The Power of Youth in Co-Creating Education: What Nigeria’s Latest Evidence Is Really Saying

The 2026 International Day of Education theme, “The Power of Youth in Co-Creating Education,” is more than a rhetorical flourish. It is a direct challenge to how education systems are designed, governed, and renewed. For Nigeria—a country with one of the youngest populations in the world—the theme arrives at a critical moment. It poses a difficult but necessary question: Can Nigeria meaningfully reform its education system without systematically involving the young people who experience its strengths and failures every day?

Over the past year, Nigeria’s education landscape has been shaped by an unusual convergence of evidence. Outcomes from the Nigeria Education Forum (NEF) 2025 Summit, public debates on education financing and expenditure, institutional reviews, and multiple diagnostics from development partners such as UNESCO and the World Bank all point to a consistent message: while investment and policy activity are increasing, gaps in relevance, skills alignment, and youth ownership remain unresolved.

From Bigger Budgets to Better Outcomes

The NEF 2025 Summit, convened by the Nigeria Governors’ Forum in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Education and development partners, marked an important shift in national education discourse. Discussions moved beyond access and enrolment to focus on learning outcomes, system efficiency, safe schools, and workforce relevance. Several states reported increased education allocations, while national figures showed a rise in combined federal and state education spending.

Yet, as repeatedly emphasised during the Summit, funding alone does not guarantee results. Nigeria’s challenge is no longer simply how much is spent on education, but how effectively resources are deployed, governed, and translated into improved teaching and learning outcomes.

This shift is reinforced by recent Education Sector Expenditure and Institutional Reviews, including sub-national analyses supported by the Nigeria Governors’ Forum and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which participated as Lead Consultant. These reviews highlight familiar structural constraints: fragmented financing, weak accountability mechanisms, uneven institutional capacity across states, and limited linkage between spending decisions and learning outcomes. Simply put, Nigeria is investing more—but not always investing smartly.

What Youth Experience Is Telling Us

Perhaps the most compelling evidence supporting the 2026 theme comes directly from young people themselves. Recent youth-focused studies and surveys, including tertiary education diagnostics, point to a persistent confidence gap. A significant proportion of students report low readiness for the labour market upon graduation, while many indicate that they acquire critical employability skills through self-directed learning outside the formal education system.

This is not an indictment of students; it is an indictment of system relevance. When learners feel compelled to supplement their education independently, it signals that formal curricula are lagging behind economic and social realities. In effect, young people are already co-creating their education—but informally, without institutional recognition or support.

Ignoring this reality weakens reform efforts. Harnessing it, however, offers a powerful opportunity to redesign education systems that are adaptive, responsive, and future-oriented.

Skills, Employability, and the 21st-Century Imperative

At the policy level, there is growing alignment around skills development. The Federal Ministry of Education has advanced national conversations on skills-based education, vocational pathways, and stronger school-to-work linkages. Development partners echo this direction. UNESCO continues to emphasise quality education, TVET reform, and lifelong learning, while the World Bank consistently highlights digital skills, critical thinking, and adaptability as core competencies for the modern economy.

However, global evidence is clear: skills strategies succeed only when learners and employers are actively involved in their design and delivery. Programmes developed without student insight risk being technically sound but practically misaligned. Youth co-creation, therefore, is not a symbolic gesture—it is a governance reform that improves relevance, ownership, and impact.

Co-Creation as a Systemic Reform Tool

For youth participation to matter, it must be institutionalised. Token consultations and ceremonial youth panels are insufficient. What Nigeria requires are deliberate, system-level mechanisms that embed learner voice into decision-making, including:

Structured student and graduate input into curriculum reviews

Learner experience surveys integrated into quality assurance and accreditation processes

Transparent school-to-work indicators for tertiary institutions

Recognition of informal and digital learning through micro-credentials

Youth representation in education advisory and reform platforms

Equally important, co-creation demands responsibility on both sides. Young people must be equipped with the civic, leadership, and communication skills required for constructive engagement and informed participation.

The Nigerian Choice

Nigeria’s education conversation is evolving—from access to outcomes, from certificates to skills, and from funding levels to value for money. The 2026 International Day of Education theme crystallises the next step in this evolution.

The question is no longer whether young people matter to education reform—they always have. The real test is whether institutions are prepared to share space, listen deliberately, and redesign education as a partnership rather than a prescription.

Education systems built without learner agency struggle to remain relevant. Those built with youth as partners are more likely to deliver ownership, accountability, and long-term impact.

If Nigeria is serious about building an education system fit for the 21st century, empowering youth to co-create education is not optional. It is a strategic necessity—and one the evidence increasingly supports.

Jamila Mohammed Dahiru, PhD
Writes from the University of Abuja, Nigeria
📧 jm******@***il.com