State governments across Nigeria had a combined N264.12bn in unspent Universal Basic Education Commission matching grants as of July 21, 2025, even as public schools continued to face dilapidated buildings, overcrowded classrooms and shortages of learning materials.
The figures were contained in the 2025 UBEC Annual Report obtained exclusively by The Punch. The report showed that the funds had been released to State Universal Basic Education Boards but remained unspent in state government accounts during the commission’s financial monitoring visits across the states and the Federal Capital Territory.
Benue State recorded the highest unutilised balance at N19.18bn, followed by Imo with N14.12bn, Osun with N14.02bn, Kwara with N13.99bn and Delta with N13.40bn.
The five states accounted for N74.72bn, representing approximately 28.3 per cent of the total reported balance.
The findings have raised concerns about the management of funds intended to improve access to quality basic education, particularly as pupils in some communities continue to learn in deteriorating buildings, overcrowded classrooms and temporary structures.
Human rights lawyer Femi Falana, SAN, criticised the failure to utilise the funds, accusing governors of neglecting the educational needs of disadvantaged children. He called on state governments to deploy intervention funds already released and meet the requirements for accessing counterpart grants.
Falana also referred to a Federal High Court judgment concerning the obligation of governments to provide free, compulsory and universal basic education, stressing the need for accountability and measures to ensure children’s access to schooling.
The reported balances cover different periods and administrations. However, the UBEC report does not specify how much each administration received, inherited or failed to spend.
Benue records highest unspent balance
Benue topped the state-by-state list with N19.18bn in unutilised grants. Imo followed with N14.12bn, while Osun recorded N14.02bn.
Kwara had N13.99bn, Delta N13.40bn, Borno N13.20bn, Anambra N12.67bn and Kano N12.15bn.
Adamawa recorded N11.38bn, while Gombe had N11.09bn. In total, 10 states had more than N11bn each in reported unspent matching grants.
In the North-Central, Kogi recorded N7.60bn, Plateau N6.98bn, Nasarawa N6.75bn and Niger N3.62bn, in addition to Benue and Kwara. The Federal Capital Territory had N5.67bn.
In the South-East, Abia recorded N8.64bn, Enugu N5.03bn and Ebonyi N2.81bn, alongside Imo and Anambra.
In the South-West, Ekiti had N8.40bn, Ogun N5.26bn, Oyo N5.09bn, Ondo N3.48bn and Lagos N1.85bn, while Osun recorded the highest balance in the region.
Delta led the South-South with N13.40bn, followed by Akwa Ibom with N8.09bn. Edo recorded N2.48bn, Cross River N2.47bn, Bayelsa N1.60bn and Rivers N329.28m.
In the North-East, Borno had N13.20bn, Adamawa N11.38bn, Gombe N11.09bn, Yobe N4.37bn and Taraba N168.48m.
In the North-West, Kano recorded N12.15bn, Jigawa N7.92bn, Kebbi N7.21bn, Kaduna N7.09bn, Zamfara N7.03bn, Katsina N6.15bn and Sokoto N1.96bn.
Bauchi recorded N825.99m, making it one of only three states with unspent balances below N1bn, alongside Rivers and Taraba.
The report did not establish why individual states had failed to spend the funds or whether the balances had changed after the monitoring visits.
Unspent grants amid school infrastructure challenges
The reported balances come as public schools continue to experience infrastructure shortages and unequal access to quality learning facilities.
The Federal Ministry of Education’s Nigeria Education Statistics 2024 portal put the national learner-to-classroom ratio at 60.1, above the benchmark of 35 pupils per classroom. Some states recorded even higher ratios, although the data has limitations because not all schools submitted information.
UBEC matching grants can support approved projects such as classroom construction and renovation, desks, instructional materials, sanitation facilities and teacher development.
However, determining how many projects could have been completed with the N264.12bn would require details of approved budgets, procurement costs, project specifications and expenditure categories.
The report’s central finding is that the funds had already been disbursed but remained unspent at the time of the commission’s monitoring visits.
Under the UBEC matching grant arrangement, state governments generally provide counterpart funding equivalent to 50 per cent of eligible project costs and submit approved action plans before accessing the federal contribution.
The scheme is intended to ensure shared responsibility between federal and state governments for financing basic education. The reported unspent balances are distinct from grants that states may be unable to access because they have not provided the required counterpart funding.
The figures therefore raise questions about project planning, procurement, contract execution and the ability of state education agencies to implement approved programmes within reasonable timelines.
They also span different political administrations. Determining responsibility would require records showing when funds were released, which government received or inherited them, the projects approved, expenditure incurred and the outstanding balances at the end of each administration.
The figures alone do not establish that the money was stolen or diverted. However, prolonged non-utilisation of earmarked education funds raises concerns about oversight and the timely delivery of projects intended to benefit pupils.
UBEC highlights financial management concerns
UBEC has previously raised concerns about the administration of intervention funds at the state level.
In July 2025, the commission’s Executive Secretary, Dr Aisha Garba, reportedly identified challenges including slow utilisation of matching grants, failure to comply with fund utilisation guidelines, alleged diversion of funds, failure to deduct and remit taxes, breaches of due process in contract awards and non-compliance with approved action plans.
The concerns were raised during a financial management training programme for directors of finance and accounts, internal auditors and matching grant desk officers from state boards and the Federal Capital Territory.
The commission’s concerns highlight the difference between releasing public funds and ensuring that the money delivers measurable improvements in schools.
Benue schools face deteriorating conditions
Despite the N19.18bn unspent balance reported for Benue, stakeholders have expressed concern about the condition of public primary schools across the state.
A political office holder, who requested anonymity, questioned why the reported funds had not been used to rebuild or renovate schools damaged during years of attacks by suspected herders.
A local government chairman from the Benue North-East Senatorial District, who also spoke anonymously, disputed the suggestion that the balance indicated wrongdoing. He claimed the funds were linked to a World Bank-assisted education programme and said their use was awaiting templates for approved projects.
He also said he had heard that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission was investigating the matter.
Other local government chairmen attributed the poor condition of some schools to years of attacks on communities, which they said had left buildings requiring reconstruction or extensive renovation.
The condition of schools has also drawn attention from civic groups. MonITNG, a civic technology organisation, reportedly highlighted the state of RCM Primary School in Adikpo, Mayange Mbayan, Ushongo Local Government Area, which was said to have been abandoned since 2023.
Residents reportedly sent several letters requesting renovation without receiving the necessary intervention.
Pupils at LGA Primary School, Nbegha, in Buruku Local Government Area, have also continued learning in difficult conditions more than eight years after a windstorm damaged parts of the school building.
Efforts by The Punch to obtain comments from the state Commissioner for Education, Dr Margaret Adamu, were unsuccessful. The Executive Secretary of the State Universal Basic Education Board, Dr Grace Adagba, also did not respond to enquiries after previously asking the correspondent to contact her through WhatsApp.
Osun cites inability to provide counterpart funding
Osun State Commissioner for Education, Dipo Eluwole, attributed the state’s difficulty in accessing fresh UBEC matching grants to financial constraints.
Speaking with The Punch on Wednesday, Eluwole said local government allocations due to the state had been withheld since February 2025, placing additional pressure on Governor Ademola Adeleke’s administration.
He said the government had cleared counterpart funding obligations covering five years after taking office in 2022, allowing the state to access grants for 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023.
According to Eluwole, the state was required to provide approximately N3.5bn in counterpart funding in the previous year and about N2.7bn in the current year.
He argued that the reported withholding of local government allocations had made it difficult to raise the required funds, as the state government was also meeting obligations that included salaries for primary and junior secondary school teachers, local government workers, pensioners and health workers, as well as medical supplies and allocations to traditional rulers.
Eluwole added that inherited debts were further reducing the revenue available to the state.
He also cited financial difficulties affecting the School for Persons Living with Disabilities, saying its reopening had been delayed because suppliers were owed three terms of food and upkeep expenses.
According to the commissioner, the feeding and upkeep cost N46m per term. He said the government had recently managed to pay for one term after persuading suppliers to resume deliveries.
Kwara schools continue to face infrastructure problems
In Kwara State, dilapidated classrooms, overcrowded learning spaces and incomplete renovation projects have raised questions about the reported N13.99bn in unspent UBEC matching grants.
A March report by The Punch documented the condition of Warah Community Junior Secondary School in Ilorin West Local Government Area, where some classroom ceilings had collapsed, windows were broken and sections of buildings had peeling paint and deteriorating wooden supports.
Pupils reportedly learnt in overcrowded classrooms and makeshift shelters constructed by community members. Some sat on bare floors because of inadequate classrooms and furniture.
Photographs obtained by The Punch on Wednesday also showed deteriorating classrooms in the Universal Basic Education section of Government Day Secondary School, Lafiagi, in Kwara North. The staff room reportedly lacked a ceiling, fan and windows.
Renovation work on the SS2 and SS3 classroom blocks and examination hall at the school had reportedly remained incomplete since beginning in 2025.
The situation has forced some senior students to share available spaces, including science laboratories, for lessons.
A member of the Warah school’s education committee, Alhaji Isiaka Warah, said the community had written several letters to the relevant authorities about the school’s condition without receiving the required intervention.
However, the Chairman of the Kwara State Universal Basic Education Board, Raheem Adaramaja, disputed the reported N13.99bn balance when contacted by The Punch on Wednesday.
Adaramaja said he did not know the source of the figure and maintained that it was inaccurate. When asked to provide the state’s current balance or supporting records, he said there was no delay in fund utilisation but did not provide an alternative figure.
In 2022, Adaramaja had said the state government inherited more than 2,000 dilapidated school structures and paid N7.1bn in counterpart funding covering 2014 to 2019 to access UBEC matching grants.
However, that earlier statement did not explain the N13.99bn balance subsequently reported by UBEC or establish how much of the grants had been spent on completed projects.
Meanwhile, Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq recently announced donations totalling N180m for Islamic education, research and academic development during the centenary celebration of Az-Zumratul Adabiyyah School of Arabic and Islamic Studies in Ilorin on October 12.
The donations included N50m to Ansarul Islam Society from the governor in his capacity as Sardauna of Ilorin, another N50m on behalf of the AbdulRazaq family and N50m from the state government to Muhammed Kamaldeen University, Ilorin. The remaining N30m was earmarked for scholarships for 30 students.
The Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Communications, Ibraheem Abdullateef, provided the breakdown in a Facebook post, quoting the governor as saying the university donation would support research and academic development.
The donations were directed towards Islamic education, university support and scholarships and do not establish the availability or allocation of funding for public basic school infrastructure.
Source: The Punch
