the data right. Data allows us to monitor, design interventions, evaluate outcomes and plan proactively for the future. Without accurate data, meaningful development is impossible.