States across the country are yet to access a staggering N97,881,553,326.94 earmarked for basic education.
The funds, which are meant to support primary and junior secondary education through the Universal Basic Education Commission framework, are lying idle in government vaults across states.
This is mainly due to state governments failure to provide counterpart funding, a prerequisite for drawing down the grants.
Documents exclusively obtained through a Freedom of Information request by a legal team led by human rights lawyer, Femi Falana show that at least 21 states and the Federal Capital Territory have failed to access their allocations as of March 2026.
This is despite Nigeria’s worsening education crisis, with the country now hosting the highest number of out-of-school children globally.
Data from UNICEF, corroborated by Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Education and cited in multiple policy briefs between 2024 and 2026, puts the number of out-of-school children at approximately 18.5 million the highest in the world.
UNICEF notes that this figure represents nearly one in every five out-of-school children globally, with the majority concentrated in northern Nigeria, though the crisis increasingly affects southern states due to economic hardship and infrastructure deficits.
According to UNICEF’s 2025 Education Fact Sheet on Nigeria, key drivers of the crisis include poverty, insecurity, cultural barriers, weak education financing, and poor governance at the sub-national level.
The agency warned that unless urgent investments are made in foundational education, Nigeria risks “a generational catastrophe” with long-term consequences for economic growth, national security and social cohesion.
Yet, even as millions of children remain out of school, billions meant to address the crisis remain untouched.
Under the UBEC intervention framework established by the UBE Act of 2004, the Federal Government provides annual matching grants to states to support basic education development.
However, states are required to provide 50 per cent counterpart funding before they can access the grants a mechanism designed to ensure ownership, accountability and sustainability.
Findings show that this requirement has become a major bottleneck.
While some states have consistently met the condition, many others have failed to do so, leading to an accumulation of unaccessed funds year after year.
As of March 18, 2026, total unaccessed UBEC funds stood at ₦97.88bn.
Further analysis reveals that 2025 recorded the highest default in the history of the scheme, with ₦68.1bn left untouched in a single year.
Education policy analysts say this trend reflects a deeper governance problem.
The data analysis shows a concentration of defaults among a group of states with significant fiscal capacity, raising questions about priorities rather than resources.
Imo State tops the list with ₦10.6bn in unaccessed funds. Ogun follows with ₦9.7bn, while Rivers ranks third with ₦7.8bn.
Other major defaulters include Niger, Abia and Oyo states, each with over ₦7.1bn unaccessed.
The Federal Capital Territory also has ₦5.07bn in idle funds, while Ekiti, Bayelsa and Adamawa states each account for over ₦3.5bn.
In total, 21 states and the FCT failed to access their UBEC allocations a development expert describes as a “systemic failure of sub-national governance.”
‘Compliance is possible’
In contrast, 15 states have consistently accessed their UBEC funds in full.
These include Bauchi, Borno, Jigawa, Kaduna, Katsina, Plateau, Sokoto, Taraba and Yobe in the North, as well as Benue, Delta, Enugu, Kogi, Ondo and Osun states.
Their compliance, experts say, demonstrates that the counterpart funding requirement is not inherently unworkable.
Rather, it highlights disparities in political will, fiscal discipline and prioritisation.
