The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) has raised concern that more than N46.2 billion in matching grants is still lying un-accessed in spite of the poor state of many primary schools across the country.
Presenting the 2022 capital budget implementation report at an oversight visit to the commission by the Senate Committee on Basic and Secondary Education, in Abuja on Wednesday, UBEC’s Acting Executive Secretary, Prof. Bala Zakari said that N162,284,117,592.96 was allocated to the states, being Universal Basic Education (UBE) grants between 2019 and 2022, out of which N116,072,964,294.33 was accessed by 36 states and Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
“The sum of N46,211,153,298.63 is the total unaccessed UBE matching grants as of April 30, 2023, by the 36 states and the FCT, representing 71.52 per cent as of 30th April.
“As at the time of reporting, only 11 states accessed the 2022 matching grant fund”, he said.
On the levels of UBE matching grants accessed by states, Zakari said that, in 2019, 35 states and FCT accessed 2019 matching grant, with Anambra yet to access it as of 30th April.
“In 2020, 30 states and FCT accessed the matching grant. Six states namely: Abia, Adamawa, Anambra, Ebonyi, Kwara, and Ogun are yet to access the 2020 UBE matching grant as at 30th April”, he explained.
The Executive Secretary further stated that 29 states had accessed the 2022 matching grant projects, while seven others and the FCT had yet to access it.
He said that 11 states – Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Ekiti, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Nasarawa, Ondo, Taraba and Zamfara – had accessed the 2021 UBE matching grant, while 25 states and the FCT had yet to access the 2022 grant as at 30th April.
The Chairman of the committee, Senator Ibrahim Gaidam said that it was important to ensure that money released by the government was used for the intended purposes.
Gaidam, represented by the Vice-Chairman of the committee, Senator Akon Eyakenyi, said that the visit was to confirm the implementation of the 2022 appropriation and the proposal for 2023.
He called on state governors to key into the matching grants for a better and more rewarding education system.
