‘Despite poor state of pri schools, N41bn UBEC fund un-accessed’

Executive Secretary, Universal Basic Education Commission, Hamid Boboyyi, says over N41.06bn UBEC matching grants is lying unaccessed despite the poor state of many primary schools across the country.

Boboyyi disclosed this in Abuja yesterday while presenting the 2020 Capital Budget Performance to the Senate Committee on Basic and Secondary Education.

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

He listed the four states as Anambra, Imo, Kaduna and Kwara.

He said 30 states and the FCT implemented matching grants projects in 2018, but six states Anambra, Imo, Kaduna, Kwara, Ogun and Plateau - had yet to do so.

“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 said states had yet to access the 2020 grants because it was only opened for access towards the end of the year.

He said over N29.75bn was received by the commission, representing 99.92 per cent as at Dec. 31, 2020; while contracts worth over N27.57bn were awarded for the 2,895 constituency projects.

He said out of the 2,895 constituency projects awarded, 939 had been completed as at March 8, 2021; while 1,956 projects were ongoing.

On fund utilisation, Bobboyi said over N5.35bn, representing 18 per cent, had been utilised as of March 2021.

He said general insecurity in some parts of the country militated against successful implementation of the budgets.

The chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic and Secondary Education, Senator Akon Eyakenyi, said: “UBEC is a major agency under this committee because the foundation of education begins with UBEC. If we miss it at this level, it’ll be difficult to get it right.” (NAN)