State governments across Nigeria have left N264.12 billion in Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) matching grants unspent, despite persistent challenges in public schools, including dilapidated classrooms, overcrowding and shortages of learning materials.

The 2025 UBEC Annual Report showed that the funds had been disbursed to State Universal Basic Education Boards but remained unexpended in state government accounts as of July 21, 2025.

Benue recorded the highest unspent balance at N19.18 billion, followed by Imo with N14.12 billion and Osun with N14.02 billion. The five states with the largest balances accounted for about 28.3 per cent of the total.

The findings have raised concerns about the utilisation of funds meant to improve basic education at a time when many public schools continue to struggle with poor infrastructure and inadequate learning resources.

In a related fiscal development, the Federal Government’s proposed N70,000 monthly transport allowance for public servants could cost an estimated N465.7 billion over six months if all 1.1 million employee records on its payroll system qualify for the payment.

Meanwhile, revenue shared by the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) hit N31.46 trillion between January and September 2026.

Analysts and education stakeholders have called on state governments to prioritise the deployment of the available UBEC funds to address the pressing needs in public schools.