Spatial Accessibility to Secondary Education in Borno State: Patterns and Implications

Access to secondary education in Borno State, the epicentre of insurgency in Nigeria's North East geopolitical zone, has been severely disrupted by protracted conflict while underlying geographic inequities in school distribution predate the crisis and continue to limit educational attainment for millions of adolescents. This study analyses the spatial accessibility of secondary schools across Borno State using GIS-based catchment analysis and distance modelling applied to data on 186 registered secondary schools obtained from the Borno State Universal Basic Education Board. Euclidean and network-based distance analyses were computed for ward-level population centroids to assess service coverage under different catchment radius assumptions. The analysis is complemented by household survey data from 400 adolescents in Maiduguri, Konduga, and Biu local government areas capturing enrolment status, travel distance, and barriers to school attendance. Results reveal that 53 percent of ward-level population centroids in Borno State fall beyond a ten-kilometre Euclidean distance from the nearest functional secondary school, with the highest accessibility deficits concentrated in areas affected by Boko Haram displacement in the Lake Chad fringe. Gender-disaggregated analysis confirms that girls face significantly greater accessibility barriers due to distance, insecurity concerns, and socio-cultural constraints on mobility. The study recommends expansion of boarding school provision, targeted school reconstruction in returnee communities, and safe corridor programmes to improve enrolment. Keywords: educational accessibility, secondary schools, Borno State, North East Nigeria, conflict.