By Ikenna Asomba
Over the last 24 hours on X (formerly Twitter), no fewer than 5,400 posts have been made by netizens critically discussing the promise made by the Presidential candidate of the main opposition African Democratic Congress (ADC), His Excellency Atiku Abubakar.
Speaking on May 27, 2026, in Abuja, while delivering his acceptance speech as the elected presidential candidate of the main opposition ADC, Atiku Abubakar, religiously pledged to implement massive reforms to basic education in Nigeria, avowing that he was prepared to grant free, compulsory primary and secondary education in Nigeria, when elected on January 16, 2027, and sworn in on May 29, 2027.
As ardent students of contemporary Nigerian history and politics, we must state emphatically and unequivocally that Waziri Adamawa loves education so much and wants to see tremendous reforms in that sector because he was almost prevented from acquiring basic education growing up in Jada, in the present-day Adamawa State. At 8 years old, it took the interventions of his uncles and jail time to compel Atiku’s father to send him (Atiku) to acquire basic primary education in Jada Primary School, where he graduated in 1960, and secondary education in Adamawa Provincial Secondary School, Yola, where he graduated in 1965.
So, between 1999 and 2007, as Chairman of the National Economic Council (NEC), a position constitutionally held by Nigerian Vice Presidents, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar helped to liberalize Nigeria’s education sector, leading to the licensing and establishment of private universities for the first time in Nigeria. This went a long way to further open access to tertiary education to millions of Nigerian youths who just left Secondary Schools. This period under review came Igbenedion University, Okada, Edo State; Babcock University, Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State; Madonna University, Okija, Anambra State; Bowen University, Iwo, Osun State; Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State; Redeemers University, Ede, Osun State; Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo State; Al-Hikmah University, Ilorin, Kwara State, and Caritas University, Amorji-Nike, Enugu State.
Other private universities given operational licenses and established this period under review were: Bingham University, Karu, Nasarawa State; Al-Qalam University, Katsina State; Bells University, Ota, Ogun State; Leads University, Ibadan, Oyo State; Crawford University, Igbesa, Ogun State; Kwararafa University, Wukari, Taraba State; Crescent University, Abeokuta, Ogun State; Novena University, Ogume, Delta State; University of Mkar, Mkar, Benue State, Renaissance University, Enugu State, among 11 others established between 2006 and 2007 when the Obasanjo-Atiku administration came to a fruitful end.
Today, Nigeria boasts of over 111 accredited private universities, complementing their public universities counterparts in terms of opening more access to tertiary education in Nigeria.
It must also be recalled that between 1999 and 2007, the menace of out-of-school children was curtailed as it fell by over 28.363%. In 1999, approximately 7 million children were out of school in Nigeria. But by 2007, that number fell to 6.5 million. All thanks to the creation of the Universal Basic Education (UBE) programme introduced to Nigeria on September 30, 1999, and the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) established via the Universal Basic Education Act of 2004.
Nineteen years after those massive reforms introduced into Nigeria’s education sector by the Obasanjo/Atiku administration of 1999-2007, successive governments had done little or nothing to the education sector that Nigeria’s out-of-school children has ballooned to over 20 million school aged kids between ages 6 to 14 years. Worse off, Nigeria, over the last 19 years, has not been able to meet the UNESCO global benchmarks for member states to follow for their national education systems.
According to UNESCO, countries should allocate at least 6% of their GDP or at least 15% to 20% of their total public expenditure to the education sector. For developing countries like Nigeria, UNESCO recommended that 26% of their total public expenditure be allocated for education. As we write, Nigeria’s 2026 budget presented by Bola Tinubu allocates a paltry 6.1% (N3.52 trillion of N68.32 trillion) to the education sector. This allocation remains far short of the 26% UNESCO benchmark recommended for developing countries.
I will stop here for time constraints. Considering the foregoing, we are hereby enjoining traducers of Atiku Abubakar to present solid, empirical evidence to support their unfounded claims that Waziri Adamawa did nothing for education in Nigeria as Vice President. We are also setting the records straight that the Zege Mule u Tiv has the experience and reform agenda to tame the large-scale insecurity challenges forcing many school-aged children out of school in Nigeria. Since the emergence of the APC regime in 2015, and to date, more than 11,000 schools have been closed down in North East and North West geo-political zones.
We submit that just like the 7th United States President, Andrew Jackson, H.E. Atiku Abubakar got all it takes to get Nigeria off the woods in 2027. We state in conclusion that not under our watch shall we allow our young ones in Nigeria to be deceived again by social media influenzas peddling malicious falsehoods to rubbish the political credentials of Nigeria’s Modern Father of Democracy, His Excellency Atiku Abubakar.
Ikenna Asomba is a political scientist and journalist. He writes from the State of Illinois, United States.
