BudgIT has charged the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) to engage the National Assembly on the passage of the UBEC Amendment Bill 2018, as states’ failure to fulfil their counterpart funds obligation exacerbates education crisis in Nigeria.
This call is aimed at achieving the objective of the amendment bill — to amend the UBEC Act 2004 thus increasing the block grant contribution of the federal government while reducing states’ counterpart funding from 50% to 25% in the interest of the dwindling education standard and millions of out-of-school children.
The viral news of a schoolgirl in Warri, Delta State, who was sent home due to non-payment of school fees echoes the tragic state of education in Nigeria, to which lack of funding plays a huge part. There are 13.2 million children that are currently locked out of school, according to the latest data from the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC). Yet, N101 million, as of December 2018, that could in some ways contribute to the reduction of this number remain un-accessed. This is a damning indictment of the state governments and national will towards education in Nigeria.
Passed into law, this bill will go a long way in solving Nigeria’s education decline majorly by aligning funding with UNESCO standard — allotment of 15% to 20% of the national budget to education.
BudgIT hereby charges UBEC and the federal government to facilitate the immediate passage of the Amendment Bill. The development of the education sector is tied to adequate funding and proper monitoring of the use of funds, we maintain.
