UBEC, TRAPPED FUNDS AND THE COURTS
Local governments must be able to access critical resources for development
In 2009, the ECOWAS Court ordered authorities in the country to provide, as of right, free and compulsory education to every Nigerian child. The Federal High Court has similarly declared that all Nigerians are entitled to education as a legal and human right. Since neither the federal government nor any of the states has given effect to these judgments, it is little surprise that Nigeria still records one of the highest numbers of out-of-school children globally. Meanwhile, in 2023, the federal government established the National Commission for Almajiri and Out-of-School Children to eradicate illiteracy and provide basic education, vocational training, and social support to vulnerable children.
Today, the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) has a problem it can no longer be attributed solely to the states. For over a decade, the commission has reported unaccessed funds earmarked for universal basic education (UBE) — N50 billion in 2010, N80.9 billion in 2015, and N263 billion as of December 2024, with 34 states yet to draw down their allocations. Despite recent interventions, over N250 billion remains trapped as of mid-2025. UBEC has long blamed states for failing to provide counterpart funding. That explanation, while partly accurate, masks a deeper structural defect: a framework that subordinates the 774 local governments to state executives, reducing a constitutionally recognised third tier to administrative dependency.
The UBE Act promises compulsory, free basic education with learning materials and essential support. But there have been challenges of implementation. On 13 October 2025, Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court, Abuja declared Local Government Areas autonomous constitutional entities, in a case filed by a private citizen, Sesugh Akume. The court struck down provisions of the UBE Act that made them appendages of state structures, empowered local governments to pay matching grants directly to UBEC and authorised them to access federal funds without routing through State Universal Basic Education Boards.
Crucially, the Court ordered UBEC to formally notify all SUBEBs and LGEAs that local governments may remit matching grants directly and access funds without state intermediation. The ruling was unequivocal: states are not constitutional gatekeepers to basic education funds allocated to local governments. UBEC, of course, has appealed the judgment, and the 37 SUBEBs are also seeking leave to appeal. While the judgment remains binding unless set aside on appeal, it only adds another layer to the problems of local government areas in the country.
Castrated as they are by the governors, many of these local government areas remain unable to deliver on their primary mandate of providing basic social infrastructure, including primary healthcare, primary education, feeder roads and modern markets. But in another landmark judgement on local government autonomy in July 2024, the Supreme Court ruled that henceforth, allocations from the federation account are to be paid directly into individual local government account and no more through the State Local Government Joint Account.
With that judgment, the highest court in the country effectively nullified Section 162 (6) of the 1999 constitution which established the joint account into which monies due to the councils from the federation account are paid for onward disbursement to them by the states. Typically, implementing the judgement has not been easy because many of the governors oppose the idea of local governments in their states having direct accounts with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Apart from that, there is also the lack of capacity at the local government level with funding part of the problem.
For local governments to be accountable for grassroots development, they must be able to access critical resources. That’s the meaning of the various court judgments. The hundreds of billions trapped within UBEC are therefore not merely unspent funds. They reflect a federation that has long refused to allow its third tier to function as designed.
