Comparative Study of Education Funding in Nigeria

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 15%-20% of government’s annual budget 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 enrolments for states in each zone is performed to compare how education funding impacts WAEC enrolments in Nigeria. The study draws a nexus between poverty, 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 the extremely low funding of education as the main driver of poverty and inequality in Nigeria. The study recommends a diversified funding mechanism to enhance funding of the sector and improve the quality of education in the country.