Northern Nigerian Breaking News

Challenges of commitment to education continues in Northern states as 2024 records mixed fortunes

By Musa Aminu

North-western states in Nigeria’s commitment to education has continued to come under scrutiny.

This development is especially in relation to their financial commitment to funding education in their respective states.

Already, there are an estimated eight million persons said to be out of school in the Northwestern region of the country.

Per data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), 43% of children in Jigawa state are deprived of access to education, the percentage in Kano state stands at 35%, that of Katsina 38%, Kebbi 45%, and Zamfara 44%.

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These statistics is not helped by the refusal of states to access the Universal Basic Education Fund that would widen the quality of basic education in respective states.

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The most recent data published by the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) has shown that four Northwestern states, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina and Kebbi, jointly failed to access N4.7 billion UBEC funds in 2023.

The most recent data published by UBEC shows that Kaduna failed to access N1.39 billion, Kano N581.5 million, Katsina N1.39 billion and Kebbi N1.39 billion.

Data published by data curation platform, Statisense shows that the four states jointly have 4.8 million children who are out of school. The figure in Kano is estimated at 1.890 million, Katsina stands at 1.4 million, Kebbi at 1.060 million and Kaduna at 660,000.

Most recent budget performance data released by Northwestern states also paints a mixed picture of commitment to basic education across the states.

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The figure in Kano’s budget performance document shows that the state earmarked N10.5 billion for its basic education board capital needs, however, only N581.5 million was spent in the first six months of the year.

Also in Katsina the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education budgeted to spend  N38.2 billion on its capital needs, between January and September 2024, however, N21.4 billion was spent, representing 55% budget performance.

In Zamfara State, the  Senior Secondary Schools Management Board capital budget expenditure stood at  N480 million, however, zero naira was spent as of the first three quarters of the year.

Kebbi budgeted to spend N6.3 billion on its basic education capital needs, and spent N4.1 billion between January and September 2024, representing 63% budget performance, the highest among the northwestern states reviewed.

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Jigawa State Basic Education Board budgeted to spend N11.8 billion in 2024 for its capital needs, it however spent N2.3 billion between January and September.

The development on the refusal of states to access matching grants of UBEC and the continual challenge of access to education is despite many promises of the government to tackle the menace of out-of-school children.

Already existing schools have been said to suffer infrastructural damages with issues such as dilapidated classrooms, and lack of teaching materials, among other issues.

 

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