Twenty-seven states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have not accessed a total of N54.9 billion in basic education funds provided by the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), despite the increasing number of out-of-school children in the country.
This information is derived from a document prepared by UBEC in March 2024, detailing state-by-state matching grants that remain unutilized.
According to the UBEC document, the following states have fully accessed their allocated funds:
- Jigawa, Sokoto, and Zamfara states in the North-West
- Borno and Taraba states in the North-East
- Nasarawa State in the North-Central
- Ondo State in the South-West
- Enugu State in the South-East
- Delta State in the South-South
However, the document reveals that several states failed to access their respective funds for various years:
- Kaduna State did not access N1.3 billion in 2023
- Kano State did not access N581 million in 2023
- Katsina and Kebbi states each failed to access N1.3 billion in 2023
- Adamawa and Bauchi states jointly failed to access funds from 2022 (N1.2 billion) and 2023 (N1.3 billion) respectively
- Gombe State and Yobe State also failed to access N1.3 billion each in 2023
Furthermore, states like Benue, Kwara, Niger, Kogi, Plateau, and the FCT currently have N1.3 billion each from the 2023 disbursement that remains unaccessed.
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Ogun State stands out as one of the highest debtors on the list, with a total amount of N4.2 billion unaccessed from 2020 to 2023.
Similarly, Abia State did not access N4.2 billion intervention funds from 2020 to 2023, while Imo State accumulated N3.5 billion from 2021 to 2023.
The failure to access these funds has prompted legal action, as Human rights lawyer Mrs. Funmi Falana (SAN) sued the 36 state governments and the FCT in February 2024 for failing to utilize N68 billion UBEC funds meant for free basic education.
In response to the situation, state officials like Dr. Femi Majekodunmi (Ogun State UBEC Chairman) and Kolapo Alimi (Osun State Commissioner for Information and Public Engagement) have assured that efforts are underway to access the funds by providing necessary counterpart funding.
Despite challenges faced by states, efforts are being made to address the backlog and ensure the utilization of UBEC funds for education development across Nigeria.
