Increasing accountability and efficiency in the use of public and out-of-pocket financing in
education are critical to realizing the maximum impact of the meager allocations to education in most developing
countries. While broad estimates and numbers are routinely collected by most national ministries and state
departments of education, the lack of accuracy and reliability as well as the obtuse nature of recording and
presentation of the data does not facilitate any serious policy use. A major advance in this area has been brought
about by the development of NEA (National Education Accounts), which is a new tool for measuring education
expenditures in a systematic policy-friendly manner. In essence, NEAs measure the “financial pulse” of an
education system, answering 4 key questions: Who is financing education? How much do they spend? How are
funds distributed across different education providers, levels and activities? Who benefits from or receives the
services? NEAs gather information on all spending from public, private and donor sources, and provide a
snap-shot of all expenditures on education in the state or country. While not an auditing tool, it provides real time
information on the flow of funds that can be used for evidence-based decision-making. It provides information to
policy-makers, enabling them to discern system-wide inequities and identify areas that require changes in policy.
In addition, the use of a standard classification of expenditures allows for data from NEAs to be comparable
between and within countries. This paper provides an assessment of accountability and efficiency in the use of
public and private resources in the education sector in 2 states of Nigeria. Using comparative data from
implementation of education accounts in 2 states of Nigeria, it presents a breakdown of education spending by
public and private sources as well as donor agencies, by types of providers, by geographical regions and by
category of expenditures. It analyzes educational expenditures for the 2 states in the context of state government
priorities for education, and proposes a novel way of tracking trends in education spending as a means for
policy-makers to organize a strategic vision supported by resources and to evaluate the outcome of policies.