Nigerian education minister backs Tinubu re-election bid on record of achievements

Nigeria’s Education Minister, Tunji Alausa, has called for President Bola Tinubu to win a second term in January 2027, arguing that the administration’s performance across the economy and public services justifies re-election. Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today, Alausa said Tinubu had delivered “tangible benefits” and would win on his achievements. He also accused opposition parties of having no clear agenda and said they could not offer Nigerians a credible alternative.

Alausa recently became director of education-sector mobilisation for the governing All Progressives Congress presidential campaign council. The minister cited foreign reserves of more than $55bn, a stabilised exchange rate, economic growth of almost 4.43% quarter on quarter and infrastructure improvements. He also said states had been able to pay salaries.

Premium Times reported that Alausa described the administration’s transformation of Nigeria as unprecedented. On education, Alausa said the government’s Renewed Hope agenda had delivered fully in the sector. He pointed to the student-loan programme, an initiative known as Inspired Live, and a federal technical and vocational education and training programme.

He said more than N500bn had been injected into the economy through consolidated academic allowances and that the Nigerian Education Loan Fund had provided about N370bn, including roughly N192bn in student stipends. Alausa also said the government had honoured its relationship with the Academic Staff Union of Universities and that no strike by the union had taken place since Tinubu assumed office. He said the administration’s promise that four-year university courses should not extend beyond four years was being fulfilled.

The minister’s claims contrast with the difficulties described in the reports. Premium Times said many Nigerians continued to face economic hardship, while residents had staged protests. It also noted that Tinubu himself had acknowledged severe economic strain and the difficult side effects of his reforms in an Independence Day address.

Alausa rejected estimates from UNICEF and other sources that Nigeria has between 15 million and 17.5 million out-of-school children. He said the figure was closer to eight million and attributed the disagreement to the absence of updated census data. He said 1.2 million children had been taken off the streets through several interventions and that a National Bureau of Statistics household survey beginning in January 2026 would establish a new count.

School security remains a major issue. Reports cited the abduction of 25 girls in Kebbi State and 265 students and staff at a Catholic school in Niger State in November 2025. The incidents led to school closures in several states, while dozens of students and teachers abducted in Borno remained in captivity, according to Premium Times.

Alausa’s comments were made as the administration campaigns on its economic and education record, while the reports also document continuing insecurity, disrupted school calendars and disagreement over the scale of Nigeria’s education crisis.