The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) has disclosed that 25 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) accessed N92.4 billion in Universal Basic Education (UBE) matching grants between January and June 2025. Despite this progress, over N250 billion of intervention funds remain unutilized in the coffers of various State Universal Basic Education Boards (SUBEBs) and the FCT-UBEB.
Speaking at the opening of a three-day Financial Management Training for SUBEB fund managers in Abuja, UBEC Executive Secretary, Dr. Aisha Garba, expressed concerns over the persistent under-utilisation of funds meant to improve basic education across the country.
According to Garba, the accessed funds are part of UBEC’s efforts to improve infrastructure and teaching standards. Additionally, N19 billion was disbursed as the 2023/2024 Teacher Professional Development Fund to 32 states and the FCT, while N1.5 billion was released under the School-Based Management Committee Improvement Programme (SBMC-SIP) to 1,147 communities nationwide.
Despite these allocations, Garba lamented that several states have failed to properly utilise the funds for their intended purposes, leading to poor learning conditions in many public schools.
“While the above achievements reflect a significant gain, the basic challenge remains not only accessing the remaining UBE Intervention Fund but, importantly, the slow utilisation of the fund, with over N250 billion still being retained as un-utilised,” Garba said.
The UBEC boss stressed that many states are guilty of fund diversion, non-compliance with utilisation guidelines, and delays in implementing approved action plans.
She revealed that on assumption of office in January 2025, she supervised financial monitoring in the North-Central region, which exposed systemic lapses such as non-deduction and remittance of taxes, violations of procurement procedures, and award of contracts without due process.
The three-day training, themed “Efficient and Effective Management of UBE Intervention Fund: A Key to Successful Basic Education Service Delivery,” aims to equip SUBEB fund managers, including Directors of Finance, Internal Auditors, and Matching Grant Desk Officers, with modern financial management skills.
Garba, represented by UBEC Deputy Executive Secretary (Technical), Razaq Akinyemi, said the training will cover critical areas such as:
New templates for preparing SUBEB Action Plans,
Overview of the Nigerian Tax Reforms Act 2025,
Procurement procedures and financial record maintenance,
Addressing infractions that result in audit queries and red flags in UBE-funded projects.
According to Garba, “It is not the quantum of funds deployed to states that matters, but rather how efficient and effective fund managers are in utilising the same for the benefit of the target learners.”
She emphasised UBEC’s commitment to transparency, accountability, and prudence in managing public resources, stressing that every naira spent must positively impact learning outcomes and improve the welfare of Nigerian children.
Garba urged participants to embrace the principles of accountability and approach the training with an open mind. “The goal is to ensure that every naira allocated to the UBE programme is properly accounted for and effectively utilised,” she said, reiterating UBEC’s determination to strengthen monitoring mechanisms and enforce strict compliance with utilisation guidelines.
Education experts argue that Nigeria’s persistent learning crisis is partly due to mismanagement of education funds, calling for stricter sanctions against defaulting states. They warn that unless UBEC enforces better financial discipline, the country’s goal of achieving quality basic education will remain elusive.
For now, UBEC says it will continue to engage state governments to accelerate fund utilisation, promising more capacity-building initiatives both locally and internationally to improve financial practices in the basic education sector.