AT a time when Nigeria is grappling with what global development agencies have described as a full-blown education emergency, a staggering ₦97,881,553,326.94 allocated for basic education remains unutilised across several states, raising fresh concerns about governance, policy execution, and political priorities.
Findings by News Point Nigeria reveal that the funds, earmarked under the intervention framework of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), have largely remained unaccessed due to the failure of many state governments to meet the mandatory counterpart funding requirement.
Under the framework established by the Universal Basic Education Act of 2004, the Federal Government provides matching grants to states annually to support the development of primary and junior secondary education. However, states must contribute 50 per cent counterpart funding before they can access the grants, a condition intended to promote ownership, accountability, and sustainability.
Documents obtained through a Freedom of Information request show that as of March 2026, at least 21 states and the Federal Capital Territory have failed to access their allocated funds.
The unaccessed funds have now accumulated to nearly ₦98 billion, with 2025 alone accounting for the highest default in the history of the scheme, ₦68.1 billion left untouched in a single year.
Education policy analysts warn that this trend signals a deeper governance crisis, where available resources are not being deployed to address one of Nigeria’s most pressing challenges.
The development comes amid alarming statistics from UNICEF and Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Education, which estimate that approximately 18.5 million Nigerian children are currently out of school, the highest number globally.
According to UNICEF, Nigeria accounts for nearly one in every five out-of-school children worldwide, with the crisis most severe in the northern region but increasingly spreading to southern states due to economic hardship, insecurity, and infrastructure deficits.
In its 2025 Education Fact Sheet, the agency identified poverty, insecurity, cultural barriers, weak education financing, and poor sub-national governance as key drivers of the crisis. It warned that failure to invest urgently in foundational education could lead to a “generational catastrophe” with far-reaching implications for economic growth, national security, and social cohesion.
Further analysis of the data shows that some of the states with the highest unaccessed allocations are not necessarily the poorest, raising concerns about prioritisation rather than capacity.
Imo State leads with ₦10.6 billion in unaccessed funds, followed by Ogun State with ₦9.7 billion and Rivers State with ₦7.8 billion.
Other major defaulters include Niger, Abia, and Oyo states, each with over ₦7.1 billion left untouched.
The Federal Capital Territory also has ₦5.07 billion in idle funds, while Ekiti, Bayelsa, and Adamawa states each account for more than ₦3.5 billion.
In total, the failure of 21 states and the FCT to access their allocations has been described by development experts as a “systemic failure of sub-national governance.”
In contrast, 15 states have consistently accessed their UBEC funds in full, demonstrating that the counterpart funding requirement is not inherently unworkable.
These states include Bauchi, Borno, Jigawa, Kaduna, Katsina, Plateau, Sokoto, Taraba, and Yobe in the North, as well as Benue, Delta, Enugu, Kogi, Ondo, and Osun in other regions.
While the Federal Government continues to make funds available, the inability or unwillingness of some state governments to meet basic requirements has effectively stalled critical investments in classrooms, teachers, infrastructure, and learning materials.
With millions of children still out of school and education outcomes declining, stakeholders warn that Nigeria cannot afford further delays.
As one policy expert, Fatima Hassan Ibrahim noted, “The tragedy is not just that funds are unavailable, it is that they are available but unused.”