The Federal Government allocates N1billion each as matching grant to the 36 states and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) yearly to boost the development of basic education in Nigeria.
This was disclosed by the Executive Secretary of Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Dr Suleiman Dikko in Abuja at a forum with Journalists in Abuja.
He explained that the fund is disbursed to states in form of matching grants, where they are required to pay a counterpart fund of N1 billion before its allocation is released to it by UBEC.
Therefore, the state governments, according to him, should be held responsible for the general decline in basic education in the country, which has led to poor performance of students in public examinations.
Dikko however said, contrary to people’s belief, UBEC as a intervention agency has little to do in terms of ensuring that quality and standards are maintained in primary and secondary schools in the country.
He noted that many people erroneously blame UBEC for the perceived fall in the standard of education in the country when in reality basic education is under the purview of states as provided in Constitution.
The executive secretary said, UBEC is basically an intervention agency of the federal government to manage the 2 per cent of the Consolidated Revenue Fund set aside to provide support to states in development of basic education.
