Regional analysis of locations of public educational facilities in Nigeria: The Akure region experience

Abstract

One of the components of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is achieving universal basic education for all boys and girls by the year 2015. The realization of this goal will remain a dream as long as there is imbalance in the distribution of educational facilities. It is in this context that this paper attempts to examine the distribution of public educational facilities in Akure region, Nigeria with a view to promoting effectiveness in the utilization of the educational facilities. Since the MDGs essentially target the Primary and Secondary schools education, this study focuses its analysis on the two categories of educational facilities thereby exempting Post-secondary educational facilities. Data used in this paper were collected from various ministries and government parastatals in Ondo State and the Local Government Councils that make up the Akure Region. They were collected by the use of open-ended questionnaires targeted at the heads of government ministries and educational institutions. The data were analyzed and presented by the use of simple frequency tables to explain the distribution of educational facilities in the region. From the analysis, proposals and recommendations for equitable distribution of educational facilities were proffered, with a view to eliminating the regional imbalance in the provision of educational facilities in the region in particular and suggestions that can easily be adaptable to other regions in Nigeria. Key words: Regional imbalance, educational facilities, teacher/pupil ratio, Akure region, Nigeria.