When Mustapha Aminu started Major 6 at Daura Mannequin Major College in Katsina State, the prospect of attending college appeared virtually inconceivable. His household had restricted sources, and the problem of paying college charges and offering studying supplies was a battle. Then got here a turning level: Mustapha was chosen as one among ten pupils in his college to learn from the Oando Basis scholarship programme, a dedication that promised help via to college if he continued to excel.
For Mustapha, the scholarship provided greater than monetary help. It supplied stability, motivation, and the arrogance to pursue his goals. In the present day, at 25, he’s a Civil Engineering graduate of Bayero College Kano, a younger man whose academic journey was remodeled via sustained help. Mustapha’s story is only one of many. Up to now, Oando Basis has awarded 1,164 scholarships, supporting proficient younger Nigerians to additional their training, pursue their goals, and construct higher lives for themselves and their communities.
Schooling journeys like Mustapha’s
Whereas Mustapha’s journey is inspiring, it additionally displays a broader actuality of training in Nigeria. Throughout the nation, tens of millions of youngsters and younger folks nonetheless face obstacles to high quality studying — from insufficient infrastructure and trainer shortages to outdated educating strategies and restricted entry to digital instruments. Schooling right now is not only a social service; it’s a nationwide competitiveness challenge, a workforce crucial, and a crucial driver of long-term financial resilience.
Based on the UNESCO World Schooling Monitoring Report 2024, an estimated 251 million youngsters and youth worldwide stay out-of-school. Regional disparities stay stark: 33% of school-aged youngsters and youth in low-income nations are out of faculty, in comparison with solely 3% in high-income nations. Greater than half of the world’s out-of-school youngsters and adolescents reside in sub-Saharan Africa.
In Nigeria, the place almost half of the inhabitants is beneath 18, roughly 18.3 million youngsters are out of faculty—a obvious indicator of the systemic obstacles that hinder entry to training in areas with huge human potential. Even amongst those that enrolled, studying outcomes stay inconsistent, with vital gaps in literacy, numeracy, and digital abilities. These gaps have vital penalties. With out robust foundational abilities, younger folks battle to transition to increased training or gainful employment. As the worldwide financial system turns into more and more knowledge- and innovation-driven, bridging this studying divide is crucial to Nigeria’s future.
Oando Basis’s strategy to training
As Nigeria marks Worldwide Day of Schooling 2026, this yr’s theme — “The ability of youth in co‑creating training” — highlights the crucial position younger folks play not solely as learners however as energetic companions shaping training methods, insurance policies, and practices. The message is evident: younger Nigerians should be empowered to assist design and remodel studying environments which might be extra inclusive, related, and aware of their aspirations.
Recognising this, Oando Basis has positioned younger learners on the centre of its training interventions. Established in 2011, the Basis was created with a transparent mandate: to help Nigeria’s socio-economic improvement via training. Over time, it has targeted its efforts on strengthening primary training methods, enhancing studying outcomes, and equipping younger Nigerians with the talents required to take part meaningfully in a contemporary financial system. Its programmes have reached 1000’s of beneficiaries throughout a number of states, notably in underserved and hard-to-reach communities, making certain that younger individuals are empowered to contribute to their very own studying journeys and communities.
The Basis’s present LEARNOVATE technique focuses on prioritizing innovation and investments in foundational studying to create higher life alternatives for kids and youth via equitable, high quality, and climate-sensitive training. The technique is concentrated on strengthening foundational literacy and numeracy, STEAM (Science, Expertise, Engineering, Arts, and Arithmetic) training, constructing inexperienced abilities, and enhancing total studying outcomes, whereas encouraging younger folks to actively co-create their academic experiences.
Translating technique into affect
By way of focused interventions beneath the LEARNOVATE technique, Oando Basis has applied a number of flagship programmes that strengthen foundational studying and empower younger folks with future-ready abilities. Amongst them are:
LEARNOVATE-FLIP (Foundational Studying Enchancment Programme): Recognising the pressing want to enhance foundational literacy and numeracy, Oando Basis launched LEARNOVATE-FLIP throughout a number of states. The initiative integrates evidence-based approaches — together with Early Grade Studying (EGR) for Major 1–3 pupils and Instructing on the Proper Stage (TaRL) for Major 4–6 pupils, to advertise inclusive and equitable high quality training. By the 2024/2025 educational yr, the pilot had reached 80 public major colleges throughout Adamawa, Ebonyi, Plateau, and Sokoto States. Key outcomes embrace the enrolment of 5,162 out-of-school youngsters, specialised educational coaching for 416 lecturers and headteachers, and the distribution of 40,862 educating and studying supplies. This programme has recorded vital studying positive aspects, with literacy proficiency enhancing by over 40% and numeracy by 35%.
Inexperienced Youth Upskilling Programme (GYUP): In 2025, the Basis launched GYUP to equip the primary cohort of 25 younger Nigerians with sensible, future-ready abilities aligned with the rising inexperienced financial system. The programme was designed to bridge the hole between training and employability by offering focused technical coaching, mentorship, and publicity to rising sectors equivalent to renewable vitality, local weather and sustainable administration. As a key final result, 10 climate-smart seed grants shall be awarded to the best-performing trainees, offering each funding and toolkits to kick-start their enterprises in renewable vitality, local weather options, and sustainable waste administration. By fostering inexperienced entrepreneurship and job creation, GYUP empowers younger folks whereas advancing nationwide sustainability targets and contributes to Nigeria’s environmental and financial resilience.
Wanting forward
As Nigeria confronts the realities of a quickly evolving world financial system, deliberate funding in training and human capital is not non-obligatory — it’s foundational to sustainable development, competitiveness, and social stability. The experiences of beneficiaries like Mustapha, alongside the measurable outcomes of Oando Basis’s interventions, underscore a easy reality: when training methods are strengthened, youth are empowered, and studying is aligned with future workforce wants, the returns lengthen far past particular person success tales to nationwide improvement.
On this Worldwide Day of Schooling 2026, Oando Basis’s work demonstrates what is feasible when innovation, evidence-based follow, and youth-centred design converge. By way of continued collaboration with authorities, communities, improvement companions, and the personal sector, the Basis stays dedicated to scaling affect, influencing coverage, and contributing to an training system that equips Nigeria’s younger inhabitants not simply to take part sooner or later, however to actively form it.
