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AdvoKC Foundation acknowledges and celebrates the 10th Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for its historic passage of the Bill to amend the Compulsory, Free Universal Basic Education Act of 2004. By elevating the federal block grant from 2% to 5% of the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) and broadening the legal definition of basic education to incorporate senior secondary education, the Senate has taken a monumental step toward salvaging Nigeria’s educational foundation. This legislative feat demonstrates remarkable alignment with the 10th Assembly's Legislative Agenda and directly matches the proactive measures taken just last month by the House of Representatives, which passed its own version proposing a 4% CRF allocation.
This milestone is a profound victory for organised civil society and a testament to a gruelling, almost year-long citizen advocacy campaign driven by AdvoKC Foundation. After the amendment bill languished in the committee stage for over a year, we directly engaged Hon. Mark Bako Useni, the Chairman of the House Committee on Basic Education Services, in September 2025 to fast-track the committee report, which was presented the following month. We then mobilised public pressure to urge Hon. Francis Waive to schedule the bill, and when bureaucratic delays persisted into 2026, we made a final push with House Majority Leader Hon. Julius Ihonvbere on May 6, leading to the bill's successful passage in the House on May 7, 2026. Following an immediate, targeted letter to Senate Majority Leader Sen. Michael Opeyemi Bamidele urging expedited action, the Senate has now answered that call, proving that strategic citizen engagement can break legislative gridlocks and rewrite the future for millions of Nigerian children.
Nigeria has long grappled with an educational crisis, harbouring millions of out-of-school children while the existing 2% statutory allocation was stretched thin. The structural and financial barriers embedded in the old 2004 Act left public schools starved of funds, primary infrastructure dilapidated, and millions of teenagers dropping out after junior secondary school.
The newly passed Senate bill addresses these vulnerabilities by introducing systemic solutions. Raising the federal block grant floor to 5% injects sustainable, predictable funding directly into the sector, providing states with the necessary resources to revitalise learning spaces. Extending the "free and compulsory" mandate through senior secondary education eliminates the transition cliffs where young Nigerians, especially girls, routinely drop out.
Crucially, the bill introduces the direct channelling of intervention funds to the Local Government Area (LGA) education sectors, bypassing state-level bureaucratic bottlenecks so that funds land precisely where teachers need training and classrooms need roofs.
While we celebrate this monumental triumph of citizen-led advocacy, the job is not yet finished. With the House of Representatives advocating for a 4% allocation and the Senate passing a 5% baseline, the path forward requires harmony and speed.
We urgently call on the leadership of both chambers of the National Assembly to immediately constitute a Conference Committee to harmonise the discrepancies between the two versions of the bill.
Following harmonisation, we strongly urge the National Assembly to expedite the transmission of the clean copy to the executive. Most importantly, we appeal directly to His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, to grant immediate Presidential Assent to this bill upon arrival at his desk. Signing this bill into law will fulfil a vital social contract with the most vulnerable citizens of our nation and cement a legacy of "Renewed Hope" through education.
