Nigeria, April 18 -- All six states in Nigeria's South-west region have fallen short of Nigeria's recommended education funding benchmark in their 2026 budgets, a PREMIUM TIMES analysis has shown, raising concerns about sectoral priorities.

The Federal Ministry of Education, through the National Policy on Education, prescribes that at least 26 per cent of annual budgets should be allocated to education by both federal and subnational governments. However, none of the states in the South-west came close to the threshold.

Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun and Oyo are the states in the South-west. The states posted education allocations ranging from 5.3 per cent to 16.4 per cent in their 2026 approved budgets.

Although these figures remain b...