Nigerian states have until 5 October to submit early childhood education action plans for the next intervention year, the Universal Basic Education Commission has announced, warning that late submissions will not be considered.
The extended deadline, moved from 30 September, puts immediate pressure on state education boards to turn commitments to nursery provision and child development into programmes that can be funded and monitored.
UBEC Executive Secretary Dr Aisha Garba issued the warning at a three-day capacity-building workshop in Abuja, in remarks delivered by Deputy Executive Secretary for Technical Services Rasaq Olajuwon Akinyemi. The workshop was reported on 29 September.
Garba urged states to include Early Childhood Care, Development and Education, known as ECCDE, in their State Matching Grant Action Plans. She said leaving an intervention out of the planning process would prevent it from receiving funding, procurement and monitoring attention.
“What is not in the Action Plan will not be funded, will not be procured and will not be monitored,” she said.
The commission is asking state officials to return from the workshop with costed, integrated and inclusive draft plans, obtain the necessary approval from their executive chairmen and submit the final documents through its digital planning template.
For families, the significance lies in what those plans deliver: accessible early learning, properly equipped centres, trained staff and arrangements that help children who would otherwise arrive at primary school without support.
Early childhood education combines care, stimulation and learning before formal primary schooling. UBEC’s official guidance places it within the wider basic education system, rather than treating it as an optional addition to primary and junior secondary provision.
Garba estimated that roughly 10 million Nigerian children were outside ECCDE provision. That figure should be understood as the commission’s estimate, rather than the result of a newly published national census of nursery-age children.
The attendance statistics cited alongside the warning also require care. The widely repeated figure of 35.6 per cent for children aged 36 to 59 months appears in Nigeria’s 2016-17 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey. It must not be described as a fresh measurement of attendance in 2026.
The distinction matters because reliable baseline data determine where centres are needed, which communities face the greatest barriers and whether public spending is improving access.
The current policy development is the submission deadline and the instruction to include early-years programmes in funded state plans. The broader attendance challenge provides context, but does not establish a new year-on-year trend.
UBEC has also called for education officials to work with health, nutrition, water and sanitation, women affairs, social welfare and local education authorities. That approach recognises that a classroom alone cannot meet every need of a young child.
A child who is hungry, frequently ill or unable to reach a safe learning centre may struggle to benefit from teaching even when a place is technically available. Coordinating services can help authorities identify practical barriers before they become persistent learning difficulties.
Garba urged states to include children with disabilities and those living in nomadic, riverine, remote and conflict-affected communities. Such groups can be overlooked when plans are built around conventional school locations and standard delivery arrangements.
Parents, caregivers and community organisations also have a role. School-based management committees, traditional institutions and religious bodies can help officials understand local demand and reach families outside established education networks.
These partnerships need clear responsibilities. Community participation should support professional provision and safeguarding, with authorities remaining accountable for the quality and safety of publicly supported services.
At the workshop, UBEC’s acting director for special programmes and early childhood, Dr Chijioke Onwuzurike, warned that fragmented delivery channels could duplicate services, fail to share information and leave children without consistent support.
The commission wants states to map their existing early childhood platforms, improve coordination across sectors and strengthen the ability of frontline staff to screen children and arrange follow-up over the next 18 months.
That work should make it easier to distinguish between the number of activities undertaken and the number of children actually receiving useful services. Counting workshops, buildings or materials is insufficient if families cannot access sustained provision.
The deadline arrives alongside UBEC’s wider basic education overhaul, previously reported by Podium News. The separate early childhood planning requirement adds a practical funding decision to that broader reform programme.
State boards now face a short window to finalise their submissions. The test after 5 October will be whether approved plans translate into functioning services, and whether implementation information is available to communities.
Parents and school-based management committees can ask their state education boards which early childhood interventions have been included, where they will operate and how access will be arranged. Podium News will follow the submissions and the delivery of the resulting programmes.
