The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) has unveiled a digital workflow for managing intervention funds and commenced the development of a new 10-year roadmap aimed at strengthening planning, funding utilisation, transparency and accountability in Nigeria’s basic education sector.

The Executive Secretary of UBEC, Dr Aisha Garba, disclosed this on Monday in Abuja at the commission’s consultative meeting on the Basic Education Action Plan Management System (BEAPMS) and the 10-year UBE Roadmap, 2026–2035.

She said the digital system was designed to replace the largely manual process of accessing and managing UBEC intervention funds with an integrated workflow covering bid development, submission, review, approval and transmission of state proposals to the commission.

She said the reform builds on the unified framework and reviewed guidelines introduced by the commission in 2025 to improve states’ access to UBE funding and ensure that proposed interventions were linked to evidence-based priorities.

According to her, all states adopted the framework and guidelines, while technical assistance provided by the commission enabled a significant number of states to access the UBE matching grant.

“Building on this process, the commission has now upgraded the process into an integrated digital workflow that improves efficiency, transparency, timeliness, traceability and consistency across the fund access cycle,” she said.

Garba explained that UBEC’s technical teams, including the BRT and Solina teams, working with relevant departments, had migrated the existing templates into interconnected digital interfaces.

She said the development had transformed the planning framework from a largely manual template into a modular digital platform capable of supporting better decision-making, improved documentation, faster feedback and stronger accountability.

The UBEC boss also announced the commencement of work on a new 10-year UBE roadmap covering 2026 to 2035, replacing the existing 2021–2030 framework.

She said the review had become necessary because of ongoing reforms in the education sector and the need to align basic education planning with emerging national and global priorities.

According to her, the new roadmap is expected to provide a forward-looking framework for policy prioritisation, resource alignment, institutional coordination, monitoring and results-based accountability, while supporting the transition from “education for all” to “learning for all.”

Garba said the roadmap would also serve as a reference for states in developing their medium-term basic education sector plans and action plans, ensuring that such plans were realistic, evidence-driven and responsive to local needs.

She said: “The defined roadmap is expected to broaden the scope, context, relevance and implementation effectiveness of basic education planning, while providing a coherent framework for policy prioritisation, resource alignment, institutional coordination, monitoring and results-based accountability.”

The consultative meeting, she added, was designed to deepen the understanding of state officials on the reforms, obtain feedback on the digital workflow and agree on implementation modalities.

She urged chairmen and directors of planning, research and statistics of state universal basic education boards to actively participate in the process and share practical experiences from their respective states.

Garba stressed that the success of the reforms would depend largely on strong ownership at state level, effective leadership, timely submission of data, disciplined planning and sustained collaboration between federal and state institutions.

The Executive Secretary said the meeting should produce consensus on system requirements, implementation sequencing, reporting obligations, capacity-building needs and coordination mechanisms needed to make the digital system and new roadmap practical tools for improving basic education delivery countrywide.

She added that the reforms were intended to improve the quality of planning, utilisation of intervention funds, project delivery, implementation efficiency, transparency, accountability and learning outcomes across the country.

Earlier, the Dean, State Universal Basic Education Boards (SUBEBs), Shehu Adaramaja, stressed the need for stronger coordination between UBEC and SUBEBs to ensure that interventions are properly planned, implemented and monitored across the states.

He said effective management of basic education programmes requires clear responsibilities, timely reporting and regular monitoring to track the utilisation and impact of funds provided for interventions.

Also, the Director, Physical Planning, Arc. Nura Ibrahim, underscored the importance of proper planning in the execution of basic education infrastructure projects, noting that effective physical planning was critical to ensuring that investments addressed the actual needs of schools and communities.

He called for closer collaboration among relevant stakeholders in the planning, execution and monitoring of projects to minimise gaps, improve accountability and ensure that infrastructure investments contribute meaningfully to better learning environments.