N41bn UBEC fund not utilised by states, says executive secretary

The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) says the 36 states and the federal capital territory (FCT) are yet to take advantage of N41 billion worth of grants at its disposal.

Hamid Boboyyi, UBEC executive secretary, spoke on Thursday while presenting the 2020 capital budget performance to the senate committee on basic and secondary education, in Abuja.

He said the funds remain unutilised despite the poor state of many primary schools across the country.

Providing a breakdown of matching grant implementation by states since 2017, Boboyyi said while 32 states and the FCT implemented the 2017 projects, four states had yet to do so.

He identified the four states as Anambra, Imo, Kaduna and Kwara. The executive secretary said the four states, as well as Ogun and Plateau, did not also implement matching grants projects in 2018.

“Eight states have implemented the 2019 matching grants projects, 28 states and FCT have yet to implement them. In 2020, no state implemented the matching grants projects,” he said.

Bobboyi noted that states were yet to utilise the 2020 grants because it was made available towards the end of the year.

He said many challenges, including disruption of academic activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic, delayed the release of capital allocation in 2020.

The UBEC executive secretary said over N29.75 billion was received by the commission as of December 31, representing 99.92 percent, while contracts worth over N27.57 billion were awarded for the 2,895 constituency projects.

He added that out of the 2,895 constituency projects awarded, 939 had been completed as of March 8, while a total of 1,956 projects were ongoing.

In his remarks, Rochas Okorocha, a member of the senate committee, urged UBEC to ensure that schoolchildren adapted to the technologically advancing world.

He lamented the persistent out-of-school children challenge which he said required a new approach to tackle.

Akon Eyakenyi, chairman of the committee, said the team was at UBEC to assess its activities in line with its mandate.

“UBEC is a major agency under this committee because the foundation of education begins with UBEC. If we miss it at this level it will be difficult to get it right,” he said.