The Federal Government has urged state governments to align their 2027 budgets with development plans and priorities in basic education and primary healthcare to improve service delivery.
The Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, Deborah Odoh, made the call on Monday in Abuja at a capacity-building workshop under the World Bank-assisted Human Capital Opportunities for Prosperity and Equity Governance Programme (HOPE-GOV).
Odoh said credible budgeting must reflect government priorities, urging states to strengthen coordination between planning, budgeting, education, and healthcare institutions.
She said the workshop would help states improve project costing, prioritize spending, apply the National Chart of Accounts, and align sector workplans with available resources and budget ceilings.
The warning comes amid concerns over Nigeria’s education crisis. The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) said about 70 percent of primary-school-age children could not read and understand a simple text.
UBEC’s Director of Teacher Professional Development, Maryam Sani Dangaji, also disclosed that as of August 2026, more than N65 billion in counterpart funding remained unaccessed, while about N267 billion in released education intervention funds was yet to be utilized.
National Coordinator of HOPE-GOV, Assad Hassan, said increasing spending alone would not improve education and healthcare without better planning, budget execution, and accountability.
Meanwhile, the National Primary Health Care Development Agency said N77.7 billion had been disbursed through the Basic Health Care Provision Fund to 8,309 primary healthcare facilities across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
The workshop, scheduled to run from October 12 to November 4, is aimed at strengthening states’ budgeting and financial management systems ahead of the 2027 fiscal year.
