Abstract
This study provides a comparative review of education funding across geopolitical zones in Nigeria and draws a nexus between Nigeria’s budgetary allocation to education and some selected African countries. Education funding in Nigeria has lagged the UNESCO’s advised 15%-20% of the government's annual budget to education in the last three decades. We assess education funding across the six geopolitical zones between 2010 and 2019 using content analysis of the respective states. A review of the WAEC enrollment for states in each zone is performed to compare how education funding impacts WAEC enrollment in Nigeria. The study identifies a link between poverty and income inequality and education funding in Nigeria by leveraging data from the World Bank and Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS) from 2001-2019. We identify low funding of education as the primary driver of poverty and inequality in Nigeria. The study recommends a diversified funding mechanism to enhance the sector's funding and improve the quality of education in the country. Keywords: Education Funding, Poverty and Inequality, Nigeria DOI: 10.7176/JEP/12-5-01 Publication date: February 28 th 2021
Highlights
Inadequate funding remains a significant challenge facing the education sector in Nigeria and has persisted for decades
Literature Review This study provides a comparative review of education funding across geopolitical zones in Nigeria and draws a connection between Nigeria’s budgetary allocation to education and some selected African countries
Findings and Recommendations Our findings show that the inadequate funding of the education sector in most parts of northern Nigeria is responsible for the high number of out-of-school children in that region
Summary
Inadequate funding remains a significant challenge facing the education sector in Nigeria and has persisted for decades. Funding of the education sector in the last 20 years has lagged the 15-20% suggested benchmark prescribed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). UNESCO commissioned the Education for All (EFA) (2000 – 2015) project to recommend funding for education by various countries. In their recommendation, Education for All canvassed for a significant increase in education funding and national governments' financial commitment to accelerate growth in the sector. The decline in the education sector became noticeable in the late 1990s when the government began starving the sector of funds (Taiwo, 2019). The proliferation of academic institutions, government’s waning interest in funding education, and the excessive quest for foreign certificates accelerated the decline of the education sector
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