FG to unveil digital system to track every Nigerian school, learner

The Federal Government is set to launch DNEMIS, a nationwide digital education management platform designed to replace decades of fragmented data collection with a unified, real-time system covering every learner, teacher, school and public investment in Nigeria’s education sector.

Nigeria’s education sector has been running on guesswork for too long. The Federal Government says that ends this week.

The Digital National Education Management Information System — DNEMIS — is set to launch on Wednesday in Abuja, alongside the unveiling of a Public DNEMIS Portal and the inauguration of State Implementation Teams. The platform promises to do what years of manual reporting and inconsistent data collection have failed to achieve: give Nigeria a single, reliable, real-time picture of its entire education landscape.

Addressing journalists ahead of the launch, National Project Coordinator Mr Adebayo Onigbanjo didn’t sugarcoat the problem DNEMIS is designed to solve.

“For many years, education planning and administration relied on fragmented systems, inconsistent reporting structures and limited access to reliable and timely data. These challenges constrained effective planning, weakened accountability and limited the sector’s ability to respond to emerging realities,” he said.

DNEMIS sits at the heart of the Nigeria Education Data Infrastructure (NEDI) — the Federal Ministry of Education’s broader framework for standardising education data nationwide. The platform will maintain a unified database covering learners, teachers, schools and public investments, supporting everything from budgeting and policy formulation to monitoring and service delivery.

Onigbanjo framed the shift in blunt terms: “Data is no longer a back-office function. It is becoming the engine of education reform in Nigeria.”

On the technical side, Special Assistant on Digital Communications and E-Learning Mojoyin Adebajo revealed that DNEMIS was built on DHIS2 — the globally recognised District Health Information Software 2 — repurposed for education administration. One of its flagship features is the full digitisation of Nigeria’s Annual School Census, replacing the notoriously slow and error-prone manual process with an integrated electronic system.

“By digitising the Annual School Census process, the platform will provide government with timely, reliable and accessible education data to support planning, budgeting, policymaking and improved service delivery across Nigeria’s education system,” Adebajo said.

The ambition is clear. Nigeria has announced plenty of education reforms before. Wednesday will reveal whether this one comes with the infrastructure to actually deliver.