Daniel Otera
Inside Junior Secondary School Kilankwa 2, located in Abuja’s Kwali Area Council, education is forced to thrive under the threat of structural collapse. Once envisioned as a safe haven for learning, the school has degenerated into a crumbling facility where students sit beneath cracked ceilings and teachers stand under visibly weakened beams bowed under pressure.
The building’s current condition drew public alarm after a recent visit by MonITNG, a civil society organisation monitoring education service delivery across Nigeria. The group described the facility as a “death trap”, raising urgent questions about the Federal Capital Territory Administration’s (FCTA) priorities for public education in the seat of Nigeria’s government.
“We visited Junior Secondary School Kilankwa 2 in Kwali Area Council, Abuja, and what we saw was horrible,” MonITNG wrote in a statement published on X.
“The building is a death trap – cracked walls, weak structural beams – danger looms over students and teachers every day.”
Amid growing concerns over neglected public schools in Abuja’s outskirts, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Nyesom Wike, has maintained that his administration has made substantial investments in education infrastructure.
During a site inspection in May 2025, the Minister stated that over 60 public schools across the FCT have been renovated and furnished under his leadership. According to multiple media reports, the projects were part of his broader push to improve basic services in the capital city.
“We have done a lot of work in schools. The schools we have renovated and furnished are more than 60 so far,” Wike was quoted as saying by Voice of Nigeria.
The statement was echoed in a report by Punch Nigeria, which cited the Minister during a briefing while inspecting ongoing projects. Similarly, Vanguard also reported that the Minister dismissed criticisms that his administration focused only on roads, asserting that school renovation was a core part of the FCTA’s development drive.
However, the lack of a publicly available list or data detailing the exact locations, timelines, or budgets for these 60 schools has raised questions from civil society organisations.
MonITNG, which visited the dilapidated Junior Secondary School Kilankwa 2 in Kwali, challenged the Minister’s assertion, insisting that some rural and peri-urban schools appear to have been excluded entirely.
“If that’s true, why has Kilankwa 2 been left out?” the CSO questioned in a public statement.
“Billions are going into glossy projects, yet a school where our children are supposed to learn is completely sidelined. It’s shameful.”
Yet, despite this proximity to Nigeria’s centres of power, residents of Kwali must watch their children risk injury just to access basic education.
Despite repeated assurances from the FCT administration regarding improved infrastructure in public schools, budgetary evidence paints a more complicated picture.
In the 2024 statutory budget, the Federal Capital Territory secured over ₦1.1 trillion, with ₦726 billion earmarked for capital projects – including education.
Although the budget, presented by the FCT Minister, listed basic education as a priority, specific allocations to rural schools like Junior Secondary School Kilankwa 2 remain undisclosed in public-facing documents. There is no accessible record confirming whether any renovation funds were directed to Kilankwa 2, raising concerns about transparency in execution.
Further analysis of intervention funding from the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) shows that the FCT received over ₦7.3 billion in matching grants between 2019 and 2023. However, data from UBEC and civil society monitors like BudgIT and TrackaNG indicate that large portions of these grants were either not accessed or underutilised.
A 2023 report by Daily Post revealed that ₦46.2 billion in matching grants across Nigeria remained unaccessed by states and the FCT due to delayed counterpart funding and bureaucratic bottlenecks.
Punch Newspaper further reported that by early 2024, 34 states and the FCT had yet to access their new allocations, deepening the gap in basic education infrastructure nationwide.
While urban schools may have benefitted from the few renovations carried out, data suggests that schools in outlying area councils like Kwali, Abaji and Gwagwalada were largely left behind.
“The FCTA often channels education resources into flagship projects in Abuja Municipal, leaving outer councils underserved,” said an education policy analyst, referencing internal budget patterns reviewed by BudgIT and UBEC monitors.
This disparity reflects a recurring pattern where proximity to the city centre determines access to educational upgrades, leaving children in rural parts of the capital exposed to risks no student should endure.
Beyond the failing structure, the school also suffers from a lack of basic amenities.
A 2016/2017 assessment by Daily Trust revealed that 46 percent of public junior secondary schools in the FCT lacked boreholes and toilet facilities. Out of 161 schools, 98 had no access to clean water, and 49 operated without toilets.
Further data reported by ThisDay in 2021, citing the 2018/2019 education sector review, showed that only 44 percent of FCT schools had access to safe drinking water, while just 65 percent had functional toilets.
Although these figures are several years old, civil society audits suggest that the situation remains largely unchanged, particularly in rural councils such as Kwali, Abaji and Gwagwalada. The ongoing lack of access to water and sanitation continues to undermine the learning environment, compounding the physical decay of facilities like Junior Secondary School Kilankwa 2.
Without urgent intervention, the children attending Kilankwa 2 remain at daily risk.
MonITNG has appealed directly to the FCT Minister, the FCTA, and the Federal Ministry of Education to clarify the criteria for selecting schools for renovation and why Kilankwa 2 was left to decay.
“We call on @GovWike, @OfficialFCTA and @NigEducation to explain: Where are these 60 schools? Why isn’t Kilankwa 2 included? Lives should come before optics and children deserve better,” the group stated.
The case of Junior Secondary School Kilankwa 2 is not isolated. It highlights a persistent gap between government declarations and the lived reality in public schools across Abuja’s outer councils. Despite recurring pronouncements of massive education investments, visible infrastructure collapse continues to define learning environments in many public schools.
In February 2024, the Federal Capital Territory Universal Basic Education Board (FCT-UBEB) confirmed that Minister Nyesom Wike had approved ₦30.9 billion for the rehabilitation of schools across the territory, including those in Kwali, Abaji, and Gwagwalada Area Councils, as reported by NAN News and PM News Nigeria.
The FCT Administration further claimed it had spent ₦200 billion on education between 2023 and 2024, with ₦100 billion earmarked specifically for school renovations, according to Premium Times.
Despite these figures, a closer review of implementation records shows that many rural schools remain untouched. In November 2024, the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) disclosed that 34 states and the FCT had failed to access their ₦1 billion matching grants for the year due to non-payment of counterpart funds.
“Every state, including the FCT, is entitled to ₦1 billion annually under UBEC’s matching grant scheme,” the Commission reiterated in a public statement in 2024.
Despite these funds being available, students at Kilankwa 2 continue to study under hazardous conditions, with no record of renovation in recent budget cycles. Civil society organisations and education advocates have questioned the transparency and criteria used to select the 60 schools reportedly refurbished under the current administration.
Until concrete steps are taken to enforce equity in education infrastructure funding, children in Kwali and other rural councils will continue to study beneath cracked beams and broken promises.
