ABUJA - The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) has said in Abuja on Wednesday that it excluded 23 states in the disbursement of 2007 intervention fund for their failure to meet some requirements.

The commission on Tuesday disbursed about N170 billion for special education to 13 states.
UBEC’s spokesman David Apeh told newsmen that the affected states had not fully accessed their previous allocations.

‘’States such as Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Benue, Cross River, Kogi and Nasarawa have yet to even access the 2006 fund because they have not fully utilised the 2005 fund released to them,’’ Apeh said.

He said the remaining states had either failed to utilise the 2006 fund or account for it.
‘’Each state is expected to write a report on fund utilisation.

‘’The State Universal Basic Education Board is also expected to invite the commission for verification of projects based on the report.

‘’If it qualifies for next allocation, it must submit an Action Plan for approval before it can access the fund,’’ Apeh said.

He said it was sad that most states failed to meet the requirements resulting in a huge unutilised intervention fund.

The spokesman listed the 13 states which got the allocation as Adamawa, Anambra, Ekiti, Enugu, Gombe, Imo, Jigawa, Kano, Kebbi, Osun, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara.

Apeh said each of them got about N13.3 billion.

The fund is meant for the education of children with special needs.