By Ibukun Emiola
The Federal Government has approved an upward review of the matching grants of state governments for infrastructural projects under the Universal Basic Education (UBE) to N3.5 billion.
The Executive Secretary, Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Dr Hamid Bobboyi said this on Thursday at a 5-day financial training for SUBEB Chairmen and Board Secretaries in Ibadan.
Bobboyi said that the increased matching grants to the states for infrastructural projects was realised from the two per cent consolidated revenue fund allotted for basic education in Nigeria.
He said that the approval followed the passage of the 2024 Appropriation Bill, which was assented into law by the President.
“The 2024 Federal Government Statutory Allocation of the UBE Matching Grant to each state is over N3.5 billion.
“The grant complies with Section 11 (2) of the UBE Act, 2004.
“The state governments are requested to provide an equivalent amount of N3.5 billion as Counterpart Fund in order to execute the first to the fourth Quarter, 2024 UBE intervention projects,” Bobboyi said.
He noted that states previously were getting about N1.3 billion per year, as matching grants, but the grant had now been jacked up to N3.3 billion.
Bobboyi, however, urged state governments yet to access the 2023 matching grant with the commission amounting to N1.4billion as of July 1, 2024, to do so.
“With the impressive amount, states are expected to bring in matching grants of N3.3 billion to go home with about N6.6 billion.
“This is quite an impressive amount. Of course, we also took into account that inflation had affected the grants.
“At the same time, it is very encouraging to see that the available amount is decent enough for states, because when a state brings in another N3.3 billion, it goes home with about 6.6 billion.
“It’s quite a reasonable amount if it could be applied well,” he said.
The UBEC boss stated that about 46 million children are in schools across the country, adding that basic education ends at the secondary school level.
He acknowledged the fact that the commission had enormous challenges, which was also true for all state SUBEBs.
Bobboyi urged the state chairmen and secretaries to work as a team and mop up the remaining out-of-school children in their individual states.
He said that the quarterly meetings of SUBEB chairmen and secretaries would allow them to look into their challenges and proffer solutions in the basic education sub-sector.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the meeting was attended by SUBEB chairmen, permanent secretaries, and executive secretaries across the country. (NAN)
