In a significant boost for Nigeria’s struggling basic education sector, the Federal Government has announced that 27 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) accessed a total of ₦78.6 billion in Universal Basic Education (UBE) matching grants by mid‑2025, representing a 65 per cent surge from the figures recorded in January this year.
The Ministry of Education disclosed the milestone on Tuesday via its official X handle, attributing the improved performance to ongoing reforms championed through the UBEC 2025–2030 Strategic Blueprint, which overhauled the grant disbursement formula to prioritise equity, quality, accountability, and state‑specific service delivery.
“FG records major success as ₦78.6 billion in UBE Matching Grants accessed by 27 states and FCT by mid‑2025, a 65 per cent surge from January! This milestone follows the rollout of the UBEC 2025–2030 Strategic Blueprint,” the Ministry stated.
The Ministry explained that the leap in accessed funds was the result of intensive advocacy efforts and deliberate policy adjustments jointly implemented by the Federal Ministry of Education and the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC).
These included direct engagements with state governors, robust monitoring systems, and the use of data‑driven feedback to identify and dismantle bottlenecks. States that had previously struggled to provide the required counterpart funds were strongly encouraged to meet the criteria, unlocking their allocations.
Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, praised the progress, describing it as “a clear sign that focused reforms and collaboration are working.”
“We are seeing a fundamental shift. More states are now embracing their obligations, which will ultimately translate to better infrastructure, better teacher training, and better learning outcomes for our children,” Alausa said.
He urged the remaining states that had yet to access their allocations to do so promptly, stressing that the Federal Government remained committed to supporting them through technical guidance and compliance monitoring.
The Federal Government had, in August 2024, raised the statutory allocation for UBE matching grants from ₦1.3 billion to over ₦3.3 billion per state. Under the revised arrangement, any state that provides an equivalent counterpart contribution can access a total funding pool of roughly ₦6.6 billion, dramatically increasing the resources available for education development at the sub‑national level.
The grants are intended to support projects such as the construction and rehabilitation of classrooms, the procurement of learning materials, teacher training, and interventions to improve enrolment and retention in primary and junior secondary schools.
Education experts say the increased allocations have made it even more critical for states to seize the opportunity and utilise the funds transparently.
Despite the positive trend, nine states have yet to access the grants, raising concerns about the potential widening of disparities in education quality across the country. Stakeholders warn that failure by these states to meet the conditions could undermine national efforts to close the education gap.
A senior UBEC official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said, “We are still concerned about some states that are yet to key in. We’ve intensified engagement with their governors, but delays in providing counterpart funds and administrative hurdles are slowing them down. This is unacceptable because children in those states are the ones who suffer the most.”
Meanwhile, civil society groups have also urged the Federal Government to ensure strict monitoring of how the accessed funds are spent.
The Civil Society Action Coalition on Education for All (CSACEFA), in a statement, noted that while the increase in accessed grants was commendable, there was a need to guarantee that “every naira is used for its intended purpose.”
“We cannot afford a situation where these funds are misappropriated or diverted for political reasons,” the statement read. “The government must enforce accountability mechanisms that involve communities and school‑based management committees.”
Nigeria currently faces one of the highest out‑of‑school children rates in the world, with UNICEF estimating over 18 million school‑age children are not in classrooms.
Education advocates hope that the surge in accessed UBE grants will help reverse this trend by improving infrastructure and teaching capacity in rural and underserved areas.
Minister Alausa reiterated that the Federal Government’s reforms were designed to tackle systemic challenges in basic education financing.
“Every classroom built, every teacher trained, every learning material provided has a ripple effect,” he said. “Our goal is that no Nigerian child should be denied the right to basic education because of a lack of resources or political will.”
The Ministry of Education said it will publish quarterly updates on states’ performance in accessing and utilising the grants, a measure aimed at naming and shaming non‑compliant states.
The next major test will be whether the accessed funds translate into visible improvements in classroom conditions and learning outcomes before the end of 2025, a benchmark observers say will determine the success of the UBEC 2025–2030 Strategic Blueprint.
