Nigeria's Federal Ministry of Education has entered a formal partnership with the National Bureau of Statistics to overhaul how education data is collected, analysed, and used to track out of school children across the country.

Education Minister Dr Tunji Alausa disclosed the development following a meeting with NBS Statistician General and Chief Executive Officer Prince Adeyemi Adeniran, with discussions centring on the deployment of the Nigeria Education Data Infrastructure and its Digital National Education Management Information System platform, known as D NEMIS.

Alausa revealed that D NEMIS has replaced the largely manual Annual School Census process with a digitised system that captures school population figures, teacher numbers, classrooms, laboratories, and water, sanitation and hygiene facilities across states and wards nationwide.

"For the first time, the Federal Ministry of Education now has robust education data to support evidence based decision making," the minister stated.

Both agencies also examined strategies for generating more reliable figures on out of school children, a challenge that has long persisted in Nigeria's education sector. One approach under consideration is a nationwide household survey incorporating data mapping, modelled on a method previously deployed in Kaduna State to verify out of school children figures.

Alausa disclosed that the survey would cover all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, to establish an accurate national picture of the out of school population.

The minister noted that the collaboration supports President Bola Ahmed Tinubu's One Government Approach, which promotes cooperation among government institutions to strengthen service delivery and national planning.

To accelerate data processing, the NBS has deployed eight statisticians to work alongside the Ministry's NEDI team in aggregating, disaggregating, and analysing education data for policy implementation and programme monitoring.

Citing the President's position on governance, Alausa quoted Tinubu directly: "Without data, you're flying blind."

He added that the initiative reflects the Federal Government's commitment to evidence based policymaking as a tool for improving education outcomes and long term sectoral planning.