For more than three years, the Cross River State Government under Governor Bassey Edet Otu has repeatedly assured residents that education remains one of its top priorities. Since the administration came into office in May 2023, billions of naira have been budgeted for the education sector through the Ministry of Education, the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), state-owned tertiary institutions and other education agencies. Across the 2024, 2025 and 2026 approved budgets, education allocations amount to a whopping sum over ₦100 billion.
The government has maintained that these investments are laying the foundation for a better education system. Recently, the Commissioner for Education, Senator Professor Stephen Adi Odey, also spoke positively about the sector, highlighting improvements in teaching and learning, government interventions and ongoing reforms aimed at strengthening education across the state.
Among the initiatives frequently highlighted by the government are the payment of WASSCE registration fees for eligible public school students, distribution of literacy and numeracy textbooks to public primary schools, efforts to improve school administration and monitoring, and other reforms intended to raise educational standards.
However, beyond government offices and official statements, many rural communities in the state are yet to experience the level of transformation being celebrated in the media.
Across several local government areas, especially in remote communities, many public primary and secondary schools still operate from buildings with leaking roofs, broken walls, cracked floors, damaged windows, collapsing ceilings and classrooms that have received little or no renovation for many years. In some schools, pupils continue to learn under difficult conditions while teachers struggle with inadequate teaching materials, overcrowded classrooms and poor learning environments.
Although there is no official national ranking of states with the highest number of dilapidated school buildings, education infrastructure assessments, media investigations and reports from stakeholders have consistently identified Cross River among the Southern states facing significant challenges with aging and deteriorating public school infrastructure, particularly in rural communities. This has continued to fuel calls from parents, teachers and education advocates for faster rehabilitation of schools across the state.
Likewise, there is no official Federal Government ranking that places Cross River among the ten worst-performing states in education. However, education analysts have repeatedly pointed to persistent challenges affecting the state's public education system, including infrastructure deficits, unequal access between urban and rural communities, shortages of facilities in some schools and the need for sustained investment in teacher support, learning materials and school maintenance.
The concerns surrounding education have also been reflected in a broader assessment of living conditions in the state. In its 2026 "Where Nigerian Families Actually Thrive" report, SBM Intelligence ranked Cross River as the lowest-performing state among the states surveyed on overall quality of life. The report assessed indicators including education, healthcare, safety and affordability. On education, Cross River recorded the lowest score for affordable school quality among the states surveyed. SBM Intelligence attributed the poor rating to declining education standards, poor public school conditions and rising unofficial school costs despite the state's free education policy.
For many parents in villages, education is judged not by budget speeches or policy announcements but by what their children encounter every morning. They ask simple questions: Is the classroom safe? Does the roof leak when it rains? Are there enough desks? Is there a qualified teacher standing before the pupils? Can children truly learn with dignity?
These are the questions many communities believe still require urgent answers.
No one disputes that significant sums have been budgeted for education or that the government has introduced several programmes. What many residents want to know is whether those allocations are translating into visible improvements in every community, especially in the grassroots where thousands of children attend public schools every day. Or are they in people's pockets?
Education experts have long argued that budgeting alone is not enough. The true measure of success lies in project execution, timely release of funds, proper maintenance of school facilities, adequate teacher deployment and measurable improvements in learning outcomes. Until these are consistently visible across both urban and rural communities, public debate over the state of education in Cross River is likely to continue.
A school is more than blocks and cement. It is where tomorrow first learns to write its name. When the roof leaks, it is not only rain that falls into the classroom; hope is soaked alongside the children's exercise books. When walls crack, confidence cracks with them. But when classrooms are rebuilt, dreams rise from the dust. May the day soon come when every child in Cross River walks through the gates of a school that speaks not of abandonment, but of promise; not of neglect, but of opportunity; not of forgotten budgets, but of a future finally delivered.
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