For 18 years, federating states and the federal capital territory of Nigeria, failed to access a whopping N68,737,873,073.52 billion education grant, set aside to aid educational development in their various domains.
The fund, expected to attract counterpart funds from benefitting states, is domiciled with the Universal Basic Education Commission.
While states and FCT have turned a blind eye to the fund since 2005, out-of-school children disturbing statistics keep soaring, with the United Nations Children Emergency Fund estimating their number to be about 20.3 million.
Rights lawyer, Mr Femi Falana, who requested available and requisite data from the Commission, is now threatening litigation if the needful isn’t done with the dormant fund, to cater to the under-privileged children.
In a letter to the Commission, dated November 24, 2023, the Senior Advocate relied on the Freedom of Information Act, to demand “information on the provision of counterpart funding by the 36 states governments and the FCT, to access the outstanding matching grants”.
Responding, the Commission, through Adamu Misau, Director, Finance & Accounts, on behalf of the Executive Secretary, noted that, “the total un-accessed matching grant from all states from 2005-2023 stood at N68, 737,873,073.52, as of December 11, 2023”.
The response from the Commission was dated December 11, 2023.
The Commission however noted that seven states of Osun, Niger, Taraba, Sokoto, Enugu, Jigawa, Ondo, have made moves to access their allotted grant, by providing their counterpart fund.
“The total state counterpart fund lodged by seven states stood at N10,603, 247,284.94 billion, and are at various stages of accessing their matching grant as of December 11, 2023” the Commission noted.
The accompanying documents showed the counterpart fund lodgement made by the seven “serious” states as of December 4, 2023.
Osun state lodged N1,395,784,959.14, Niger; N2.6 billion, Taraba; N1.395,784,959.14, Sokoto; N1.395,784,959.14, Enugu; N1.722,215,968.81, Jigawa; N697,892,479.57, and Ondo; N1.395,784,959.14.
In the seven states, available records showed that the ongoing efforts to secure the fund from the Commission, were made in 2023 by the current leadership in the states.
In a statement to Nigerian Tribune on Thursday, Falana who heads Alliance on Surviving Covid-19 and Beyond (ASCAB), a policy-advocate watchdog, demanded immediate action on the fallow fund and the out-of-school crisis.
He said, “In early 2023, the United Nations Children Emergency Fund estimated the total number of out-of-school children in Nigeria to be 20.2 million. The report disclosed that one in three children in Nigeria is out of school, totalling 10.2 million at the primary level, and 8.1 million at the junior secondary school level.
“It said one in every five out-of-school children in the world is in Nigeria. Over 60 per cent of the illiterate are in the North. The report has confirmed that Nigeria has the highest number of out-of-school children in the world.
“Disturbed by the figure of out-of-school children, we requested the Universal Basic Education Commission to furnish us with information on access to UBEC funds by the 36 state governments and the Federal Capital Territory.
“In its prompt reply to our letter, the UBEC disclosed that the total unassessed matching grant from all states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory stood at N68, 737, 873, 073. 52 as of 11th December 2023. The letter of the UBEC dated 11th December 2023 is hereby attached.
“In view of the fact that state governments have failed to comply with section 3 of the Education Reforms Act which mandates them to contribute half (50%) of the total cost of projects to be executed in the State as its own commitment in the execution of the projects, we are compelled to call on the UBEC to disburse the fund directly.
“This call is in line with the combined effect of sections 12 and 17 which have saddled the Commission with the responsibility to ensure effective implementation, evaluation, and monitoring of the Universal Basic Education programme of the Federal Government and help teachers, schools managers, and other stakeholders in Basic and Secondary Education institutions in Nigeria to identify areas of deficiencies in achieving curriculum goals and help to remedy these deficiencies.
“As a matter of urgency, we call on the Federal Government, State Governments, and the 774 Local Governments to adopt remedial measures to ensure the immediate registration of the 20.2 million out-of-school children in schools.
“If the said sum of N68 billion unmatched grant is not accessed by the 36 state governments and the Federal Capital Territory before January 15, 2024, we shall seek an order of mandamus to compel them to do so forthwith,” he warned.
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