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• 65% surge in access as 27 states, FCT share N78bn
By Gabriel Dike
The decision of the Minister for Education, Dr. Olatunji Alausa, to unlock the backlog of N263billion Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) matching grants has yielded positive results.
Under the Fund Activation -Strategy Presidential Backing and Governors Engagement, 27 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), have accessed N78.6billion UBEC matching grants by mid 2025.
The breakthrough is contained in a booklet that lists some of the programmes/policies and financial incentives launched by Dr. Alausa, since he became the education minister in October 2024.
According to the document, in April 2025, Alausa initiated a national drive to unlock over N263 billion in un-accessed UBEC funds by writing directly to states and the FCT.
It reads: “The Minister launched a strategic push to unlock over N263 billion in un-accessed UBEC funds held back due to non-payment of counterpart funding by states from 2020/2024.”
By April 24, 2025, personalized letters were sent to 30 governors, detailing state specific UBEC arrears and called for immediate compliance.
In the letters, the Education Minister reminded the state governors of their legal obligation under Section 11 (2) of UBE Act, 2004.
Under the unlock initiative, a new policy implementation tools were introduced with state-by-state monitoring set deadlines, deployment of performance indicators to track fund disbursement and the impact on basic education and emphasis on accountability, transparency, and real-time data tracking.
The document states that by July 2025, following the letters to the governors, there was a 65 percent access surge in UBEC grants noticed by mid-year.
The document noted: “27 states and FCT have accessed N78.6 billion in Universal Basic Education (UBE), matching grants by mid-2025.
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“The surge followed the implementation of the UBEC 2025-2030 strategic blueprint, which introduced a revised matching grants formula that prioritizes equity, quality, accountability, and states specific service delivery in basic education funding.
“The rise in accessed funds is attributed to high-level advocacy carried out by the education minister in the personalized letters.”
In related development, the education minister recently announced an increment in scholarship grants to doctorate, MSc and undergraduate students.
Dr. Alausa said the Federal Government has raised the annual scholarship grants for PhD, master’s and undergraduate students by 50 percent.
The Minister said the increment translates to N750, 000 for PhD, N600, 000 for MSc graduates, and N450, 000 for undergraduates.
He said: “This adjustment is part of a N6 billion scholarship plan for the 2025/2026 academic cycle.”
Within his short period as the Education Minister, the country attracted a €38 million ICT project to digitally transform the nation’s higher education.
The document listing Alausa’s programmes/polices and financial incentives stated that the launch of the blueprint ICT development project is an initiative aimed at driving digital transformation in 10 universities across the country.
“The blueprint ICT development project is an initiative fund by the French Development Agency (AFD). It aims to strengthen institutions ICT infrastructure, enable hybrid and cross-border learning, improved education data systems for evidence-based policymaking, promote technical and vocational education through digital tools, and expand digital education in underserved communities.”
The ten beneficiary universities include the University of Calabar, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, University of Ibadan, Federal University of Technology, Minna and University of Maiduguri.
