Towards Improved Pupils’ Enrolment

Recently, the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, stated that out of about 30 million pupils who enrol in primary school, only six million progress to senior secondary school.

Describing the drop-out trend as alarming, the minister, who was speaking at the opening ceremony of the 2025 Nigeria Education Forum (NEF) organised by the Nigeria Governors Forum, said 30 million children enter primary school, only 10 million transition to JSS1, and approximately six million reach senior secondary school.

As a newspaper, we are concerned that the minister’s statement has raised fresh concerns about the country’s education sector once again.

According to the minister, this “frightening pattern” is driven by severe shortages of junior and senior secondary schools, long walking distances for rural learners, cost barriers, and safety concerns.

Only recently, there have been waves of mass abductions of schoolchildren across the country, further exacerbating the deteriorating situation.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Nigerian Child 2025 Report, whose release coincided with the International Children’s Day celebration last November, revealed that around 10.2 million children of primary school age are out of school, with some reports adding figures for secondary levels, pointing to a total potentially over 18 million or even 20 million children facing educational exclusion.

This figure places Nigeria as home to the world’s highest number of out-of-school children, with crises in the North being a significant factor.

We know that the issue of pupils’ enrolment across schools in Nigeria is a recurring decimal, with some interventions put in place to reduce the number.

Sadly, the current spate of kidnappings, including those of schoolchildren across the nation, is not helping matters.

We find it somewhat disconcerting that despite the huge allocation state governors are receiving following the subsidy removal in 2023, numerous reports as recent as this year, 2025, confirm that pupils in various public schools across Nigeria are still forced to sit on bare floors in dilapidated classrooms due to a severe lack of furniture and poor infrastructure.

The problem is not isolated, with reports from various states, including Kaduna, Zamfara, Kano, Rivers, Delta, and the FCT, all indicating similar dire conditions.

This persistent issue highlights the neglect in the public education system despite significantly increased allocations from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC).

For instance, in November 2025, states received N601.731 billion from a total of N1.928 trillion, with figures varying depending on revenue sources such as VAT and oil, and specific state allocations determined by formulas that take into account factors likelandmass, terrain, and population.

Earlier this year, the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) reported that over N250 billion in intervention funds, which are disbursed to the 36 State Universal Basic Education Boards (SUBEBs) and the Federal Capital Territory Universal Basic Education Board (FCT-UBEB), had remained unutilized.

According to the commission, the basic challenge is not only accessing the UBE matching grant, but also the failure of some state governments to properly utilise the funds for the purpose of developing infrastructure and improving teaching and learning conditions in schools across the country.

Since November of this year, many state governors have presented their budgets to their state houses of assembly for approval.

Interestingly, while most state governments increased their education budgets for 2025, actual spending and allocation percentages varied widely across states, with many still not meeting international standards for educational funding.

According to reports, state governments collectively budgeted around N3.6 trillion for education in 2025; however, implementation varied, with an average of 66.9 per cent spent, which is short of the recommended 26 per cent.

Some states, such as Edo, Delta, and Kano, met or exceeded their targets, while others, including Lagos, Delta, and Bayelsa, had low allocations.

We are encouraged by the fact that the Minister of Education, although represented by the Minister of State, presented his report at an event organised by the state governors, with them present.

Though the minister assured that the Nigeria Education Sector Renewal Initiative (NESRI)—a federal-state compact co-created with the Nigeria Governors’ Forum—is already driving reforms across TVET, STEMM, teacher training, quality assurance, data and digitisation, out-of-school children, and girl-child education, more needs to be done.

The state governments should find critical ways of addressing, resolving, and laying to rest the issues of pupils’ enrolment if they want a virile and vibrant citizenry and country.

Indeed, as Vice President Kashim Shettima pointed out, the foundational strength of any nation lies in the enlightenment of its people, and nothing threatens a civilisation more than an uneducated generation.