By Chidi Anselm Odinkalu
In 1976, when General Olusegun Obasanjo assumed power following the assassination of Murtala Mohammed, Nigeria’s military government was already committed to handing over authority to a civilian administration by 1979. Although this transition was predetermined, Obasanjo sought to leave his mark through two major initiatives during his tenure as Head of State.
His first focus was on ensuring food self-sufficiency. To this end, he introduced “Operation Feed the Nation” (OFN), a campaign aimed at boosting agricultural production. Interestingly, these initials coincided with the name of Obasanjo Farms Nigeria, the agricultural enterprise he would later establish after retiring from public service-a connection that did not go unnoticed.
Obasanjo’s second priority was education. In 1976, he launched the Universal Primary Education (UPE) program, designed to expand access to basic schooling. Decades later, research confirmed that UPE had a meaningful positive effect on educational attainment among its beneficiaries. However, the program’s reach was limited, hindered by bureaucratic inefficiencies and resistance from certain traditional and religious groups who viewed it as a form of cultural imposition, particularly opposing education for girls.
The military regime’s brief duration-just over three years-was insufficient for the UPE to fully mature. Obasanjo’s hope was that subsequent civilian governments would sustain and build upon this foundation.
At the time of UPE’s inception, Nigeria was experiencing what was then perceived as an endless oil boom. In reality, this period marked the beginning of economic decline. The program eventually suffered from widespread corruption and austerity measures under President Shehu Shagari‘s administration, which followed Obasanjo’s military rule.
When the military ousted Shagari four years later, education was largely neglected amid economic crises and political instability. The Nigerian state gradually lost its commitment to investing in foundational education. By the time Obasanjo returned as a civilian president two decades later, the consequences of these long-standing failures were becoming painfully evident.
During his second presidency, Obasanjo recognized the urgency of the education crisis but delayed decisive action. It was only in his fifth year that he introduced the Universal Basic Education (UBE) program, mandating nine years of compulsory education-six years of primary and three years of junior secondary schooling. The law criminalized denying children access to this education and offered financial incentives to states to encourage participation, though many states were slow to respond.
In 2006, Obasanjo unveiled a National Policy on Education amid alarming statistics: out of 42.1 million children eligible for primary education, only 22.3 million were enrolled, leaving nearly half-about 19.8 million-out of school. This educational shortfall coincided with the rise of an Islamist insurgency that opposed Western-style education.
As with his earlier tenure, the success of these reforms depended heavily on the commitment of future leaders-a hope that proved overly optimistic. Over the next two decades, successive governments largely ignored the policy, allowing Nigeria to become a fertile ground for radicalization.
On November 13, 2017, President Muhammadu Buhari, also serving his second term, convened a Cabinet retreat focused on education. Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, an experienced educator, and Education Minister Adamu Adamu participated, but the meeting concluded without concrete resolutions.
A notable feature of the retreat was the presentation of the “Education for Change: A Ministerial Strategic Plan, 2016-2019” (MSP), launched in August 2016. This extensive document, over 120 pages long, aligned with the government’s “Change” slogan and the United Nations’ Education for All initiative. Had it been introduced today, it might be titled “Education for Renewed Hope.”
Despite its comprehensive scope, the MSP was largely inaccessible to most Nigerians, including many within the Federal Ministry of Education. Minister Adamu expressed openness to stakeholder engagement in the foreword, but such dialogue never materialized.
The MSP outlined three core objectives: expanding access, improving quality, and strengthening educational systems, covering ten key areas. A major emphasis was placed on addressing the plight of out-of-school children (OOSC) and widespread illiteracy. The plan estimated 10.5 million OOSC and a 38% illiteracy rate, equating to roughly 60 million Nigerians. It called for an emergency response in states most affected by the Boko Haram insurgency, implicitly acknowledging the link between educational neglect and national security threats.
By 2019, the MSP aimed to halve illiteracy by deploying 170,000 teachers-100,000 funded federally and 70,000 by states-and introduced a pre-primary education curriculum. However, little progress has been reported since.
The data underpinning the MSP was outdated and questionable. For example, the OOSC figure of 10.5 million was originally cited in 2006. Contradicting this, President Buhari stated at the retreat that 13.2 million children were out of school, a figure 33% higher than the MSP’s estimate.
Despite these challenges, Buhari articulated a vision for education that aimed to nurture all Nigerians to their fullest potential, fostering a united, democratic, and egalitarian nation under God.
Yet, the MSP lacked a detailed budget and proposed increasing administrative costs by elevating the National Board for Arabic and Islamic Studies to a parastatal status. This approach failed to translate Buhari’s vision into effective governance.
These shortcomings contributed to the educational sector’s decline during Buhari’s administration, coinciding with a rise in ethnic tensions and social fragmentation.
Recently, Obasanjo revealed that the number of out-of-school children in Nigeria has nearly doubled to 24 million-over 10% of the nation’s population. He warned ominously that this demographic represents a vast pool for future recruitment by extremist groups like Boko Haram.
Education must be prioritized as a matter of national security across all government levels. States require coherent policies and a committed federal partner. Yet, many Nigerians remain unaware of who currently leads the Ministry of Education or what strategies exist to confront the daunting challenge posed by Nigeria’s 24 million children without schooling.
Chidi Anselm Odinkalu is a lawyer and educator and can be contacted at chidi.odinkalu@tufts.edu.