The Education and Tech Coalition of Activists and Social Entrepreneurs have commended President Bola Tinubu over the appointment of Aisha Garba as the Executive Secretary of Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) over reforms that have brought significant solutions to primary education across the country.
Co-chairs of the coalition through the Executive Director, Focus Teens Foundation, Olaonipekun Kazeem, and Head, Developing Engineering Leaders, Olamide Apejoye, gave the commendation in a statement jointly signed on Monday, August 4, 2025.
They noted that by going out his way to recruit Garba from the World Bank, President Tinubu has demonstrated the seriousness of his administration towards educational reforms in the country.
“UBEC under the leadership of Aisha Garba as its Executive Secretary have implemented reforms that have directly impacted basic education across the country. Out-of-school children are getting back in classrooms, while some are accessing school for the first time. Her leadership has also improved the quality of education through the upgrade of learning tools and teaching in order to increase positive outcomes.
“This would have been impossible without the help and support of President Tinubu, who went out of his way to bring Dr Garba from the World Bank, signalling how important his administration is keen on education reforms in Nigeria,” they said.
Similarly, the founder of Alpha Reach, JJ Omojuwa, in a post on X on Monday also commended Garba for allowing states to access grants to improve the quality of basic education.
He said, “For two decades, an ordinary document created a stumbling block for states to access matching grants. This meant stalled access to education for many children. Aisha changed that!”
Omojuwa added, “She reformed the system by removing long-standing bureaucratic cogs and helped to open access to the states who are now able to do a lot more than ever as they plug into the UBEC matching grants.
“This has led to over 60% fund utilisation – a record, impacted about 3 million children, led to the distribution of 6m books to primary schools nationwide, about half a million library materials and other such interventions. States now feel more like partners in education development with the FG, all thanks to reforms led by Dr Aisha Garba.”
Omojuwa also noted that Garba had managed a $3 billion project portfolio across multiple countries whilst working with the World Bank, supervising the design, execution, and evaluation of large-scale education and skills development programs in Nigeria, Kenya, Somalia, Ghana and many other countries.
He stated that despite being a few months on the job, Garba’s reforms have begun to affect the country’s educational development.
Some Nigerians have also commended UBEC through various social media platforms.
On X, Mazi NnaEmeka posted, “didn’t come in to play politics, she came in to work, and she’s already breaking 20-year barriers that kept millions of children from accessing education.”
HighChiefOkoro also posted, “This is what purposeful leadership looks like. No noise, just results. @AishaMGarba is proving that with the right competence and vision, even the most rigid systems can be reformed for impact.”
