The 2023 Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has criticised the federal government for allocating billions of naira to post-election adjudication while failing to adequately invest in Nigeria’s education sector.

Speaking at a public lecture at Coal City University in Enugu State yesterday, Obi described the proposed N135.22 billion budget for electoral adjudication and post-election provisions as a misplaced priority. He argued that such funds could be redirected towards supporting graduates and strengthening the education system, which he said remains underfunded despite being critical to national development.

Obi maintained that Nigeria’s poor investment in education is a key driver of widespread poverty, low human capital development, and the country’s high number of out-of-school children. He further lamented that education funding in Nigeria has consistently fallen below the benchmark recommended by UNESCO, including the proposed 2026 federal education budget of N3.52 trillion which represents only about 6.1 per cent of the total budget.

Babcock University, Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State, will tomorrow host a two-day global summit on artificial intelligence (AI) and innovation commercialisation. The event, tagged: AI & Babcock Innovation Venture (BIV) Commercialisation Summit 2026, is scheduled for April 21 to 22 at the institution’s BUTH 600-seater auditorium.

The summit is expected to bring together technology leaders, innovators and policymakers from across the world to explore practical pathways for building, funding and scaling AI-driven enterprises in Africa. Vice-Chancellor and Chief Host, Afolarin Olutunde Ojewole, said the initiative reflects the university’s commitment to developing a strong innovation ecosystem through the Babcock Innovation Venture (BIV).

He stressed the need to align technological advancement with human values. “Before we can become better builders or entrepreneurs, we must first become better humans. Efficiency without transformation is just speed in the wrong direction,” he said.

South Sudan’s first Disability-Inclusive Resource Centre (DIRC), officially launched at the main campus of the University of Juba (UOJ), can serve as a model for African universities in translating national inclusive education policies into actionable, on-the-ground initiatives in resource-limited contexts.

It aims to provide disabled students with equal access to university education and higher learning opportunities to accelerate sustainable development.

Speaking to University World News, South Sudanese researcher James Bilal said: “The establishment of the Disability-Inclusive Resource Centre offers an important example for universities across Africa seeking to operationalise inclusive education commitment

A far-reaching intervention spearheaded by UNESCO is set to transform adolescent health and education outcomes across four Nigerian states, with thousands of young people expected to benefit directly from the programme.

Unveiled in Abuja, the initiative targets critical gaps affecting adolescents, including limited access to accurate health information, inadequate life skills education, and persistent barriers to inclusive learning—particularly among vulnerable and underserved populations.

At the core of the programme is a comprehensive framework that integrates health education with improved learning systems. UNESCO will provide technical leadership, policy support, and capacity-building for teachers and institutions, ensuring that schools become safe, inclusive spaces where adolescents can thrive both academically and socially.

Nigeria’s higher education system is undergoing a major digital transformation through the nationwide deployment of the Blackboard Learning Management System (LMS) across public tertiary institutions. The Vice President, Middle East and Africa at Anthology Blackboard, Nicolas Albouze, in this interview with IYABO LAWAL, discusses the progress of the initiative, insights from recent engagements with key stakeholders, and the long-term vision for hybrid learning in Nigeria.

Can you share with us the progress Blackboard initiative has made in Nigeria’s higher education system over the past two years, and how has it impacted teaching and learning? In higher education, meaningful transformation usually takes time, so two years is actually a relatively short period. That said, the progress we’ve seen in Nigeria has been exceptional.

Since the nationwide rollout began, all institutions, supported by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) are now live on the Blackboard platform. We’ve also seen a dramatic increase in course creation and digital content development, particularly between 2025 and 2026.

The Federal Ministry of Education has announced the full automation of the authentication and evaluation process for academic credentials. In a Thursday statement, the ministry’s Director of Press and Public Relations, Folasade Boriowo, said the initiative aligned with the Federal Government’s wider digital transformation agenda.

It noted that the initiative was aimed at strengthening data management, ensuring integrity in academic records, and supporting evidence-based policy decisions. “The Federal Ministry of Education has fully automated the process for the authentication and evaluation of academic credentials as part of ongoing efforts to strengthen transparency, improve data management, and enhance public service delivery,” the statement read.

Under the new system, all applications for authentication and evaluation will be handled exclusively online through the Ministry’s official verification portal. “Accordingly, applicants seeking authentication or evaluation of academic credentials are required to register and upload all relevant supporting documents via the official portal: essverify.education.gov.ng,” the ministry stated.

Artificial Intelligence is rapidly reshaping the world, influencing how societies function and how individuals learn, work, and interact. This transformation is so profound that education—long regarded as the foundation of human development—now stands at a defining crossroads.

The theme of this edition of EDU‑DIALOGUE, “Artificial Intelligence in Education: Opportunity, Risk, and the Future of Learning,” reflects a global conversation that is both urgent and unavoidable.

As we gather on SLTV Channel 264, under the distinguished hosting of Matthew Ogunsuada and alongside fellow scholar Dr. Unwana Samuel Akpan, the goal is to illuminate how AI is altering the educational landscape and what this means for the future of learners, teachers, and society.

Ghana is set to host the 2026 edition of the E-Learning Africa Conference from June 3 to 5, 2026, in Accra, the Minister of Education, Haruna Iddrisu, has announced. The E-Learning Africa Conference was a platform aimed at advancing digital learning across Africa by promoting the use of technology and innovation in education to equip learners with relevant 21st-century skills.

Mr Iddrisu, who was briefing the media in Accra yesterday, said that education worldwide was undergoing a major transformation, with technology increasingly shaping the way people learn, teach, and work. He stated that Africa must not be left behind in the digital revolution and warned that failure to embrace digital learning could become another setback for the continent.

According to him, Ghana still faces major infrastructure challenges, particularly in rural areas where many schools lack electricity and internet connectivity. He said the government remains committed to investing in broadband connectivity across schools nationwide, while the current administration was also assessing the digital needs of students from preschool to senior high school.

Female enrolment in technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institutions in Uganda has risen to 41%, up from 35.7% in 2024, reflecting growing efforts to make skills training more inclusive, writes Christopher Kiiza for ChimpReports.

The development was revealed by the Minister of State for Higher Education Dr John Chrysostom Muyingo while representing the Minister of Education and Sports at the release of Uganda Vocational and Technical Assessment Board results in Kampala. Muyingo described the increase as a positive indicator that government interventions aimed at expanding access to vocational education are yielding results.

The growth has been driven in part by a government sponsorship programme targeting female trainees and persons with disabilities, aimed at breaking longstanding barriers that have limited women’s participation in technical fields.

Academic writing was designed as a product to be assessed, but it now stands at a crossroads in the age of AI. It has become evident that the impact of AI-assisted writing on the cognitive development of our students is not only something that needs to be observed, measured and followed up with action research; it also requires transformed assessment and pedagogical tools.

And educators must be AI-trained so that we can educate our students to be smarter and ethically wiser users of AI tools. A 2025 study by MIT Media Lab explored the implications of AI-assisted writing on cognitive skills. In the study, college-going students were divided into three groups, with each being assigned a different modality for writing essays.

The first group were asked to write an essay with the use of ChatGPT, the second group were permitted to use Google while writing, and the third group were only allowed to use their own brains for writing.

By 2026, artificial intelligence systems can solve complex mathematical problems at the level of elite competitions, generate scientifically coherent reasoning comparable to doctoral work, and produce analytical writing that meets or exceeds top-percentile scoring rubrics. Yet thousands of universities worldwide still require applicants to sit high-stakes standardised tests such as the GRE and TOEFL.

This stubborn persistence raises a straightforward question: why do institutions continue to lean on instruments whose empirical validity has been repeatedly challenged, especially when technology has made their underlying logic look increasingly obsolete?

The answer has less to do with robust evidence than with institutional inertia, risk aversion, and the lingering power of a testing industry that has proved remarkably resistant to change.

The Lagos State Government has commenced a three-day training programme on digital pedagogy and artificial intelligence (AI) for selected secondary school teachers across the state. He urged participants to integrate digital tools, artificial intelligence, and problem-solving skills into their teaching methods.

The training, themed “Digital Pedagogy and Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Teachers on GLs 15–17,” organised by the Lagos State Teaching Service Commission, is aimed at improving teaching and learning outcomes in public schools.

Declaring the workshop open at the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry Hall, the Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Tolani Ali-Balogun, said the initiative was timely, given the rapid evolution of education driven by technology.