Academy Rejects Cosmetic Reforms, Demands Education Overhaul

Education students have warned in opposition to beauty reforms in Nigeria’s schooling sector and demanded a complete overhaul of the system.

They declared that the nation can not afford gradual modifications within the face of quickly evolving technological and financial realities.

The warning was issued by the President of the Nigerian Academy of Education (NAE), Emeritus Prof. Olugbemiro Jegede, on the opening of the NAE 2026 Annual Congress in Abuja, which was attended by the Minister of Education, members of the National and State Assemblies, heads of instructional parastatals and different stakeholders within the schooling sector.

At the identical occasion, the Federal Government designated the Academy as Nigeria’s apex nationwide establishment for digital literacy and the event of leaders for a future-ready economic system, putting the nation’s foremost physique of instructional students on the centre of efforts to reposition the schooling sector for the calls for of the digital age.

With its new nationwide mandate, the Academy is predicted to take a number one function in growing Nigeria’s nationwide digital abilities framework and shaping insurance policies for getting ready the nation’s future workforce.

Its priorities will embrace the combination of Artificial Intelligence (AI, rising applied sciences, modern pedagogies and evidence-based approaches into schooling coverage and apply.

Addressing the gathering, Jegede declared that Nigeria may not afford gradual or beauty modifications to an schooling system confronted by quickly evolving technological and financial realities.

“Nigeria stands at a volatile crossroads where obsolete educational paradigms collide with an unforgiving 21st-century reality.

“The era of comfortable, incremental reforms is over. As the newly designated intellectual engine for Nigeria’s future-proof economy, the NAE will no longer issue polite, reactive advisory notes. We are here to intentionally disrupt the archaic architectures holding our nation back,” he mentioned.

The NAE President referred to as on the Federal Government to urgently provoke a complete overview of the National Policy on Education, which he described as lengthy overdue for revision in view of latest developments and the altering calls for of society.

He additionally urged the federal government to make sure strict compliance with established legal guidelines, provisions and laws governing the composition of governing boards of instructional establishments and parastatals.

Jegede additional referred to as for a basic restructuring of instructor schooling {and professional} improvement, a complete overhaul of educational supply strategies and insurance policies guaranteeing equitable entry to digital applied sciences in lecture rooms throughout the nation, regardless of geographical location.

He confused that the transformation of Nigeria’s schooling system required a coordinated partnership among the many Federal Ministry of Education, State Ministries of Education, the Legislature and different related establishments.

He challenged NAE members to convey their experience to bear on the nation’s most urgent instructional challenges, significantly the event of digital competencies, the adoption of rising applied sciences and the creation of an schooling system able to producing a talented and globally aggressive workforce.

The 2026 Annual Congress additionally featured the investiture of 4 distinguished lecturers as Fellows of the Nigerian Academy of Education. Among these invested was Professor Josiah Olusegun Ajiboye, First Vice-President of the Academy, in recognition of his distinguished tutorial standing and contribution to schooling.

The Congress additionally paid tribute to deceased members and members of the family of Fellows, with particular recognition of the late Professor David Adamu Baikie, one of many founding members of the Academy, in addition to the late Mrs Lassa and the late Mr Omotayo Olarinoye.

The Academy’s management reaffirmed its dedication to preserving the legacies of its departed members by means of sustained dedication to tutorial excellence, instructional development and nationwide improvement.