ASSESSING EDUCATIONAL EXPENDITURES | MARTINS LIBRARY

Previous attempts

The lack of knowledge of educational expenditures in Nigeria is not a recent phenomenon. The last detailed and comprehensive effort to describe the situation was made in 1965, utilizing data up to 1962 (Callaway and Musone, 1965). Among the central findings was that in 1962:

(a)     Total expenditures on education by all governments combined were equal to 3.5 percent of GDP and 15.2 percent of total government expenditure.

(b)     Education expenditures were equal to 15 percent of total Federal expenditures and 21 percent, 27 percent and 29 percent of the total expenditures of the Northern, Eastern and Western Regional Governments respectively.

(c)     50 percent of total public expenditures on education were allocated to primary education, 31 percent to secondary and 19 percent to tertiary, including for

overseas study.

This set of information was updated for 1966 but since then very few, and only very partial, estimates have been made. An attempt to calculate the cost of primary schooling was made in 1982 but using enrolment data and only a single estimate of unit costs (Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1982). For 1985, education expenditures were surveyed across 15 state governments (Hinchliffe 1989). The results demonstrated large regional variations. While the share of education expenditure in total state government expenditure averaged 40 percent, ranging between 23 and 57 percent, for seven northern states the share averaged 32 percent and for eight southern states, 47 percent. In 1987, evidence was collected from 11 states on the financing arrangements for primary schooling (Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1987). The results showed enormous differences between states in the way in which local governments, state governments and parents were involved. In 1992, case studies of expenditure in just three states were undertaken by the World Bank. In Kano, the share of education in total state government expenditure had fallen from 32 percent in 1987 to 21 percent in 1991, partly though not only, as a result of virtually all of the cost of primary education being moved to local authorities in the latter year. In Plateau state, in 1991, educational expenditure was around 16-17 percent of total government expenditures and falling. In Imo state, the share for education in that year was 31.5 percent, and rising. Overall, the case studies again demonstrated significant divergences across states in expenditure levels and distributions.

The examples described above demonstrate that, over time, the attempts, which have been made to understand the characteristics of education expenditure in Nigeria, have become increasingly partial.