The Federal Government has unveiled the Nigerian Education Data Infrastructure (NEDI), a technology-driven platform aimed at transforming education planning, strengthening learner tracking, reducing the number of out-of-school children, and improving evidence-based decision-making in the country’s education sector.
Speaking at the National Stakeholders’ Workshop on NEDI in Abuja, the Minister of Education, Maruf Tunji Alausa, described the initiative as a landmark reform that would provide Nigeria with a unified and credible national education data system.
According to the minister, the platform will integrate data from basic, secondary, technical, vocational and tertiary institutions, as well as agencies such as the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, West African Examinations Council, National Examinations Council and NELFUND into a cloud-based, Artificial Intelligence-enabled system that will serve as a single source of truth for the education sector.
Alausa explained that the platform’s National Learner Identity Number, which is linked to the National Identity Number, would enable authorities to track learners from enrolment to employment while helping to curb identity fraud, examination malpractice and the activities of so-called “miracle centres.”
He disclosed that more than 32 million learners and over 220,000 schools across 21 states had already been captured on the platform.
The minister reaffirmed the Federal Government’s commitment to leveraging technology and credible data systems to build a transparent, inclusive and globally competitive education sector.
