THE Federal Government says education remains a cardinal component of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu led administration’s renewed hope agenda.
Executive Secretary of Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Dr Hamid Bobboyi, who stated this, added that the Federal Government, through the UBEC would continue to provide intervention in form of assistance to the states and local governments in Nigeria for uniform and qualitative basic education .
Bobboyi spoke in Abuja at a two-day UBEC management meeting with the zonal directors, officers in the Directorate Cadre and state coordinators on strengthening zonal and state offices for improved efficiency.
“Education is one of the cardinal components of the agenda and we are expected to play our role towards the achievement of the objectives,” he said.
According to him, UBEC, would continue to partner with the state governments for smooth implementation of the Universal Basic Education (UBE) programmes so that no child is left behind in the efforts to eliminate the out-of-school-children syndrome in the country.
He, however, stated that the commission had embarked on measures to strengthen its zonal and state offices for strict supervision and monitoring of UBE projects executed by the respective state governments.
He deplored situations where payments were made for shoddy jobs and uncompleted projects.
Bobboyi expressed concerns that in the course of time, it was observed that the zonal and state offices were becoming incapacitated with the functions of the field offices being gradually usurped and concentrated in headquarters.
He noted that though basic education implementation is taking place in the states and by the states, UBEC’s major roles in the UBE implementation process include the regulation and coordination of the programme implementation.
In addition, he said that “the commission disburses Federal Government’s UBE intervention fund to states, sets standards and monitors to ensure that these are maintained and that the Federal Government UBE fund is judiciously utilised in line with the commission’s guidelines.
He revealed that the need to support and synergise with state governments for successful implementation of UBE programmes informed the establishment of UBEC zonal and state offices.
He added that the functions and responsibilities of the zonal and state offices were clearly defined with emphasis on the promotion of cooperation and synergy between the headquarters and the field offices.
“The arrangement worked smoothly, harmoniously, efficiently and effectively to the overall advantage of the commission. The field offices functioned as the required link between the commission and the SUBEBs and UBE stakeholders at the state and local government level.
“They monitored projects and other school activities and provided feedback to headquarters to facilitate informed decision making.
“However, in the course of time, it was observed that the zonal and state offices were becoming incapacitated. The functions of the field offices were gradually usurped and concentrated in Headquarters,” he said.
According to him, “the project and other monitoring activities, which are among the commission’s major functions, have also suffered.
“This led to the submission of inaccurate reports which resulted in payments being made for shoddy jobs and uncompleted projects.”
“The effects of these negative developments did not only rub off on the degree of the efficiency and image of the commission as a whole, it promoted redundancy and absenteeism among the staff members in the field offices. To say the least, the morale of staff members in the field offices began to ebb.”
“It was these developments that triggered the decision of the management to review its implementation structure, arriving at the critical decision that some reorganisation is necessary and urgent and that one of the key areas that should receive immediate attention is the strengthening of the zonal and state offices and empowering them to perform the functions assigned to them when they were established,” he stated.
