On Nigeria’s Budgetary Allocations to The Education Sector (1960-2023) In View of UNESCO’S Benchmarks

Abstract

This paper assessed the percentage budgetary allocations to the education sector by the Federal Government of Nigeria, from 1960 to 2023 in compliance with the UNESCO recommended benchmarks. Also assessed for some descriptive comparison were the percentage budgetary allocations to the education sectors of Nigeria and some other selected African countries (which include Ghana, South Africa, Senegal, Kenya and Morocco) from 1991 to 2021. This study used secondary data that were obtained from both the 2018 Edition of the Statistical Bulletin of the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Official Website of the Budget Office of the Federal Government of Nigeria (budgetoffice.gov.ng). Descriptive statistics, the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) test and the Z-test for equality of two population means were employed in the data analyses. Results showed that for the period, (1960-2023), the average allocation made to the education sector of Nigeria was about 5.94%, which was about 9.06%, 14.06% and 20.06% significantly less than the three UNESCO’s recommended benchmarks of 15%, 20% and 26%, respectively. Also, the average percentage budgetary allocation to the education sector of Nigeria during the Recent Democratic Regime (1999-2023) was significantly higher than in the Pre-Recent Democratic Regime (1960-1998). Results further showed that, for the period, (1999-2021), the average annual percentage budgetary allocations for Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Senegal, Kenya and Morocco were 7.81%, 24.37%, 19.49%, 21.32%, 21.70% and 17.61%, respectively; and these figures, no doubt, implied that the level of adherence to the UNESCO’s 15%, 20% and 26% recommended minimum benchmarks was highest in Ghana, followed closely by Kenya, and then Senegal, South Africa, Morocco and lastly, Nigeria. As a matter of fact, Nigeria was unable to meet up with adhering to any of the UNESCO’s 15%, 20% and 26% recommended benchmarks for the period, (1999-2021). However, for the same period, South Africa, Senegal and Kenya were able to meet up with adhering to the benchmarks; Ghana could not meet up with adhering to the benchmarks for 1999 and 2000, but succeeded for the period, (2001-2021). Morocco succeeded in 2003, 2004 and (2006-2021). In conclusion, the annual percentage budgetary allocations to the education sector by the Federal Government of Nigeria, from 1960 to 2023, was not in adherence to the UNESCO recommended benchmarks. Also, for the period, (1999-2021), Nigeria’s adherence level to the UNESCO recommended benchmarks was far below those of some other African countries, like Ghana, Kenya, Senegal, South Africa and Morocco.