Governor Peter Ndubuisi Mbah of Enugu State has called for the declaration of a national emergency in Nigeria’s education sector, warning that the country risks undermining its future prosperity unless it makes a quantum leap in educational investment.
Mbah made the call on Wednesday, October 7, 2026, while delivering the keynote address at the 2026 Enugu Education Summit and unveiling the Enugu State Education Policy at the International Conference Centre, Enugu.
The summit, themed “Transforming Education for the Future: Leadership, Innovation, Partnership, Financing and Sustainable Reform,” brought together stakeholders from Nigeria and the international community, including the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the British Council.
Mbah said the country had reached a stage where education must be treated as an emergency, not merely discussed as a development priority.
“I believe Nigeria has reached the point where we must treat education as a national emergency.
“Not rhetorically, but in our budgets, our teacher development, our infrastructure, the standards we demand, and the partnerships we build between the Federal Government, states, development agencies, communities and the private sector.
“Our future prosperity depends upon the knowledge and capabilities of our people, after all. And that means every Nigerian child, wherever they are born, must have access to an education capable of preparing them for the world they are entering.
“Whatever education costs us today, ignorance will cost us far more tomorrow.
“Once we understand that, the question changes. It is no longer: Can we afford to make or fund this quantum leap? It becomes: What will happen to us if we do not?” he stated.
The governor argued that Nigeria could not eradicate poverty or achieve sustainable development without tackling the underlying causes of poverty, particularly inadequate knowledge, skills and capabilities required for wealth creation, employment, entrepreneurship and meaningful participation in society.
“If we fix the road today but fail to educate the child who will maintain it tomorrow, how sustainable was our investment in the road?
“If we build factories but lack the skilled people capable of running increasingly sophisticated production systems, where is our own Industrial Revolution going to come from?
“And if millions of young people reach adulthood without the knowledge and capabilities to participate meaningfully in the economy, what exactly do we imagine the social cost of that will be?
“So, if Nigeria is to become a creation economy rather than a consumption economy, then we must equip our young people not simply to use what the world creates, but to research, design, engineer and create what the world needs.
“The point here is straightforward: transformation cannot survive on aspiration alone. Eventually, somebody has to pay for it,” he stated.
Mbah said his administration had demonstrated its commitment to the quantum leap it advocated by allocating 33 per cent of the state’s annual budget to education for three consecutive years.
He said the investment had facilitated the construction of 268 Smart Green Schools and more than 7,000 classrooms equipped with 21st-century learning tools, among other interventions.
“If Enugu’s experience offers one lesson, it is that when the scale of the challenge demands a quantum leap, audacity is not a luxury. It is a necessity.
“When we came into government, we had to look at that reality very closely. We could have repaired the existing system. We could have renovated some classrooms, supplied some desks, put computers into a few schools and called it reform.
“But we had to ask ourselves a more difficult question: would it be enough? Would an education system essentially designed for the world of 40 years ago prepare an Enugu child for the world of 20 years from now? Our answer was ‘No’.
“What we have attempted in Enugu is, therefore, not a collection of education projects. It is a change in the entire development model – a quantum leap,” he explained.
Unveiling the Enugu State Education Policy, Mbah said the administration had already commenced its implementation, adding that the policy would serve as the benchmark for the state’s education sector over the next six to 10 years.
“This is also a strong indication that nothing in our entire policy is knee-jerk – everything is a product of careful thought,” he concluded.
Meanwhile, UNICEF commended the Mbah administration for what it described as its strong commitment to transforming education in the state.
Represented by the UNICEF Chief of Field Office, Enugu, Mrs Juliet Chilewe, UNICEF Country Representative to Nigeria, Wafaa Saeed, said Enugu had demonstrated a strong commitment to the agency’s vision of education transformation through investments in Smart Green Schools, teachers, foundational learning, digital literacy and experiential learning.
She added that UNICEF was proud to have supported the development of the Enugu State Education Sector Plan 2026–2035.
UNESCO also commended Mbah for his investment in education, specifically citing the 268 Smart Green Schools, the Centre for Experiential Learning and Innovation (CELI), as well as the plan to recruit more than 6,000 teachers.
Represented by the Officer-in-Charge of the Education Sector, Mr Adeyemi Oladeji, UNESCO Representative to Nigeria, Dr Isaias Barreto da Rosa, said the governor’s education initiatives demonstrated strong leadership.
“I congratulate Governor Peter Ndubuisi Mbah for his leadership and for making education the centerpiece of Enugu’s development agenda.
“The establishment of 268 Smart Green Schools is a landmark achievement that shows schools can be digitally enabled and environmentally responsible at the same time, preparing learners for a changing world while advancing the climate-conscious education that UNESCO promotes globally,” he stated.
The British Council, represented by its Director on English and School Education, Nigeria, Fwanshihsak Daniel, also expressed support for the administration’s education reforms and pledged continued partnership with the state.
“We commend Enugu State’s bold ambitions of an education system in which every learner develops strong foundations, creativity and the necessary skills to the society and the economy,” Daniel added.
The Enugu State Commissioner for Education, Prof. Ndubueze Mbah, thanked the governor and other stakeholders for their support, assuring that the state had embarked on what he described as a journey of irreversible educational progress.
The event culminated in the official unveiling of the Enugu State Education Policy, followed by a tour of an exhibition showcasing the Smart Green School Innovation Studio established by students of the state’s Smart Green Schools.
