UBEC Enlists Traditional and Religious Leaders to Tackle Nigeria’s Out-of-School Children Crisis
The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) has taken a significant step toward addressing Nigeria’s persistent out-of-school children crisis by enlisting traditional rulers and religious leaders in a nationwide campaign to identify children who are not attending school and facilitate their enrolment. The initiative, which seeks to leverage the considerable influence of traditional and religious institutions, also includes community-level monitoring of pupils’ attendance, retention and completion to ensure that children enrolled in schools do not drop out.
The development was disclosed in a statement issued by the Office of the Executive Secretary of UBEC on Thursday, following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the commission and the Sultan Foundation for Peace and Development. Under the partnership, traditional and religious institutions will be mobilised to strengthen community participation in basic education, particularly in underserved communities where poverty, cultural barriers and other social challenges continue to limit children’s access to schooling.
Coordinating Committees to Drive Grassroots Mobilisation
As part of the agreement, the partners will establish national, state and local coordinating committees to drive education advocacy and grassroots mobilisation. Traditional and religious leaders will be expected to encourage parents and guardians to prioritise their children’s education, while the partnership also provides for the development and distribution of advocacy materials in Hausa, Fulfulde and Yoruba. In addition, the initiative will involve household-level identification of out-of-school children and their enrolment in nearby schools.
The Executive Secretary of UBEC, Aisha Garba, said the partnership reflected the Federal Government’s recognition that tackling the out-of-school children crisis requires more than government funding and infrastructure. She stressed the need to involve community leaders who can influence household decisions.
“Traditional and religious leaders are indispensable to the success of this initiative, given their influence in shaping community values, guiding family decisions and mobilising grassroots support,” Garba said.
She added that the initiative would pay particular attention to girls, whose access to education remains affected by social and cultural barriers in some communities. According to her, the agreement will also introduce accountability mechanisms to recognise communities, schools and traditional leaders that demonstrate measurable progress in improving access to basic education.
“The success of this partnership will be measured by increased school enrolment, improved attendance and retention, stronger learning outcomes and a sustained reduction in the number of out-of-school children,” she said.
A Response to Nigeria’s Enduring Basic Education Challenge
The partnership comes against the backdrop of Nigeria’s persistent basic education crisis, with millions of school-age children still outside the formal education system despite the Universal Basic Education programme and the provision of free and compulsory basic education under the UBE Act of 2004.
UNICEF’s 2025 Nigeria Annual Report identified 10.2 million out-of-school children, with 45 per cent of them in the North-West and 28 per cent in the North-East. The figures highlight the geographical concentration of the challenge, particularly in regions affected by insecurity, poverty, displacement and inadequate access to functional schools.
In May 2026, the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, said the Federal Government had returned more than one million children to classrooms within 30 months through its interventions. He also disclosed that the government was undertaking a nationwide mapping exercise to establish more accurate figures for out-of-school children, including identifying their locations through geotagging. The Federal Ministry of Education subsequently highlighted its Back2School Drive and interactive out-of-school children dashboard as part of efforts to identify affected children, support their enrolment and improve the targeting of interventions.
However, the scale of the challenge remains significant. UNICEF reported that only 70 per cent of Nigerian children and young people aged three to 24 attended school in 2025, with attendance at 51 per cent in rural communities compared with 75 per cent in urban areas.
Infrastructure and Learning Gains Under UBEC
Garba disclosed that UBEC, working with the Federal Ministry of Education and State Universal Basic Education Boards, had facilitated the construction of more than 4,900 classrooms and the renovation of existing school facilities nationwide. She said the commission had also provided water, sanitation and hygiene facilities, with the infrastructure interventions directly benefiting more than 2.3 million learners by the end of 2025.
According to her, UBEC had equally advanced community-driven school improvement programmes and teacher professional development initiatives to strengthen school management and improve teaching and learning outcomes.
“These interventions demonstrate the importance of sustained government investment and effective institutional coordination in addressing longstanding challenges in basic education,” she said.
Garba acknowledged the policy direction of the Minister of Education, Dr Maruf Alausa, and the Minister of State for Education, Prof Suwaiba Ahmad, noting that their commitment to strengthening the education sector and expanding inclusive access to learning continued to guide the commission’s programmes. She, however, stressed that consolidating the gains recorded in the sector required stronger community ownership and active participation by stakeholders.
Kebbi State Commends Sultan Foundation
Also speaking, the Deputy Governor of Kebbi State, Senator Umar Tafida, who represented Governor Nasir Idris, commended the Sultan Foundation for Peace and Development for its contributions to health and social development, particularly interventions supported by development partners, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He said Kebbi State appreciated the foundation’s efforts to improve the welfare and educational opportunities of vulnerable children.
Tafida described the foundation’s commitment to supporting disadvantaged children as a reflection of the values of Islam and humanity, and conveyed the governor’s goodwill to UBEC, the Sultan Foundation and the Nasara Foundation.
Garba assured that UBEC would continue to collaborate with state governments, traditional institutions and development partners to expand access to quality basic education and strengthen the implementation of ongoing reforms.
Why Community Ownership Matters
The involvement of traditional and religious leaders represents a strategic shift in Nigeria’s approach to basic education, recognising that enrolment figures alone do not guarantee meaningful learning. By placing community institutions at the centre of advocacy and monitoring, the partnership aims to address the household-level barriers that keep children out of classrooms, from cultural attitudes to economic pressures.
The emphasis on local coordinating committees and household identification suggests a more granular approach to a problem that has historically been measured in national aggregates. With the North-West and North-East accounting for the majority of out-of-school children, the success of this partnership in those regions will be critical to any meaningful reduction in the national figure.
For now, the agreement signals a renewed commitment to combining government investment with community mobilisation, with the stated goal of ensuring that more Nigerian children not only enrol in school but remain there long enough to learn.
