THE recent report that many states in the country are yet to access the N65 billion Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) funds due to them, despite the deteriorating state of the nation’s education sector, is worrisome. Besides their failure to access these funds, another N2.312 billion Special Education Fund (SEF) set aside for children with special needs across the country, is also lying idle with UBEC, with the states reportedly not accessing it.
Available statistics show that of the N38.5 billion UBEC funds set aside for states in 2016, only N2.6 billion was accessed, while in 2015, only N18.517 billion was disbursed out of N32.440 billion earmarked for the states. Out of the N73.374 billion set aside for 2013 and 2014, N65 .582 was accessed by the states. In the same vein, N62.839bn was disbursed out of N63.842 billion budgeted for 2011 and 2012.
In 2016, only three out of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja provided the matching grants to access the funds. The states were Borno, N.042 billion, Nasarawa, N607 million, and Rivers, N1.042 billion. Nineteen states accessed the funds in 2015, while twenty-eight provided the matching grants to access the fund between 2013 and 2014.
Before the UBE Act of 2004, the funding of basic education was the sole responsibility of states and local governments. But, since 2004 when the Federal Government added two percent of its Consolidated Revenue Fund to the funding of basic education, which is made up of Early Childhood Care Education (ECCE), Primary and Junior Secondary Education, states are required to provide matching grants or counterpart funding to qualify to access the UBEC funds. The target of the UBE scheme, which was conceived in 1999 by the former President Olusegun Obasanjo regime, was to achieve the aims of the Education for All (EFA) policy and the education component of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Under the counterpart funding arrangement of UBEC, a state that wants to access N1 million is expected to provide N500,000 which will qualify it to receive N1.5 million. The counterpart funding is to make states committed to the projects and ensure that funds are not misused through monitoring mechanisms. Besides, the counterpart funding is expected to ensure sustainability of the fund.
While the subsisting arrangement may have worked well in some instances in the past, the report that N65 billion of the funds cannot be accessed by the states calls for an urgent review of the modalities for accessing the money. The UBEC cannot continue to warehouse such a humongous amount of money while basic education is deteriorating in the country. It is a sad commentary that most primary and post-primary schools in many states in the country are in very bad shape. Warehousing this colossal amount of money in one agency can lead to corruption. We call on the Federal Government to review the method of disbursing the fund.
We suggest that the counterpart funding clause be removed from the Act establishing the Commission so that it can on its own provide infrastructure in the basic education sector in the states. This will help to avoid disagreements over contractors, contract costs and the supervision of the projects. The commission must ensure that such intervention projects are equitably distributed to avoid accusations of favouritism.
The history of this fund clearly shows that the current method of requiring states to provide counterpart funding for projects is not working well. It has become necessary to change it. There is no wisdom in keeping money idle when it is needed for projects in the basic education sector. Government should also review the manner of accessing the SEF to ensure it is also used for the right purpose.