‘N29bn was spent’ — Jigawa disputes NGF report claiming zero education spending in Q1 2026

 The Jigawa government says N29.1 billion was spent on
education in the state in Q1 2026, contrary to a report by the Nigeria
Governors’ Forum (NGF).

 

The states’ budget implementation report for Q1 2026, issued
in May by the economic intelligence unit of the NGF, said Jigawa was the only
state that did not spend any amount on education during the period under
review.

In the sector spending growth section contained on Page 14
of the report, zero spending was recorded for the state under both the health
and education categories. Kano led with N59 billion, followed by Lagos with
N39.9 billion, while Imo (N3.5 billion) and Jigawa (zero) occupied the bottom
positions.

However, in a statement on Saturday, Hamisu Gumel, chief
press secretary to the governor of Jigawa, said the claim was inconsistent with
the official financial records of the state.

Citing the state’s 2026 budget performance report for the
first quarter, Gumel said the state had an original 2026 budget of N231.7
billion for education, out of which N29.1 billion was spent in the first
quarter, representing 12.6 percent performance.

He said the expenditure is recorded under “Function 709 –
Education” of the budget performance report, which he said had been available
on the state ministry of budget’s website since April.

“It is therefore not correct to state, without cogent
evidence, that Jigawa State recorded zero expenditure on education during the
period,” he said.

Giving a breakdown of the first-quarter education
expenditure, Gumel said N83.7 billion was budgeted for pre-primary and primary
education, out of which N10.1 billion was spent, representing 12.1 percent
performance.

“Under Secondary Education, the original budget was
N39,477,425,000.00, while actual Q1 expenditure stood at N3,639,861,420.60,
representing 9.2% performance,” he said.

“Under Post-Secondary Non-Tertiary Education, the original
budget was N830,000,000.00, with no expenditure recorded in Q1.

“Under Tertiary Education, the original budget was
N59,326,983,000.00, while actual Q1 expenditure stood at N4,936,760,317.06,
representing 8.3% performance.”

He said the budget performance report also contained
expenditures under other education functions, including “education not
definable by level, subsidiary services to education, and research and
development in education”, among others.

Gumel added that the state government welcomes scrutiny of
its expenditure and performance from any quarter.

“We do not claim that every education budget line recorded
expenditure during the first quarter; the official report clearly shows that
some individual categories recorded no expenditure while others recorded
varying levels of implementation,” he said.

“Yet, this is fundamentally different from the assertion
that Jigawa State spent zero on education.”

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