The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) has revealed that a staggering N135,540,905,308.92 in matching grants have not been accessed by states between 2020 and 2023. Bola Olajuwon, Toba Adedeji, Osogbo, Kolade Adeyemi, Jos, Ernest Nwokolo, Abeokuta, Onimisi Alao, Yola, Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin, Chris Njoku, Owerri, Damian Duruiheoma, Enugu and Ahmed Rufa’i, Dutse went after the state governments and their State Universal Basic Education Boards (SUBEBs) to enquire why they are not matching up. Some of them gave their positions and others failed to give any reason.
The Executive Secretary of UBEC, Dr. Hamid Bobboyi, during his presentation of the 2020 and 2023 budget implementation report to the Senate Committee on Basic and Secondary Education in Abuja, disclosed that N135,540,905,308.92 in matching grants have not been accessed by states in the last few years.
Bobboyi clarified that the current year’s budget (2024) would be disbursed in the following year, which means that the allocated funds did not usually lapse, unlike funds allocated to other organisations.
He, however, expressed concern that many states had failed to meet the necessary conditions to access these funds, leaving much-needed resources untapped for educational development.
He pointed out that despite some progress, nine states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) had not accessed the 2023 UBE Matching Grant.
“In terms of regional performance, the North-West Zone has performed the best, achieving 100 per cent access to the UBE matching grant, while the South-South Zone has accessed 97.92 per cent of its allocated funds,” he added.
Bobboyi further disclosed that Katsina and Kaduna have set a positive example by accessing the 2024 UBE Matching Grant early, adding that other states such as Ogun, Abia, and Imo were missing out on the 2020 and 2021 matching grants.
Giving the breakdown of the report, he revealed that seven states had yet to access the 2022 UBE matching grant, adding that the Southeast zone was lagging, having accessed only 85.37 per cent of its 2022 matching funds.
He said: “Thirty-four states and FCT have accessed 2020 Matching Grant, two states namely Abia and Ogun have not,Twenty nine 33 states and FCT have accessed 2021 matching grant, three states namely Abia, Imo and Ogun have not.
“Twenty nine states and FCT have accessed 2022 matching grant, seven states namely: Abia, Adamawa, Anambra, Ebonyi, Imo, Ogun and Oyo have not, 25 states have accessed 1-4th Quarter 2023 matching grant, one state, Rivers, accessed 1st-2nd Quarter 2023 Matching Grant.” “Nine states and FCT have not accessed 2023 matching grant. The states are: Abia, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Ebonyi, Imo, Lagos, Ogun, Oyo and Plateau.
“Two states namely Katsina and Kaduna have accessed 1-2nd Quarter, 2024 matching grant, 34 states and FCT have not accessed 2024 matching grant,” he added.
Dr. Bobboyi also provided a detailed performance breakdown by region in accessing the UBE matching grant.
The Nation’s correspondents went after the state governments and their State Universal Basic Education Boards (SUBEBs) to enquire why they are not matching up. Below are their reports:
Why we are yet to match, Lagos SUBEB Chairman
The Executive Chairman of the Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (LASUBEB), Dr. Hakeem Babatunde Shittu, denied that state government did not want to access the matching grants.
According to him, the state is currently accessing the 2022 grants.
Shittu claimed that the state SUBEB was held back by the COVID-19 from reaching the standard milestone and procedures set by UBEC for accessing its matching grants.
He said: “It’s not that we are not ready to match up. We have a milestone to reach before we can assess the funds, according to UBEC conditions. “We are still in 2022. We shall soon match up. COVID-19 affected our reaching the milestone. Lagos is ready to match up if the counterpart funding is increased today. We are ready to match up after reaching the milestone.
Jigawa approves N3.5b for counterpart funds
Jigawa State Governor Umar Namadi has approved the release of over N3.5 billion to the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) for the payment of counterpart funds to UBEC.
This was disclosed by the state Commissioner for Information, Youth and Sports, Mr. Sagir Musa Ahmed, who said the amount, is for the first and fourth quarter joint projects.
The commissioner explained that projects to be executed under first and fourth quarter include the construction of 304 classrooms, renovation of 515 classes and fencing of 27 schools.
According to Musa, “others are the procurement of 29,984 sets of classrooms furniture, construction of four blocks of science and computer laboratories and 646 teachers furniture for distribution across the state.”
The state is one of those with higher number of out-of-schools children in the country with about 800,000 such children roaming on the streets.
Osun to access four years grant by December
The Osun State Government has disclosed that efforts are in top gear to access the grant of four years before December 2024.
Speaking with the Commissioner of Information, Kolapo Alimi, on Monday, he disclosed that the immediate past administration refused to access the grant but the government led by Ademola Adeleke is working around it.
He said: “I can assure you that we have put all the necessary measures in place to access the UBEC grant. Before December 2024, the grant will drop.
“Education is one of the top priorities of this government, hence we won’t allow anything to draw us back,” he said.
Adamawa has not accessed UBEC fund since 2022
The Adamawa State Government stopped accessing UBEC fund in 2021.
An officer of the government agency for basic education, who spoke on the matter Monday, said the last time the state paid counterpart fund and accessed the UBEC grant was 2021.
The Information Officer of the Adamawa State Universal Basic Education Board (ADSUBEB), Jethro Zangtang, who clarified the issue with our correspondent, said the board had been waiting for directive on the grant from Governor Ahmadu Fintiri.
He said the governor had long given his word to make the necessary moves on payment of the state counterpart funds and to access the grant accordingly but that the governor has not acted.
Fintiri had earlier in his first term spoken with pride how he was paying the state’s counterpart fund and accessing the grant and servicing basic education accordingly.
It is, therefore, a thing of surprise to many observers that the attitude could change so drastically.
Kwara received over N14b
Kwara Government has so far received over N14 billion grants from the UBEC, Education and Human Capital Development Commissioner Sa’adatu Modibbo Kawu, has said.
Mrs. Modibbo Kawu added: “When we came on board, UBEC had blacklisted the state and we were not able to access counterpart funds. What Governor AbdulRaman AbdulRazaq did was to pay the over N450 million the previous administration owed in 2019 and we also paid the arrears of the counterpart fund that had not been accessed.
“So, we were able access about N7.1 billion by paying the counterpart fund of N7.1 billion and got over N14 billion from UBEC. As a result, there is so much huge investments in the education sector.”
We’ll soon pay to access the fund, says Ogun SUBEB boss assures
The Executive Chairman, Ogun State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Dr. Femi Majekodunmi, has said that the state will soon pay the counterpart funding, a prerequisite condition to access UBEC funds.
Majekodunmi told The Nation on Monday, that the present administration has perfected plans to pay for at least four years backlog to enable the state access the funds for educational development.
Earlier in July this year, he told our reporter that the state government had been paying the counterpart funding since 2019 but lamented that the backlogs inherited from the previous administrations accounted for the over N4 billion posted by the UBEC against Ogun.
He said the previous administrations did not do well concerning the payment of the counterpart funding, but added that the state was already making arrangements to pay.
Imo silent on issue
To better understand the situation in Imo State, efforts were made to obtain official response from relevant government agencies.
The State Commissioner for Education, Prof. Johncliff Nwadike, was contacted via phone calls and text messages, but unfortunately, he was unavailable for comment.
Additionally, an attempt was made to reach the Acting Chairman of IMSUBE, Mrs. Ifeoma Okeke, but it was learned that she was on an official trip to Abuja.
‘How Enugu is using accessed UBEC funds’
An official of the Enugu State government has said that the bulk of the funds accessed from the UBEC is being channeled into infrastructural development within the sector.
The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to our correspondent, disclosed that Governor Peter Mbah had paid the necessary counterpart fund to enable his administration access the funds with which massive infrastructure is being built across the state. “Yes, because of the high premium Governor Mbah has accorded the education sector, especially basic education, Enugu became one of 16 states that accessed the UBEC matching grant.
“As you can see, the governor is building about 260 Smart Schools in the 260 wards in Enugu State. That is not all. Several other primary schools across the state are already undergoing complete renovations to give conducive environment suitable for teaching and learning in our schools,”
“If you recall, in the 2024 fiscal year, Enugu budgeted 33% to education.”
Ebonyi: we’re accessing fund
The Ebonyi State government said it is accessing the UBEC funds available to it.
It said it was ready to pay its counterpart fund to access all the funds.
Commissioner for Education, Paul Nwobasi stated this in Abakaliki, capital of the state.
He was reacting to reports that the state failed to access over N2 billion from the funds between 2020 to 2023.
According to him, the administration of Governor Nwifuru is ready to pay its own counterpart funds and access the funds to enable it develop the education sector.
Plateau accessed marching grants from 2021 to 2023, says Mutfwang
Chairman, Plateau State Primary Universal Education Board (PLASUBED) Samuel Amuna said the board has been able to access fund from the 2021 to 2023, following the payment of its counterpart fund by the state government.
These grants, Amuna explained, were utilised for the implementations of its various projects in some local government out of the 17 local councils area of the state.
Those various projects include building of new blocks of classrooms, furniture for primary schools, secondary schools as well as blocks of toilets.
“We have been able to also carry out numerous projects in the state for the educational development in both primary and secondary schools in the 17 local government areas,” he said.
Amuna, who spoke with The Nation in Jos, said the board has so far accessed the first to fourth quarter of 2021 while it has also accessed its first to fourth quarter of 2022.
According to him, preparation is in top gear to meet up with the quota of 2023 before the year runs out.
