Nigeria’s education sector is set to face tighter fiscal conditions in 2025, as capital spending declined by 18.1 per cent compared to the previous year.
This raises concerns about funding adequacy for critical areas such as infrastructure, teacher development, and access to quality learning, especially amid rising enrolment and inflationary pressures.
According to the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) report, “Comparing the 2025 budget with the previous year highlights a mixed picture. Education’s allocation has grown from N2.36 trillion in 2024 to N2.59 trillion in 2025, a 9.8 percent increase, yet capital expenditure has dropped from N1.15 trillion to N938.58 billion, reflecting an 18.1 percent decline.”
This signals a shift towards recurrent spending, potentially hampering efforts to build and upgrade educational infrastructure, an area critical to addressing Nigeria’s overburdened school system and rising student population.
A teacher in one of the federal unity schools in Abia State told BusinessDay that, due to inadequate funding, the college faces adverse constraints on learning facilities, including desks and chairs, library books, mathematics boards, and laboratory equipment.
In addition, she said the school lacks qualified teachers, which is due to a lack of funding.
“The school management had at one time or another hired ad hoc teachers at pitiful pay, just to bridge the gap, because there are not enough qualified teachers,” she said.
Experts express concerns over the implications of this development, where many infrastructures in the sector are deteriorating, which erodes the human capital development drive.
Jessica Osuere, chief executive officer at RubiesHub Educational Services, said the report is damning as well as alarming, stressing that the implications are far-reaching and deeply structural.
Osuere emphasised that capital spending in education is about investments in physical and developmental infrastructure, such as classroom construction, laboratory equipment, ICT facilities, libraries, renovations, and research infrastructure in tertiary institutions.
“A reduction in such spending means slower infrastructure expansion, delayed rehabilitation of dilapidated schools, and fewer investments in critical learning facilities.
“Our nation’s education sector already faces several problems ranging from overcrowded classrooms to inadequate laboratories, weak digital infrastructure, and insufficient technical equipment, among others; hence, an 18.1 percent decline in capital allocation will definitely worsen all these conditions,” she said.
This, she said, would widen learning inequality because private institutions will increasingly fill infrastructure gaps, leaving rural and low-income communities further behind.
Besides, she noted that the decline threatens STEM and technical education, stressing that without well-equipped laboratories, workshops, and digital tools, students may graduate with theoretical knowledge but limited practical competence, which would further weaken Nigeria’s workforce readiness and global competitiveness.
Based on these, learning outcomes are likely to be affected. Research has consistently shown that the quality of learning environments influences academic performance.
Osuere reiterated that beyond education, the long-term economic consequences are also quite significant. Education is an investment in human capital.
“Reduced capital spending today may translate into lower productivity, weaker innovation capacity, and slower national development tomorrow,” she noted.
Study shows that poor learning outcomes significantly hinder human capital development by limiting an individual’s ability to acquire the necessary knowledge, skills, and competencies for personal and professional growth.
According to a World Bank report, Nigeria’s Human Capital Index (HCI) in 2020 was 0.36. This score indicates that a child born in
Nigeria in 2020 will likely grow to achieve only 36 per cent of the productivity they could have achieved with quality education and full health.
Stakeholders express concerns that these half-baked youngsters would become doctors, lawyers, engineers, and professionals of tomorrow.
Human capital development, just like the education sector, represents 9.9 per cent of Nigeria’s total 2025 budget.
This underwhelming share raises concerns about the country’s ability to harness its human potential, especially when contrasted with nations that have successfully linked strategic investments in education and health to higher productivity and sustained growth.
For example, countries such as South Africa and Kenya allocate approximately 16 per cent and 13 per cent of their budgets to education, acknowledging the sector’s role in building a competitive workforce.
Isaiah Ogundele, an educator, said that the educational sector has not been getting commensurable funds required to put Nigeria’s educational system at the global standard.
“If the capital spending is experiencing a decline, it will affect performance and products. A decline in fund allocation will bring down our educational standards because there will be a knowledge gap due to a shortage of funds
“This shortage will definitely have a terrible impact on the performance of the school products. Some of the students trained under such an environment and conditions will find it difficult to compete with their counterparts in the world. There will be a big lacuna,” he said.
Without bolder commitments, the country risks stalling its progress toward inclusive growth, leaving critical sectors such as education, health, and youth empowerment without the resources needed to unlock their full potential.
Experts argue that strengthening these areas will be essential for Nigeria’s economic future and for fostering a resilient, innovative, and skilled population capable of navigating tomorrow’s challenges.
Osuere called on the federal government to reprioritise education in national budgeting in line with global recommendations
