Comparing the Budgetary Allocations to the Education Sectors of Nigeria and Some African Countries (1999-2021) in View of UNESCO’s Benchmarks

Abstract

The percentage budgetary allocations to the education sectors of Nigeria alongside those of some other selected African countries (which included Ghana, South Africa, Senegal, Kenya and Morocco) from 1999 to 2021 in view of the UNESCO recommended minimum benchmarks were assessed in this paper. Secondary data from the 2018 Edition of the Statistical Bulletin of the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Official Website of the Budget Office of the Federal Government of Nigeria (budgetoffice.gov.ng) were analyzed. Descriptive statistics, the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) test, the Student’s t-test for equality of two population means and Ranking were all employed in the data analyses. Results showed that for the period under study, (1999-2021), the annual percentage budgetary allocations to the education sector by the government of Nigeria were significantly lower than those of Ghana, South Africa, Senegal, Kenya and Morocco; those of Ghana were significantly higher than each of those of South Africa and Morocco, but were not significantly different from those of the governments of Senegal and Kenya; those of South Africa are not significantly different from those of Morocco, but were significantly lower than each of those of Senegal and Kenya; those of Senegal were not significantly different from those of Kenya, but were significantly higher than those of Morocco; while those of Kenya were significantly higher than those of Morocco. Furthermore, for the period, (1999-2021), the average percentage budgetary allocation to the education sector by the FGN was significantly lower than each of the UNESCO’s 15%, 20% and 26% recommended benchmarks; that of Ghana was significantly higher than each of the UNESCO’s 15% and 20% recommended benchmarks, but not that of 26%; that of South Africa and Senegal were significantly higher than the UNESCO’s 15% benchmark, not significantly different from the 20% benchmark, but were significantly lower than the 26% benchmark; that of Kenya was significantly higher than each of the UNESCO’s 15% and 20% recommended benchmarks, but is significantly lower than the 26% benchmark; while that of Morocco was significantly higher than the UNESCO’s 15%, but significantly lower than each of the 20% and 26% recommended benchmarks. Finally, based on the levels of adherence to the UNESCO’s recommended minimum benchmarks, Ghana was ranked first, while Kenya, Senegal, South Africa, Morocco and Nigeria were ranked second, third, fourth, fifth and a distant sixth, respectively. Thus, for the period, (1999-2021), Ghana, Kenya, Senegal, South Africa and Morocco outperformed Nigeria in terms of the percentage budgetary allocations to their respective education sectors as well as the levels of adherence to UNESCO’s recommended minimum benchmarks.