About N160.38 billion earmarked for education development has remained unspent in five years despite a huge infrastructural deficit in the sector.

Sola Akinbohun is a student of one of Nigeria’s leading tertiary institutions. He told Dataphyte that the lack of equipment at his varsity’s Laboratory remained a crucial concern.

“As a student studying Microbiology, our laboratory needs a major upgrade, and we usually do our practicals without being able to complete some major tasks,” he noted.

Sola is not alone. Zainab Omowunmi, also a varsity student, said her hostel had continued to be an eyesore due to a lack of rehabilitation, noting that complaints by students were not attended to due to absence of funds.

Overcrowded lecture theatres have also been reported as a prevalent issue across tertiary institutions.

When Rita Patrick passed the post-Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination test of one of Nigeria’s federal universities, she was excited because she met the cut-off mark. She was, however, not given admission. Further inquiries showed that while she made the mark, the university was constrained regarding the number of students it could admit at a go due to poor facilities, and as such, Rita did not get admitted, losing a year in the process.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in the country has constantly embarked on strike actions to protest poor funding of university education and the need for more infrastructural investment.

Lecturers across polytechnics have also embarked on strikes over poor state of polytechnic education in the country.

The issue of poor infrastructure does not just affect tertiary institutions alone.

Over time, there have been concerns over infrastructural decays in Nigerian primary and secondary schools, alongside insufficient buildings.

As of September 2022, the number of out-of-school children was put at 20 million persons by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), with poor infrastructure blamed as one of the reasons for the high number.

UNICEF, on its website, stated that “one in every five out-of-school children in the world is in Nigeria.”

Unspent N160BN

Despite these needs, a review of budget performance documents published by the Federal Ministry of Budget and National Planning shows that the country’s education ministry failed to spend N160.378 billion for capital expenditure in the sector between 2018 and 2022. 

This unspent funds form part of the actual releases to the sector in these years. That is, the education ministry was given this money to execute developmental projects but failed to spend it.

In 2022, N216.330 billion was appropriated for the education sector. As of half year, N55.786 billion was released, but only N2.8 billion was utilised in the period, meaning that the sum of N52.986 billion was not spent by the ministry.

In 2021, N156.172 billion was budgeted for capital expenditure in the education sector. However, N122.242 billion was released and cash-backed. Of this amount, N72.793 billion was utilised, but N49.449 billion was not spent.

A similar pattern revealed itself in 2020 when the sum of N75 billion was budgeted while N53.954 billion was released and cash-backed. Hence the sum of N35.309 billion was not utilised by the ministry this year.

In 2019, while N58.69 billion was appropriated for the year, N28.10 billion was released but N21.97 billion was spent, leaving N6.13 billion unspent.

The education sector budget appropriation stood at N102.907 billion for capital expenditure in the education sector in 2018. However, N63.022 billion was released, out of which N46.518 billion was utilised, meaning that N16.501 billion was left unspent.

Only 50.3 percent of the capital expenditure released to the sector has been utilised in the last five years, implying that 49.7 percent of these funds has not been utilised.

This development occurs even as the sum of N48 billion meant for the Universal Basic Education Fund was not accessed by states between 2018 and 2021.

Over time, there have been reports that the country’s education budget is poor in relation to challenges faced by the sector. However, in the face of low allocations, utilisation remains a key challenge.

What the law says about unspent funds

According to Section 16 of Nigeria’s Finance Control and Management Act, any money released for a period of time and not utilised will be returned to the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

The section reads thus: 

“Subject to any express provision of an Appropriation Act or supplementary Appropriation Act, money appropriated thereby and not expended shall lapse and accrue to the Consolidated Revenue Fund at the expiration of the year in respect of which they are appropriated.”

This simply means that the funds not utilised by the ministry for the budgeting period will be returned to the Federal Government’s coffers and will not be available after the period. 

What can N160.378 billion unspent funds do?

If the unspent funds was utilised, it could have helped the ministry to construct 858 (500-seater capacity) lecture theatres.

The ministry is planning to build 500-seater capacity lecture theatres at the sum of N186.720 million each.

Construction of 5432 one-block hostel

The amount not utilised between 2018 and half year 2022 could build 5,432 hostels with a block each. 

In 2022, the Nigerian government budgeted to build a one-block hostel at N29.522 million.

Rehabilitation of 7792 science laboratories

The sum not utilised in these five years can be used to rehabilitate, renovate and reconstruct 7792 science laboratories. In 2022, N20.581 million was budgeted for the renovation, rehabilitation, and reconstruction of one science laboratory.

Construction of 3,773 blocks of classrooms

The fund could have been used for the construction of 3,773 blocks of two classrooms each for primary schools across the country. In 2022, N42.5 million was budgeted for the construction of a four-block classroom with two offices each.

Construction of 13,598 ICT centres

The unspent budget releases could also have built 13,598 ICT centres across educational institutions in the country. This is according to the government’s plan to spend N11.793 million on one ICT center in 2022’s budget.

Supply of chairs and desks to 16,037 schools

The unutilised fund would have been sufficient to supply desks and chairs to 16,037 schools across the country’s public primary and secondary school system. In 2022, the government budgeted N10 million to supply chairs and desks to a school.

ASUU accuses government of complacency

Speaking to Dataphyte, the President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Prof Victor Osodoke noted that the government was to blame for the non-utilisation of funds.

“What the government, through the finance ministry, does is that they release funds meant for capital projects two to three weeks to the end of the financial period. You cannot expect that such fund will be utilised because of the protocol involved in project implementation.”

The ASUU helmsman noted that even while the funding for the sector was poor, issues of inability to use the funds and accountability remained common.

“I must state that the funding is very poor and it is unfortunate as to how the funds are released only to be mopped up by the government without use. We have always called for investigations into funds use in the universities system and that is part of why we embark on strikes.”

Dataphyte reached out to the Federal Ministry of Education to seek comments on the development. However, official phone contacts made available on the website of the education ministry were both switched off when called severally.

Stakeholders worried by situation

A former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, Prof Idowu Olayinka, told Dataphyte that it was essential for different sub-sectors of the education ministry to access funds once they were released.

“There is a need that the tertiary institutions, for instance, are made to access funds earmarked for development, and it is only key that this helps the development of the education sector,” he noted.

A former Deputy Vice-Chancellor at Obafemi Awolowo University and the immediate past Vice Chancellor of Technical University, Professor Ayobami Salami, stressed the need to ensure access to funds meant for the education sector development. He expressed concern that if the money meant for development in a year was not spent, it would be returned to the coffers of the Federal Government, a development that would not bode well for the country’s education system.

“Funds meant to develop the education sector should be accessed because this is the only way the sector can be developed and there can be infrastructural growth.”

He harped on the need for transparency and accountability in managing capital funds in the sector.

“There is a need to promote accountability and transparency in managing the funds. This is coupled with the need to remove bottlenecks that stop the utilisation of these monies.”