ABUJA - The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) said yesterday that it had disbursed about N21 billion to the states, as intervention fund for the Universal Basic Education (UBE) this year.
“We have so far released about N21 billion to the states in 2008; the money was released in the first and the second quarter of the year,” UBEC said in a document.
The document, made available to newsmen yesterday in Abuja, said the figure brought the total amount released to the states, to about N111 billion in four years.
“About N24 billion was released in 2006, N30 billion in 2006 and about N35 billion
in 2007, bringing the sum total to about N111 billion,’’ it added.
The Commission explained that the money accrued to it as the two percent Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) from the Federal Government.
“The Federal Government has consistently released its two per cent CRF to UBEC.
“We in turn release same to the various states, using approved guidelines,” it said.
The Commission, however, expressed concern that most states had failed to record
meaningful progress in the UBE, in spite of the huge amount released to them.
“Many states have recorded setback in implementing the UBE programme because they failed to budget adequately for it.
“In effect, such states have difficulties in raising the counterpart funds required to access the matching grants,” it said.
UBEC said the problem had persisted, in spite of numerous efforts by the Commission.
It urged the states to put in place mechanism to address the problem, in the interest of the education system.
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