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A school operator that runs the Okayama University of Science, owned by a close friend of the prime minister, has been linked to the zero-cost acquisition of city-owned property. The Prime Minister's office may have been involved, leaked documents show. The school was planning to open a veterinary department in Imabari in western Japan. A recently disclosed document claimed the Prime Minister was supporting the school "at the highest level," although the department had not received government approval to build in 52 years.

Before each school year, the Ministry of Education publishes a list of approved textbooks, from which teachers will choose the ones they will use in class. For the 2017-2018 school year, the list is 30 pages long. There is big money in school books, explains a publisher who wants to remain anonymous. "Getting on the list is the Holy Grail, and no holds are barred. Imagine a little, it's a huge market, more than 5 million students! Everyone wants their share of the pie: authors, publishers, printers or distributors, even if the methods they use are not always legal.”

National Accountability Bureau (NAB) officials have started collecting evidence pertaining to alleged corruption and financial mismanagement of at least Rs 4 billion in the Prime Minister’s Education Reform Programme. The former prime minister had given at least Rs 4 billion to improve the conditions of 423 federal public educational institutions that come under the purview of the Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) through the Prime Minister’s Education Reform Programme. Corruption and financial mismanagement has allegedly been done in funds allocated for paint jobs, furniture procurement, and construction and renovation projects.

Six senior government officials in the Ministry of Education have been relieved of their duties in relation to massive corruption, abuse of office, fictitious procurements and embezzlement of public resources spanning more than 20 years. The President has also directed that the Contracts Committee of the same ministry be "disbanded with immediate effect" in relation to the "mishandling of the process for procuring furniture for selected primary schools in Uganda under the Ministry of Education and Sports".

According to Transparency International, 66 per cent of the money Nigerian governments allocate to education is stolen by corrupt officials. Resource misallocation, corrupt procurement, exchange of sex for grades, examination malpractices, fake qualifications, teacher absenteeism, and corrupt recruitment practices are just some examples of the challenges the education systems is facing. This affects the quality of education, inclusion and learning outcomes with devastating consequences for national economic growth.

There have been issues of cronyism, nepotism, and corruption in the Ministry of Education, subject to performance audits focused on adherence to the Government’s procurement guidelines and contracts management. According to the opposition leader, the allegations are related to the misuse of public funds and to the “politically connected” persons who have been employed by the education ministry as advisers, “but are not doing any work”.