15 years after, has UBE achieved its objectives?

The programme was flagged off on September 30, 1999 in Sokoto, by former President Olusegun Obasanjo for the achievement of Education for All (EFA) and the education-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Thus, the objective of the programme is to ensure unfettered access to 9 years of formal basic education, provision of free universal basic education […]

The programme was flagged off on September 30, 1999 in Sokoto, by former President Olusegun Obasanjo for the achievement of Education for All (EFA) and the education-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Thus, the objective of the programme is to ensure unfettered access to 9 years of formal basic education, provision of free universal basic education for every Nigerian child and reducing the incidence of “drop-out” from the formal school system through improved relevance, quality and efficiency.
The programme is also expected to ensure acquisition of appropriate levels of literacy, numeracy, manipulative, communicative and life skills as well as the ethical, moral and civic values needed for laying a solid foundation for life-long learning.
The implementation process of the programme commenced since 1999, but its progress was hampered by lack of an enabling law to execute certain aspects of the programme until when the UBE Bill was signed into law on May 26, 2004 following its passage by the National Assembly.
The Act makes provision for basic education comprising of one year of Early Childhood Care Education (ECCE), six years of Primary and three years of Junior Secondary Education.
According to the Act, financing of basic education is the sole responsibility of states and local governments. However, the federal government is intervening with 2% of its Consolidated Revenue Fund.
The Act also provides for the establishment of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) to co-ordinate the implementation of the programme at the state and local government levels, through the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) and the Local Government Education Authorities (LGEAs) for states and local governments respectively. The commission was formally established on October 7, 2004.
From 1999 to date, successive governments have continued to institute strategic interventions for the smooth implementation of the programme which include All Girls’ schools to encourage girl-child enrolment in the states, UBE vocational schools for out-of-school boys in the South-east and South-south zones and almajirai Education programme in the northern states.
Others are Safe School programme for ensuring retention in the face of insurgency in some parts of the country, Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) to encourage enrolment and retention in schools and federal teachers’ scheme that aimed at reducing dearth of teachers and improving the quality of basic education delivery.
Statistics from the UBEC office has indicated that from 2005 to 2014, the federal government has committed N493, 902,151,000.00, while the office of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) contributed N51.8bn to the implementation of UBE programme.
This year’s provisional allocation of UBE matching grants for each states and FCT was N952, 297, 297.30. It is further revealed that the commission has already received grants for the 1st and 2nd quarters of the 2014 of N16, 837, 500, 000.00 respectively, which translates into N455, 057, 567.56 per state.
Also, from 2005 to date, the commission has received N8.45billion as Special Education Fund and out of the figures N7.14bn has been accessed, while N1.20 remained un-accessed.
Speaking to Daily Trust, the public relations officer of the commission, Mr. David E. Apeh, said the programme has achieved its objectives because the country’s basic education subsector has witnessed a boost under the programme.
Apeh said a number of almajirai boarding schools have been constructed for out of school pupils in the north where food, textbooks, uniform and library’s facilities are provided to the pupils by federal government, while in the south government established vocational training schools with similar package for the out-of-school children.
Under the programme, he added, government has introduced good performance award to encourage states to access their funds for the development of basic education in their respective states.
He said: “We also had federal teachers’ scheme for basic education. We trained them and pay them N15, 000 monthly allowances for two years after which states will recruit them as permanent staffs. There is no state in the country where you will not see the impact of UBEC/SUBEB programme.”
He said the only challenge facing the commission is the attitude of some state governments of not accessing their funds for many years now. Some of them only want to collect the federal government’s funds without paying their counterparts’ funds. If the states are regular in accessing their funds, the number of out-of-school children will by now reduced drastically.
“That is why we still have children taking lessons under the trees in some states. It is not the fault of the FG (federal government) neither the commissions but their respective state governments. We should work together as a team so that our people can benefit.”
According to statistics, Ebonyi State has not been accessing the UBEC funds since 2009, while Abia, Benue, C/Rivers, Enugu, Kogi, Nasarawa, Ogun and Osun states have failed to access the funds since 2011.
While only Adamawa, Anambra, Bauchi, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Lagos, Sokoto, Taraba and Zamfara states have accessed the 2013 funds, the rest of the 27 states have not accessed theirs and, this year, only Sokoto State was able to access its share, the document revealed.
In 2009, the commission constructed a total of 41,009 and renovated 59,444 classrooms nationwide. It has also constructed 14,769 toilets and provides over one million pieces of furniture to schools, while 1.5 million teachers have been trained from 2005 to 2009.
Malam Kabir Aliyu, Vice Principal of Rijiyar Zaki Boys Secondary School in Kano said the UBE is a laudable project, but its implementation is lamentable because emphasis is placed on structures to the detriment of the teachers who are the major players for imparting knowledge on the pupils.
Aliyu opined that unless SUBEB offices in states pay adequate attention to teachers’ training, the programme will continue to be a white elephant project. He regrets that most teachers at basic level are not qualified, hence, could drag the programme backwards.
He said the process of employing teachers has been abused by politicians who view the process as a means of repaying their loyalists and hangers-on.
For Malam Kamilu Ibrahim, a lecturer in the Department of Education, Bayero University Kano, the objectives of the programme have not been achieved due to so many problems, including inadequate funding, unqualified teachers and the under staffing.
Ibrahim lamented that our primary and secondary schools are overcrowded with no provisions of learning and teaching facilities and most of the schools have no libraries.
He said what government is investing is not enough to make the programme successful, adding that government needs to provide enough funds for the programme.
He pointed out: “If government is serious, there shall be a policy that will enhance the level of our primary school education and the policy has to be fully implemented. And a special salary package should be provided for primary school teachers to motivate them. Teachers should also be well trained.”