Nigeria is set to strengthen education planning and governance with the launch of a nationwide digital platform that will create a unified database of schools, learners, teachers and public education investments across the country.
The Digital National Education Management Information System (DNEMIS) will be officially unveiled on Wednesday alongside the launch of the Public DNEMIS Portal and the inauguration of DNEMIS State Implementation Teams.
The initiative is expected to address longstanding challenges caused by fragmented education data, which have for years limited effective planning, budgeting, policymaking and service delivery across the education sector.
Speaking during a pre-launch media briefing in Abuja on Monday, the National Project Coordinator of the Special Programmes Operations and Implementation Unit in the Office of the Minister of Education, Mr Adebayo Onigbanjo, said Nigeria's education system has relied for years on disconnected data systems, inconsistent reporting structures and limited access to reliable information.
According to him, these weaknesses have constrained effective planning, reduced accountability and limited the sector's ability to respond to emerging realities.
To address the challenge, the Ministry of Education developed the Nigeria Education Data Infrastructure (NEDI), a national framework established to coordinate, standardise and strengthen education data management across every level of education.
Onigbanjo described DNEMIS as the flagship component of NEDI and a major milestone in Nigeria's transition to a modern, integrated and digitally enabled education management system.
He said the platform would provide timely, reliable and accessible data to support planning, budgeting, policymaking, monitoring and service delivery. It will also establish a unified national database capturing every learner, teacher, school and public investment in education.
"The progress recorded through NEDI and the implementation of DNEMIS reflects the Ministry's commitment to ensuring that reforms are not only announced, but effectively coordinated, implemented and measured," he said.
He added that education reforms must increasingly be driven by evidence rather than estimates, noting that data is becoming the engine of transformation in Nigeria's education sector.
Also speaking, the Special Assistant to the Minister of Education on Digital Communications and E-Learning, Miss Mojoyin Adebajo, said DNEMIS was developed on the globally recognised District Health Information Software 2 (DHIS2) platform to modernise education administration and strengthen evidence-based decision-making.
She explained that the platform would digitise the Annual School Census, replacing the largely manual process of collecting education data with an integrated digital system.
According to Adebajo, the platform will generate up-to-date information on schools, learners, teachers and education infrastructure, enabling more effective planning, improved budgeting, better resource allocation and stronger monitoring of education programmes nationwide.
She added that the Public DNEMIS Portal would, for the first time, make selected official education data accessible to researchers, journalists, development partners, civil society organisations, policymakers and members of the public.
According to her, the portal represents an important step towards expanding public access to information and encouraging broader participation in conversations that will shape the future of education in Nigeria.
Officials also acknowledged the technical support provided by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the University of Oslo in developing the initiative.
Nigeria's education sector has long grappled with fragmented data systems, with information on schools, teachers, enrolment and infrastructure often collected through manual processes and multiple reporting channels. These inconsistencies have complicated planning, budgeting, teacher deployment, infrastructure development and the monitoring of education outcomes, while limiting the government's ability to make timely, evidence-based decisions.
Education experts have repeatedly called for an integrated national education database to improve transparency, accountability and coordination across federal and state institutions.
As a core component of the Nigeria Education Data Infrastructure, DNEMIS is expected to bridge these gaps by digitising data collection, including the Annual School Census, while providing real-time information to support reforms under the Nigeria Education Sector Renewal Initiative led by the Minister of Education, Dr Maruf Tunji Alausa.
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