Minister of Education, Dr. Maruf Tunji Alausa
By Felix Khanoba
The Federal Government says it has registered 32 million students on its Digital National Education Information Management System (DNEMIS), which will be officially launched on Wednesday, July 1, 2026.
Ahead of the unveiling, the National Project Coordinator of the Special Programmes Operations and Implementation Unit in the Office of the Minister of Education, Mr. Adebayo Onigbanjo, disclosed that DNEMIS serves as the core of the Nigeria Education Data Infrastructure (NEDI).
He said the initiative is under the Nigeria Education Sector Renewal Initiative (NESRI), aimed at providing accurate, timely and integrated education data to improve planning, budgeting, policymaking and service delivery.
“For many years, education planning relied on fragmented systems, inconsistent reporting structures and limited access to reliable data. DNEMIS changes that by ensuring that every learner, every school, every teacher and every investment in education is captured within a system that supports evidence-based decision-making,” Onigbanjo said.
Describing education data as a strategic national resource, he noted that the digital platform would improve governance, accountability and transparency across the education system.
Speaking on how the initiative could help reduce the country’s out-of-school children crisis, Onigbanjo said the availability of credible education data would enable government to identify learning gaps, monitor pupils’ academic progression and channel resources to areas with the greatest need.
“If you don’t measure, you can’t get a good sense of what the data is. Today, we already have 32 million students on the platform, and that gives us an indication of where learners are.
“We are also understanding their journey from when they start school and when they drop out. That gives us insight into their challenges and where investments need to go. Every school becomes visible, every student gets counted, every teacher is known, and every government expenditure in education becomes trackable. To a greater extent, this will stop wastage,” he stated.
According to him, the long-term goal is to monitor every learner’s educational journey from enrolment through graduation, enabling authorities to make informed decisions that improve learning outcomes nationwide.
“We are trying to achieve the ability to have visibility of all learners from the day they begin formal education until they leave the system. This provides government with the information needed to plan effectively and improve learning outcomes,” he added.
On concerns about data security and privacy, Onigbanjo assured that the platform was built on globally recognised digital architecture with safeguards designed to protect users’ personal information.
He said confidential data would remain protected through masking technology, while secure digital identity profiles would allow authorised users to access relevant information without exposing sensitive personal details.
Also speaking, National Coordinator of the Nigeria Education Data Infrastructure (NEDI), Abubakar Isah, said the platform fully complies with Nigeria’s data protection regulations and international standards for information security.
“We recognise the importance of data protection. We are complying with the country’s data protection rules and taking every necessary precaution to ensure that this data is secure,” Isah said.
He added that while schools and state governments would manage access to their own records, selected non-sensitive information would also be available to communities, alumni associations and development partners to encourage collaboration in improving education.
“The idea is to allow communities to know what their schools need so they can contribute to improving them, while also holding government accountable,” he noted.
Earlier, the Special Adviser to the Minister of Education on Digital Communications and E-Learning, Miss Mojoyin Adebajo, described DNEMIS as a significant milestone in Nigeria’s drive toward digital transformation in education.
She said the platform, developed using the globally recognised DHIS2 infrastructure, would digitise the Annual School Census while providing credible nationwide data on schools, teachers, learners and education infrastructure.
Adebajo further disclosed that the official launch would include the unveiling of the Public DNEMIS Portal, an interactive platform that will grant researchers, journalists, civil society organisations, development partners and members of the public access to selected official education statistics for the first time.
She said the initiative underscores the Federal Ministry of Education’s commitment to promoting transparency, strengthening evidence-based planning and harnessing technology to improve educational outcomes across the country.
The ministry also acknowledged the technical support provided by UNICEF and the University of Oslo in developing the platform and invited stakeholders to participate in Wednesday’s official launch and the inauguration of DNEMIS State Implementation Teams.
