In a striking social media campaign launched on July 26, 2025, activist Dan Bello posted before-and-after images of a dilapidated classroom in a Kano secondary school that was renovated over 10 days, a project he undertook alongside Barrister Habba Hikima and Sharafadeen Bature. Bello revealed that many government secondary schools in northern Nigeria suffer deplorable conditions, describing the environment as hazardous to student health and learning.
A single classroom in that school was refurbished at ₦3.9 million. He noted that over 40 northern government secondary schools remain in similarly poor condition, some lacking roofs, chairs, tables, and even functional toilets. Videos he posted show a final year class literally without a roof, and hallways that resemble an “eyesore,” making learning almost unbearable for students.
He revisited Salanta Primary School, which he had inspected eighteen months earlier. As of his recent visit, only exterior walls had been painted, and no internal renovations had occurred, despite a sign attributing work to the Community Reorientation Council CRC 2025 Kano, a token gesture he implies is largely superficial.
At Day Science Senior Secondary School, one of Kano’s oldest institutions, located five minutes from Government House, Bello documented abysmal conditions: no entrances to toilets, no security, minimal seating, no science lab equipment, and classrooms unfit to train future scientists, doctors, or engineers. Even the hand-borehole facility lacked water. Bello remarked that although new buildings appear to be under construction, the original structures have been abandoned for decades. He asserts that no meaningful school improvement has occurred in the past 30 years.
Bello observed that while flashy new buildings are occasionally erected, the original structures remain abandoned. “Nothing has significantly changed in the last 30 years,” he asserted, criticising successive administrations, including that of Governor Ganduje, for superficial interventions.
Addressing online criticism directed at former governor Abdullahi Ganduje over education failures in Kano, Bello referenced a 2013 interview with Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, during which the former governor warned that student numbers had ballooned from 602,000 to 2.1 million, with schools unable to contain the surge. In that interview, Kwankwaso lamented structural decay: classrooms devoid of roofs, ceilings, chairs, floors and doors with birds nesting inside. His response was to launch classroom construction via community reorientation programmes. Bello’s critique underscores that subsequent administrations failed to sustain or expand on that vision.
The dire state of Kano’s schools is underscored by fiscal data. While the education sector has historically received large allocations, approximately ₦50 billion per annum representing nearly 20% of the state budget between 2008–2011, these funds did not translate into improved facilities. In 2012, education received 15% of the budget (₦35.5 billion), with ₦24 billion for basic education and ₦11.2 billion allocated to higher education. The 2023 education budget stood at ₦62 billion before rising to ₦95 billion (2024) and ₦168.35 billion (2025) during Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf’s administration. In fact, education constituted 31% of Kano’s 2025 total budget, second only to infrastructure. Despite this, Bello, and others, insist that physical destruction and neglect persist.
Bello’s critique also invoked broader regional comparisons. For instance, a classroom collapsed during WAEC exams in Taraba State’s Government Secondary School Namnai two months ago, trapping students, teachers, and NYSC members as a sign of the wider structural risks facing Nigerian public schools.
Despite the Kano State allocating substantial education budgets up to ₦95 billion in 2024 and ₦168.35 billion in 2025, accounting for around 31% of total state expenditure, many public schools remain hazardous.
In Faradaci Primary School (Sumaila LGA), over 500 students continue to learn in two overcrowded, dilapidated classrooms sharing leaking roofs and bare floors. Despite declarations of emergency by the State government, no improvements had been made, illustrating stark implementation gaps.
Reports by Sahara Reporters also depict crumbling facilities at Government Technical College, Kano, which is on the verge of collapse despite multi‑billion-naira education budgets.
Experts attribute the decay to poor leadership, mismanagement, and funding misallocation. A Punch investigation concluded that leadership failures and financial inefficiencies have frustrated basic education in northern states, especially Kano, undermining the impact of large budgetary allocations.
Furthermore, in 2024, Kano State authorities closed two private schools, Ibn‑Mashuud Secondary School and Matasha Private Secondary School, for operating in dangerously dilapidated buildings. A third institution, Crescent International School, was fined ₦10 million for tax and safety violations. Such enforcement came amid public outcry over learning environments that placed students at grave risk. The action toward private schools was triggered by their argument that they only mirrored the appalling conditions of the public schools they were expected to emulate.
Despite the Kano government assuming education as a priority, with repeated public declarations and large fiscal allocations, the reality on the ground tells a different story. Dan Bello’s efforts have exposed the deep disconnect between budgeted intentions and educational outcomes. While the private school closures received swift action, public schools continue to deteriorate unchecked, forcing a reckoning on enforcement, oversight, and accountability.
The NGO community and education experts argue that until the same rigor applied to enforcing standards in private schools is applied to public education, much of the state’s investment will remain symbolic rather than transformative.
