By Hussain Yahaya, Faruk Shuaibu & Dalhatu Liman
The National Commission for Almajiri and Out of School Children Education earmarked N8.4 billion in the 2026 budget for road construction, a function outside its statutory mandate.
The 2026 Appropriations Act shows the commission was allocated N22.82 billion, made up of N21.68 billion for capital expenditure and N1.14 billion for recurrent expenditure. Beyond roads, it also budgeted for ambulances, medical equipment and solar power installations in Ogun, Ekiti and Katsina states.
The commission was created by an Act of Parliament on May 27, 2023, under the Federal Ministry of Education, with a mandate to tackle out of school children and reduce illiteracy by integrating formal and Qur’anic education with skills acquisition.
Under the National Policy on the Enhancement of Almajiri Education in Nigeria, the commission is meant to coordinate policy implementation, register teachers and learning centres, mobilise funding for scholarships, feeding programmes and learning materials, train teachers, and enforce child protection laws. Road construction, solar power and medical equipment supply do not appear anywhere in this mandate. Those functions belong to the Federal Ministry of Works, FERMA, and health agencies respectively.
The Projects
The commission set aside N1.4 billion for roads in Abeokuta and Ibooro, Ogun State, including the Eyinni High School to Lusada Junction Road and the Idiya Central Community Road. Another N1.05 billion went to the Pakoiji Iporan Township Road and N1.05 billion to roads opposite Honda Agbebi Community in Ogun State. A further N1.4 billion was budgeted for roads including Obasanjo Itele Road and Odedeyo Mewuro Road, also in Ogun.
In Katsina State, N1.05 billion was allocated for internal roads in Dan Marke and another N1.05 billion for roads in Sabon Gari Yargoje. In Ekiti State, N1.4 billion went to internal roads within Government Science College, Iyin, alongside N700 million for ambulances, dental X ray machines, dental chairs and furniture for a dental centre in the same town.
Solar street lights in four communities in Kankara LGA, Katsina State, gulped N700 million, with another N700 million set aside for women and youth empowerment tools in the same LGA.
Officials Go Silent
The commission’s Executive Secretary, Dr Muhammad Sani Idris, told Daily Trust he could not comment immediately, promising to consult his budget office during the week. The Budget Office’s Head of Media, Afolabi Olajuwon, did not respond to calls or messages.
A Budget Office source said the office only collates submissions from agencies and does not decide their content. The source said projects outside an agency’s mandate are often inserted at the National Assembly stage as constituency projects, since government cannot fund such projects directly through lawmakers.
“They call it constituency projects and since the government can’t fund it directly through the National Assembly, they use the agencies as proxies. The agencies too have to agree, and if they refuse, they can be blackmailed by not approving their budget or through other ways,” the source said.
A Senate Appropriations Committee source confirmed the practice is common, saying lawmakers who secure approved constituency projects route execution through whichever agency they choose, regardless of mandate. He said it then falls to the lawmaker to monitor disbursement and execution.
Civil Society Reacts
Auwal Musa Rafsanjani of CISLAC and Transparency International Nigeria described the allocation as a troubling pattern of mandate distortion that weakens fiscal discipline and institutional integrity. He said assigning road projects to an education commission undermines specialisation, complicates oversight, and erodes public trust, since it becomes unclear which institution should be held accountable for implementation. He called for a review of the allocations and stronger scrutiny from the National Assembly and anti-corruption agencies.
Dr Umar Yakubu of the Centre for Fiscal Transparency and Public Integrity said the commission, established to address Nigeria’s estimated 20 million out of school children, should be focused on schools, learning materials and feeding programmes rather than infrastructure. He alleged that road projects are often inserted into agency budgets because their scale creates opportunities for kickbacks.
“But when you see a commission delving into road construction and other capital projects, it is because those projects are very expensive. You spend billions on them, and the opportunities for kickbacks are higher,” he said.
Yakubu faulted the National Assembly for approving the allocations and warned the commission risks losing relevance if the trend continues, calling it a potential “pipeline to satisfy some politicians.”
Ibrahim Yusuf, Chairman of the Gombe Network of Civil Society Organisations, called the allocation a case of misplaced priorities, citing IMF figures showing about N8.8 trillion spent outside Nigeria’s appropriated budget. He linked such distortions to collaboration between powerful interests in government and the National Assembly.
“How can the Al Majiri Commission be constructing roads? What is the rationale behind this?” he asked, calling on the executive, legislature and judiciary to investigate budget distortions and restore effective checks and balances.
You can read the full report on Dailytrust