The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) has raised the alarm over the persistent failure of many states across Nigeria to either access or utilise billions of naira allocated for improving foundational education across the country.
Despite steady federal allocations, as of July 2025, an estimated ₦250 billion remains unutilised by the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). The amount represents grants already disbursed by UBEC but left dormant in state coffers due to what officials describe as “systemic inefficiencies and slow implementation.”
“As of today, over ₦250 billion is still lying dormant in the coffers of the 36 SUBEBs and the FCT UBEB due to slow utilisation and systemic inefficiencies,” said UBEC Executive Secretary, Dr Aisha Garba, during an official event on July 21, 2025.
This follows a December 2024 report from the Commission which revealed that ₦263.04 billion in matching grants had gone unaccessed by 34 states and the FCT, largely due to failure to meet the basic requirements for accessing funds.
Under the Universal Basic Education (UBE) Act of 2004, states must provide 50 percent counterpart funding and submit a UBEC approved action plan before accessing quarterly federal grants. However, many states have failed to comply, either by neglecting to submit the required plans or failing to allocate their counterpart funding.
The implication is twofold: states are not only failing to access new grants but are also failing to utilise funds they have already received. UBEC confirmed that ₦92.4 billion of the ₦250 billion currently unspent was drawn within the past six months and remains idle, highlighting serious implementation delays.
“This dual failure in both accessing and deploying funds reflects widespread issues, from bureaucratic red tape to a glaring lack of political will to prioritise basic education,” policy experts said.
Kwara State offers a striking example of such systemic failure.
On February 17, 2025, Abubakar Hassan, Assistant Director of Finance at UBEC, disclosed that 51 projects approved under Kwara’s 2013 Action Plan were never executed. The projects, covering all 16 local government areas of the state, were abandoned despite receiving UBEC funding.
Further details emerged in April 2025, when former SUBEB Chairman Lanre Daibu testified that on January 6, 2015, the then Commissioner for Finance instructed the withdrawal of ₦1 billion from the UBEC Matching Grant account to pay salaries and pensions. The funds were never repaid, violating regulations that prohibit the diversion of capital project funds for recurrent expenditure.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is currently prosecuting former Kwara State Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed and former Finance Commissioner Ademola Banu for allegedly mismanaging ₦5.78 billion in UBEC and counterpart funds between 2013 and 2016. The funds were meant for school infrastructure and teacher welfare.
In response to these recurring failures, UBEC has introduced a number of reforms to improve accountability and compliance.
In May 2025, Dr Aisha Garba unveiled a standardised action plan template under the New Hope Education Project. The template aims to help State Universal Basic Education Boards (SUBEBs) develop clearer, more trackable work plans aligned with federal education goals, enabling faster and more transparent fund disbursement.
At the same time, civil society organisations and legal advocates have intensified pressure on governments. In late 2024, human rights lawyer Femi Falana (SAN) sued the Federal Government and 34 state governments for failing to access over ₦135 billion in UBEC matching grants, arguing that the failure violates the constitutional right of children to free and compulsory education.
The effects of poor fund utilisation are evident across schools nationwide.
Despite regular federal allocations, many public schools remain in disrepair. UBEC data shows that more than 40 percent of classrooms nationwide are dilapidated. The Commission estimates a shortfall of 1.1 million classrooms, including 907769 at the primary level and 200085 at the junior secondary level.
This is compounded by a worsening teacher shortage. As of 2024, only 499202 teachers were employed out of the 694078 required in primary schools, leaving a gap of 194876. UBEC attributes this to states’ failure to hire or replace teachers, especially in rural and underserved areas.
“States are not recruiting new teachers and not replacing those who withdrew from service, resulting in shortages, especially in underserved schools,” said Dr Hamid Bobboyi, former Executive Secretary of UBEC.
Beyond classrooms and teachers, many public schools operate without essential resources, furniture, textbooks, toilets, and clean water, even though the federal government commits ₦100 billion annually to basic education through UBEC.
These failings are reflected in Nigeria’s growing out of school population. According to UNICEF, between 18 and 20 million Nigerian children are currently out of school, the highest figure globally. Of these, 10.2 million are of primary school age, while 8.1 million fall within the junior secondary bracket.
UBEC attributes this crisis to state governments’ failure to build new schools, recruit qualified teachers, or provide inclusive and safe learning environments, despite being eligible for federal grants.
“Delays in accessing and utilising funds are not just administrative issues, they are denying millions of Nigerian children their right to education,” Dr Aisha Garba said.
Data from UBEC reveals a consistent pattern of noncompliance and fund abandonment by several states:
In 2020, all states and the FCT accessed matching grants except Abia and Ogun.
In 2021, Abia, Imo, and Ogun again failed to access the funds.
In 2022, seven states — Abia, Adamawa, Anambra, Ebonyi, Imo, Ogun, and Oyo — did not access their grants.
In 2023, only 12 states accessed their grants, totalling ₦15.47 billion out of ₦51.64 billion appropriated. These included Borno, Cross River, Delta, Enugu, Jigawa, Nasarawa, Ondo, Sokoto, Taraba, and Zamfara.
As of July 2025, only Kaduna and Katsina had accessed their first and second quarter grants for 2024. Thirty four states and the FCT had not accessed any portion of the ₦263.04 billion allocation for that year.
The federal government must rise to the occasion and compel state governments to utilise the UBEC funds allocated for school development.
Nigeria’s basic education crisis is not due to lack of funds but to state level neglect. With over ₦250 billion in unutilised UBEC grants and more than 18 million children out of school, the failure of 34 states and the FCT to access or deploy available resources is both systemic and inexcusable.
Despite steady federal allocations, classrooms remain broken, teachers unstaffed, and millions of children excluded from learning.
To address this, the federal government must adopt stronger accountability measures: suspend noncompliant states from future allocations, publish UBEC performance scorecards, and criminalise misuse of education funds. Civil society must also be empowered to monitor spending and outcomes at the school level.
Nigeria cannot build its future on abandoned classrooms and wasted resources. Only by linking funding to performance and demanding results can we deliver the quality education every Nigerian child deserves.
