Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, has set a target of mobilising 10 million votes from Nigeria’s education sector for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
Alausa announced the target at the inaugural meeting of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Committee Education Sector Mobilisation Working Group, where he urged members to take the campaign beyond schools and tertiary institutions and into communities across the country.
The minister said the education sector possesses a nationwide network of students, teachers, lecturers, administrators, professional bodies and other stakeholders capable of becoming a significant electoral bloc for the President.
“If we work hard, we should be able to mobilise 10 million votes from the education sector alone for Mr President,” Alausa said.
The meeting marks an effort by the APC to establish sector-specific structures as the party begins to intensify preparations for the 2027 presidential contest.
Alausa, who chairs the Working Group, urged members to approach the assignment as a coordinated national mobilisation exercise rather than limiting their activities to educational institutions.
He said the group would work across universities, polytechnics, colleges of education, technical and vocational education and training institutions, schools and other parts of the education ecosystem.
The minister also linked his support for Tinubu’s re-election to what he described as the need for continuity in the administration’s reform agenda.
According to him, Nigeria needs to sustain policies already introduced by the government and give them sufficient time to produce their intended results.
The minister argued that continuity would allow the administration to consolidate reforms, strengthen the economy, attract investment and improve opportunities for Nigerians.
The political mobilisation drive comes as parties prepare for what is expected to be a highly competitive 2027 presidential election. The APC has increasingly focused on building support across professional, occupational and demographic groups as it seeks to retain the presidency.
However, the 10-million-vote figure announced by the minister is a campaign target, not a projection by INEC or an independently established estimate of the number of votes the education sector can deliver.
Alausa said the mobilisation would require sustained engagement and teamwork among members of the committee and its various sub-groups.
The Working Group includes the Minister of State for Education, Prof. Suwaiba Ahmad, as Deputy Chairman, while the Executive Secretary of the National Commission for Almajiri and Out-of-School Children, Dr Muhammad Sani Idris, serves as Secretary. Other members include officials and political appointees working across student engagement, teacher registration, mass education, education research, TVET and other areas of the sector.
The development signals an early intensification of the political contest within Nigeria’s education space, with the governing party seeking to translate its presence across the sector into electoral support as the 2027 campaign season approaches.