Tales Of Crumbling Schools, Poorly Paid Teachers, Out-of-school Children

As Nigeria marks its 66th independence anniversary, stakeholders in the education sector say there is little to celebrate, as the system is weighed down by decades of neglect. From crumbling classrooms and poor infrastructure to unpaid teachers, chronic funding gaps, a ballooning number of out-of-school children, and worsening insecurity that has shut down schools across the North and other regions, experts warn that the nation’s learning crisis has reached a tipping point. They say that unless urgent, coordinated action is taken, the future of millions of Nigerian children — and the country’s development itself — hangs in the balance. HENRY TYOHEMBA writes

Sixty-six years after Nigeria gained independence, the country’s education sector has expanded significantly, with more children gaining access to schools, the number of universities rising sharply, and technical and vocational education receiving renewed attention.

Yet stakeholders have said that progress has been undermined by inadequate funding, poor infrastructure, challenges to teacher welfare, insecurity, learning poverty, and a widening mismatch between education and the demands of the labour market.

As Nigeria marks 66 years of independence, the sector is also contending with a persistent number of out-of-school children, with government and development partners offering different estimates. At the same time, a fresh nationwide exercise is underway to establish a more reliable figure.

At the same time, many children enrolled in schools continue to struggle with foundational learning, raising concerns about whether access translates into quality education.

The challenge extended to tertiary education, where demand for university places continues to exceed available capacity. Recurring industrial disputes, inadequate facilities and funding constraints have affected the stability of academic programmes.

Also, student welfare, including accommodation and transportation costs, has become a growing concern, even as the Federal Government expands student loans and technical and vocational training.

LEADERSHIP weekend noted that Nigeria’s education system has seen substantial expansion, but access remains a major challenge.

The country now has over 328 universities, compared with only a handful at independence, while the National Board for Technical Education currently records 3,756 TVET institutions, reflecting renewed efforts to expand skills-based education.

However, the expansion has not fully resolved access gaps. The National Universities Commission (NUC) reported that more than two million Nigerians seek university admission each year, yet only about 500,000 to 700,000 secure places, leaving roughly 1.3 million without admission in a typical cycle.

Similarly, UNICEF estimated that about 10.5 million children aged five to 14 remain out of school, and only about 61 per cent of children aged six to 11 regularly attend primary school.

The Federal Government, however, said it has returned more than one million children to classrooms in the past 30 months and is conducting a nationwide exercise to establish a more reliable figure.

Also, the quality and relevance of education remain major concerns. UNICEF reports that 49 per cent of Primary 3 pupils, 67 per cent of Primary 5 pupils and 86 per cent of JSS2 learners failed to reach minimum proficiency in mathematics in the 2022 assessment. Education spending fell from 9.3 per cent of total government expenditure in 2015 to 3.6 per cent in 2023, below the 15-20 per cent international benchmark.

In universities, inadequate carrying capacity, infrastructure, and funding, as well as recurring industrial disputes, continue to undermine stability, with a study estimating that national ASUU strikes cost the system 6 years and 3 months between 1988 and 2022.

Meanwhile, graduate employability and brain drain remain concerns. A 2026 employer survey reported that nearly 60 per cent of employers considered Nigerian graduates inadequately prepared for their jobs, while a 2024 study of 228 early-career Nigerian psychiatrists found that 85.8 per cent had considered migrating.

While initiatives such as the Nigeria Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) continue to expand financial support for students, stakeholders are calling for greater, sustained investment across the education sector. As of September 2026, NELFUND had disbursed N355.87 billion and processed 1.66 million applications, providing support for institutional fees and student living costs.

Stakeholders who spoke in exclusive interviews with LEADERSHIP Weekend are questioning whether the education system is producing the teachers, professionals, innovators and graduates Nigeria needs to compete in an economy being transformed by technology and artificial intelligence, with brain drain and concerns about graduate employability adding to the pressure.

They said the country’s 66-year education journey had recorded important gains but required fundamental reforms, with the welfare and professional development of teachers, increased investment, infrastructure, school safety and improved learning outcomes among the issues requiring urgent attention.

Union Official Raises Alarm Over Funding Gaps, Teacher Welfare, Decaying Schools

The Principal Secretary of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Ogun State chapter, Mr Samson Oyelere, said the state of education was a paradox of resilience and decline, noting that the country had expanded access but had not achieved a corresponding improvement in quality.

According to Oyelere, Nigeria has seen increased enrolment and innovations such as digital learning, yet the system continues to suffer from chronic underfunding, deteriorating infrastructure and a growing disconnect between what students learn and what the modern economy requires.

“While we have recorded expanded access, increased enrolment, and commendable innovations in digital learning, the system remains plagued by chronic underfunding, infrastructure decay, and a widening gap between the quality of learning and the demands of a 21st-century economy,” he said.

He noted that Nigeria had produced professionals and scholars who had distinguished themselves internationally. Still, he said that achievement coexisted with a large population of children who remained outside the school system.

“We have produced brilliant minds who excel globally, yet millions of children are still out of school, and learning poverty is evident in many public schools. In essence, education has survived, but it has not yet thrived to the level befitting a nation of our age and potential,” he said.

Oyelere also said that the condition of teachers was one of the clearest indicators of the challenges facing the education system, arguing that government policies would have a limited impact if teachers were not adequately motivated and supported.

He listed irregular payment of salaries and allowances, unpaid leave bonuses, poor implementation of promotions, and concerns over the Contributory Pension Scheme as major welfare problems facing teachers.

“The Nigerian teacher remains the most celebrated in speech and the most neglected in welfare,” he said.

The NUT official also drew attention to the physical conditions under which many teachers work, noting that overcrowded classrooms, dilapidated school buildings, inadequate teaching aids and insecurity had made the profession increasingly difficult in some communities.

He added that teachers were also facing difficulties accessing regular professional development, while rural postings often lacked sufficient incentives.

According to him, improving the education system must begin with a deliberate effort to improve teachers’ working conditions. He said the government must demonstrate political will and increase investment in education, citing the widely cited international benchmark of allocating 15 to 20 per cent of national budgets to the sector.

He stressed that recruitment and retention must be accompanied by improved welfare.

“If Nigeria truly seeks to improve education fundamentally, governments must prioritise political will, backed by adequate funding that meets the UNESCO-recommended benchmark of 15 to 20 per cent of the budget.”

“Priority must be given to teacher recruitment, retention and welfare, including prompt payment of salaries, pensions and allowances, because no education system can rise above the quality of its teachers,” Oyelere said.

He further said the government must also address the condition of school infrastructure as it expands digital learning and improves safety.

Oyelere said Nigeria needed to reverse the trend and ensure that education was treated as a strategic investment rather than as an area that received attention only when crises emerged. He called for better incentives for teachers serving in rural areas and for sustained professional development.

Govt Must Improve Students’ Welfare, Subsidise Transport – NANS President

Speaking, the national president of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Comrade Akinteye Babatunde Afeez, said Nigerian students had reasons to remain hopeful despite the challenges facing the country’s education system.

He said the independence anniversary should offer students an opportunity to appreciate the progress made while continuing to call for improvements, and that students should remain optimistic about the country’s future.

“Though we are not where we wish to have been, we should celebrate what we have passed through and where we are right now. We should celebrate that we still have a country of our own, and the hopes are high of a better future,” he said.

Afeez said poor hostel facilities had become a major concern across many tertiary institutions and called for greater investment in accommodation.

“I want the Federal Government to invest in education infrastructure, especially hostels. Our hostels across the country are not in good condition. We want better hostels where students can sleep comfortably and read and study,” he added.

He called on federal and state governments to take coordinated action on the issue. “Both state and federal governments should come together and declare a state of emergency for our hostels across the country,” Afeez said.

He also drew attention to the financial pressure on students who have to travel long distances to their institutions. With rising transport costs, he appealed to the Federal Government to subsidise transport for students returning to their campuses.

“As students will be returning, I want the Federal Government to subsidise transport for our students. Many students will be going back to campus, and the recent surge in fuel prices has taken its toll on our students,” he said.

‘Govt Must Move Beyond Policy Pronouncements, Invest In Quality Education’

Also speaking, the National Public Relations Officer of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Comrade Obidah David, has urged the government to move beyond policy pronouncements and take measurable, sustainable action to improve the quality of education in Nigeria.

David, while assessing Nigeria’s 66-year education journey, said the country had made considerable progress in expanding institutions and access to education, but noted that the quality of education had not kept pace with the expansion.

“I assess that Nigeria has made considerable progress in expanding education, but we have not made commensurate progress in delivering quality, equitable and outcome-driven education to our people.

“We have built institutions, increased enrolment, expanded universities and produced millions of graduates, but the fundamental question remains whether the education system is producing the knowledge, skills and human capital required to transform Nigeria,” he said.

He traced the sector’s transformation from independence, when access to education was concentrated in relatively limited areas, to the current system of thousands of schools and hundreds of tertiary institutions.

Despite the country now having 328 universities, comprising 77 federal, 69 state and 182 private universities, David said the expansion had not resolved the fundamental problem of educational quality.

“The greatest weakness of our education journey is that access has expanded faster than quality,” he said.

He cited the out-of-school crisis as evidence of the sector’s challenges, noting that regional disparities remained particularly concerning, with attendance rates significantly lower in parts of northern Nigeria.

He also highlighted the impact of insecurity on education in the North-East, where millions of children need emergency educational support.

“This means that while one part of Nigeria is discussing artificial intelligence, digital classrooms and the future of work, another is still struggling to get children into classrooms in the first place. A child cannot learn effectively in an environment where attending school itself poses a security risk,” he added.

On the changing nature of education and employment, David urged Nigerian students to equip themselves for a world increasingly shaped by technology and artificial intelligence, saying they could not afford to remain passive as the economy and labour market continued to evolve.

According to him, preparing students for the future of work must become a central responsibility of the education system, as the rapid development of artificial intelligence and technology requires skills beyond traditional academic qualifications.