Modern Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities | ISSN 2795-4846 | Volume 13 | Feb-2023

Modern Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities

ISSN: 2795-4846 Volume 13 (Feb-2023)
Available online: https://mjssh.academicjournal.io

Analysis of Factors Responsible For Poor Funding of Early Childhood Care and
Education (ECCE) in Nigeria and Way Forward

Muhammad Baba Afoto, Rachael K. Adekanle, Comfort Okpeyika Omache

Department of Early Childhood Care Education, School of Early Childhood Care, Primary Education,
Adult and Non- Formal Education, Federal College of Education Katsina

Niyi Jacob Ogunode

Department of Education, University of Abuja

Abstract:
Purpose: This paper discussed the factors responsible for poor funding of Early Childhood Care and
Education (ECCE) in Nigeria.
Method: Content analysis method was adopted in the paper. Data used were both primary and
secondary data. The data were sourced from online and print resources.
Conclusion: The paper concludes that poor implementation of national policy on education on
funding, fall short in national revenue, insecurity, lack of political will to access federal counterpart
funds, corruption, poor implementation UNESCO 26% recommendation for education, poor allocation
to funds to early child education, poor support from private sector,subsidy payment and debt servicing
are the factor responsible for the poor allocation of funds to the Early Childhood Care and Education
(ECCE) in Nigeria.
Recommendation: The government both federal and state government should increase the funding of
Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) in Nigeria.
Keywords: Education, Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme, Funding, revenue,
Subsidy.

INTRODUCTION
The smooth running of any educational institution depends largely on the availability of resources, be
it human, material or financial. These resources also determine to a large extent the achievement of the
set goals of any organization (Gambo, &Fasanmi, 2019). Gambo, &Fasanmi, (2019) and
Ozigi&Canham (1979) sates that no organization can carry out its functions effectively without
adequate financial resources at its disposal. Funding which represents financial resources plays a vital
role in the development of universities. Therefore, the funding of education is a vital area of
Economics of Education (Gambo, &Fasanmi, 2019; Akangbou, 1986).
In Nigeria educational institutions are always faced with the challenges of adequate funding. This
problem is cut across all the forms of educational institutions such as the tertiary institutions,
secondary schools and the basic education which include the Early Childhood Care and Education
(ECCE. A study by Budget in Nigeria indicated that in 2022, Nigeria budget for some sector showed
that that Defence and Security got N2.41 trillion (15%); Infrastructure N1.45 trillion (8.9%); Health
N820 billion (5%); Social Development and Poverty Eradication N863 billion (5.3%) and Education
N1.29 trillion (7.9%) of the entire allocation. The history of education funding in Nigeria showed that

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from 2011, education got N393.8 billion or 9.3 per cent of the total budget; N468.3 billion or 9.86 per
cent in 2012; N499.7 billion or 10.1 per cent in 2013; N494.7 billion or 10.5 per cent in 2014; N484.2
billion or 10.7 per cent in 2015; N369.6 billion or 7.9 per cent of the total budget in 2016; N550. 5
billion in 2017 representing 7.4 per cent of the total budget; N605.8 billion in 2018 or 7.04 per cent;
N620.5 billion or 7.05 per cent in 2019 and N671.07 billion or 6.7 per cent in 2020 and N742.5 billion
or 5.68 per cent of the total budget in 2021 (Blueprint 2021).
In 2022, the federal ministry of education was allotted N65.3 billion, out of which UBEC which
supervises Education at basic education and junior secondary school levels got N77.6 billion. The
remaining N599.6b was shared across 21 commissions and agencies under the federal ministry of
education with an average of N28.5 billion per institution. The budgetary allocation for the
administration and management of Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) at both the federal,
state and local government level is considered poor and inadequate. It is important to analysis factors
responsible for the poor allocation of funds to the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE)
programme in Nigeria.
Concept of Early Child Education
The federal government first introduced the Universal Basic Education Programme in 1999 as a reform
programme in education, aimed at providing greater access to, and ensuring quality of basic education
in Nigeria. As a free, universal, and compulsory basic education programme, it was later backed by the
UBE Act 2004, which made the provision for basic education consisting of Early Childhood Care and
Education (ECCE), Primary education and Junior Secondary Education (Blueprint 2021). The
programme is seen as a demonstration of Nigeria‘s commitment to global protocols and conventions
on education, including the Rights of the Child Convention (1989) and the World Declaration on
Education for All and Framework for Action to Meet Basic Learning Needs (1990). One of the major
goals of the UBE programme is to ensure that all children, regardless of ethnicity, religion, class, or
gender, have access to quality basic education. Hence access, equity and quality are the cardinal
pursuits of the UBE program (Blueprint 2021).
The Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme is a programme under the universal
basic education programme. The early child education is the first school education children receive.
The Early Child Care Development and Education (ECCDE) according to the National Policy on
education (2013) is the care, protection, stimulation and learning promoted in children from age 0 - 4
years in a crèche or nursery (FRN,2013).Ojameruaye (2010), observed that the Early Child Care
Development and Education (ECCDE) covers very diverse arrangements, from parenting programs to
community-based child care, center-based provision and formal pre-primary education, often in
school. ECCDE programmes typically aim at two age groups: (i) children under 3 years; and (ii)
children from age 3 to primary school (usually by age 5+ or 6years in the case of Nigeria). Olowe,
Kutelu, and Majebi (2014), views Early Child Care Development and Education (ECCDE) as any
group programme that is designed to promote children‘s intellectual development, socio-emotional
development, language development, physical development and learning from birth to age 8.From the
above, Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) is a form of education for children under the age
of five years. Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) is an education before the basic education
meant to introduce elementary education for the children.
The purpose of Early Child Care Development and Education shall be to effect a smooth transition
from the home to the school; prepare the child for the primary level of education; provide adequate
care, supervision and security for the children while their parents are at work; inculcate social, moral
norms and values; inculcate in the child the spirit of enquiry and creativity through the exploration of
nature, the environment, art, music and the use of toys, etc; develop a sense of co-operation and team-
spirit; stimulate in the child good habits, including good health habits; and teach the rudiments of
numbers; letters, colours, shapes, forms, etc, through play.
Sources of Funding Early Childhood Education

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The financing of basic education including pre-primary education is the responsibility of states and
local governments while the federal government provides intervention fund of 2% of its Consolidated
Revenue Fund every year. The states government are expected by law to provide counterpart fund to
access the fund.
The Universal Basic Education Act provides for the utilization of 2% of the Consolidated Revenue in
the following format:
A: 70% of this fund is reserved as a matching grant for the implementation of state level projects,
while 5% of the 70% is allocated for early childhood education. 60% is for primary education and 35%
for junior secondary.
These funds are utilized as follows: 70% for infrastructural development; 15% for supply of
instructional materials and 15% for care-giver/teacher professional development.
Other external sources of funding of early child education in Nigeria include World Bank - providing
grants for Early Childhood Education model centres and training of teachers, caregivers and
stimulating materials through school grant and UNICEF and UNESCO - in some local
communities.Under the 1999 Constitution, the basic education sector in Nigeria is managed by
thethree tiers of public administration, the federal, state, and local government. Thus, all levels of
government have defined legislative jurisdiction with equivalent responsibilities, including financing
(Onyekwena, Uzor, Oloko, &Adeniran, (undated); World Bank, 2015, Santcross et al, 2009). While
the national framework for basic education delineates the responsibilities of each level of government
based on the legislative responsibilities (see table 2 below), in practice there is a significant overlap of
responsibilities, albeit with significant variations across states. For instance, Onyekwena, Uzor, Oloko,
&Adeniran, (undated) and World Bank (2008) identified three distinct categories of state-level basic
education management in Nigeria: Basic education under the management of State Universal Basic
Education Boards (SUBEBs) as envisioned by the 2004 Universal Basic Education (UBE) Law;
Primary education fully under SUBEBs with partial responsibilities in Junior Secondary Schools
(JSS); and primary education under SUBEB, with JSS under Senior School State Management Board
(SSSMB).
Factors Responsible for Poor Funding of Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) in
Nigeria.
In this paper, the following; poor implementation of national policy on education on funding, fall short
in national revenue, insecurity, lack of political will to access federal counterpart funding, corruption,
poor implementation UNESCO 26% recommendation and poor allocation to funds to early child
education, poor support from private sector,subsidy payment and debt servicing would be considered
as the factors responsible for poor funding of Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE)
programme in Nigeria.
Poor Implementation of National Policy on Education on Funding
Poor implementation of National Policy on Education on funding in Nigeria is responsible for the
underfunding of the early child education programme. The National Policy on Education FRN (2013);
Ogunode, Akinsua-Ajape, Jegede (2021) and Ogunode. Gregory, Jegede, (2021) states that Education
is a capital-intensive social service, which requires adequate financial provisions from all
tiers of government for successful implementation of its programmes. Government's
ultimate goal is to makeeducation free at all levels in addition to assistance from
International and Local Development Partners, grants for research and other donor
agencies. The financing of education is a joint responsibility of the Federal, States/FCT
and Local Governments and the private sector. In this connection, government welcomes
and encourages the participation of local communities, individuals and organisations. Efforts
towards the improvement in the funding of education at all levels shall include toincreased
government investment in education in order to eliminate the deficiency in public
investment between Nigeria and other Sub-Saharan and developing countries. At least

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26% (UNESCO minimum standard recommendation) of the Federal, States and Local
Governments budget should be dedicated to funding of education at all levels. The poor
implementation of this policy is affecting the funding of early child education in Nigeria. This
submission is supported by Ogunyinka, 2013; Olubor (undated); Odigwe, &Owan, (2019); Ifeanyi,
Ogunode &Ajape (2021) who states that poor implementation of the UNESCO 26% recommendation
is responsible for poor funding of education in Nigeria.
Fall Short in National Revenue
The fall short in national revenue of Nigeria as impacted negatively in the funding of education
especially the funding of early child education. A report by Punch (2021) revealed that the Federal
Government recorded a revenue shortfall of N15tn from 2015 to 2020.The revenue shortfall led to a
funding gap of N3.75tn in the implementation of capital projects of Ministries, Departments and
Agencies, according to an analysis of the budgetary provisions and budget implementation reports
from the Budget Office of the Federation. The result disclosed that total revenue projection for the six-
year period was N31.9tn, while about N16.9tn was generated, resulting into a shortfall of N15tn. The
total revenue allocated for capital projects in the period under review was N11.9tn, while the actual
amount released to the MDAs was estimated at N8.2tn. The data made available to the public showed
that in 2015 fiscal year, the Federal Government approved the sum of N557bn for capital projects, out
of which, N387bn was actually released, resulting into a funding gap of N169.6bn. From the N1.58tn
budgeted for capital projects in 2016, the sum of N1.21tn was released, creating a deficit of N368bn.
For 2017, N1.56tn was released for the execution of capital projects, out of the budgeted amount of
N2.17tn. This resulted into a funding shortfall of N611.35bn.In 2018, the government approved N2.8tn
for capital projects but, released N1.8tn for implementation. This caused a funding deficit of N1.01tn.
Punch also revealed that in 2019, a funding gap of N863.9bn for the execution of capital projects was
recorded. In the 2019 annual budget, the total amount of N2.03tn was allocated for capital expenditure,
out of which, N1.16tn was released. An analysis of the revised budget for the 2020 fiscal year showed
that, N2.6tn was projected to be spent on capital projects, but N1.94tn was released. This resulted into
a funding gap of N733bn. The fall in national revenue also affected the allocation to education. There
are many factors that accounted for the short fall of revenue in Nigeria. Some of the factors includes
fall in crude oil prize in international market and corruption.
Insecurity
The insecurity problem facing Nigeria is consuming a lot of funds. The Nigerian government yearly
spent huge sum of money in tackling insecurity problem across the federation. The state government
and local government too are involved in spending huge of their resources in the fight of insecurity in
their respective states and local government areas. This submission is confirmed by Ifeanyi, Ogunode
&Ajape (2021) who observed that Nigeria as a country faces with the challenges of insecurity since
1999. The insecurity problems have many dimensions across the six geo-political zones. Every year
huge among of funds are budgeted to prosecute the war against the insurgencies and bandits in the
Northern Nigeria and reduce the high rate of crime in the country. The funds that are supposed to be
allocated for another sector of the economy like education and health is reduced and added to the
budget of defense. The huge among of money spending every year on management of security in the
country is contributing to the in poor funding of education. From 2015 to 2021 according to Blueprint,
2022, security budgets have been on the increase just as total national budgets increased. In 2015,
when the national budget was N4.405 trillion, the total budget for the security sector was
N988,892,506,442. In 2016, when the budget rose to N6.06 trillion, the security sector got N1.07
trillion, just as it got a total of N1.15 trillion in 2017 when the budget rose to N7.44 trillion. In 2018,
the budget was N9.12 trillion while the security sector got a total vote of N1.35 trillion. And in 2019
and 2020, the budget was N8.92 trillion and N10.59 trillion, while security got N1.4 trillion and N1.8
trillion respectively. In the N13.59 trillion 2021 budget, defence and security got N1.96 trillion with
another N722.53 billion about to be added through the supplementary budget. Nigeria‘s military
budget is greater than the combined armed forces spending of the rest of West Africa. The funding
covers the main security agencies, including the army, air force and the navy, the intelligence agencies

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as well as the Interior Ministry, which is in charge of homeland security, including the Nigerian Police
Force. Checks indicated that an average of N1. 3 trillion was yearly appropriated and fully disbursed to
the agencies involved to take care of their capital and recurrent needs, including training and
acquisition of soft and hardware for the purpose of upgrading their operations meant to keep the
country safe (Blueprint,2022). The large amount insecurity is consuming is affecting spending on other
sector like the education including the early child education.
Lack of Political Will to Access Federal Counterpart Funds
The lack of political will to pay the counterpart funding of UBE and access the federal fund is another
major factors responsible for poor funding of the early child education in Nigeria. Report from
Blueprint (2021) indicated that several of the 36 states have reportedly failed to pay the counterpart
funds to access over N51bn matching grants earmarked by the Universal Basic Education Commission
(UBEC) for basic education in the country, as at July 2019. ―The report by UBEC that several states
have failed to access N51.6bn of matching grants suggests that these states are doing very little for
poor children. It also explains why the number of out-of-school children in the country has risen from
10.5 million to 13.2 million.‖ According to SERAP, (2022) ―A violation of the right to education will
occur when there is insufficient expenditure or misallocation of public resources, which results in the
non-enjoyment of the right to quality education by poor children within the states.‖ SERAP said that,
―States‘ dereliction in paying counterpart funds is antithetical to the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as
amended], the Compulsory, Free Universal Basic Education Act, and the country‘s international
human rights obligations. Onyekwena, Uzor, Oloko, &Adeniran, (undated); Peter & Isaac (2013) and
Olubor, (undated) opined that it is being alleged that some state governments have not been able to
access this because they cannot provide the counterpart fund. The federal government has described
this trend as worrisome. Billions of naira meant to expand access and improve the quality of basic
education delivery are deliberately left un-accessed and therefore un-utilized while the problems facing
effective basic education delivery continue to persist. Onyekwena, Uzor, Oloko, &Adeniran, (undated)
and Gershberg et al (2015)17, some of the factors responsible for the delayed and non-assessment of
UBEC-IF matching grants by states include: the non-contribution of counterpart fund, slow utilization
of FGN-UBE intervention funds, low commitment to basic education on the part of some state
governments, as well as political economy interests at the highest level of state administration. Nwoko
(2015), lamented that states tend to prioritize financing tertiary institutions over basic education. In
part, this undoubtedly relates to their limited fiscal space for increased spending.
Corruption
Corruption in the administration and management of education (Early Childhood Care and Education
(ECCE) in Nigeria is also responsible for the limited funds in the Early Childhood Care and Education
(ECCE). Funds released for the implementation of programme and policies in the educational
institutions are mismanaged and looted (Ogunode &Abashi, (2020) and Ogunode & Stephen (2021).
This submission is confirmed by Transparency International says 66% (per cent) of the money
Nigerian governments allocate to education is stolen by corrupt officials. According to the report,
corruption is commonplace in education systems across the Economic Community of West African
States (ECOWAS).―This affects education access, quality, inclusion and learning outcomes with
devastating consequences, not only for national economic growth but also for the life chances of
children, their families and communities,‖ the report said. The report highlighted ―Resource
misallocation, corrupt procurement, exchange of sex for grades, examination malpractices, fake
qualifications, teacher absenteeism, and corrupt recruitment practices‖ as the various corruption risks
and challenges facing education systems in all the countries (Premium, 2019). The Independent
Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) reported that the sum of
N1,016,133.08 billion (N1 billion) misappropriated by six State Universal Basic Education Boards
(SUBEBs) was yet to be returned (Allafrica, 2021). The funds were meant for the provision of human
and materials resources that will support the delivery of quality education at the primary schools across
the country. Also, Gift (2018), submitted that in September 2018, AnumIho, former chairman of the
State Basic Education Board (SUBEB) – an offshoot of the Universal Basic Education Commission in

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the states, established to address the inequality in educational opportunity at the basic level and
improving the quality of its provision – was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment for embezzling funds
meant for the training of teachers in Benue State. Iho was found guilty of misappropriating N91,5
million (€220,000), and of taking a bribe of N14,9 million (over €36,000) ( Ogunode 2020; Ogunode,
&Ojo, 2021;Ogunode &Jegede, Ajape 2021).
Poor Implementation UNESCO 26% Recommendation
The inability of the federal government to implement the UNESCO 26% recommendation for
education in the national budget every year is one of the major reason for the shortage of funds for the
administration of Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE). The Federal Government has in the
last six years, failed to meet up with the benchmark proposed by the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization from the percentage of national budget to the education sector.
UNESCO had in the Education-for- All Report for 2000 to 2015 tagged, ‗The Dakar Framework for
Action,‘ called for significant increase in financial commitment by national governments and donors to
the education sector to accelerate progress towards the EFA goals. ―The high level group on EFA
proposed that, governments should spend between four per cent and six per cent of Gross National
Product (GDP) on education and that within government budget, between 15 per cent and 20 per cent
should be earmarked for education. Tis recommendation is poor implanted in the Nigerian education
system. Odigwe, &Owan, (2019) concluded that the total allocation to the education sector from 2009
to 2018 is N4, 038,115,000,000. The results further revealed a difference of N 10,311,805,000,000
between UNESCO benchmark of 26% and the actual allocation to the education sector for the same
time period. It was concluded that the total allocation made to the education sector within the period of
2009 to 2018 is low, and below the UNESCO benchmark. Odigwe, &Owan, (2019) observed that the
total amount that will have been allocated to the education in Nigeria from 2009 to 2018 if UNESCO
benchmark was followed is N 14,349,920,000,000 (Fourteen trillion, three hundred and forty-nine
billion, nine hundred and twenty million naira); as opposed to the N 4,038,115,000,000 (Four trillion,
thirty-eight billion, one hundred and fifteen million naira) that was eventually allocated. A cursory
look at the figures also shows a clear difference of N10, 311,805,000,000 (ten trillion, three hundred
and eleven billion, eight hundred and five million naira) between UNESCO‘s specification and what
was allocated to education from 2009 to 2018. Also, in state, case studies of education financing in
Lagos and Kaduna states clearly show that while both states have made some progress in the past few
years, their total expenditure on education as share of total budget and GDP is still considerably below
the education financing benchmarks recommended by UNESCO and the Dakar Framework
(Onyekwena, Uzor, Oloko, &Adeniran, (undated). So, the inability of the government to implement
the UNESCO 26% recommendation for education is among the causes of shortage of funds in the early
child education in Nigeria.
Poor Allocation to Funds to Early child education
In Nigeria, states and local governments are responsible for the financing of early childhood education
including the training of staff under the federal government programme. The federal government has
chosen to build the management of essential training with only 2% of its Consolidated Revenue Fund
each year, subsequently set up models to agree to by the states. 70% of this fund is reserved as a
matching grant for the implementation of state level projects, while 5% of the 70% is allocated for
early childhood education. This 2% of its Consolidated Revenue Fund by the federal government of
Nigeria is too small considering the huge population of Nigerian children. Emmanuel (2013) lamented
that the 2% dispensed to Early Childhood Education by the UBE Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) is
inadequate for administration and management of the programme. The 2% of its Consolidated
Revenue Fund is among the factors responsible for limited funds in the administration of the Early
Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme.
Poor Support from Parents and private sector
Another factors responsible for the limited funding of Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE)
programme in Nigeria is the poor support from the parents and private individuals to the development

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of early child education in Nigeria. The parents shows little financial support to the various center
while the private sector to the programme is not high as other forms of education in Nigeria.
Subsidy Payment
The subsidy payment programme of the Nigerian government is also contributing to the poor funding
of the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme in Nigeria. Subsidy payment is
consuming resources that are supposed to be used for the development of other sector in the economy
especially the education sector which include the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE)
programme. Analysis of government allocation according to Onyekwena, Uzor, Oloko, &Adeniran,
(undated) over the last decade shows that fossil-fuel subsidy has been one of the largest expenditure
items in the budget. In addition, enormous resources are annually lost due to leakages in public-
procurement and outright corruption.
In the first half of 2022, petroleum subsidy claims surpassed oil and gas revenue from crude
sales by N210 billion according to TheCable (2022). TheCable furthered disclosed that the
revenue excludes other revenue sources from oil such as petroleum profit tax (PPT), royalty, signature
bonus, and others. Subsidy or under-recovery is the shortfall for the underpriced sales of premium
motor spirit (PMS), better known as petrol. The cost is deducted from the federation account because
Nigeria regulates petrol price and sells it at a cheaper rate for its citizens. Within the first six month,
the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited recorded N2.39 trillion as gross revenue
from oil and gas sales receipts, while subsidy claims amounted to N2.6 trillion. TheCable Index
analysis showed that Nigeria paid N1.59 trillion to cover part of the subsidy costs in the last six
months — leaving an outstanding balance of N1.01 trillion to be recovered from July 2022 proceeds in
August. This year, the federal government has projected to spend N4 trillion on petrol subsidies. The
subsidy payment is reducing the revenue of the country and is affecting government expenditure on
other sector which include education and early child education programme.
Debt Servicing
The debt servicing programme of both the federal and state government in Nigeria is reducing the
revenue of the government which directly affected allocation to sectors like education in the country.
Oyekanmi (2022, June 9) stated that the breakdown of the debt stock shows that federal government
domestic debt increased by 3.99% in the first three months of the year to $48.45 billion from $46.59
billion recorded as of December 2021. In the same vein, states domestic debt increased by 7.91% to
stand at $11.65 billion as of 31st March 2022. This represents an $853 million increased quarter-on-
quarter. In all, total domestic debt rose by 4.73% to stand at $60.1 billion. A further look at the federal
government debt stock by instrument, FGN Bonds accounted for 70.7% of the total domestic debt at
N14.24 trillion. Similarly, Nigerian Treasury Bills accounted for 21.88% with a total of N4.41 trillion
debt stock. On the other hand, external debt rose by 4.08% to stand at $39.96 billion, compared to the
previous quarter. The federal government in the review period spent a total of N668.69 billion on
domestic debt service, which is 115% higher than the N310.49 billion spent in the previous quarter and
9.1% more than the N612.71 billion incurred in the corresponding period of 2021. External debt
service surged to $548.79 million in Q1 2022 compared to $286.35 million spent in the previous
quarter.
Conclusion
The paper examined the factors responsible for the poor allocation of funds to the Early Childhood
Care and Education (ECCE) programme in Nigeria. The paper concludes that poor implementation of
national policy on education on funding, fall short in national revenue, insecurity, lack of political will
to access federal counterpart funding,corruption, poor implementation UNESCO funding
recommendation and poor allocation to funding of early child education, poor support from private
sector,subsidy payment and debt servicing are the factor responsible for the poor allocation of funds to
the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme in Nigeria.

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Recommendations
Based on the factors identified in this paper, the following recommendations were made;
1. The federal, states and local government should implement the recommendation of national policy
on education and UNESCO 26% recommendation in Nigeria. This will help to provide adequate
funds in the administration of early child education.
2. The federal government should amend the constitution to enable the federal government to deduct
the counterpart funds from each of the states from the source of federal revenue and release the full
funds to the state and local government. This will help to solve the problem of un-accessed federal
counterpart funds.
3. Funds released for the Universal basic education should be monitored by the respective anti-
corruption agencies in the counter to prevent diversion and mismanagement.
4. The government should encourage the private sector to invest in the basic education. This will help
to increase the funds in the administration.
5. The government should block linkages in the revenue generation, subsidy and debt servicing
should be properly managed to prevent it from affecting allocation of education. Short term
measures to increase education financing could involve restructuring the currentpublic expenditure
mechanisms, which includes fossil fuel subsidy, public procurement, and reprioritization of
resources in favor of basic education. Strong political will and decisiveness on the part of the
government are key determinants of their successful implementation.
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12. Ogunode N,. J, Gregory D,.Jegede,. D. (2021) Investigation into the challenges facing the
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25. Peter K,.& Isaac. O (2013) ―Adequacy-Inadequacy: Education funding in Nigeria.‖ Universal
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26. Punch (2021) FG Suffers N15trn Revenue short fall in six yearshttps://punchng.com/fg-suffers-
n15tn-revenue-shortfall-in-six-years/
27. Punch (2021) FG justifies failure on UNESCO‘s education budget in six years
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28. Premium (2021) 2022 Budget: Though far from UNESCO benchmark, Buhari inches towards
fulfilling education funding pledge. https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/491888-
2022-budget-though-far- from-unesco-benchmark-buhari-inches-towards-fulfilling-education-
funding-pledge.html
29. Punch (2022E) Revenue falls by N1.89tn, Nigerians face tougher times.
https://punchng.com/revenue-falls-by-n1-89tn-nigerians-face-tougher-times/?utm_source=auto-
read-also&utm_medium=web

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30. Punch (2022D) Nigeria battling shortage of teachers – UBEC https://punchng.com/nigeria-battling-

shortage-of-teachers-ubec/
31. Premiuntimes (2020) More than half of Nigeria education budget lost to corruption
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budget-lost-to-corruption-transparency-international.html
32. Thecable (2022)Nigeria‘s petrol subsidy in 6 months surpassed NNPC‘s oil revenue by N210bn
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revenue-by-n210bn
33. Vanguard (2022) N51bn UBEC funds: Pay counterpart funds or face legal action, SERAP tells
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34. UNICEF Faults Nigeria‘s (2022) Education Budget, Says it Ought to Be N1.14trn.
https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2022/06/09/unicef-faults-nigerias-2022-education budget-
says-it-ought-to-be-n1-14trn/

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