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- tasks finance officers on accountability
From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Federal Government has said that only judicious use of Universal Basic Education (UBE) intervention funds would lead to the desired result of better basic education system.
It, thus encouraged state governments to access the intervention funds and use them judiciously for the purposes of developing basic education system in their respective states.
Executive Secretary, Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Dr Hamid Bobboyi, gave the charge in Abuja, on Monday, while declaring open a six-day training for Accountants and Auditors of UBEC, as well as those of the State Universal Basic Education Boards (SUBEBs).
He said the purpose of the training was to familiarize participants with the newly reviewed accounting manual, and also provide a comprehensive understanding of financial infractions and sanctions, noting that such knowledge was crucial to ensuring successful service delivery in basic education.
He said the Commission has received several reports of the state governments officials mounting pressure on the SUBEB officials in order to divert the SUBEBs funds, urging the officers to resist such pressures to commit infractions and compromise standards.
He said: “Given the mandates of UBEC and SUBEBs in implementing the UBE programme, it’s imperative that we strengthen our accounting system to ensure judicious utilization of government investment in the sector.
“As such, it becomes our responsibility to be accountable to the Nigerian public regarding the management of Federal Government UBE Intervention Fund and its overall impact.
“To fulfill these responsibilities effectively, it is necessary to continuously enhance our institutional capacity by improving professional competence among all UBEC and SUBEB staff members.”
The UBEC boss lamented that despite the training for finance officers with the set objectives, it has observed that the trainings have not yielded significant improvements in workplaces.
He revealed that routine quarterly financial monitoring activities conducted by UBEC revealed “poor record-keeping practices as well as infractions that have violated established rules, regulations, and guidelines”.
He added that observations made from the monitoring exercises were forwarded to SUBEBs along with recommendations for necessary actions, stressing the need to strictly adhere to the existing rules, regulations, and guidelines intended to guide the financial transactions for accountability, transparency, and value-for-money purposes.
He urged the participants to take full advantage of the training programme to equip themselves with necessary knowledge and skills needed for positive changes in accounting practices at both the Commission and Boards.
Earlier, Director of Finance and Accounts, UBEC, Adamu Misau, said in order to safeguard the Intervention fund, the UBEC management developed a new sanction regime in 2022, which was approved for implementation by the Commission Governing Board.
He explained that UBEC management had to delay the implementation until all the financial managers of basic education fund were trained, hence the training programme for the financial officers.
“We hope to equip you with better knowledge to judiciously handle the intervention funds with due regards to financial regulations, guidelines and due process in the accessing, utilizing, accounting and reporting of the funds,” he said.
