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The Federal Government unveiled two major literacy and empowerment programmes targeted at reducing Nigeria’s out-of-school population and addressing gender inequality in education.
The interventions, launched on Tuesday in Abuja, seek to return over 500,000 learners to classrooms while also educating and economically empowering one million underserved girls across the country.
Speaking at the National Commission for Mass Literacy, Adult and Non-Formal Education (NMEC) headquarters, John Onimisi, the Acting Executive Secretary said the commission had begun training enumerators on automated data tools to capture young people who dropped out of school or never had the opportunity to continue their education.
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He explained that the programme, which will be implemented in phases across the 774 local government areas, is designed to integrate learners into non-formal education centres and provide them with both literacy and vocational training.
“Our target is to ensure that these learners are enrolled into non-formal learning centres and complete the programme successfully. Some may also transition into vocational programmes after completion,” Onimisi said.
According to him, 376 enumerators from the 36 states and the FCT have already been trained, while 250 facilitators will drive the Abuja pilot. He added that progress will be tracked in real time through a monitoring dashboard linked to the National Identity Management System.
In a related development, Aisha Garba, the Executive Secretary of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), announced the migration of the LUMINAH 2030 Initiative from the Federal Ministry of Education to UBEC to ensure sustainability and stronger institutional backing.
Represented by Razaq Akinyemi, UBEC’s Deputy Executive Secretary (Technical), Garba explained that the initiative, launched in 2025 with World Bank support aims to educate and empower one million underserved Nigerian girls by 2030.
“Lumina illuminates the path to education and empowerment. It integrates schooling, skills training, caregiver support, and community engagement to address the root causes that have kept our girls out of school,” she said.
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The programme, she added, aligns with UBEC’s 10-year roadmap and will provide vocational skills, financial support for caregivers, and safe learning centres for girls in 12 states including Yobe, Taraba, Kano, Jigawa, Ebonyi, Anambra, Bayelsa, and Akwa Ibom.
According to UNICEF, Nigeria currently has the highest number of out-of-school children in the world, with over 18 million children dropping out of primary and secondary school, particularly in the North-East and North-West regions.
