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2024–2025 academic year; Q1 2026 focus | GN-REPORT-2024-2025-ACADEMIC-YEAR--NIGERIA-EDUCATION-TRACKER-BRIEF-MAY-2026

Nigeria Education Tracker Brief May 2026

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A May 2026 comprehensive briefing on Nigeria's education system — enrollment, examination results, teacher quality, infrastructure gaps, and learning outcomes.

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Summary

Nigeria's education system is the largest in Africa, with approximately 25 million children in primary school and 7.5 million in secondary school, but it is also one of the most challenged [^1^]. Learning outcomes remain poor, teacher quality is uneven, infrastructure is deficient, and approximately 10.2 million children of primary school age are out of school — the highest number globally [^2^]. This tracker brief assesses the education sector using data from UBEC, WAEC, NECO, NBS, UNICEF, and the World Bank. The picture is mixed: enrollment has grown modestly, examination pass rates have stabilized, but learning poverty — the proportion of 10-year-olds unable to read and understand a simple text — remains at approximately 70% [^3^]. The federal government's 2026 education budget is NGN 2.18 trillion (7.2% of total expenditure), below the UNESCO-recommended 15–20% and the 26% target in the National Policy on Education [^4^][^5^].

Key Findings

Key Findings

  1. Approximately 25 million children are enrolled in Nigerian primary schools, but an estimated 10.2 million primary-school-age children are out of school [^1^][^2^].

  2. Secondary school enrollment is approximately 7.5 million, with gross enrollment ratio of approximately 54% [^1^].

  3. WAEC SSCE pass rates (5 credits including mathematics and English) averaged 35–40% in the 2024 examination cycle [^6^].

  4. NECO SSCE pass rates (5 credits including mathematics and English) averaged 45–50% in the 2024 examination cycle, slightly higher than WAEC [^7^].

  5. Learning poverty — the proportion of 10-year-olds unable to read a simple text — is estimated at approximately 70% in Nigeria, among the highest rates globally [^3^].

  6. The federal education budget for 2026 is NGN 2.18 trillion (7.2% of total expenditure), below the UNESCO recommendation of 15–20% of government spending [^4^][^5^].

  7. UBEC disbursements to states for basic education were NGN 142 billion in 2025, but utilization rates vary dramatically by state [^8^].

  8. The pupil-teacher ratio in public primary schools averages 1:45, well above the UNESCO standard of 1:25 [^9^].

  9. Approximately 35% of Nigerian teachers lack the minimum qualification (NCE for primary, B.Ed./PGDE for secondary) [^10^].

  10. School infrastructure is grossly inadequate: an estimated 40% of public primary schools lack basic furniture, 50% lack electricity, and 60% lack running water [^11^].

  11. Girls' enrollment lags behind boys in the North, with states like Sokoto, Yobe, and Borno having female primary enrollment rates below 50% [^12^].

  12. Almajiri out-of-school children are estimated at 9–10 million, concentrated in northern states [^13^].

  13. Private schools enroll 40–50% of urban children and are growing faster than public schools, but quality varies from excellent to exploitative [^14^].

  14. Japa (emigration) is draining the education sector: an estimated 15,000–20,000 Nigerian teachers and lecturers emigrated in 2024–2025 [^15^].

  15. The National Senior Secondary School Examination (WASSCE) candidate pool grew 4.2% year-on-year to 1.9 million in 2024, indicating continued demand for secondary certification [^6^].

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