LAGOS, NIGERIA – One year after the launch of Nigeria’s National Policy on Non-State Schools (NPNSN), stakeholders have raised concerns over the slow pace of implementation across the country, revealing that no state has fully domesticated the policy despite its potential to strengthen collaboration between government and non-state education providers.
The concerns were raised on Tuesday during the NPNSN One Year On: Accountability Dialogue and Press Conference in Lagos State, where the SEED Care & Support Foundation, in collaboration with the Coalition of Non-State School Associations, launched the NPNSN Tracker, Nigeria’s first evidence-based assessment of the implementation of the National Policy on Non-State Schools.
The event coincided with the Executive Strategy Retreat of the Committee of States’ Commissioners of Education in Nigeria (COSCEN), convened under the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, providing an opportunity for stakeholders to call on state governments to accelerate policy domestication and implementation.
Tracker Reveals Slow Progress
According to the assessment, none of Nigeria’s 36 states has fully domesticated the policy one year after its launch.
However, six states – Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Kano, Kaduna and Jigawa– have advanced to the stage of reviewing draft domestication frameworks, with legislative approval remaining the final step before full implementation.
Two states, Osun and Ekiti, are currently developing draft domestication instruments, while Rivers State has an existing framework that could support domestication, although no formal implementation process has begun.
The report also found that 27 states showed no publicly available evidence of domestication activities at the time of the assessment. At the same time, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) follows a separate administrative implementation pathway rather than legislative domestication.
Call for Stronger Political Commitment
Executive Director of SEED Care & Support Foundation, Olanrewaju Oniyitan, said the success of the policy should no longer be measured by its existence but by its impact on schools, teachers and learners.
“The National Policy on Non-State Schools has moved us from asking whether non-state schools matter to asking how we make the policy work. One year after its launch, success can no longer be measured by the existence of the policy alone. Still, by the extent to which it improves opportunities for schools, teachers and children across every state in Nigeria,” she said.
Executive Director of SEED Care & Support Foundation, Olanrewaju Oniyitan
She noted that while the policy represents a landmark achievement for Nigeria’s education sector, sustained government ownership, political commitment and technical support would be required to ensure meaningful implementation.
Millions of Learners Could Be Affected
Stakeholders warned that failure to domesticate the policy could deny millions of learners in non-state schools the intended benefits of the reforms.
According to the coalition, delayed implementation could weaken collaboration between governments and non-state education providers, limit improvements in education delivery, and slow progress toward achieving national education goals.
Speaking at the press conference, the National President of the Association of Formidable Educational Development, AFED, Orji Kalu Emmanuel, appreciated the Federal Government for prioritising education and pleaded with the Minister of Education, Dr Maruf Tunji Alausa, to implement this policy, which aims to harmonise government policy on education for both state and non-state schools.
Priority Actions
The coalition called on the Federal Government to strengthen implementation support by providing technical guidance to states, establishing a national monitoring and learning framework, and sustaining stakeholder engagement across all levels of government.
State governments were also urged to accelerate domestication of the policy, strengthen partnerships with non-state schools, and improve education data systems to enhance planning, accountability and quality assurance.
The President General, Grand Union of Private Schools Association (GUPSA), Ogun State, Ustaadh Abdulazeez Ajibola, thanked the Ogun State commissioner for education, who had created the Department of Private Schools in the state, but still pleaded for the implementation of this policy.
“What we are calling for, from the national to the state, is the implementation of this policy. The Ogun State commissioner had created the Department of Private Schools in the state, but the policy has still not been implemented”, he said.
“We have had workshops, seminars on this policy and it has now been drafted out; we plead for the minister to implement this and domesticate it back to the states,” Abdulazeez further added.
Read Also: SEED appoints Samuel Badekale as ambassador for affordable non-State education.
Representatives of non-state school associations from Lagos, Ogun and Oyo states, alongside the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) Commission who joined virtually, shared experiences on implementation efforts and highlighted the need for greater collaboration in advancing education reforms.
As part of activities marking the policy’s first anniversary, stakeholders announced plans for an online global dialogue on July 31, ahead of the African Affordable Non-State Education Summit scheduled for November 2026.
The coalition reaffirmed that the NPNSN Tracker will serve as an annual accountability mechanism to monitor implementation progress, encourage transparency and support continuous policy improvement, stressing that the ultimate goal remains improved access, quality, equity and learning outcomes for every Nigerian child, regardless of the type of school they attend.
The President of the Association of Formidable Educational Development (AFED), Lagos State, James Lartey-Lartey, the President, League of Muslim Schools Proprietors, and the National Treasurer, Association of Model Islamic Schools, Nigeria (AMIS), and a host of other stakeholders were present at the press conference.
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