Basic Education: GRACO Urges FCTA, Area Councils To Fix Dilapidated Schools

PRESS STATEMENT

October 28, 2026

Basic Education: GRACO Urges FCTA, Area Councils To Fix Dilapidated Schools

Grassroots Center for Rights & Civic Orientation (GRACO) is deeply worried by the deplorable state of some public primary schools in rural communities across the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). We therefore call on the FCT Administration and the respective Area Councils, where these schools are located to address the plight of the affected pupils in these communities. GRACO is in possession of images and videos, which show schools in dilapidated and decrepit states. These images show environments, which pose learning and safety concerns for pupils. As seen in the attached images, pupils are being made to sit on bare floors, with no desk or chairs to aid learning. Classrooms in the affected communities have no roofs, while ceilings have been blown off, leaving the young scholars to learn in buildings with no cover from the elements.

At LEA Primary School, Makanima, near Giri, along the Airport Road in the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), the roofing sheets of the school building have been blown off, leaving the rafters open to the sky. Ceiling boards stained by months of rainwater hang loosely over rows of empty desks. GRACO understands that the dilapidated condition of the school has been severally drawn to the attention of the authorities, yet nothing has been done, and no officials from the Area Council or the FCTA has visited to assess the situation and fix the schools. The situation is similar in Kigbe Community, Yebu Ward, located in Kwali Area Council. Pupils in their school uniforms have no other option, but to sit on the bare floor, while some make use of pieces of planks in the absence of desks. GRACO joins these communities in wondering what offence they have committed against those in authority for their schools to be left in this level of dilapidation.

GRACO is of the considered view that access to basic education is a right of every Nigerian child as stipulated in the Universal Basic Education (UBE) Act, 2004. Section 2(1) of the Act is clear that: “Every Government in Nigeria shall provide free, compulsory and Universal Basic Education for every child of primary and junior secondary, school age.” It is therefore unacceptable that in spite of the huge quantum of resources said to be available to governments, especially at the sub-national levels, since the removal of fuel subsidy, schools in communities like Kigbe and Makanima will be suffering this level of neglect. There can be no emphasizing the fact that basic education is the foundation upon which both boys and girls begin their journey to proper citizenship and economic emancipation.

Similarly, GRACO notes that in February 2024, the FCT Administration announced the approval of ₦30.9 billion for the rehabilitation of public schools across the territory. At the time, the FCT Universal Basic Education Board also acknowledged that schools in Kwali, Abaji, Gwagwalada and Kuje were overstretched by a surge in enrolment. We therefore call for accountability in terms of how many schools were fixed and what the government’s plans are to fix schools that are still in bad shape. As the state of schools in Makanima and Kigbe shows, there are many rural and community schools that are yet to feel the impact of these interventions.

GRACO is also aware of the debate that primary education is the constitutional responsibility of the Area Councils. Our position is that thousands of children cannot wait while different tiers of government debate and deflect responsibility over who should act. The FCT Administration and the six Area Councils must work together and treat the issue of these schools with the urgency it deserves, especially with the recent coming on board of Area Council administrations after elections held earlier this year. GRACO also calls on the FCT Administration, through the Education Secretariat and the FCT Universal Basic Education Board, to immediately take steps to renovate the LEA Primary School, Makanima, and the public school in Kigbe community. This intervention should include the provision of desks and chairs for pupils currently forced to sit on the floor to learn. We call on the Chairmen of AMAC and Kwali Area Council to visit these communities without delay and engage directly with parents, teachers and community leaders.

We further call for a comprehensive and transparent audit of all public primary schools across the six Area Councils, to identify structures that are unsafe for learning. We also urge the FCT Administration to publish the status of its school rehabilitation programme, showing which schools have been completed and which are still waiting, so that residents can follow the progress. Finally, as political parties and candidates go to communities to campaign to be voted for in the 2027 general elections, citizens must compel them to make verifiable commitments focusing on what they will do to improve critical sectors like basic education.

Signed:
Armsfree Ajanaku
Executive Director