“We cannot build a strong tertiary education system on a weak senior secondary foundation” —Olalekan A. Babatunde
Nigeria’s education system has a funding gap that deserves urgent national attention. At one end of the education spectrum is basic education, supported by a statutory intervention mechanism through the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC). At the other end is tertiary education, where the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has become an important instrument for supporting universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education.
But somewhere between these two levels lies a critical component of the education system that appears to have been left in the funding wilderness: Senior Secondary Education. The question Nigerians should therefore begin to ask is simple: Who is adequately and sustainably funding senior secondary education?
This is not merely a question of budgetary allocation. It is a question about the architecture of Nigeria’s education financing and whether that architecture reflects the strategic importance of senior secondary education.
Like many, and as a trained teacher, I have realized the strategic position of senior secondary education as the bridge between foundational learning and the next stage of a young person’s life. It prepares students for universities and other tertiary institutions, technical and vocational education, entrepreneurship, employment, and responsible citizenship. It also serves as the stage at which talents in science, technology, sports, creative industries, and other fields can be identified and deliberately developed. I developed my basic character, and the academic knowledge, life skills, and social competencies I acquired in secondary school laid the foundation for me to thrive as an analytical student in higher education and shaped my professional future.
For instance, while in Ilorin in the 1980s, I remembered the likes of Olapade Adeniken, the Aderemi Sisters, Sule Olaleye, and Bolaji Niniola, who won laurels for Nigeria in global sporting competitions and were students at Cherubim and Seraphim College in Sabo Oke, Ilorin. Talents and notable personalities were produced in the school. The current Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of NNPC Limited, Engr. Bashir Bayo Ojulari was our Senior Head Prefect in Oro Grammar School in Kwara State. He represented the school in national science quiz competitions and brought glory to the state. In short, senior secondary education is the gateway to opportunities for both individuals and societies.
Yet, unlike basic and tertiary education, senior secondary education does not currently enjoy a comparable dedicated federal intervention fund with the visibility, predictability, and institutional structure associated with UBEC and TETFund.
The consequences are significant. Across the country, senior secondary schools require investment in laboratories, libraries, workshops, ICT facilities, digital learning infrastructure, sports facilities, teacher development, school leadership, guidance and counseling, infrastructure renewal, and modern teaching and learning resources. These needs cannot be adequately addressed through fragmented and unpredictable interventions.
The challenge becomes even more important in an era when the Nigerian economy demands a new generation of young people equipped with digital skills, technological competencies, entrepreneurial abilities, and the capacity to compete in a rapidly changing global economy.
A country cannot seriously aspire to become a knowledge economy while underfunding the stage of education where young people are prepared for higher education, skills acquisition, and the world of work.
I understand that 2% of the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the government has been earmarked for senior secondary education, as legislated in the Establishment Act of the Commission in 2023. However, that provision has not been implemented since then.
If implemented, the fund would go a long way toward addressing the peculiar challenges in senior secondary school education and providing targeted interventions in areas that have direct consequences for educational quality and national development. For example, it could support critical areas such as STEM education, digital transformation, laboratories, technical and vocational education, teacher professional development, school leadership, sports and talent development, girl-child education, safe school initiative, inclusive education, and the upgrading of learning environments.
It could also provide competitive grants to states and schools based on clearly defined performance indicators, ensuring that funding is linked to measurable improvements in learning outcomes and school management.
The establishment of the National Senior Secondary Education Commission (NSSEC) provides an important institutional opportunity in this regard. The Commission can become a strategic platform for coordinating, regulating, and monitoring federal interventions in senior secondary education.
But regulation without adequate resources will have a limited impact. NSSEC, therefore, needs a sustainable funding framework to fulfill its mandate and support states and schools in addressing the enormous challenges facing senior secondary education.
The funding of education should also not be seen exclusively as the government’s responsibility. Nigeria’s private sector, development partners, philanthropic organizations, and international development agencies can play important roles. Corporate social responsibility programs could be aligned with national priorities in senior secondary education rather than scattered across isolated projects.
There could also be dedicated windows for private-sector investment in STEM laboratories, digital education, entrepreneurship, technical skills, sports, and innovation.
The Federal Government could explore a combination of statutory appropriations, the 2% CRF, targeted education levies, state contributions, development-partner financing, private-sector partnerships, and philanthropic support to establish a sustainable funding pool. What is important is that such funding should be predictable, transparent, needs-based, and accountable.
There is also a broader reason why this conversation matters. If basic education is underfunded, Nigeria produces children who are not adequately prepared for secondary education. If senior secondary education is underfunded, those students arrive at tertiary institutions without the competencies they need. Tertiary institutions then have to spend additional resources addressing deficiencies that should have been dealt with earlier.
In other words, weaknesses at the senior secondary level eventually become problems for universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education, as well as for employers and the wider economy. This makes investment in senior secondary education not an expense but rather a form of national human capital investment.
Nigeria, therefore, needs to move beyond the traditional debate about whether the government spends enough on education. We must also ask whether the money is being allocated across the education value chain in a way that protects every critical stage.
UBEC addresses one end. TETFund addresses another. Senior secondary education must not remain the missing middle. The Federal Government, National Assembly, state governments, education stakeholders, and the private sector should therefore begin a serious national conversation on establishing a sustainable funding mechanism for senior secondary education.
The objective should not simply be to create another fund or institution. The objective should be to ensure that every Nigerian child who completes basic education enters a senior secondary school that has the teachers, facilities, technology, leadership, and learning environment required to prepare him or her for the future.
Nigeria’s demographic advantage can become an economic advantage only if its young population receives quality education. The time has come to close the funding gap. We cannot build a strong tertiary education system on a weak senior secondary foundation. The missing middle must finally receive the attention—and the investment it deserves.
♦ Dr. Babatunde is a Fellow at Nigeria’s Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution, a Part-time Professor at China’s Zhejiang Normal University; writes via austinebabatunde@yahoo.com
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