Kiki James, Education Champion

Making 12 years of education guaranteed and operating learning resource centres and safe space clubs

The Issue

The issue

In northern Nigeria, low-quality education prevents girls in northern Nigeria from learning the skills they need to thrive. Long-held cultural beliefs fuel gender discrimination, which limits girls’ ability to reach their full potential.

On a national level, in 2003, the National Assembly passed the Child Welfare and Protection bill (Child Rights Act), which guarantees children the right to free, quality basic education and prevents marriage under the age of 18. However, for the Child Rights Act to take full effect, all 36 Nigerian states must also ratify it. So far, only 11 states — all in northern Nigeria — have not taken this step. Additionally, Nigeria’s Universal Basic Education (UBE) Act provides for just nine years of education, preventing girls across the country from completing their secondary education.

Kiki’s approach

Community Advocacy

After volunteering with her mother as a child, Kiki decided at the age of 10 that her life’s ambition was to help improve the lives of everyone she meets. Working towards that goal, she founded ACE Charity in 2010 to provide people across Africa with access to quality education, affordable healthcare and economic opportunities.

With her Malala Fund grant, Kiki holds safe space clubs with ACE Charity to help equip girls in northern Nigeria with the tools they need to realise their ambitions. Through the clubs, girls learn basic literacy, numeracy and life skills. Kiki also drafts policy briefs for state officials to encourage them to increase funding for girls’ education and to pass the Child Rights Act.

With the Nigerian chapter of the Malala Fund Education Champion Network, Kiki meets with government officials to encourage them to pass an amendment to the UBE Act that would extend the free, compulsory education provision from nine years to 12 years and improve states’ access to UBE funds.

The chapter is also researching the effects of hidden education fees — for books, school meals, transportation, security and other costs — on families and how much additional funding is needed for schools to function without collecting fees from students. The Nigerian Education Champions plan to use their research to convince the governors of Kaduna and Borno states to provide sufficient education funding, eliminating all hidden fees by 2023.

Kiki’s impact

In 2019, the Adamawa state legislators passed the Child Rights Act after a year of Kiki’s advocacy, which included meetings with officials, policy dialogues and a policy brief. Kiki is now working to ensure the state governor passes the legislation so that every child in Adamawa and Borno state can access free, quality basic education.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Kiki and ACE Charity are working with teachers to produce education radio programmes through the ACE radio school so Nigerian children who do not have access to online learning can keep learning at home. Each broadcast is 30 minutes and covers literacy, numeracy and STEM. Radio stations in seven states currently run Kiki’s lessons on weekdays.