N40b still not accessed
The North-West, North-East and North-Central have emerged as the top three zones to access the Universal Basic Education Commission’s (UBEC) matching grants.
In a communique issued at the end of the 27th quarterly meeting of UBEC management with chairmen of State Universal Basic Education Boards (SUBEB) in Lagos, the North-West led with 87.61 per cent, followed by the North-East with 86.87 per cent, and the North-Central with 86.79 per cent.
The communique, signed by Segun Ajibulu of UBEC’s Department of Educational Services, commended states in the three zones for exemplary performance in the second quarter of 2025, particularly in such areas as financing, quality assurance, matching grant utilisation, and infrastructure development.
At the meeting, attended by the Lagos State Deputy Governor, Dr Obafemi Hamzat, UBEC Executive Secretary, Aisha Garba, and Dean of SUBEB chairmen, Prof. Shehu Adaramaja, among others, the commission disclosed that 27 states fully accessed the 2024 UBE matching grant, while unaccessed matching grants by 33 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, stood at N40.03 billion. However, 16 states and the FCT accessed grants totalling N62.65 billion.
“The revised sharing formula for UBE matching grants now includes clarified allowable activities and expenditures,” the communiqué stated.
It also disclosed that 36 states and the FCT had drawn from the Teacher Professional Development Fund to the tune of N82.36 billion.
The fund is a dedicated intervention scheme to train and retrain teachers at the basic education level.
The commission, however, lamented that the absence of unified education data has adversely affected effective planning, policymaking and resource allocation.
It also highlighted challenges facing SUBEBs to include poor funding, shortage of subject-specialist teachers, particularly in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), as well as Technical and
Vocational Education and Training (TVET), and weak data management systems.
The communique enjoined states to base school renovation on proper needs assessment, with additional facilities provided where necessary.
It is recommended that large urban school renovations should be phased due to budgetary constraints.
It also directed states to empower local government education secretaries to carry out their roles effectively, while leveraging dedicated budget lines to establish comprehensive digital platforms for data collection, processing, and analysis to improve decision-making.
Other resolutions included the development of a monitoring and evaluation dashboard for UBEC and SUBEBs to track key performance indicators and ensure transparent reporting.
The meeting further commended Lagos State’s Project Zero initiative, which has brought 32,000 out-of-school children back into classrooms.
“SUBEBs recorded significant achievements in Q2 2025 across the six geopolitical zones in expanding access, enhancing quality, financing basic education, work planning, and state-level data.
“Sustained advocacy and enrolment campaigns remain critical to addressing the out-of-school children phenomenon,” the communiqué added.
