Govs’ failure to access N51bn UBE fund limiting access to education -Ex-minister

A former Minister of Education, Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufa’i, says failure by many state governments to access matching grant from the Universal..

A former Minister of Education, Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufa’i, says failure by many state governments to access matching grant from the Universal Basic Education Commission is limiting access to quality education. 

She spoke in Abuja Monday at the 4th Convocation of the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies and the University of Benin postgraduate programme.

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She said the failure to access the fund was among the major challenges of education in general and girl-child education in particular. 

Quoting figures from UBEC, Rufa’i  said over N51bn had not been accessed by state governments as of July 2019. 

She said the UBEC data showed that Kwara State had over N6bn not accessed UBE funds; Ekiti, N4bn; Enugu and Nasarawa, N3bn each; Abia, Adamawa, Osun, Oyo and Plateau, N2bn each as well as Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Edo, Jigawa, Niger, Ogun and Zamfara, over N1bn each. 

NILDS Director-General, Prof. Abubakar Sulaiman, said 112 candidates were conferred with awards across all the postgraduate programmes; while 18 candidates were awarded Higher National Diploma certificates.