UBEC Counterpart Funds: Lawmakers to Name, Shame Defaulting States

Kuni Tyessi

The Chairman, House Committee on Basic Education and Services, Prof. Julius Ihonvbare has stated that the committee is ready and willing to partner the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) in naming and shaming state governments that refused to present their counterpart funding for the release of funds by the commission.

He said this during the budget defence session at the National Assembly, and commended Gombe and Lagos as exemplary states that have been consistent in project and programme implementation.

Applauding the Commission for its proactiveness especially in the area of project implementation and monitoring across states, the chairman and his members proposed to seek the consent of the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu to use a percentage of the counter funds for the building of libraries, fencing of schools and the provision of water supplies for public schools.

In a statement, the commission said the proposed budget for 2022 is N108,101,599,701 and it is expected to be deducted from the two per cent of the Consolidated Revenue Funds (CRF) which is aimed at consolidating on the achievements of the last five years.

The statement read: “The National Assembly while expressing satisfaction in the implementation of activities and programmes of UBEC in the 2021 budget stated that it is willing to partner the commission in naming and shaming defaulting states, especially states that have failed to access their counter funds and those that are poorly implementing projects across their states.

“Other members of the committee while fielding questions to the chief executive of the commission on programme implementation in the 2021 appropriation decried the level of negligence especially in completion of projects in some states by SUBEB.”