From Neglect To Renewal: Sokoto’s Big Bet On Education

Education in Sokoto State has long existed at the intersection of aspiration and limitation. For decades, public classrooms across the state have struggled to bridge the widening gap between a rapidly growing population and the limited resources devoted to shaping their future.

In many communities, parents have watched their children learn in crumbling structures, sit on bare floors, share outdated textbooks, or study under teachers whose morale has been worn down by years of neglect. Against this backdrop, Governor Ahmed Aliyu’s decision to allocate about 25 per cent of the 2025 budget to the education sector is more than a fiscal gesture.

It is an attempt to redefine what the state prioritizes and an acknowledgement that human capital must become the foundation of its long-term development strategy. What makes this allocation noteworthy is not merely the percentage itself, but what it signals.

In northern Nigeria, education has long been dogged by the lingering effects of historical underinvestment, demographic pressures, cultural complexities, and structural weaknesses. Many states’ budgets struggle to keep pace with the sheer scale of need.

Allocating nearly a quarter of public expenditure to education in such an environment is bold; it reflects an understanding that Sokoto cannot progress unless the quality of its schools and teachers changes decisively. It is also a source of cautious optimism, suggesting an attempt to match rhetoric with actual commitment. The scale of what needs fixing is massive.

Many public schools still operate in conditions that would be unthinkable in other parts of the world: roofs that leak during the rainy season, classrooms without doors or windows, schools without functional toilets, and teachers working with outdated or insufficient teaching materials.

For years, tertiary institutions across the state from colleges of education to professional institutes—have grappled with accreditation challenges that limited their ability to expand programmes or maintain academic standards.

These weaknesses collectively limit the pipeline of qualified teachers, health workers, engineers, and technical professionals the state needs. The 2025 budget attempts to reverse some of these trends by focusing heavily on infrastructure restoration.

Large sums are earmarked for renovating classrooms, constructing new school blocks, installing digital learning facilities, upgrading workshops and laboratories, and replacing worn-out furniture. Several schools damaged by age or environmental factors are also slated for full rehabilitation.

Government officials argue that this is part of a structured, multi-year plan rather than a one-off spending spree. In a number of local government areas, students are already attending refurbished blocks with restored electricity and improved water supply early signals of what a properly funded education system could begin to look like.

But infrastructure alone cannot repair an education system. Teachers remain the heart of any serious reform, and in Sokoto, they have faced some of the toughest conditions.

For years, many worked without timely promotions, with limited access to training, and often with salaries that neither reflected their workload nor the importance of their profession.

Unsurprisingly, some left for federal agencies, private schools, or even non-education jobs. This has contributed to chronic shortages in science subjects, technical fields, and rural schools.