Financial Commitments to Education Obligations

Data sets on Federal Government of Nigeria's financial commitments (Budget) on Education,were derived from the 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 Appropriation Acts. The Data set is aimed at assessing if these financial commitments show progressive achievements in the education sector as well as assessing if maximum available resources are actually used. In determining the attainment of progressive achievements in the Nigerian educational sector, the trend in education budget
both in nominal and real terms were compared, with real expenditure on education declining over time. In dis-aggregating the education sector by levels, the data set suggests that the major contributors to the decline in education budget have been the Universal Basic Education, Vocational and literal Education and Tertiary Education. On a per capital basis, the data set revealed that the Federal Government of Nigeria, spends more per head in tertiary education compared to other levels of education. This is on the back drop of serious concerns in Basic education. The Data set on Universal Basic Education does not show any evidence of progressive achievement in reducing the incidence of Out - Of - School children in Nigeria. This is premised on the need for additional funding, whereas the budgeted expenditure for 2019 actually reduced. In relating the budgeted expenditure for Senior Secondary school to transition rates into tertiary education, the data set showed that the federal government's budget actually funds inefficiencies in transition rates. For tertiary education, despite having the largest share of total education budget, as an expected outcome, youth entrepreneurship and unemployment has increased significantly. Lastly with reference to using the maximum available resources, the data compared the share of education budget to GDP, Revenue and Retained Revenue with the purpose of assessing the priority of the education sector over other sectors.