Morganable Politics/Governance
The figures showed that 10 states had unspent education intervention funds exceeding N11bn each, raising questions about the implementation of projects intended to improve learning conditions.
Kano—
State governments across Nigeria have left a staggering N264.12bn in Universal Basic Education Commission matching grants unspent, despite the deteriorating condition of public schools, overcrowded classrooms and inadequate learning facilities across the country.
The development has raised concerns among education stakeholders over the failure of state governments to utilise funds already released to improve basic education, particularly as millions of children continue to face challenges accessing quality learning environments.
According to the 2025 UBEC Annual Report obtained by Punch Newspaper, the funds had been disbursed to State Universal Basic Education Boards but remained unutilised in state government accounts as of July 21, 2025.
The report indicated that the discovery followed financial monitoring visits conducted by the commission across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory to assess the utilisation of intervention funds.
A breakdown of the figures showed that Benue State recorded the highest unspent balance of N19.18bn, followed by Imo with N14.12bn, Osun with N14.02bn, Kwara with N13.99bn and Delta with N13.40bn.
The five states accounted for N74.72bn, representing approximately 28.3 per cent of the total unutilised funds.
Other states with substantial outstanding balances included Borno, which recorded N13.20bn; Anambra, N12.67bn; Kano, N12.15bn; Adamawa, N11.38bn; and Gombe, N11.09bn.
The figures showed that 10 states had unspent education intervention funds exceeding N11bn each, raising questions about the implementation of projects intended to improve learning conditions.
In the North-Central geopolitical zone, Benue and Kwara topped the list, while Kogi recorded N7.60bn, Plateau N6.98bn, Nasarawa N6.75bn and Niger N3.62bn.
The Federal Capital Territory also recorded an unutilised balance of N5.67bn.
In the South-East, Imo and Anambra accounted for the highest balances, followed by Abia with N8.64bn, Enugu N5.03bn and Ebonyi N2.81bn.
Similarly, Osun led the South-West with N14.02bn, while Ekiti recorded N8.40bn, Ogun N5.26bn, Oyo N5.09bn, Ondo N3.48bn and Lagos N1.85bn.
In the South-South, Delta recorded N13.40bn, followed by Akwa Ibom with N8.09bn, Edo N2.48bn, Cross River N2.47bn and Bayelsa N1.60bn.
Rivers recorded N329.28m, placing it among the states with the lowest outstanding balances.
The North-East figures showed that Borno had N13.20bn, Adamawa N11.38bn, Gombe N11.09bn and Yobe N4.37bn, while Taraba recorded N168.48m.
In the North-West, Kano led with N12.15bn, followed by Jigawa with N7.92bn, Kebbi N7.21bn, Kaduna N7.09bn, Zamfara N7.03bn, Katsina N6.15bn and Sokoto N1.96bn.
Bauchi recorded N825.99m, making it one of three states with outstanding balances below N1bn, alongside Rivers and Taraba.
The findings emerged against the backdrop of persistent infrastructure challenges confronting public primary and junior secondary schools, particularly in rural and underserved communities.
Across several states, pupils continue to receive lessons in overcrowded classrooms, deteriorating buildings and makeshift structures, while shortages of desks, textbooks and other instructional materials undermine effective teaching and learning.
In Benue and Kwara, residents and education stakeholders have expressed concerns over worsening school infrastructure and inadequate interventions despite the availability of funds intended to address such challenges.
Data from the Federal Ministry of Education‘s Nigeria Education Statistics 2024 portal indicated that the national learner-to-classroom ratio stood at 60.1, considerably above the recommended benchmark of 35 learners per classroom.
The situation reflects the pressure on existing educational facilities, although the dataset has limitations because some schools did not submit the required information.
Reacting to the development, human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, criticised the failure of state governments to utilise funds earmarked for basic education.
Falana accused governors of neglecting children from disadvantaged backgrounds by failing to prioritise educational development despite the availability of intervention resources.
He urged state governments to ensure the immediate deployment of released funds towards improving public schools and to fulfil the requirements necessary for accessing additional federal grants.
The senior lawyer also referenced a Federal High Court judgment affirming the responsibility of governments to provide free, compulsory and universal basic education.
He called for stronger accountability mechanisms to ensure that public resources allocated to education translate into improved learning opportunities for children.
Under the UBEC matching grant arrangement, state governments are generally required to contribute counterpart funding equivalent to 50 per cent of the relevant project cost before accessing federal intervention funds.
States must also prepare and submit approved action plans outlining the projects to be implemented with the resources.
The arrangement is intended to promote shared financial responsibility between federal and state governments in providing quality basic education.
Projects eligible for funding include classroom construction and rehabilitation, provision of furniture, instructional materials, sanitation facilities and teacher development initiatives.
However, the N264.12bn identified in the report represents funds already disbursed to states but not spent at the time of monitoring, rather than allocations awaiting counterpart contributions.
The report did not establish the specific reasons for the delays in individual states or indicate whether the balances had changed after the monitoring exercise.
It also did not distinguish between funds inherited from previous administrations and those received under incumbent governors.
Consequently, determining responsibility for the outstanding balances would require further examination of state-level financial records and project implementation timelines.
Education stakeholders have continued to emphasise the importance of transparent spending, timely project execution and effective monitoring to ensure that intervention funds deliver measurable improvements in public schools.
The latest findings underscore concerns about the gap between available education financing and the pressing infrastructure needs of public schools, particularly in communities where children continue to study under difficult conditions.
