Tinubu appoints World Bank education specialist Aisha Garba as UBEC executive secretary

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has appointed Aisha Garba, an international development specialist, as the executive secretary of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC).

Bayo Onanuga, special adviser to the president on information and strategy, confirmed the appointment in a statement on Tuesday.

Garba, a senior education specialist with the World Bank, brings more than two decades of experience driving programmes of impact in education for human and economic development.

She has worked across several countries including Nigeria, Ghana, Somalia, Kenya, the US, and the UK.

With over 15 years of hands-on experience at the World Bank, Garba is reputed to have led end-to-end design and management of education programmes and reforms, from conceptualisation to completion and impact assessment.

Onanuga said the development specialist is expected to share her rich network with state governments, development partners, and communities.

He said she will bring to bear the skills she acquired working in fragile, conflict, and violent settings to deliver sustainable solutions in Nigeria’s basic education.

Garba had previously worked on the team that met the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) targets in Nigeria.

She has consulted for the World Bank, Department for International Development, BOND-UK, Regent Foundation, and Muslim Aid Organization.

Garba is an alumna of Petra American University in Jordan, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts combined degree in English and Computer Studies in 2000.

She later got a master’s in international development at the University of Birmingham in the UK in 2007.

As the new executive secretary of UBEC, Garba will be succeeding Hamid Bobboyi who was appointed in 2016 by President Muhammadu Buhari who later reappointed him for a second four-year term in August 2021.

The office of the executive secretary typically formulates and coordinates the execution of policy guidelines for the operation of Nigeria’s universal basic education scheme.

It oversees the receipt of block grants from the federal government and allocates them to states or other related agencies implementing the UBE programme.

The UBEC executive secretary, through the education minister, oversees the funding and development of basic education in Nigeria.