Kwara to benefit from UBEC’s N5.6bn funds after settling N450m debt
The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) has said Kwara state stands to benefit about N5.6bn education funds from the commission after settling the N450million it owed the agency. This was revealed yesterday when the state governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, paid a courtesy visit to the UBEC headquarters in Abuja. Officials of UBEC had told the governor […]
The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) has said Kwara state stands to benefit about N5.6bn education funds from the commission after settling the N450million it owed the agency.
This was revealed yesterday when the state governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, paid a courtesy visit to the UBEC headquarters in Abuja.
Officials of UBEC had told the governor that the sum of N1.5bn was allotted to Kwara in 2013 with a request for the state to pay another N1.5bn as counterpart funding.
The officials said the state government was later discovered to have allegedly borrowed the N1.5bn from a bank with which it immediately accessed the UBEC fund.
Upon receipt of the UBEC’s N1.5billion, Kwara returned the N1.5billion it had borrowed from the bank and then allegedly diverted the UBEC’s N1.5billion without investing it in educational infrastructure as required by law, they claimed.
This enabled UBEC to blacklist Kwara state and demanded for immediate refund of its N1.5billion, they alleged.
It was later revealed that the then state government refunded N1.050billion leaving an outstanding of N450 million which the Abdulfatai Ahmed’s administration never paid to UBEC, our reporter gathered
The governor was told that UBEC will only do business with Kwara when the outstanding N450m is refunded to UBEC by Kwara state government.
The Kwara delegation led by AbdulRazaq promised to pay the N450m to enable the state to access the funds to develop its schools.
Kwara has not accessed UBEC funds since 2013, our reporter learnt.
UBEC has at least N5.6 billion available for Kwara which can only be accessed if and when the state pays the outstanding debt of N450m, it was gathered.
AbdulRazaq’s visit to UBEC came barely 48 hours after he visited decrepit schools in the northern senatorial district of the state where most of the schools’ roofs had collapsed.
He had promised to look into the devastating state of the infrastructure across the state especially in schools, hospitals and road networks.