2022 UBEC PROJECTS: FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ALLOCATES N42.3BN

2022 UBEC PROJECTS: FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ALLOCATES N42.3BN FOR 233 SCHOOL PROJECTS IN 36 STATES AND THE FCT.

The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) is the agency entrusted with the obligation for coordinating all aspects of the Universal Basic Education (UBE) programme implementation. The UBE programme is an education reform programme aimed at providing greater access to and ensuring the quality of basic education across the 36 states and the FCT.

In the 2022 Budget, the Federal government of Nigeria, through the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) allocated over 42 billion naira for two hundred and thirty-three school projects IN 36 states and the FCT. A research carried out by Eduplana; a civic organization promoting accountability and transparency in Nigeria’s Education sector, showed that the North-East had the highest allocation of 4.33bn. Among the 36 states, Adamawa state had the highest allocation of N1.86bn while Ekiti state had the least allocation of N15mn.

While we commend the action of the Federal Government in increasing UBEC allocation as an intervention to address the infrastructural deficit in our public schools across the country, we must also state that the plan and implementation of the increased budget is riddled with discrepancies.

In the same 2022 UBEC allocation distribution, there were 4 unspecified projects with an allocation of N28.3bn and 10 joint projects for an allocation of N1.78bn, displaying misappropriation of funds and corruption. These unspecified and joint projects have proved to be avenues for government officials to embezzle funds and deny poor children access to quality education. This, among other factors has worsened the state of education in Nigeria.

According to UNICEF, at least 10.5 million children are out of school in Nigeria – the highest rate in the world. A full one-third of Nigerian children are not in school, and one in five out-of-school children in the world is Nigerian. It is also noteworthy, that since 2009, over 1,400 schools have been destroyed and 2,295 teachers killed across the North-East in protracted conflict. Children in North-East Nigeria face unusual challenges. Yet, this region has the highest allocation of the UBE funds. The COVID-19 pandemic has also complicated existing problems in access to and quality of education.

While the increase of funds to the sector is laudable, more effort must be put in place to ensure that there is value for the money being spent and that the children who need the educational resources get it. This increased funding, when managed properly, will go a long way to mitigate the sufferings of the Nigerian children, curtail the effects of COVID 19 on education and improve the chances of access to quality basic education. We also urge the Federal government to increase UBEC allocations so that more school renovation projects can be completed yearly, thereby reducing public school infrastructural decay across the 36 states and the FCT. To ensure that the public schools are well renovated and provide value for money, we also call on the government to be more transparent in providing full details of UBEC projects across the 36 states and FCT so citizens can monitor their implementation.

By Babatunde Adegbite

Data source: eduplana