Lagos Private Schools not cooperating with us – UBEC Audit team

The 2022 National Personnel Audit team has accused providers of private education in Lagos state of denying field officers access to their schools; thus, marring the audit exercise.

The Universal Basic Education (UBE) Act, 2004 empowers the commission to carry out in concert with the States and Local Governments at regular intervals.

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UBEC conducted the NPA exercise in 2006, 2010, 2018 and revaluation in 2019, which resulted  in the intervention of World Bank Programme tagged ‘Basic Education Service Delivery for all (BESDA), which is currently in 17 focal states.

The 2022 NPA team leader, Mr. Alabi Baba Asaju, lamented that despite series of meetings with stakeholders ahead of the 2022 NPA exercise, which commenced on June 6, private schools in Lagos are not cooperating with UBEC officials who are carrying out the exercise.

Asaju during a crucial meeting with  top officials of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) disclosed that some private school owners denied field officers access to their schools to conduct the enumeration.

He noted that 177 officers were posted to Lagos for the exercise; saying, only 1,434 primary schools and 433 junior secondary schools have so far been covered out of 28,000 public and private schools in the state.

Other field officers corroborated the position of the team lead; saying, the attitude of private school owners slowed down the exercise as some private schools don’t return forms given to them to fill.

Reacting to the accusations, the Vice President of National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS), Dr. Comfort Otegbeye, explained that members did not allow UBEC field officers into their schools because they thought the collection of data was meant to increase taxation.

She said,  “We have had issues and cases that have been reported to us that the data is not used for its purpose and that some forms of taxes are embedded. Also, some enumerates were reported to be rude and as such were not allowed access.”  She therefore stressed the need for early and massive sensitization before the exercise.

President of the Association for Formidable Education Development (AFED), Mr. Orji Emmanuel, also noted that stakeholders were not carried along in the ongoing exercise and that his members participated in the 2018 and 2019 exercise.

The Muslim School Proprietors Association (MUSPASS) was also represented at the meeting.

The management of UBEC led by the Chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT), Prof. Adamu Kyauka, the Executive Secretary of the commission, Dr. Hamid Bobboyi and senior officials of UBEC were in Lagos to interact with field officers and other stakeholders with a view to proferring a way forward.