As Nigerian state governments present their budget proposals for the 2024 fiscal year, increased funding for basic education remains crucial to their development needs.

Development Diaries reports that states like Enugu and Oyo have allocated 33 percent and 20.8 percent of their respective total budgets for 2024 to education.

Enugu and Oyo fall within the top 20 best-performing states in YouthHub Africa’s Nigeria Basic Education Ranking 2022. Zamfara, Sokoto, Katsina and Gombe were the lowest performers in education.

From a look at the 2024 budget proposals for Katsina and Sokoto, education got the highest allocation, with N42.8 billion for Sokoto State and Katsina State proposing N66.4 billion.

With these developments, the low-performing states must prioritise basic education to improve education outcomes in their states.

States must be deliberate and scale up their finances for education, which must start by first demonstrating genuine interest, commitment, and political will for education.

Furthermore, as Nigeria works towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) four, which aims to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education for all, addressing the plight of out-of-school children remains a critical priority for state governments.

Development Diaries, therefore, calls on all state governors to accord topmost priority to basic and secondary education by allocating at least 20 percent of their total budgets to the sector.

Photo source: UNESCO