The Federal Government has urged state governments to align their budgets with development plans and sector priorities to improve basic education and primary healthcare delivery, amid concerns that about 70 per cent of Nigerian primary school-age children cannot read and understand a simple text.
Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, Deborah Odoh, made the call on Monday at a technical workshop on the Human Capital Opportunities for Prosperity and Equity Governance Programme (HOPE-GOV) in Abuja.
Odoh said the 2027 budget cycle offered states an opportunity to strengthen the link between development plans, sector policies, annual workplans and budgets, stressing that increased spending alone would not guarantee better outcomes without proper planning and accountability.
The Director of Teacher Professional Development at the Universal Basic Education Commission, Maryam Sani Dangaji, disclosed that more than ₦65bn in counterpart funding remained unaccessed as of August 2026, while about ₦267bn in released intervention funds was yet to be utilised.
She urged states to improve accountability and ensure education funds translated into better learning outcomes.
Meanwhile, HOPE-EDU National Project Coordinator, Dr Layi Olatunwura, said estimates of Nigeria’s out-of-school children ranged from 12 million to 17 million, including at least six million girls.
He said the programme aims to reach 29 million children over four years, provide non-formal education to another 1.5 million children and support 500,000 public school teachers across 65,000 schools.
On healthcare, the National Primary Health Care Development Agency’s Chief Executive Officer, Muyi Aina, represented by Onesirosan Omawumi Daibo, said ₦77.7bn had been disbursed through the Basic Health Care Provision Fund to 8,309 primary healthcare facilities nationwide.
HOPE-GOV National Coordinator, Dr Assad Hassan, said the workshop would help states improve project costing, prioritisation, budget execution and accountability.
The World Bank-supported HOPE programme seeks to strengthen governance and improve basic education and primary healthcare services by ensuring public spending delivers measurable results.