Chidoka Endorses Alausa’s Education Reforms, Calls Data Initiative a National Priority

Former Minister of Aviation and ex-Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps, Osita Chidoka, has thrown his weight behind the sweeping education reforms being championed by Tunji Alausa, describing the National Education Data Infrastructure initiative as one of the most significant national projects Nigeria has embarked upon in recent years.

Speaking after Thursday’s National Stakeholders Meeting on the National Education Data Infrastructure, Chidoka argued that while governments can postpone roads, airports, and buildings and still complete them later, delays in education reform often leave irreversible damage on the lives of children.

“Roads can wait. Buildings can wait. Airports can wait. Education cannot,” Chidoka declared.

According to him, physical infrastructure delayed today can still be delivered tomorrow, but children denied access to quality education may never recover the lost opportunity.

“The road we fail to build today can still be built tomorrow. The airport that was delayed this year may still serve future generations. But the child pushed out of school by policy failure is often lost forever,” he said.

Chidoka warned that Nigeria’s education crisis continues to deepen every year, especially for the country’s estimated 15 million out-of-school children.

“Every year, one of Nigeria’s roughly 15 million out-of-school children loses a narrow window that may never reopen. When reforms eventually come, they benefit a different cohort, not the child already left behind,” he stated.

 Why the Education Data Initiative Matters

The former minister said the stakeholders’ meeting left a lasting impression on him because of the scale and sophistication of the data now being deployed to shape education policy in Nigeria.

“That is why yesterday’s National Stakeholders Meeting on the National Education Data Infrastructure, led by the Honourable Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, struck me as profoundly consequential,” he said.

“In many ways, it may become one of the most important national infrastructure projects Nigeria has undertaken in recent years.”

At the centre of the initiative is the Nigeria Education Management Information System, developed by Ernst & Young, which Chidoka described as “a national treasure.”

“The Nigeria Education Management Information System, designed by Ernst & Young, the company that developed a similar system in India, is a national treasure, robust yet simple,” he wrote.

According to Chidoka, the platform already aggregates extensive data from across Nigeria, including school enrolment figures, infrastructure conditions, and teacher-to-student ratios.

“Data from all states were available on the portal, from school enrollment to the state of physical infrastructure to the student-teacher ratio. A mind-boggling quantum of data, made easy to understand, compare, and drive policy,” he explained.

Chidoka said two major insights from the presentation particularly caught his attention.

The first was the alarming gap between primary school enrolment and junior secondary school enrolment.

“The drop is so wide that I found myself asking the obvious question, what happened to those children?” he said.

“Where did they go between Primary Six and JSS One? A generation appears to thin out between those two rungs, and we owe ourselves an honest answer.”

He also highlighted the pressure surrounding university admissions through the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board system.

“The second was the composition of JAMB candidates, fresh entrants versus repeat candidates. The ratio revealed an admission bottleneck I had not fully grasped,” Chidoka stated.

“Too many qualified young Nigerians are queuing behind the same narrow gate, year after year.”

 Data-Driven Governance

The former aviation minister admitted that the evidence presented during the meeting reshaped his understanding of some of Alausa’s policy decisions.

“Suddenly, the Minister’s policy direction on easing admission bottlenecks, which I had instinctively questioned, began to make sense to me,” he said.

“That is the power of credible, real-time data. It does not merely inform policy, it humbles assumptions.”

Chidoka also revealed that the Nigeria Research and Education Network, where he currently contributes, has committed to expanding digital connectivity to tertiary institutions this year and extending similar infrastructure to secondary schools by 2027.

“We have committed to delivering connectivity and digital services to tertiary institutions this year, and to extending similar infrastructure to secondary schools in 2027,” he said.

A Quiet Transformation in Education

Although the reforms may not yet dominate national headlines, Chidoka believes a deeper transformation is quietly unfolding within Nigeria’s education sector.

“What is happening in education may not yet dominate the headlines, but something important is taking shape quietly beneath the surface,” he stated.

“Evidence is beginning to replace assertion. Data is starting to shape decisions.”

He concluded by challenging other sectors of government to embrace evidence-based governance and policy making. “The question on my mind, if evidence can transform education governance, when will the rest of the government follow?”