WHERE IS IMO STATE’S EDUCATION MONEY GOING?
An Oblong Media Global Intelligence Investigation.
There are images that should stop a society in its tracks.
A child sitting on the bare floor of a government classroom is one of them.
Not because Imo State is the only Nigerian state with dilapidated schools. It certainly is not.
Not because one distressed school proves that every public school in Imo State is in the same condition. It does not.
But because in 2026, after billions of naira have been budgeted for education, after unprecedented increases in federal allocations, after repeated announcements of school rehabilitation and after government itself says it is constructing 305 new primary schools, no child attending a government school in Imo should still have to sit on a classroom floor because there is no desk.
That is the issue.
And the numbers make the questions considerably more serious.
THE VIDEO
In footage examined by Oblong Media Global Intelligence, a visibly angry parent walks through what is presented as a government school in Imo State.
She points at the classrooms.
She points at the children.
She complains about pupils sitting on the floor.
She describes the environment as unacceptable.
Then she asks essentially the same question that this investigation asks:
Allocation comes to Imo State. Where is the money going?
She also identifies one of the consequences.
Parents who can afford alternatives increasingly send their children to private schools, leaving families to pay school fees that poorer households may simply be unable to afford.
That creates a vicious circle.
Public schools deteriorate.
Middle class families leave.
Private education expands.
Political pressure to improve public education weakens.
And children from poorer households inherit whatever remains.
That is not merely an education problem.
It is the beginning of structural inequality.
FIRST, FOLLOW THE MONEY
The 2025 Imo State budget was approximately ₦807.09 billion.
Within it, the Ministry of Education had ₦49.46 billion in capital expenditure, while personnel, overhead and other recurrent provisions brought total Ministry of Education expenditure to approximately ₦67.46 billion.
So we are not discussing a government without an education budget.
We are discussing tens of billions of naira appropriated to education.
And then came 2026.
Governor Hope Uzodimma proposed a dramatically larger budget, eventually approved at approximately ₦1.47 trillion.
The education allocation presented for 2026 was approximately ₦60.62 billion.
That sounds impressive until we examine implementation.
BUDGETS DO NOT EDUCATE CHILDREN
This distinction is critical.
Announcing ₦60 billion is not the same thing as spending ₦60 billion.
Appropriating money is not the same thing as releasing it.
Releasing money is not the same thing as completing a project.
And completing a building is not the same thing as producing a functioning school.
The real test of a budget is what eventually reaches the citizen.
And this is where Imo’s own 2026 figures become uncomfortable.
By the end of June 2026, the state’s total expenditure was approximately ₦212.10 billion against its roughly ₦1.47 trillion annual budget, overall implementation of only about 14.4% halfway through the fiscal year.
Actual revenue recorded during those first six months was approximately ₦312.49 billion.
Of that, roughly ₦156.82 billion came through FAAC transfers, about ₦20 billion from internally generated revenue, ₦13.2 billion from loans, ₦2.4 billion from aids and grants, alongside a ₦120 billion opening balance.
That qualification matters.
Nobody should falsely suggest that ₦1.47 trillion was sitting in a government bank account waiting to be spent.
It wasn’t.
A budget is a fiscal plan.
But what happened to the money that actually became available is a legitimate public question.
NOW LOOK AT EDUCATION
A detailed review of the state’s Q2 performance data found that capital implementation in education remained extremely low during the first six months of 2026.
One analysis of the official Q2 report found approximately ₦3.39 billion in education capital expenditure against about ₦60.63 billion provided, or roughly 5.6%.
A more granular breakdown of the primary and secondary education components found expenditure of approximately ₦1.55 billion against ₦24.115 billion, with that expenditure attributed to SUBEB; the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education itself was reported as recording no capital spending against its ₦17.415 billion capital allocation during that period.
The different figures reflect different organisational groupings within the education accounts, but they point in the same direction:
CAPITAL IMPLEMENTATION WAS VERY LOW.
And that brings us straight back to the child sitting on the floor.
If classrooms still need roofs…
If children still need desks…
If teachers still need chairs…
If schools lack toilets…
If schools lack clean water…
If classrooms have broken windows…
If laboratories do not function…
If schools lack fencing…
Then education capital expenditure should be one of the easiest things in government to justify.
There is no shortage of need.
AND THIS IS NOT THE FIRST REPORT OF CHILDREN SITTING ON FLOORS
The footage that prompted this investigation cannot by itself establish conditions across Imo State.
But it is not an isolated allegation.
In April 2025, reporting on Ojike Memorial Secondary School in Orlu described pupils learning while sitting on bare floors because of a shortage of desks and chairs.
The report also described dilapidated classrooms and concerns about teacher shortages.
Another documented case came from Ihiagwa secondary school.
A February 2025 report following a visit to the school described just two teachers for the entire school, broken ceilings, lack of perimeter fencing and inadequate clean water and sanitation facilities.
Another 2025 investigation toured schools in Owerri federal constituency and what was revealed was nightmarish and disturbing.
These reports do not establish that every Imo public school is dilapidated.
But they establish something important:
there are documented schools with serious deficiencies.
And therefore government should publish enough project level information for citizens to determine how extensive the problem remains and how quickly it is being corrected.
NOW HEAR THE GOVERNMENT’S SIDE
Fairness requires us to examine what the Imo State Government says it is doing.
The state’s Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education says it has embarked upon a statewide infrastructure programme involving construction of 305 new primary schools, one in each electoral ward, together with renovation and equipping of laboratories and libraries in secondary schools.
That is a major undertaking.
If completed to proper standards, staffed, equipped and maintained, it could materially improve basic education infrastructure.
The 2024 approved budget also contained a ₦2.5 billion provision for renovation/construction of 915 primary and secondary schools across the 27 LGAs.
And UBEC records show that Imo lodged approximately ₦3.547 billion in counterpart funding covering 2021, 2022 and 2023 matching grants.
These are significant interventions and should be acknowledged.
But announcements produce another set of questions.
Where exactly are the 305 schools?
How many are completed?
How many are under construction?
How many have contractors on site?
What is the contract value of each school?
Who are the contractors?
How much has each contractor received?
What is the percentage completion?
Which existing schools are being replaced?
Which schools are being renovated?
How many desks have been supplied?
How many classrooms have been rehabilitated?
How many toilets have been constructed?
How many schools have potable water?
How many laboratories have actually been equipped?
How many libraries are operational?
And most importantly:
WHEN WILL THE CHILDREN CURRENTLY SITTING ON FLOORS FEEL THIS EDUCATION REVOLUTION?
That is not hostility to government.
That is accountability.
THE ₦49.46 BILLION QUESTION
The 2025 budget illustrates why Nigerians must stop confusing appropriations with achievements.
The Ministry of Education’s capital allocation was ₦49.46 billion.
The entire state budget was ₦807.09 billion.
Education’s capital allocation therefore represented roughly 6.1% of the overall state budget, while contemporary reporting commonly described the ministry’s allocation as about 7.1% of the capital envelope.
But citizens ultimately need another number:
HOW MUCH WAS ACTUALLY SPENT?
And then another:
WHAT EXACTLY DID THAT EXPENDITURE BUY?
Those two figures are far more important than the headline appropriation.
IMO IS RECEIVING SERIOUS MONEY
The argument that states have no money deserves much closer examination in the post subsidy removal fiscal environment.
By the end of the third quarter of 2025, Imo had recorded approximately ₦265.73 billion in FAAC receipts, according to an analysis of the state’s Q3 budget performance data.
That represented about 90.6% of its full year FAAC projection after only nine months.
Total receipts by Q3 stood around ₦375.50 billion.
Then, during just the first six months of 2026, approximately another ₦156.82 billion in FAAC transfers was recorded in the state’s revenue accounts.
So the parent in the video is correct about one fundamental point:
ALLOCATION IS COMING.
The proper debate is about how much, what deductions apply, what other revenues are available, how money is prioritised, and what ultimately reaches public services.
THE PRIVATE SCHOOL ESCAPE ROUTE
There is another tragedy hidden inside these numbers.
When government education becomes unacceptable, wealthy people do not necessarily organise demonstrations.
They leave.
They send their children elsewhere.
Private primary school.
Private secondary school.
Boarding school.
University abroad for those who can afford it.
Eventually, the families most capable of demanding better public schools no longer depend upon those schools.
The people left behind are disproportionately families with fewer alternatives.
That creates a dangerous two tier society:
EDUCATION FOR THOSE WHO CAN BUY IT
and
EDUCATION FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NO CHOICE.
The child from a poor family is no less intelligent than the governor’s child.
The child sitting on the floor may be Imo’s next surgeon.
Engineer.
Teacher.
Scientist.
Entrepreneur.
Professor.
Software developer.
Inventor.
But talent requires opportunity.
A DESK IS NOT A LUXURY
We must reset our standards.
A desk is not development.
A roof is not a miracle.
A toilet is not political generosity.
A blackboard is not an empowerment programme.
Running water in a school is not a governor’s personal gift.
These are basic requirements of organised public education.
UBEC’s own national interventions measure infrastructure precisely in terms of classrooms, pupils’ furniture, teachers’ furniture, toilets, boreholes, solar power, laboratories, libraries and ICT facilities.
That is the standard.
Not political speeches.
Not billboards.
Not commissioning ceremonies.
Functionality.
AND THERE IS ANOTHER ACCOUNTABILITY ISSUE
A separate Premium Times investigation, based on official Imo budget performance documents, reported approximately ₦101.54 billion in spending outside approved budget provisions between 2023 and 2025.
That reporting characterised the expenditure as extra budgetary and raised questions about compliance with appropriation requirements and spending priorities.
That finding does not by itself establish theft or personal misappropriation.
Those are different allegations requiring different evidence.
But it creates an obvious public interest question:
If government can find fiscal space for expenditure outside originally approved provisions, why should capital releases for classrooms, schools and other essential social infrastructure remain so low?
Government is entitled to explain.
Citizens are entitled to ask.
THIS IS BIGGER THAN GOVERNOR HOPE UZODIMMA
And this is where Nigerians must resist the temptation to reduce everything to APC versus PDP versus Labour versus ADC versus NDC.
The decay of Nigerian public education did not begin in January 2020.
It did not begin with one governor.
Successive administrations bear responsibility for infrastructure inherited in poor condition.
Federal education policy matters.
UBEC matters.
SUBEB matters.
State governments matter.
Local education authorities matter.
Teachers matter.
Parents matter.
Communities matter.
And successive governors must be judged against what they inherited, the resources subsequently available to them and what they measurably changed.
That is a more serious standard than propaganda from either government or opposition.
WHAT IMO GOVERNMENT SHOULD NOW PUBLISH
Instead of arguments between supporters and critics, there is a remarkably simple way to resolve much of this controversy.
Publish a comprehensive Imo Public Schools Infrastructure Register.
For every government primary and secondary school, disclose:
School name and community; GPS location; enrolment; number of teachers; number of classrooms; classroom condition; desks available; pupil to desk ratio; toilets; water supply; electricity; fencing; laboratories; libraries; projects approved since 2020; contract values; contractors; money released; percentage completion; photographs before intervention; photographs after intervention.
Put it online.
Update it quarterly.
Then nobody needs to quarrel.
The evidence will speak.
THE 305 SCHOOL PROJECT SHOULD BE TRACKABLE FROM A MOBILE PHONE
Government says 305 new primary schools are being constructed.
Excellent.
Create a page containing 305 entries.
Ward 1.
Ward 2.
Ward 3.
All the way to Ward 305.
Beside each one:
Contractor.
Contract sum.
Award date.
Expected completion date.
Amount paid.
Percentage completion.
Current photograph.
Google map location.
Simple.
If government is delivering, such transparency becomes its strongest advertisement.
If projects are delayed, citizens will know precisely where.
THE CHILD ON THE FLOOR IS THE REAL AUDITOR
There is a tendency in Nigerian government to judge performance according to money spent.
We spent ₦5 billion.
We released ₦10 billion.
We awarded ₦20 billion.
That is accounting.
It is not necessarily development.
Development asks what changed.
Did the child move from the floor onto a desk?
Did the leaking roof stop leaking?
Did the school receive teachers?
Does the toilet work?
Is clean water available?
Can pupils read?
Can they perform basic mathematics?
Did enrolment increase?
Did dropout decline?
Those are outcomes.
And ultimately:
THE CHILD IS THE AUDITOR.
If billions appear in budgets but the child remains on the floor, something in the delivery chain still requires explanation.
THIS SHOULD BE PART OF NIGERIA’S GOVERNANCE CONVERSATION
As Nigeria moves toward another electoral cycle, voters will hear extraordinary claims from incumbents and challengers alike.
Government will advertise achievements.
Opposition politicians will advertise failures.
Candidates will promise transformation.
The useful response is neither blind loyalty nor automatic condemnation.
It is verification.
For an incumbent:
What did you inherit?
How much revenue did you receive?
What did you budget?
What did you actually release?
What did you complete?
What measurable outcomes improved?
For a challenger:
What exactly would you do differently?
What would it cost?
Where would the money come from?
What evidence from your previous record suggests you can deliver it?
Apply the same questions to every party and every candidate.
That is how citizens can distinguish political marketing from governance.
IMO HAS MONEY. IMO ALSO HAS NEEDS.
Both statements can simultaneously be true.
Imo receives substantial FAAC revenue.
Imo has internally generated revenue.
Imo receives UBEC interventions.
Imo has budgeted tens of billions for education.
The government has announced an ambitious 305 school construction programme.
And yet there are documented cases of children learning in severely deficient environments.
Those facts do not prove that education money has been stolen.
They prove something else:
THERE IS A DELIVERY GAP THAT DESERVES AN EXPLANATION.
And the state’s first half 2026 expenditure data strengthen that conclusion because capital implementation in education remained low halfway through the year.
OUR QUESTIONS TO THE IMO STATE GOVERNMENT
Oblong Media Global Intelligence therefore respectfully asks the Government of Imo State and the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education:
- Of the 305 new primary schools announced, how many are physically completed as of September 2026?
- How many are operational with pupils actually attending them?
- What is the total contract value of the 305 school programme?
- How much has been paid to contractors?
- Where can citizens obtain the complete contractor and project list?
- What became of the 2024 provision for renovation/construction of 915 primary and secondary schools across the 27 LGAs?
- What proportion of the 2025 ₦49.46 billion Ministry of Education capital allocation was actually released and spent?
- Why was education capital implementation still so low during the first half of 2026?
- How many public primary and secondary schools presently have pupils without adequate desks?
- How many lack functional toilets and potable water?
- How many require roof, ceiling, window or structural repairs?
- What is the current teacher shortage, broken down by LGA and school?
- What intervention has occurred at Ihiagwa secondary school following the documented deficiencies there?
- What intervention has occurred at Nekede boys secondary school following the documented deficiencies there?
- What intervention has occurred at Ojike Memorial Secondary School, Orlu, following the 2025 reports of pupils sitting on floors?
- What intervention has occurred at St Augustine’s grammar school Nkwerre following the documented deficiencies there?
- What intervention has occurred at Bishop shannahan college Orlu following the documented deficiencies there?
- What intervention has occurred at National secondary school Okigwe following the documented deficiencies there?
- Will the government publish a school by school infrastructure audit so citizens can independently assess progress?
These are questions, not accusations.
But they deserve answers.
FINALLY, LOOK AGAIN AT THE CHILDREN
Forget APC for a moment.
Forget PDP.
Forget Labour.
Forget ADC.
Forget NDC.
Forget political godfathers.
Forget social media warriors.
Look at the classroom.
Look at the roof.
Look at the floor.
Look at the desk, if there is one.
Look at the toilet.
Look for water.
Look for the teacher.
And then look at the budget.
That comparison is one legitimate way to assess government performance.
Because public money ultimately has only one justification:
PUBLIC VALUE.
The billions in Abuja mean nothing to a child sitting on the floor in Orlu, Owerri, Mbaise, Okigwe or anywhere else in Imo State unless those billions eventually become teachers, desks, books, safe classrooms, laboratories, water, sanitation and opportunity.
That is the standard.
Not propaganda.
Not party loyalty.
Not hostility to government.
Not sycophancy.
Results.
And where results are incomplete, government should explain why, publish the evidence and show the timetable for correcting them.
BECAUSE THE CHILDREN CANNOT WAIT FOR ANOTHER BUDGET SPEECH.
By Duruebube Chimazuru “Oblong” Nnadi-Oforgu
For
OBLONG MEDIA GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE
Follow the money.
Verify the projects.
Measure the results.
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