By Emmanuel Nnadozie Onwubiko
As I drove my daughter to school, which is a private school, we passed several public schools. I took a second look at the dilapidated structures and facilities in which children receive their foundational education. If properly assessed, many of these publicly funded schools would inevitably fail the test of the kind of learning environment in which children ought to be educated during their earliest years, in line with global best practices.
One thing struck me immediately: these public schools are backed by the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. This means that foundational learning institutions ought to be regularly maintained, upgraded and equipped to meet the changing standards of facilities and equipment required for imparting knowledge to Nigerian children.
It was precisely when I dropped my daughter off at her school that I recalled reading a public statement attributed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in which he emphatically repeated the popular position that foundational learning should and must be free and qualitative.
Tinubu hails 1950s free-education legacy as foundation for Nigeria’s progress
President Bola Tinubu was quoted as stating that the free primary education schemes launched across the country in 1955, 1957 and 1960 respectively by the Premiers of the Western Region, Eastern Region and Northern Region served as ladders out of poverty for many Nigerians.
He said the free primary education policies introduced by the nation’s founding fathers constituted a bridge to dignity for countless families across the country.
President Tinubu spoke exactly a year ago as the Distinguished Guest of Honour at the 70th anniversary of the launch of Free Universal Primary Education in Nigeria, held at the Eko Hotel in Lagos. The platinum jubilee event was organised by Independent Newspapers Limited as part of the 65th Independence Anniversary celebrations.
The Nigerian President reportedly lauded the foresight of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe and Sir Ahmadu Bello and urged governments across the country to follow in the footsteps of the founding fathers.
According to the President:
«“Our founding fathers did not merely launch a programme – they defined a national identity that Nigeria’s greatness is rooted in the enlightenment of all.»
«“Anniversaries summon us to fidelity. The torch lit in Ibadan on January 17, 1955, must not dim. It is the duty of every government to renew the covenant that schooling is the right of every Nigerian child.”»
President Tinubu then went into an extensive defence of his administration’s record, stating:
«“Under this administration, that renewal has a name: the Renewed Hope Agenda. It is not a slogan, but the organising principle of this administration – to make education once again the engine of national renewal, the guarantor of equal citizenship, and the path to shared prosperity.”»
Speaking about the challenges posed by the huge number of out-of-school children across the states, Tinubu said:
«“Education is not just a social service. It is a national security imperative, economic growth strategy, and moral duty.»
«“Every Naira we invest in education is an investment in Nigeria’s future. The youth are our greatest asset, but also our most significant test. We cannot stand by while our children are out of school.»
«“We must guarantee access and learning. We must deliver equity and quality. Anything less would betray the covenant made seventy years ago.”»
He then made a claim that deserves closer public scrutiny, stating:
«“We have doubled the government budgetary allocation to Basic Education and have mobilised over $1 billion in development finance for education, reaching millions of children and teachers who are already benefiting from initiatives that improve quality, access, and strengthen education systems for long-term sustainability.»
«“Within two years, over 500,000 teachers have been trained, with the number expected to reach one million by next year.»
«“Over 20 million children in basic education are being positively impacted with ongoing interventions.”»
The President urged development partners, teachers, parents and other stakeholders to continue playing invaluable roles in basic education, adding that their support remained essential to the country’s shared mission.
The uncomfortable reality of budget implementation
An open secret in Nigeria under the current dispensation, which the President failed to adequately address in the aforementioned speech, is the persistent gap between budgetary allocations and actual implementation.
Since the administration assumed office, concerns have continued to be raised about the implementation of annual budgets. In particular, the capital components of yearly budgets have often suffered from poor or delayed implementation.
The National Assembly, which is constitutionally empowered to appropriate public funds and exercise oversight over the executive arm of government, has also faced criticism over its failure to compel more rigorous implementation of appropriations passed by the legislature.
The Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Muhammad Ali Pate, recently disclosed that the ministry was unable to implement its 2025 capital budget after reportedly receiving only N36 million out of the N218 billion appropriated for the year. If accurately reported, such a disparity raises fundamental questions about the relationship between budgetary allocations on paper and actual public expenditure.
The situation, critics argue, is replicated across several ministries, departments and agencies.
To put the matter in context, the Tinubu administration only recently signed the amendment passed by the National Assembly allowing the 2025 budget cycle to run through December.
If these are the realities of budget implementation, how then should Nigerians understand the President’s claim that his administration has improved budgetary allocations to the Universal Basic Education sector for the benefit of Nigerian children?
This is the interrogation that confronts Nigerians each time they drive past public primary and secondary schools owned by federal and state governments and witness the unprecedented levels of decay, deterioration and dilapidation of infrastructure and learning facilities.
Those most affected are the children who attend these institutions in search of foundational education – education that is legally supposed to be free and qualitative under Nigeria’s Universal Basic Education framework.
Delta’s schools of sorrow: trapped in decaying and unsafe classrooms
One of Nigeria’s respected mainstream professional media organisations recently reported on the existential reality of rot, decay, deterioration and dilapidation affecting foundational learning facilities in Delta State.
Delta is one of the country’s major oil-producing states and receives substantial allocations from the Federation Account. Yet the condition of some of its public schools raises serious questions about the prioritisation of education.
The disturbing situation reported in Delta State is, unfortunately, not unique. Similar conditions can be found across many parts of the federation.
In Imo State, for instance, many public primary schools have also suffered serious neglect, with some school buildings reportedly falling into disrepair and children receiving education in deteriorating environments.
But let us examine what the newspaper reported about the situation in Delta State.
One classroom, according to the report, has no roof. Its walls are cracked and its windows have disappeared. In another block, there are no doors. In yet another, the toilet has collapsed.
Yet every morning, children still arrive.
They come carrying exercise books, pencils and the dreams their parents have entrusted to public education.
Some sit on bare floors. Others squeeze into the few surviving desks.
Teachers stand before them and improvise, teaching lessons about education, discipline and a better future in environments that appear to mock the very idea of a conducive school.
Across several communities in Delta State, this is the uncomfortable reality behind the government’s fresh promise to rehabilitate and reconstruct public schools.
On August 31, 2026, the Delta State Government announced Governor Sheriff Oborevwori’s resolve to embark, within two weeks, on a massive rehabilitation or reconstruction programme covering primary and secondary schools across the state’s 25 local government areas.
The Commissioner for Works, Rural Roads and Public Information, Charles Aniagwu, said the Ministries of Basic and Secondary Education had been directed to assess schools and determine those requiring intervention.
Aniagwu said the governor had:
«“directed that the two ministries immediately come up with the scope of these different schools that need to be rehabilitated so that the government will immediately proceed to put them in order for the purpose of our children having much more conducive learning and indeed teaching environment.”»
But for children already trapped in these structures, the question is not whether they need a conducive learning environment.
The question is: how long must they wait for one?
Foundational learning: the building blocks of quality education
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) states that foundational learning constitutes the building blocks for quality learning throughout life.
According to UNESCO, foundational skills encompass literacy, numeracy and social-emotional skills. These core skills, developed from early childhood through secondary education, are essential for school success and facilitate learning throughout life.
Foundational learning begins in early childhood and lays the groundwork for lifelong success.
Significantly, UNESCO has emphasised that the early years represent a critical window for brain development, when a child’s brain is particularly receptive to acquiring the cognitive and social-emotional skills that underpin future learning.
During this period, children develop important executive functions and self-regulation skills, which are critical for learning and closely connected with literacy and mathematics development.
UNESCO made these observations in its 2024 global report on early childhood care and education, The Right to a Strong Foundation.
The organisation further affirmed that weak foundational skills are associated with early school leaving and exclusion from education.
According to the Global Education Monitoring Report 2024, of the estimated 251 million out-of-school children and young people worldwide, 71 million are of primary-school age and 57 million are adolescents of lower-secondary-school age.
The findings also indicate that students who do not reach the end of lower secondary school are highly unlikely to achieve proficiency in reading and mathematics.
Yet school attendance does not necessarily translate into successful learning.
Recent statistics indicate disturbingly low levels of basic literacy and numeracy among students globally. According to UNESCO’s Global Education Monitoring Report 2024, 58 per cent of students achieve the minimum proficiency level in reading and 44 per cent in mathematics by the end of primary school.
Those who lack basic literacy and numeracy are poorly prepared to navigate increasingly complex, technical and digital employment sectors, thereby limiting their prospects for decent work and positive social outcomes.
It is now well established that social-emotional development is an important precursor to successful literacy and numeracy learning.
On the shortage of teachers, particularly qualified teachers, UNESCO has also warned that this deficit exacerbates the challenges confronting foundational learning.
According to UNESCO’s 2024 report on early childhood care and education, approximately six million pre-primary educators are needed by 2030 to meet Sustainable Development Goal 4 targets. UNESCO’s 2024 Global Report on Teachers also identified a shortage of approximately 44 million primary and secondary teachers worldwide.
Foundational learning according to the World Bank
The World Bank similarly describes foundational learning – including basic literacy, numeracy and socio-emotional skills – as the foundation for a lifetime of learning.
These skills foster social and emotional growth, cognitive development and civic engagement. They are critical to helping today’s children become tomorrow’s productive workers and active citizens.
Without foundational learning, students often struggle later in school and in the workforce. They miss out on the human capital needed to become productive workers, as well as the skills required to participate meaningfully as citizens and build healthy and prosperous families.
Importantly, a lack of foundational literacy skills in the early grades can contribute to the intergenerational transmission of poverty and vulnerability.
These same skills also enable people to reskill and upskill later in life. Lifelong learning therefore unlocks opportunities for lifelong productivity.
Literacy is particularly fundamental. Children need to develop the ability to read proficiently at an early age because reading is a gateway to learning as they progress through school. Conversely, an inability to read severely constrains opportunities for further learning.
Lessons from Britain
The British Government has similarly affirmed that what children learn when they are young can have a profound and lasting impact.
This is illustrated by recent data on reading in England. The 2021 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) placed England’s Year 5 pupils fourth among the 43 participating countries.
The study also reported a positive correlation between performance in the Year 1 phonics screening check and performance in PIRLS 2021. The same report noted that a one-point increase in the screening check was associated with nearly a four-point gain in PIRLS 2021.
England’s systematic approach to teaching early reading, combined with the focused assessment conducted at the end of Year 1, has therefore been reflected positively in pupils’ reading performance as they progress towards the end of primary school.
The Ofsted mathematics report in 2023 was similarly encouraging. It reported a significant positive shift in mathematics education in primary schools and noted that school leaders increasingly intended that pupils should “keep up, not catch up”.
These approaches demonstrate the importance of early intervention and sustained investment in foundational learning.
However, despite improvements in the phonics screening check since its introduction in 2012, disadvantaged children remain less likely to meet the expected standard.
The lesson for Nigeria is clear: foundational learning cannot be treated as an afterthought.
Conclusion: Nigeria must rescue foundational learning
This is a clarion call to the Federal Government and the governments of the 36 states of the federation to become genuinely committed to standardising the quality of teachers, infrastructure and learning facilities in Nigeria’s foundational learning institutions.
It is well established that quality and compulsory basic education is a legal right of Nigerian children. Governments therefore have an obligation to upgrade, modernise and adequately equip public schools, while ensuring that appropriately qualified teachers are employed to impart knowledge to children during their formative years.
The objective should be to ensure that Nigerian children acquire the knowledge, skills, confidence and vocational competencies required to compete favourably with their contemporaries in the global community of nations.
The Federal and State Ministries of Education, alongside parents and other stakeholders, should also constantly monitor the standards and educational conditions of private schools. The exorbitant fees paid by many Nigerian parents must translate into quality education, appropriate learning environments and meaningful educational outcomes for their children and wards.
Above all, Nigeria must pay very close attention to the foundational learning of its children.
Politicians and public officials responsible for the education sector should constantly learn from successful education systems in countries such as Britain, the United States, Canada, Australia and Japan, where early childhood and foundational learning receive significant policy attention.
The future of Nigeria cannot be secured merely through political speeches and budgetary promises.
It will be secured when the Nigerian child can walk into a safe classroom, sit at a proper desk, learn from a qualified teacher, read with confidence, understand mathematics, develop social and emotional skills, and leave school equipped to participate meaningfully in society.
Foundational learning is not merely an educational issue. It is a human-rights issue, an economic issue, a national-development issue and, ultimately, a question of Nigeria’s future.
EMMANUEL NNADOZIE ONWUBIKO is the founder of the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria and was a National Commissioner of the National Human Rights Commission of Nigeria.
