Universal Basic Education Fund Stalled as 29 States fails to Secure N68 Billion

Niger, Osun, Taraba, Sokoto, Ondo, Enugu, Jigawa accessed N10.6 billion. Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Ekiti, five others accessed UBEC fund in 2022 despite the country’s growing crisis in the education sector resulting in about 20 million children out-of-school, about 29 states have failed to access N68.73 billion Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) matching grant to boost primary education in 2023.

Checks from UBEC showed that the total unaccessed matching grants from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) stood at N68.73 billion.

The states include Osun with N1.3 billion; Niger paid N2.6 billion; Taraba’s lodgement was N1.39 billion; Sokoto N1.39 billion, while Enugu, Jigawa and Ondo paid N1.7 billion, N697 million and N1.39 billion respectively.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) recently estimated the total number of out-of-school children in Nigeria to 20.2 million, saying one in three children in the country is out of school.

According to the agency, of the figure, 10.2 million are at the primary level, while 10 million are at the junior secondary school level.

UNICEF added that one in every five out-of-school children in the world is in Nigeria, with over 60 per cent in the north.

Despite the staggering number, states have failed to access UBEC funds meant to develop the basic education sub-sector.

The UBEC matching grant, which states can only access through payment of 50 per cent counterpart funds, is to upgrade facilities and provide basic needs in primary schools, such as infrastructural development, provision of instructional materials, boreholes and toilet facilities, as well as training and retraining of teachers, among others, to boost enrollment and retention in schools.

However, the funds which have continued to accumulate over the years, have remained unutilised for the development of this critical sub- sector.

While the management of primary and junior secondary education are the primary responsibility of local and state governments, a good number of the states are not keen on funding the sub-sector to enhance foundational learning.

Under the UBEC Act, each state gets an average of N1.5 billion yearly from the commission for the funding of basic education, which will amount to N3 billion with the payment of the matching grant.

Executive Secretary of the commission, Dr Hamid Bobboyi, lamented that the funds, over the years, have not adequately rubbed off on learning achievements and outcomes in the school system.

We hear of pupils in over 50 per cent of schools in the country still receiving lessons on bare floors, dilapidated classrooms without doors, windows and ceilings.

Most of our schools are still operating under poorly constructed and unhygienic toilets, poor teaching and learning environments, and in some cases, without toilets and inadequate materials, such as textbooks, readable chalkboards, shortage of qualified teachers and overcrowded classrooms.

Giving a partial breakdown of the unaccessed funds, the commission revealed that Kwara State had over N7 billion because of its inability to access the funds from 2014 to 2019; Anambra N4.2 billion; Enugu N4.3 billion; Abia N3.8 billion; and Plateau N3.1 billion between 2014 to 2019.

The commission noted that a total of N162.28 billion was allocated to states as UBE grants between 2019 and 2022; while only N116.07 billion was accessed by the 36 states and FCT.

While receiving the Senate Committee on Basic Education recently, the executive secretary said: “Between 2019 and 2022, the sum of N162.28 billion was allocated to the states as UBEC grants, but only 11 states have accessed the matching grant.