The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, has challenged education correspondents to deploy available government data to hold public officials accountable for learning outcomes, speaking at the Education Correspondents Association of Nigeria 2026 Annual Education Summit in Abuja on Wednesday.

The summit, themed "Three Years of the Tinubu Administration: Assessing Reforms, Progress, and Challenges in Nigeria's Education Sector," brought together education officials, journalists and agency heads to review progress and identify persistent gaps in the sector.

Alausa directed journalists to the Nigeria Education Data Infrastructure Management System, an official platform he said now provides school level data on teacher to classroom ratios, student enrolment figures, and available facilities.

"Like President Bola Ahmed Tinubu would say, if you don't use data, it is like you are flying blind. Without data, you cannot do anything. We want you journalists to go to the website and use those data to challenge governors and local government chairmen. This is using data for the public good, and you are the mouthpiece of the nation," he said.

On tertiary education, Alausa noted that agreements with the Academic Staff Union of Universities and other unions had sustained uninterrupted academic calendars for three consecutive years. He also reported that 24 Nigerian universities now feature among the world's top 1,000 institutions, up from 21 in previous years, with 17 of those being public universities.

The Minister disclosed that over one million out of school children had been enrolled in schools within the past 24 months, though he acknowledged that approximately 20 million children drop off between primary and junior secondary school. He attributed part of the access problem to a ratio of roughly one junior secondary school to every eight primary schools nationwide.

The Minister of State for Education, Prof Suwaiba Ahmed, urged journalists to report reforms responsibly, while Universal Basic Education Commission Executive Secretary Aisha Garba reaffirmed the commission's commitment to ensuring no child was excluded from quality basic education regardless of background or location.

The ECAN Chairman, Chuks Ukwauta, said the summit was designed to encourage honest engagement between policymakers, practitioners and the media rather than serve as a platform for endorsing government policy.

The event concluded with award presentations to the Minister of Education and heads of education agencies, followed by technical sessions featuring presentations from the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board and the National Universities Commission (JAMB & NUC).