• Nigeria launches upgraded NgREN to connect higher education institutions

• New platform supports online learning, research, and digital services

• Full national rollout planned by 2026 under digital education strategy
  

Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Education recently announced the rollout of an upgraded version of the Nigerian Research and Education Network (NgREN) and its integration with the Tertiary Education, Research, Applications and Services (TERAS) platform.

Officials said the initiative aims to boost digital connectivity, research collaboration, and innovation across the country’s higher education system.

Education Minister Alausa said the new NgREN will serve as a national high-speed education network, linking universities, research institutes, polytechnics, and colleges of education through a shared digital platform. The system will support online learning, cloud computing, plagiarism detection, digital libraries, research services, high-performance computing, and institutional analytics.

Digital Transformation Goals

The minister said the pilot phase will begin in 2025 in selected universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education across the country’s geopolitical zones. Nigeria plans to connect all higher education institutions by 2026.

This initiative is part of a broader digital transformation drive for Nigeria’s education sector. For instance, on October 30, Alausa unveiled a national program to distribute tablets in all public schools to make digital education universal by 2027. In September, the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) signed an agreement with U.S. firm Digital Learning Network (DLN) to supply digital devices to nearly 47 million students and teachers nationwide.

Isaac K. Kassouwi