Edino Chubiyo Cornelius 
ABUJA, Nigeria – The National Learning Assessment will become a permanent nationwide exercise conducted every three years as the Federal Government intensifies efforts to tackle learning poverty and improve education quality across Nigeria, Education Minister Dr Tunji Alausa has announced.
Alausa made the announcement on Friday after monitoring the 2026 National Learning Assessment in selected public and private schools in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), saying the new policy will provide consistent, evidence-based data to guide education reforms.
The minister visited Government Secondary School, Kuje, Junior Secondary School, Kuje Central, and Topaz Model School, Kuje to assess the ongoing exercise.
He says the assessment covers Primary Three, Primary Five, Junior Secondary School Two (JSS2) and Senior Secondary School Two (SSS2) pupils and students, evaluating literacy, numeracy and cognitive skills to measure learning outcomes across the education system.
According to Alausa, the Federal Government has directed the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) to begin providing dedicated funding for future assessments from 2029, making the National Learning Assessment a regular triennial programme.
He says learning assessments remain one of the most reliable tools for evaluating education quality, identifying gaps and designing interventions that improve classroom performance.
The minister notes that the previous assessment was conducted in 2023 by UBEC, while the earlier nationwide exercise took place in 2019 under the Federal Ministry of Education.
He explains that institutionalising the assessment will ensure continuity and enable policymakers to compare learning outcomes over time.
Alausa says the reform responds directly to Nigeria’s learning poverty challenge, where millions of children still struggle to read and understand age-appropriate texts by the age of 10.
Although earlier estimates placed learning poverty at more than 42 million children, he says updated findings from the ongoing assessment will provide more accurate data to shape future education policies.
“The National Learning Assessment will now become a routine exercise every three years to ensure we consistently measure learning outcomes and strengthen evidence-based policy decisions.”
The minister also reveals that the Federal Government has merged previously separate assessment frameworks into a unified national system to improve consistency, comparability and long-term monitoring.
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Oluwatobi Adu 
Hussaini Ibrahim 
