In Nigeria, a majority of the adult smoking population (15 years and above) consume tobacco primarily in the form of cigarettes. Nigeria has about 6 million adult smokers, or 5.6 percent smoking prevalence (GATS, 2017). Smoking prevalence is significantly higher for men (at 10 percent) relative to women (1.1 percent), and 18 percent of Nigerian youths between the ages of 13 to 15 years smoke (GATS, 2017). A total of 920 million cigarette packs were consumed in Nigeria in 2015 (GlobalData Plc., 2016), of which 74 percent is domestically produced (NCS, 2015). Tobacco related diseases are responsible for about 17,500 deaths per year (about 207 men and 130 women per week) and about 250,000 cancer diagnoses (Tobacco Atlas, 2015). Economic losses in the form of medical treatments and loss of productivity from tobacco-related diseases is estimated at US$ 591 million in 2015 (Tobacco Atlas, 2015).

Over the years, several attempts have been made to boost farmers’ productivity, among which are supplying farm inputs (such as improved seeds, agrochemicals and fertilizers) at subsidized prices to the farmers. Various domestic and imported fertilizer production costs are subsidized to lower prices to farmers. A historical review of Nigerian fertilizer policies indicates an inconsistency of government fertilizer distribution and subsidy policy over the years. The fertilizer subsidy programs ranged from conventional subsidies to “market-friendly” subsidies. Conventional fertilizer subsidies include the following key features: government importation and distribution of fertilizer, the sale of fertilizer to subsidized pan-territorial prices via state-owned enterprises, and universal program availability to all categories of farmers. The key features of market-friendly subsidies are the use of a targeting mechanism such as input vouchers to target poor farmers, and delivery of the subsidized fertilizer via the private input distribution system.

This project reviews and assesses the basic education system in Nigeria in the context of Universal Basic Education (UBE) as designed in the UBE Act 2004 with a focus on effectiveness, accountability and equity in basic education financing. The project utilizes desk review of data and literature, interviews with officials at federal, state and local government levels, and structured questionnaires at school level. The report provides an assessment of the effectiveness, accountability, and equity of basic education in Nigeria. The central objective of the UBE Act (2004) is to provide institutional and resource frameworks to promote equity in educational outcomes across the country. Central to this objective are effective mechanisms for financing basic education that ensure availability of resources at the time and place where they are needed, and accountability in the use of resources that hinges on clarity of resource flows, capacity for monitoring and evaluation and oversight by all stakeholders in basic education, including the parents. The dominance of federal government as the source of funds pivots the success of UBE on factors beyond domestic effort, given the dominance of petrodollars in revenues of the federal and state governments and volatility of the market for crude petroleum. The approach is rather ineffective, as allocations from the federal government, plus matching monies raised by the states are insufficient to meet the needs of basic education, creating persistent resource gaps in the funding of basic education infrastructure. In response, schools in some states have introduced different types of levies with the consent of parents and in contravention of the provisions of the UBE Act.

Over the past years, basic education in Nigeria has experienced mixed performance. On the positive side, school enrolment has increased and gender disparity in primary education has been reduced significantly in line with MDGs targets. However, educational outcomes remain weak on various indicators of quality and equity. For example, quality of education in Nigeria was ranked 124th out of 144 countries on the Global Competitiveness Index in 2015. Also, van Fleet et al. (2012) finds that 58.3 percent of primary school children in Nigeria are not meeting the expected levels of literacy and numeracy skills. Specifically, 65.7 percent of the students cannot read, while 51 percent lack basic arithmetic skill.

While several factors accounted for this dismal performance, inadequate finance is no doubt paramount. Between 2010 and 2014, the expenditure on education only accounted for 0.5 per cent of the national GDP and 8.8 percent of the federal government spending (Nwoko, 2015). This is grossly below both UNESCO’s recommendation of between 4 to 6 percent share of GDP and the Dakar Education for All EFA’s recommendation of 20 percent of national budget. Apparently, while all levels of education in Nigeria remain underfunded, basic education level remains more underfunded. While there is no specific estimate of the overall financing gap in Basic Education for Nigeria, the EFA Global Monitoring Report for 2014 shows that Nigeria needs to spend an additional US$1.6 billion annually on primary school teachers’ salaries alone to achieve Universal Primary Education by 20201. Data from Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN, 2015) shows that while general government expenditure (federal, state and local) on non-basic education increased by NGN194.7 billion between 2008 and 2012, universal basic education (UBE) funding increased by a modest NGN19.1 billion.

The deficiencies in financing are reflected in the persistent supply-side constraints in Nigeria‘s Education sector. In basic education, inadequate funding is evident in the number of OOSC and shortages in school infrastructure. Nigeria presently has the highest levels of OOSC (8.7 million) in the World (See Nwoko, 2015). Similarly, estimates on classroom/facilities at the primary and junior secondary level points to a shortfall of around 60 percent and 67 percent respectively (Digest of Education Statistics, Nigeria, 2010). Given these and other apparent challenges that constrain outcomes at the school level, it becomes imperative for policymakers to design strategies towards mobilizing more resources.