Governance, Stakeholder Theory, and Educational Reform: Comparative Lessons from Nigeria's 2025/2026 Curriculum Rollout

This article critically examines Nigeria’s 2025/2026 national curriculum reform, which was introduced to modernize education by integrating digital literacy, vocational skills, and reducing subject overload. While the policy reflects ambitious goals for human capital development, it has been criticized for its rushed implementation and limited stakeholder consultation. Using stakeholder theory, participatory governance, and good governance principles, the paper argues that the quality of governance not just policy design, is the decisive factor in sustainable educational transformation.

The analysis situates Nigeria’s experience within international perspectives, drawing lessons from Finland’s inclusive reform process, Singapore’s phased “Teach Less, Learn More” initiative, and South Africa’s flawed Curriculum 2005 rollout. The findings show that reforms designed without inclusivity, phased piloting, and institutional readiness often encounter resistance and inequities, while participatory approaches foster long-term success. The article concludes with recommendations for embedding stakeholder engagement, phased implementation, and capacity building into Nigeria’s education policy architecture to achieve sustainable reform outcomes.