Why Lagos, others couldn’t access UBE fund

Babajide Sanwo-Olu and Julius Ihonvbere

Lagos and some other states could not access the Universal Basic Education (UBE) fund, despite paying their counterpart funding because of deductions from the fund during the COVID-19 crisis, it was learnt yesterday.

Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Basic Education, Prof. Julius Ihonvbere, said this when he visited Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu at the State House in Lagos.

He said: “Our visit today is part of our constitutional responsibility to periodically look into what states are dong with the funds received and the matching grant from the UBE. It is instructive that we are starting with Lagos, which will set a high standard and influence what we will look out for in other states.

“Lagos has done very well in paying its matching grant. In fact, Lagos has paid for 2019 but yet to access it because of the massive deduction from UBE’s fund during the COVID-19 crisis. About N20.2 billion was deducted from UBE.

“In the last 10 years, UBE has paid about N37 billion to states to deploy in infrastructure, particularly in schools, training, capacity building and others.

Sanwo-Olu said the committee’s visit would help his administration to do proper peer review of SUBEB and UBE funds as well as projects to improve the learning outcome in Lagos schools.

Ihonvbere also called for the proper privatisation of the power sector so that schools and other areas of the economy could have regular electricity supply for smooth learning experience.

The Federal lawmaker spoke yesterday during the committee’s tour of UBEC projects in Lagos State.

He said: “The power issue is a national problem. We have deregulated the sector, but even after deregulating the sector, there is still a lot of inefficiency in the system. I think people have advocated alternative energy.

“In most of the schools where UBEC is intervening these days use solar-powered lighting. People have talked about other forms of energy, So, I think the issue is for there to be an investment in the private sector and move the government more and more away for the supply of power so that it will go round.”

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