The 26 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory have applied to the Universal Basic Education Commission for counter-funding totaling N32.5 billion as of March 28, 2024.
Applications for the fund allow states to access annual expenditures made available by the federal government through state commissions for the development of basic education.
This fund is deployed to improve the quality of basic education in all 36 states. Each state government is responsible for providing 50 per cent to match the annual expenditure provided by UBEC.
According to a document signed by UBEC's Director-General of Finance, Adamu Misau, in response to a freedom of information request by human rights lawyer Femi Falana (SAN), states that applied for counter-funding include Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Kaduna, Sokoto, Zamfara, Borno, Gombe, Taraba, Yobe, Kogi, Nasarawa, Niger, Plateau, FCT, Ekiti, Lagos, Ondo, Osun, Enugu, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, and Rivers states.
According to the document, each state applied for a total of N1.2 billion each.
Data gathered by Sunday Punch revealed that Adamawa and Bauchi states jointly failed to access funds in 2022 (1.2 billion naira) and 2023 (1.3 billion naira) respectively.
Benue, Kwara and Niger states had individual cumulative debts of N2.6 billion due to non-availability of intervention funds in 2022 and 2023.
Kogi, Plateau State and FCT currently have N1.3 billion each unaccessed and are currently being submitted to the commission from the 2023 expenditure.
Ekiti and Lagos states also failed to utilize a total of N1.3 billion each from the 2023 expenditure.
Further analysis of the data shows that Ogun State remains one of the highest debtors on the list, failing to access intervention funds from 2020 to 2023, with the total amount that the state failed to access. was found to be 4.2 billion naira.
The total amount of unavailability to states in 2020 amounted to N1.4 billion. 2.8 billion naira in 2021. 14.4 billion Norwegian in 2022 and 36.1 billion Norwegian in 2023.
In February 2024, human rights lawyer Ms. Funmi Falana (SAN) brought 36 state governments and the FCT to Lagos for failing to access the 680 billion naira UBEC fund meant to provide free basic education to their citizens. was brought to the Federal High Court.
Senior advocates said states are not paying the required counter-funds to access UBEC funds to provide free basic education to their citizens.
Also joined as defendants in the lawsuit were the Federation's Attorney General Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), the Minister of Education, Professor Tahir Manman (SAN) and UBEC.
However, in a recent interview with Saturday Punch, NGF's education advisor Dr. Ebenezer Leo the Great said the UBEC fund is stalled due to state governments' inability to raise the equivalent of 50 per cent of the required amount. revealed.
Recently, National President of the National Parent Teachers Association, Haruna Danjuma, criticized governors for not being able to access the fund.
“It is criminal for the state government to leave such huge amounts of money lying around knowing the difficulties faced by the basic education sector.
“If possible, I would have suggested that UBEC should use such funds to implement projects on behalf of the affected states. But the law does not allow that. .
“It is the state government through the State Universal Basic Education Commission that decides which projects to implement, initiates the action plan and sends it to UBEC.”
