The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) has granted the Kwara State Government the sum of N7,151,142,190 for the first time in seven years.
UBEC had blacklisted the state since 2013 from the national scheme, hence the state has been deprived of the grants from UBEC.
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According to Hajiyah Fatimah Bisola Ahmed, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development the grant would be deployed in phases.
“This money would be spent in phases over the next two years to fix up to 600 elementary schools out of the over 1400 decrepit basic education facilities across the state. The projects would be monitored by UBEC to ensure compliance with the work plan submitted by the government,”
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“This development has taken Kwara State out of the bottom position in the ranking of states with highest figures of outstanding UBEC grants. The pitiful state of basic education infrastructure in the state is a reflection of the failure to access UBEC funds and the near-zero investments in the sector over the past few years.”
The N7.1bn is a cumulation of UBEC grants that were not accessed between 2014 and 2019. The money was not accessed because the former administration failed to pay its own counterpart funds.
The UBEC grants are meant for rehabilitation of dilapidated basic schools, construction of new ones, equipment of the schools with ICT tools, training of teachers, and project evaluation, among other purposes contained in the UBEC work plan.
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