In July, Nigerians received news that President Muhammadu Buhari has promised to increase the budgetary allocation to education by 50 per cent in 2023. The President stated this at the Global Education Summit in London, United Kingdom.
In a document titled: Heads Of State Call To Action On Education Financing Ahead Of The Global Education Summit, signed as a form of commitment at the ongoing Summit in London, United Kingdom, the President stated:
“We commit to progressively increase our annual domestic education expenditure by 50 per cent over the next two years and up to 100% by 2025 beyond the 20 per cent global benchmark.”
While Buhari’s promise should have been welcomed in light of the state of Nigeria’s Education Sector with dilapidated infrastructure in primary, secondary and tertiary institutions, the news was not without reproval. Some critics claimed the president promised to score cheap political points, accusing him of previously making empty promises.
And, with the release of the 2022 budget proposal, the criticism is likely to intensify, as Dataphyte’s findings revealed that budget allocation to the education sector increased by only 14 per cent compared to 2021.
By extension, if the 2022 proposed budget is approved in its current form, President Buhari will need to increase the education budget by 36 per cent to meet his pledge of a 50 per cent increase in 2023.
According to a Dataphyte finding, increasing the education budget allocation by 50 per cent in 2030 is not an impossibility. Given that, the education budget allocation increased by 45 per cent in 2018, the highest rate of increase in the last ten years.
Regardless, how effective will a 50 per cent increase in education budget allocation be in revitalizing the education sector?
According to reports, Nigeria’s current education system is marred by dilapidated structures and under-equipment of existing infrastructures, which could be remedied with adequate capital investment.
However, an analysis of the budgetary provisions to the education sector for the year 2013-2022 showed that the budget is usually loaded with recurrent expenditure.
A review of the education budget data shows that in 2018 when the total budget allocation to the education sector increased by 45%, only 16% of the budget was allocated for capital projects, while the remaining 84% was allocated for recurrent expenditure. Furthermore, the allocation to capital projects fell short of all fast track initiative benchmarks of at least 20% of the sector budget being allocated to capital projects in Education.
Similarly, over the last ten years, the education budget has not met the education for all fast track initiative benchmark of allocating at least 20% of sector budgets to projects except in 2021 and 2022. In the last ten years, recurrent expenditure received an average of 87 per cent of the total education budget, while capital expenditure received 13 per cent.
Nonetheless, according to a report on Nigeria’s Education Budgeting and Reality, the issue with education budgeting is not only budgeting less for capital projects but also the poor release of the budgeted amount and under-utilization of total released capital budgets.
A report by Azeezat Adedigba noted that “in 2006, the High-level Group on EFA proposed that governments should spend between 4 percent and 6 per cent of GNP on education and that, within government budgets, between 15 per cent and 20 per cent should be earmarked for education”, Chapter 8, page 241 of the EFA report said.” The Nigerian government has not allocated up to 10% of its total budget to education from 2011 to 2021, according to details of the budgetary allocation to education from 2011 to 2021.
More special education infrastructure funds, such as the TETFUND, could go a long way toward closing the infrastructure gap and increasing the availability and accessibility of quality education in the country.
Given the need for massive investment in education to revitalize the sector, the federal government must do more than increase its budget allocation to education by 50% although this is a good start. It should prioritize implementing UNESCO’s recommendation of allocating 15 to 20% of its total budget to education. More than the increment in budgetary allocation, budget spending must be free of the endemic corruption that short circuits any real development. The budget must be released and fully utilized for Nigeria to begin to turn the tide on the decay in its education sector.