Twenty Million Left Behind: How Nigeria’s Broken Education Policies Threaten a Nation, a Continent, and the World

This policy brief examines why decades of education reform in Nigeria have failed to produce transformative results, despite significant investment and planning. Drawing on lessons from African peer nations including Tunisia, Seychelles, Kenya, and Liberia, it proposes a blended strategy that combines stronger state capacity with strategic engagement of nonstate actors. Practical recommendations, from sustainable financing to public-private collaboration, offer a pathway to expanding quality access and improving learning outcomes.

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Key Takeaways

• In Nigeria, state-led reforms alone have proven insufficient to improving education: Decades of centralized education policy have failed to deliver lasting, systemic transformation due to poor implementation, political interference, and funding instability.
• Nonstate actors play a critical role in enhancing education outcomes. Parents, NGOs, civil society, and low-cost private schools step in to fill governance gaps, improving access, accountability, and innovation, often without formal government support.
• Peer African countries offer replicable models: Tunisia and Seychelles demonstrate the value of sustained investment and coherent public policy, while Kenya, Ghana, Uganda, and Liberia highlight how private-sector engagement can complement public education. Nigeria needs a blended approach: A pragmatic strategy combining political will, long-term public investment, and well-regulated public-private partnerships offers a realistic path to transformation of the education system.
• Six actionable include institutionalizing long-term planning, enabling context-sensitive policy execution, supporting low-cost private schools, offering targeted scholarships, adopting proven teaching models, and expanding public-private collaboration.

Twenty Million Left Behind: How Nigeria’s Broken Education Policies Threaten a Nation, a Continent, and the World by Hoover Institution

Cite This Essay:

Gift Iyioku, “Twenty Million Left Behind: How Nigeria’s Broken Education Policies Threaten a Nation, a Continent, and the World,” Hoover Institution, Hoover History Lab, July 2025.