In President Bola Tinubu’s 2025 ambitious budget of N49.7 trillion, only N3.53 trillion was allocated to the education sector. While defence and security understandably got the lion share of N4.91trillion, infrastructure and health got N4.06trillion and N2.48 trillion, respectively. The appropriation bill entitled: “The restoration budget: securing peace, rebuilding prosperity,” has attracted diverse reactions from many Nigerians.
While some Nigerians hailed the budget, others faulted it. For major stakeholders in the education sector, the education component of the budget, which is about 7 per cent, has as usual failed to meet the UNESCO benchmark of 15-20 per cent for developing countries such as Nigeria. For instance, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has decried the paltry allocation to the education sector.
It equally raised the concern that the poor welfare of teachers in public universities is driving brilliant young graduates away from taking up teaching appointments in the universities. The apathy is not limited to the varsities or tertiary institutions alone; it has affected our primary and secondary schools. Consequently, teaching is no longer the first job option for young graduates, it is now considered as the last resort.
The President of ASUU, Prof. Emmanual Osodeke, who questioned the allocation said: “It’s not about the figure. It might be high, but the value is nothing because inflation has affected the value of the money. The amount though sounds big, might not make any impact in the education sector in the 2025 fiscal year.” Osodeke also pointed out that “we are looking at the percentage and not the amount. This year’s allocation is about 7.2 per cent. This was a far cry from at least 15 per cent that was recommended. If education can’t receive the amount, it should be getting at least 10 or 12 per cent and not the paltry sum, a little above 7 per cent.”
Similarly, in his New Year message, the chairman of ASUU, University of Ibadan chapter, Prof. Ayo Akinwole, observed that “the problem also affects primary and secondary schools where teachers are not well-paid, leading to the reluctance of qualified teachers to take employment in public primary and secondary schools, paving way for untrained and unqualified teachers to hold sway.” He also noted that the situation has led to the proliferation of private schools, most of which charge exorbitant fees that the poor cannot pay.
Apart from poor allocation to the education sector, the problems of the sector are mounting. These include the over 20million out-of-school children in Nigeria, rising energy cost in the varsities, the unresolved FG/ASUU agreements over funding of universities and welfare of their members, inadequate infrastructure, shortage of qualified teachers and outdated curriculum. The universities had been grappling with these problems since 2009 and there is even no sign that they will be holistically tackled this year.
The brain drain in the education sector is ever increasing with each passing year. Our exceptional young graduates in medicine, engineering and other disciplines think of leaving the country immediately after graduation or post-NYSC experience. This migration or Japa in local parlance is seriously affecting the education sector. The shortage of teachers is a serious challenge in the universities, but it is more acute in the state and private varsities.
Despite this, the government is still approving licences for the establishment of new universities across the country as if they are secondary schools. The proliferation of universities will soon do more harm to varsity education than enhancing access to quality teaching and learning in these institutions. Currently, Nigeria has 274 universities comprising 149 private varsities, 63 state and 62 federal universities. Apart from a few federal universities, the rest are poorly staffed and funded. Many of them lack basic infrastructure, laboratories and libraries. Some of them are glorified secondary schools.
The federal government should put a moratorium in establishing new universities, including federal ones until the existing ones are fully funded, staffed and equipped. The state governments should stop the proliferation of universities as if they are secondary schools. One state university should be enough. The penchant to establish more universities without corresponding funding by state governments is political and must be stopped forthwith.
The education sector is challenged from primary to secondary and to the tertiary level. Shortage of teachers is glaring at every level of our education but more in primary and secondary schools. According to UBEC 2024 survey, Nigeria had a shortage of 194,876 teachers in public primary schools across the country. In spite of the alarming shortage of teachers in our basic education system, about 16 states have not considered it necessary to recruit teachers in recent times.