At a time when Nigeria is seeking greater private-sector participation in education, the question of how businesses can sustain meaningful investments in public schools has become increasingly relevant.
Corporate interventions in education are not uncommon. What is less frequently examined is how such commitments evolve over time, respond to changing educational priorities and complement the responsibilities of government.
Airtel Nigeria’s School Adoption Programme, now in its 15th year, offers one example of sustained corporate involvement in public education.
The telecommunications company recently announced the expansion of the programme from seven to 10 adopted schools across nine states, with its latest interventions introducing equipped ICT laboratories alongside classroom rehabilitation, furniture, learning aids and improvements to water, sanitation and other essential facilities.
The programme’s longevity comes against the backdrop of significant challenges in Nigeria’s education financing and learning outcomes.
According to UNICEF’s assessment of basic-education financing, education expenditure as a share of total government spending declined from 9.3 per cent in 2015 to 3.6 per cent in 2023. The assessment also identifies substantial learning deficits among children already enrolled in school.
These challenges help explain the Federal Government’s increasing emphasis on partnerships with the private sector.
In 2025, Education Minister Dr Tunji Alausa inaugurated a Government-Private Sector Working Group under the Nigeria Education Sector Renewal Initiative, identifying private-sector participation as an important component of efforts to address learning poverty and strengthen innovation in education.
For corporate Nigeria, the issue is therefore not simply whether companies can contribute resources to public schools. It is whether such investments can be sustained, adapted to changing educational needs and integrated into the wider public education system.
Airtel’s programme provides an opportunity to examine how corporate education interventions can develop beyond isolated donations.
Over the years, its investments have included classroom renovation, furniture, sanitation facilities and learning materials, with the scope of intervention expanding as the programme has progressed.
In 2023, Government Day Primary School in Pantami, Gombe State, became the company’s seventh adopted school.
The intervention involved the renovation of 12 blocks containing 37 classrooms and 17 washrooms. At the time, the school reportedly had 7,119 pupils and 135 teachers, illustrating the scale of educational needs that individual corporate interventions may help address.
The programme has also experienced changes in its participating institutions.
Oremeji Primary School II in Ajegunle, Lagos, the first school adopted under the initiative, was subsequently incorporated by the Lagos State Government into the new Tolu Complex alongside other schools in the community. Airtel consequently replaced Oremeji with another Lagos school under the programme.
Such developments illustrate that long-term school adoption is not necessarily a static arrangement. Changes in public education infrastructure and government priorities can require corporate partners to adjust their interventions while maintaining their broader commitments.
The latest expansion to 10 schools introduces another dimension: the growing importance of digital technology in basic education.
At St George’s UNA Primary School in Lagos, Airtel’s intervention included the rehabilitation of a 13-classroom block and provision of 124 sets of furniture, alongside an ICT laboratory equipped with 24 laptops, 24 workstations, an 85-inch smart screen, CCTV cameras and solar power infrastructure.
The company says its latest phase has introduced ICT facilities across all 10 adopted schools.
This progression from basic physical infrastructure to technology-enabled learning reflects changing expectations about the resources required to prepare children for an increasingly digital society.
The integration of digital technology into public education has become an increasingly prominent policy objective in Nigeria.
Government initiatives have placed greater emphasis on digital learning infrastructure, technology-enabled classrooms and the capacity of teachers to incorporate digital tools into instruction.
In 2025, the Universal Basic Education Commission began deploying interactive smart boards as part of efforts to strengthen technology-supported learning in public schools.
The Federal Government has also articulated ambitions to improve school connectivity and explore emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, as tools for enhancing teaching and learning.
Within this evolving policy environment, corporate investments in ICT infrastructure can complement public-sector initiatives, particularly where schools lack the equipment and supporting facilities required for digital learning.
However, the presence of technology does not automatically translate into effective technology-assisted education. Its value depends on reliable power, appropriate learning content, teacher preparedness and regular access for pupils.
For Airtel Africa Foundation Chairman Omari Issa, the company’s education investments are intended to combine infrastructure improvements with the opportunities offered by technology.
Speaking at the Lagos school handover, Issa described education as “one of the most powerful pathways to unlocking opportunity,” explaining that the Foundation’s intervention was intended to bring digital tools closer to pupils and teachers.
The School Adoption Programme also forms part of a wider range of education and youth-development initiatives associated with Airtel.
These include its partnership with UNICEF, undergraduate technology scholarships supported through the Airtel Africa Foundation and a N1 billion contribution to the Federal Government’s Three Million Technical Talent programme.
In a 2025 statement announcing 100 new undergraduate technology scholarships, Airtel Nigeria Chief Executive Officer Dinesh Balsingh said the initiative reinforced education as a pillar of the company’s social investments.
He identified the scholarships as building on existing commitments, including the UNICEF partnership and School Adoption Programme.
Speaking on youth development in February 2026, Balsingh also described such investments as strategic and long-term rather than simply charitable.
“We do not see youth development as charity, we see it as vision building,” he said, characterising investment in young people as responsible and long-term.
Taken together, these initiatives suggest an approach that extends across different levels of education and skills development, from basic-school infrastructure to tertiary education and technology talent development.
They also raise a wider question about the role of corporate organisations in addressing educational challenges: whether sustained investment across complementary programmes can produce greater value than isolated interventions.
Notwithstanding the contribution of private-sector investment, corporate interventions cannot substitute for the government’s responsibility to provide accessible, adequately funded and effective public education.
Their potential value lies in supplementing public resources, introducing specialised capabilities and supporting targeted improvements.
This is consistent with the position of the Universal Basic Education Commission, which has identified collaboration with private organisations, foundations and development partners as an important part of strengthening basic-education delivery.
UBEC Executive Secretary Aisha Garba has similarly called for greater private-sector collaboration to address gaps in basic education.
Yet the long-term value of such partnerships depends on institutional arrangements that extend beyond the initial provision of facilities.
Digital equipment requires maintenance, electricity, security and eventual replacement. Teachers need the skills and support necessary to incorporate technology into their work. School authorities must also have the capacity to oversee and sustain the infrastructure.
Airtel says it is introducing a maintenance incentive scheme that will recognise the three best-maintained schools participating in its programme. The company has also indicated its intention to continue engagement around teacher training and ICT education.
State education authorities have acknowledged their responsibilities in sustaining the investments.
In Borno State, SUBEB Executive Chairman Bulama Kagu said the board would deploy coordinators to monitor facilities provided at Gwange III Primary School.
Similarly, Cross River State SUBEB Chairman Fidelia Opko Ene affirmed the state’s commitment to maintaining and effectively utilising the facilities at Presbyterian Primary School, Ediba.
These commitments reflect the importance of public-sector ownership in sustaining privately funded education infrastructure.
The longevity of Airtel’s School Adoption Programme provides evidence of continued corporate participation in public education. Its expansion and evolving scope also demonstrate how such programmes can respond to changing priorities.
What remains less clear from the company’s published information is the extent to which these investments have translated into measurable improvements in educational outcomes.
The number of classrooms renovated, ICT laboratories established and learning devices supplied provides a record of infrastructure delivery. It does not, by itself, establish improvements in literacy, numeracy, attendance, teacher performance or examination results.
Such outcomes require longer-term assessment and, ideally, collaboration between corporate investors, education authorities and school administrators.
Nevertheless, the programme offers a useful case study in an important aspect of corporate participation in national development: continuity.
In a sector where educational needs are substantial and public resources remain constrained, sustained private-sector engagement can provide opportunities for targeted investment, institutional learning and adaptation over time.
The broader lesson is not that corporate organisations can resolve Nigeria’s education challenges independently, but that well-structured, long-term partnerships may contribute more meaningfully to public education than interventions conceived solely around the immediate delivery of facilities.
For Nigeria’s education sector, that distinction is increasingly important.
Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha is the Aviation Correspondent at BusinessDay Media Limited, publishers of BusinessDay Newspapers. She is also the Deputy Editor, BusinessDay Weekender Magazine, the Saturday Weekend edition of BusinessDay. She holds a BSC in Mass Communication from the prestigious University of Nigeria, Nsukka and a Masters degree in Marketing at the University of Lagos. As the lead writer on the aviation desk, Ifeoma is responsible and in charge of the three weekly aviation and travel pages in BusinessDay and BDSunday. She also overseas and edits all pages of BusinessDay Saturday Weekender. She has written various investigative, features and news stories in aviation and business related issues and has been severally nominated for award in the category of Aviation Writer of the Year by the Nigeria Media Nite-Out awards; one of the Nigeria’s most prestigious media awards ceremonies. Ifeoma is a one-time winner of the prestigious Nigeria Media Merit Award under the 'Aviation Writer of the Year' Category. She is the 2025 Eloy Award winner under the Print Media Journalist category. She has undergone several journalism trainings by various prestigious organisations. Ifeoma is also a fellow of the Female Reporters Leadership Fellowship of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.
