KEY POINTS

• Over 10 million Nigerians in nomadic and migrant communities remain at risk as schools built across states sit abandoned or understaffed
• Sokoto has 121 nomadic schools with only 107 open; Kwara’s 117 schools reach fewer than 9,000 students and receive monitoring just once a year
• The federal government has allocated N3.59 billion to NCNE in 2026, a fraction of the N15 billion per year experts say is required

More than 10 million Nigerians live in nomadic and migrant communities, yet the nomadic education crisis gripping the country has left a growing share of their children without classrooms. Nigeria established the National Commission for Nomadic Education in 1989 and has built over 4,000 schools since then. However, a wave of school abandonment and chronic underfunding now threatens to undo that progress.

During the Jonathan administration, the government constructed more than 100 standard nomadic schools and launched the Almajiri Integrated Model Schools Program, a period stakeholders still call the golden era of nomadic education. Many of those facilities now sit idle. Abandoned schools dot Bayelsa, Ekiti’s Ikole local government area, Oyo’s Oke Ogun region and parts of Sokoto.

Sokoto and Kwara illustrate the scale

In Sokoto, 121 nomadic schools exist on paper, but only 107 remain open, enrolling 16,178 pupils: 8,715 boys and 7,463 girls. In Kwara, 117 schools serve 8,967 students, yet state monitors visit each school only once a year. Teachers there set their own attendance schedules. Some communities, including Igbofonju in Oyun local government area and Gaa Gbagudu in Moro local government area, have no schools at all.

Haruna Danjuma, president of the National Parents and Teachers Association of Nigeria, says insecurity is the single greatest threat to progress. “When security is assured, other factors like adequate funding and provision of facilities will fall into place,” Danjuma said.

Budget falls short of the needs

The federal government’s 2026 budget allocates N3.59 billion to NCNE: N2.67 billion in capital expenditure and N928.59 million in recurrent spending. The flagship line item directs N1.05 billion toward inclusive education centers in North-West Nigeria, while nearly N1.9 billion goes to research and development.

Meanwhile, education experts argue the commission needs N15 billion a year for at least 10 years to make a meaningful dent in the nomadic education crisis. The current allocation covers less than a quarter of that benchmark. Furthermore, without a security framework to protect teachers and students in conflict-prone communities, additional funding alone will not reverse the decline.