According to Nelson Mandela, Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.

In Nigeria’s rural heartlands, where children trek barefoot for miles to sit under dilapidated roofs called classrooms, Mandela’s words ring painfully hollow. Despite decades of policies and promises, the dream of accessible and quality primary education for every Nigerian child remains elusive.

The Federal Government recently announced the automation of data collection to enroll at least 500,000 out-of-school children and rolled out the Accelerated Basic Education (ABE) programme to mobilize over 80 million underserved young, non-literate Nigerians. On paper, these initiatives sound impressive. But without fixing the rot in the foundations of our education system particularly in rural areas they risk becoming yet another grand policy destined for failure.

At the core of the problem lies neglect at the state and local government levels. Basic education is, constitutionally, the responsibility of states and local councils. Yet many governors treat primary education as an afterthought, starving schools of funding while local government administrations stripped of autonomy until recently affirmed by the Supreme Court but remain ineffective in service delivery.

Rural schools, where the majority of Nigeria’s 20 million out-of-school children reside, face dire challenges: shortage of qualified teachers, insecurity, collapsed infrastructure, and lack of access roads. In some Niger Delta communities, children learn under leaking roofs despite the region receiving trillions of naira in oil revenues over the years. This scandalous contrast highlights a larger truth: throwing money at enrollment drives without addressing structural deficits is like fetching water with a basket.

For example, UNICEF reports that only 61% of primary school teachers in Nigeria are qualified. How can we expect real literacy when the very custodians of knowledge are ill-equipped or absent? Insecurity further compounds the crisis, with banditry and insurgency forcing thousands of children particularly in the North to abandon school altogether. Meanwhile, inaccessible rural roads discourage both teachers and pupils from sustaining attendance.

The Federal Government’s new programmes may end up as another channel for siphoning taxpayers’ money if states and LGAs fail to deliver where it matters most: teacher recruitment and training, road networks to rural communities, security of school environments, and provision of basic learning infrastructure. Without these, literacy goals will remain pipe dreams, and the billions budgeted will vanish into the pockets of unscrupulous elements.

Education is not just a policy checkbox, it is the foundation of national development. A literate child in a remote village today is a potential doctor, engineer, or teacher tomorrow. But if abandoned, that same child could swell the ranks of illiterate adults, perpetuating cycles of poverty, insecurity, and underdevelopment.

Nigeria must choose wisely. States and local governments cannot continue to abdicate their primary responsibility under the guise of federal interventions. Citizens must rise to demand accountability from governors and council chairmen who are quick to politicize education while wasting fiscal surpluses on white elephant projects.

If Mandela’s words are to hold true in Nigeria, then every rural child must hold a book, not a hoe. Every village must have a functioning school, not an abandoned block of classrooms. Every governor must be reminded that education is not charity, it is duty. And until that duty is fulfilled, all talk of national progress will remain hollow rhetoric.