According to the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), only 16 states have utilized the 2023 grant, amounting to 41 percent of the allocated 51.6 billion naira.
UBEC Executive Director Hamid Bobboyi disclosed this during an oversight function of the House of Representatives Committee on Basic Education and Services on Wednesday in Abuja.
UBEC Executive Director, Hamid Bobboyi, stated that out of the N51.6 billion allocated for the matching grant in 2023, only N21 billion has been claimed by 16 states as of June 30. The states that have accessed the grant are Benue, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Enugu, Jigawa, Kano, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Ondo, Osun, Rivers, Sokoto, Taraba, and Zamfara.
“Of the N103.2 billion approved for 2023 (equivalent to 2% of the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF)), N55 billion has been utilized.
“This is the total expenditure under UBE Implementation, Matching Grants, Education Gap Fund, Special Education and Monitoring Programmes as at 30th June 2024.
“This represents a 54 percent utilization rate. As far as disbursement of the matching grant for 2023 is concerned, 16 states have disbursed 21 billion naira of the approved 51.6 billion naira, which represents 41 percent as at June 30,” he said.
Chairman of the committee, Mark Usani, also said the oversight role was needed to see how basic education had progressed in the past year. Usani said the committee needed to know areas where it needed to intervene to improve the quality of basic education in the country.
“We have high expectations for this year’s UBEC in our quest to ensure that every Nigerian child is back in school and learning. If the Federal Government did not establish UBEC, one can only imagine what would happen to basic education in this country,” he said.
However, Usani said the committee would consider the UBEC Act to address the issue of basic education and unutilized funds.
“We have taken steps to resolve the issue of unaccessed funds and I want to assure you that by the time the process of amending the UBEC Act begins, the issue of unutilized funds will definitely be resolved.
“The challenge of the unavailability of teachers issue is beyond what we can achieve at this level. UBEC does not recruit teachers for LEAs. This is the responsibility of state and local governments. UBEC will step in to check the quality of teachers and provide updates. We will work with national stakeholders to ensure that we raise awareness on these serious issues,” he said.
“Nigerians know that this intervention agency has to play a vital role in the education of our children and everyone should know how far you have come.
“What are the challenges you are having? We need to ensure that you do what you have to do. We have to work hard to change the trend in basic education,” he said.
