• South East lags behind in accessing grants
By Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Few days ago, the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), released some disturbing report that some billions of Naira belonging to state governments and FCT for developing basic education, primary, junior and secondary schools, are not accessed.
UBEC said over N135billion are in the commission’s account domiciled at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) waiting for the concerned state governments to do the needful and access the funds for the development of basic education.
The report, expectedly, generated national discussions in social and conventional media platforms, with different people accusing state governments of un-seriousness in developing basic education which could have helped to, significantly, reduce the growing number of out-of-school children in the country.
In 1999, the former President Olusegun Obasanjo established the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), as an intervention agency, for the purposes of achieving free and compulsory basic education in response to the Education For All (EFA) and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) programmes.
Two per cent of the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) is allocated to the commission every fiscal cycle as statutory transfers in line with Section 11 (1) of UBE Act, 2004.
The sum of N263,043,551,250.30 and N103,288,086,976.00 being two per cent of the CRF, were allocated to the commission under the 2023 and 2024 Appropriation Acts respectively, as statutory transfers in line with Section 11 (1) of UBE Act, 2004.
In 2004, some changes were made to rectify obvious distortions in the basic education delivery in Nigeria. The overall target was to ensure that 100 per cent of school age children graduate from basic education institutions possessing literacy, numeracy and basic life skills so as to live meaningfully in the society and contribute to national development.
In addition, promote quality basic education by ensuring that 100 per cent of basic education teachers to have the Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE); and ensure that 100 per cent of basic education schools have conducive teaching and learning environment, eliminate gender disparity in basic education and all forms of disadvantages.
Sadly, decades after, the targets seem unachieved, perhaps, due to some reasons including poor interest of state governments in accessing the billions of Naira allocated annually to them to access and use in developing basic education.
Executive Secretary, UBEC, Dr. Hamid Bobboyi, recently told the Senate Committee on Basic and Secondary Education on oversight visit that 34 states and the FCT were yet to access the 2024 UBE matching grant due to their inability to do what was expected of them, providing their counterpart funds. Katsina and Kaduna states have, so far, accessed the 2024 first and second quarters of their matching grants.
He said the matching grants from 2020 to 2024, have posed challenges for basic and junior secondary education in states: “For instance, in 2020, 34 states and FCT accessed their respective matching grants, while Abia and Ogun states failed to access theirs.
“In 2021, 33 states and FCT successfully accessed their respective matching grants, while Abia, Ogun and Imo states failed to access theirs.
“In 2022, 29 states and FCT successfully accessed their respective matching grants, while Abia, Adamawa, Anambra, Ebonyi, Imo, Ogun and Oyo, failed to access theirs.
“In 2023, 25 states accessed the first to fourth matching grants. Rivers State accessed only first and second matching grants, 10 states; Abia, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Ebonyi, Lagos, Imo, Ogun, Oyo and Plateau, could not.”
As of October 31 2024, records from UBEC indicated that over N135billion was the un-accessed matching grants, between 2020 and 2024 by 36 states and FCT
Reasons for un-accessed grants
Investigations by Daily Sun revealed that reasons, based on geopolitical zones, were responsible for the poor record of the state governments in the UBE funds.
Records from UBEC indicated that Northern states have impressive records of accessing the UBE funds simply because the government is a major player in the provision of basic education services to the people. Private sector operators play an “insignificant” role in the basic education services in the North, and this could be the reason for the consistency of the Northern states in accessing the UBE funds.
Sadly, otherwise, seems to be the case in the Southern states, particularly South East. Particularly because private sector operators dominate basic education in the zone, providing better basic education, as a result, fewer parents send their wards to public primary and junior secondary schools, which are neither properly equipped nor have quality teachers.
In addition, UBEC guidelines stipulated that “any state preparing for governorship election is not eligible to access the fund until after elections, even if they meet all requirements.
Edo State made counterpart payment shortly before its last governorship election, but UBEC refused to the disburse funds because election was too near. The state officials, obviously frustrated, requested a refund of and it was granted.
Sad reality
According to UBEC records, states in the North West scored 100 per cent in terms of accessing the funds. Sadly, in spite of this, the region accounts for the highest number of out-of-school children, as well as lowest numeracy and literacy level among children.
UBEC records further indicated South-South had 97.92 per cent; North Central 97.76 per cent; North East 97.57 per cent; South West 92.28 per cent and South East 85.37 per cent.
Proposed solutions
To confront the challenge, some stakeholders, particularly state government officials have strongly pushed for an amendment to the UBEC Act to abolish the payment of matching grants, making it possible for direct disbursement to states.
But, some others opposed the suggestion, stressing that such a move would encourage unchecked embezzlement, diversion and outright misuse of the funds by state governments.
Another key suggestion was recently presented by some educationists and stakeholders. They wanted the President to direct the Office of Accountant General of the Federation to deduct the counterpart funds from the monthly allocation to defaulter- states or any payment due to the states. Top officials of UBEC appealed to the President to consider and implement the suggestion.
President, Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Titus Amba, said: “That’s part of our plan and a very good suggestion. I have written a letter to the state governors on this matter of un-accessed funds at UBEC. I expect a positive response from them whenever we meet.
“But after all the engagements and we didn’t achieve the desired result, we might be forced to amplify the push for the implementation of the option. We would contact the Federal Government, and request that a written instructions be communicated to the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation for deductions to be made during allocation from the finances of the defaulter- states, and we hope that UBEC will help us achieve this goal.”
Lawmakers react
Senator Victor Umeh described basic education in the North West as “a paradox. The fact that states in the zone have enjoyed 100 per cent UBEC intervention vis-a-vis funds allocation, yet, accounts for the highest number of out-of-school children, as well as poor numeracy and literacy level among children”
He challenged UBEC management to change its approach to eliminate the lapses and take adequate measures to make corrections and improve the indices.
Senator Sunday Katungi demanded immediate action on History as a compulsory subject for students, stating that otherwise could further spell doom for the posterity of Nigeria, as its future generations would be unaware of certain things that transpired that shaped the country, politically, economically, and otherwise.
Some other senators advocated legislative work on the UBEC establishment act to enable it take action against states that failed to access their funds as of when due.
Chairman of the committee, Senator Lawal Adamu Usman, said: “Oversight visit is always an opportunity to identify any infractions, inefficiency, waste, challenges, as well as commend any achievements and recommend for the correction of any defect(s) in the existing and other relevant laws.
“For the purpose of this particular visit, the committee would take a tour of some identified physical intervention projects such as this UBEC ICT Centre and Smart Schools within the FCT.”