The scandalous disclosure that 34 states have failed to access N263 billion Universal Basic Education, UBE, funds, should have brought millions of Nigerians to the streets in protest if Nigerians had not become so totally desensitized to shocks.

The Executive Secretary of the Universal Basic Education Commission, UBEC, Hamid Bobboyi, made this disclosure during an oversight visit of the Senate Committee on Education (Basic and Secondary). Bobboyi said only Kaduna and Katsina had been able to claim their UBEC funds for the first and second quarters of 2024.

These defaults are serial offences which the state governors indulge in to the detriment of their UBE obligations. Figures unveiled by Bobboyi indicate that Abia State has been the worst offender over the years. In terms of geopolitical zones, the South-East is the most negligent in claiming its UBEC funds, in the same manner that it is the most backward in applying for the Students Loan Fund, NELFUND, as recently disclosed.

The North-West ranks first in claiming their UBEC fund, followed by the South-South, North-Central, North-East and South-West. The reluctance of many state governors to claim their UBE funds owes to the fact that they have to pay a counterpart fund to qualify. Many state governors prefer to spend their counterpart fund on other self-determined priorities. This is a total sabotage of the spirit behind the scheme.

The UBE scheme, which was established by the regime of former President Olusegun Obasanjo in September 1999, is derived from the Millennium Development Goals, MDGs, and Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs, of the United Nations aimed at eradicating the basic social challenges in countries across the world. The noble intention is to ensure free, compulsory and inclusive basic education for all children from Primary to Junior Secondary School III (JSIII) to foster ability to read and write. This ability has been proven a very powerful liberating factor.

People may wonder why, in spite of the poor attitude of South-East states to claim their UBE funds, still the zone is constantly ahead of the rest in educational performance. Conversely, despite the eagerness of the North-West states to claim their fund, the zone still lags behind in educational ratings.

It all boils down to the irresponsibility of their state governors. The South-East governors abandon the burden of education largely to parents and guardians. Also, their Northern counterparts still fail to deploy enough funds and efforts to education, which is why the region still produces by far the highest number of Out-of-School, OOS, children. The UBEC should publish the performances of state governments and geopolitical zones every month. It will put more pressure on governors to claim their state funds.

If we faithfully implement the UBE scheme, it will remove our 22 million OOS children from the streets. (Vanguard Editorial)

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