Six states in Nigeria’s North-east have collectively allocated N546.1 billion to education in their 2026 budgets, but none meets the 26 per cent education spending benchmark recommended by Nigeria’s National Policy on Education.
The six states are Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba and Yobe.
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Nigeria’s National Policy on Education prescribes a 26 per cent allocation to education, while the National Policy on Enhancement of Almajiri Education (2025) mandates structured funding for integrating Almajiri children into formal learning systems.
The allocations show major differences in the priority given to education across the region, as well as wide variations in how effectively states implemented their 2025 education budgets.
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PREMIUM TIMES’ review of the 2026 budgets also found that while some states earmarked substantial sums for school construction, rehabilitation, scholarships and tertiary institutions, provisions specifically targeting the education and integration of Almajiri children remain limited in Adamawa, Borno and Taraba.
Integrating Almajiri children in school is important because of the concentration of out-of-school children in northern Nigeria and the federal government’s concern about the Almajiri system.
The Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, in January 2025, said that Nigeria needed increased funding to address the Almajiri and out-of-school children crisis, noting that only a few of more than 100 schools built for Almajiri children were still operational.
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PREMIUM TIMES’ recent review of North-west budgets similarly found substantial differences among states in funding for Almajiri education, with some states making specific provisions while others had no visible allocation.
Adamawa tops education budget in North-east
Adamawa allocated N113.38 billion to education from its N583.33 billion 2026 budget, representing 19.4 per cent.
Among the major education-related allocations are N3.55 billion for foreign scholarships, N1.23 billion for students’ scholarship allowances, N3.9 billion for construction of a College of Medical Sciences complex, and N3.5 billion for construction of a Faculty of Engineering complex at Adamawa State University, Mubi.
The state also budgeted N2 billion for payment of WAEC, NECO, NABTEB and Basic Certificate Examination fees, while N3.75 billion was provided as take-off funding for the Adamawa State College of Technology.
However, PREMIUM TIMES found no specific provision for Almajiri education in the 2026 budget.
The state’s 2025 education budget also raises questions about implementation. Adamawa had budgeted N102 billion for education but spent only N47.93 billion, about 47 per cent performance.
Bauchi earmarked 15.1 per cent budget to education
Bauchi allocated N131.72 billion to education from its N877.05 billion 2026 budget, representing 15.01 per cent.
The allocation includes N2.29 billion for the rehabilitation of 1,003 schools, while another N2.3 billion is earmarked for the purchase of 4,500 chairs and 4,500 tables for upper secondary schools.
The state also budgeted N2 billion for construction of a perimeter wall at Sa’adu Zungur University.
It budgeted N758.5 million in capital expenditure for the Bauchi State Agency for Nomadic Education which also covers Almajiri education.
In 2025, Bauchi spent N50.28 billion out of a budgeted N64.98 billion for education, representing 77.4 per cent implementation.
Borno lowest on Almajiri education among states with provision
Borno’s N892.45 billion 2026 budget includes N134.90 billion for education, representing 15.1 per cent.
Among the largest projects is N17 billion for the construction of mega public secondary schools. Another N11 billion is approved for the rehabilitation of 25 public schools across the state’s three senatorial districts.
The state also made a capital provision of N3.4 million for Borno State Nomadic Education which covers Almajiri education. This is the lowest budgetary provision in the region for Almajiri education among states that have budgeted for it.
In 2025, Borno spent N57.78 billion out of N74.62 billion budgeted for education, translating to 77.4 per cent performance.
Gombe lowest on education budget but tops provision for Almajiri education
Gombe allocated N71.89 billion, or 11.6 per cent, of its N617.95 billion 2026 budget to education, the lowest proportion among the six North-east states.
The state, however, has several large education infrastructure projects.
It allocated N7 billion for the construction of six additional model/mega secondary schools and another N7 billion for the construction, upgrading and furnishing of 537 secondary schools.
The state earmarked N1 billion for the construction of three schools for the integration of Almajiri children.
In 2025, Gombe spent N32.2 billion of its N46.71 billion education budget, a 68.9 per cent performance.
Taraba ranks second but 2025 performance cast doubts
Taraba allocated N114.44 billion to education from its N653.63 billion 2026 budget, representing 17.5 per cent and emerging second to Adamawa State in the region’s ranking on proportion of education budget to the overall budget of the state.
The state’s education plans include N1 billion for construction of a 600-capacity lecture theatre at the Suntai campus of the Taraba State University in Bali Local Government Area.
Another N1 billion is allocated for the construction of female hostels at the Taraba State University, College of Education, College of Agriculture, Science and Technology, Jalingo, and the State Polytechnic, Suntai.
But the largest allocations are for basic and secondary school infrastructure. The state provided N18 billion for construction of 30 model secondary schools using hydrofoam bricks across the three senatorial districts, while another N16 billion is earmarked for 30 model primary schools across the state.
However, PREMIUM TIMES found no specific provision for Almajiri education.
Taraba’s 2025 education spending was by miles weaker than that of Bauchi and Borno. The state spent N48.88 billion out of N118.17 billion budgeted for education, representing only 41 per cent performance. This raises questions on whether the state would perform well on what it plans to spend on education in 2026.
Yobe records 15.5 per cent, strongest in 2025 performance
Yobe allocated N79.79 billion to education from its N515.53 billion 2026 budget, representing 15.5 per cent.
The state budgeted N6 billion for the construction of 25 new junior secondary and 25 senior secondary school buildings.
Another N4.5 billion is earmarked for the rehabilitation of 79 existing junior and senior secondary schools.
Yobe made a clear provision for Almajiri education, allocating N612.66 million to the programme.
It also recorded the strongest education budget performance among the six states in 2025.
The state spent N43.4 billion out of the N43.44 billion budgeted for education, representing almost 100 per cent implementation.
Funding versus implementation
The figures show a recurring problem in education financing: the size of an allocation does not necessarily translate into actual spending.
Taraba, for instance, allocated 17.5 per cent of its 2026 budget to education but implemented only 41 per cent of its 2025 education budget.
Adamawa recorded 47 per cent performance, while Yobe, with a smaller nominal education allocation, achieved almost full implementation.
Bauchi and Borno each recorded about 77.4 per cent implementation, while Gombe achieved 68.9 per cent.
The differences matter because PREMIUM TIMES’ previous analysis of education budgets has repeatedly shown that increased allocations need to be matched by actual releases and expenditure to produce measurable improvements in schools. The newspaper’s review of the 2026 federal education budget also found major implementation challenges, including weak capital releases in 2025.
The North-east figures also show that none of the six states reached the 26 per cent education benchmark used in PREMIUM TIMES’ regional budget analyses.
In the North-west, for example, PREMIUM TIMES found that Kano was the only state in the region to meet the benchmark in its 2026 budget.
More importantly, the treatment of Almajiri education remains uneven. Only Gombe, Yobe and Bauchi, through its Nomadic Education Agency, have identifiable budget provisions targeting non-formal or nomadic education among the six states.
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For the other states, the absence of clearly identifiable Almajiri allocations does not necessarily mean that no such intervention exists, but it makes the scale and government commitment difficult to establish from the published budgets.
That gap is particularly important in a region where education authorities are under pressure to bring children outside the formal school system into education.
At the national level, the federal government has acknowledged that the Almajiri and out-of-school children crisis requires collaboration with state governments.
In the North-east, the 2026 budgets reveal a mixed picture: substantial provisions but uneven execution of previous allocations and limited, state-specific funding for integrating Almajiri children into formal education.
The figures suggest that the critical question moves beyond how much states budget for education, but how much is actually spent, and whether the spending reaches the children most excluded from the education system.
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