The Kwara Government announced that it had received a N7.2 billion grant from the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) after being excluded for seven years from the national scheme.
Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq has devoted the year to upgrading basic education in the state with the commencement of the payment of N450 million diverted funds which led to the blacklisting by UBEC.
The N7.2 billion is the aggregation of UBEC grants that were not accessed between 2014 and 2019.
The grant was not accessible due to the negligence of the previous administration to pay its counterpart funds. Hajia Fatimah B. Ahmed, the Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, made this known in a statement.
The UBEC grants are intended for the rehabilitation of dilapidated basic schools, construction of new ones, equipment of the schools with ICT tools, training of teachers, and project evaluation, including other purposes embedded in the UBEC work plan.
‘This money would be spent in phases over the next two years to fix up to 600 elementary schools out of the over 1400 decrepit basic education facilities across the state,’ the commissioner stated.
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She also disclosed that ‘the projects would be monitored by UBEC to ensure compliance with the work plan submitted by the government.
‘This development has taken Kwara State out of the bottom position in the ranking of states with the highest figures of outstanding UBEC grants.’
‘The pitiful state of basic education infrastructure in the state is a reflection of the failure to access UBEC funds and the near-zero investments in the sector over the past few years,’ she added.
Peace Omenka