The perils of bureaucratic complexity: Education for all in Nigeria

This paper reports research which investigated the issue of access in the Universal Basic Education (UBE) and sought to know why access to education remains the biggest challenge with over 10.5 million school-aged children out of school in Nigeria (NUT, 2004; UBEC, 2004; UNICEF Report, 2015). Data for this study were collected through document analysis and interviews with 30 bureaucrats responsible for implementing UBE in two geo-political zones and the federal capital territory. According to the analysed data, the challenge of access in UBE implementation was attributable to bureaucratic complexity. Recommendations have been developed for UBE implementation that seeks to enable enhanced access to education among Nigerian children.