Vice-President Kashim Shettima has announced that Nigeria’s education budget has risen to £3.52 trillion for 2025 under President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
Mr Shettima made this statement on Tuesday in Abuja during the opening of the 2025 Nigeria Education Forum, highlighting a significant increase from £1.54 trillion in 2023.
The forum was organised by the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), the federal Ministry of Education, and the Committee of State Commissioners for Education.
The theme of the forum was ‘Pathways to Sustainable Education Financing: Developing a Synergy Between Town and Gown in Nigeria’.
Represented by Aliyu Modibbo, the Special Adviser to the President on General Duties (Office of the Vice-President), Mr Shettima stressed that the number of out-of-school children in the country constitutes a national emergency.
He called for collaboration between government and private sector stakeholders to tackle this issue.
Mr Shettima stated that the education spending under President Bola Tinubu reflects the administration’s steadfast commitment to cultivating an educated and globally competitive populace.
He remarked, “Nothing threatens a civilisation more than an uneducated generation. Nations prosper when their people, regardless of circumstance, are equipped with the knowledge to envision a better future and the skills to realise it.”
The Vice-President emphasised that Nigeria has reached a critical juncture where traditional government-only funding models can no longer meet the educational needs of the country.
He called for a fundamental shift towards collaborative, innovative, and resilient financing mechanisms, stating, “The burden cannot rest solely on government. We must engage private sector actors, industry leaders, alumni networks, philanthropists, and communities to co-invest in laboratories, research centres, vocational hubs, innovation clusters, and endowment funds.”
Mr Shettima highlighted substantial increases in funding for key education agencies under the Tinubu administration’s Renewed Hope plan.
“For instance, the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) budget has risen from £320.3 billion in 2023 to £683.4 billion in 2024, and now stands at £1.6 trillion in 2025. The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) has allocated £92.4 billion in matching grants to 25 states and the Federal Capital Territory.”
He added that another £19 billion has supported teacher development across 32 states and the FCT, while £1.5 billion has reached over 1,147 communities.
Individual state UBE grants have increased from approximately £1.3 billion to over £3.3 billion, allowing states to access more than £6.6 billion through counterpart funding arrangements, the Vice-President noted.
He also mentioned that the newly established Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), created under the Students’ Loans Act of 2024, has already disbursed £86.3 billion to over 450,000 students across 218 tertiary institutions nationwide.
Mr Shettima stated, “This fund marks a new era where no Nigerian is denied tertiary education due to financial constraints. The learning crisis cannot be resolved without safe and well-equipped schools, from basic classrooms to technical laboratories. Teachers must receive adequate training, welfare, and professional recognition to deliver the outcomes our children deserve.”
He called for intentional collaboration across federal, state, and local government levels, emphasising the importance of timely counterpart funding, transparent resource utilisation, and strict adherence to action plans.
“Since education begins in the community, local governments and traditional institutions must take responsibility for infrastructure development, school maintenance, security, and teacher welfare.
“We are here today because we do not view education as merely a line item in the national budget. We regard it as the foundation of our national identity, the engine of our economic transformation, and the shield of our collective security,” the Vice-President concluded.
(NAN)
