The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) has revealed that it disbursed a total of ₦92.4 billion in matching grants to 25 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) between January and June 2025, as part of its ongoing efforts to improve basic education service delivery across Nigeria.
This was disclosed by Aisha Garba, UBEC Executive Secretary, represented by Razaq Akinyemi, Deputy Executive Secretary (Technical), at the opening session of a three-day Financial Management Training for fund managers of State Universal Basic Education Boards (SUBEBs), held in Abuja.
Themed “Efficient and Effective Management of UBE Intervention Fund: A Key to Successful Basic Education Service Delivery”, the training brought together directors of finance and accounts, heads of internal audit, and matching grant desk officers from the 36 states and FCT to build capacity in the prudent management of intervention funds.
Garba further disclosed that UBEC also disbursed:
- ₦19 billion as 2023/2024 Teacher Professional Development Fund to 32 states and the FCT, and
- ₦1.5 billion to 1,147 communities across all 36 states and the FCT under the School-Based Management Committee (SBMC) Improvement Programme.
Despite these strides, Garba expressed concern over the staggering ₦250 billion in unutilised funds still lying idle in the accounts of the 36 SUBEBs and the FCT.
“While the above achievements reflect significant gains, the basic challenge remains not only accessing the remaining UBE Intervention Fund but, more critically, the slow and poor utilisation of the funds,” she lamented.
She listed several systemic issues hindering proper fund use, including:
- Delays in accessing matching grants
- Non-compliance with utilisation guidelines
- Diversion of funds
- Tax remittance failures
- Contract irregularities
- Non-adherence to approved action plans
Garba noted that on assuming office in January 2025, her first assignment was to oversee the 46th financial monitoring exercise in the North Central region, which exposed many of the lapses in fund management at the state level.
To tackle these challenges, she announced several reforms initiated by the Commission:
- Review of fund utilisation guidelines
- Development of a new SUBEB Action Plan template
- Capacity-building programmes for both UBEC and SUBEB staff
- Enhanced financial monitoring and compliance mechanisms
“This training is not only a platform for knowledge sharing but also a deliberate move to align the financial operations of SUBEBs with global best practices and the UBE mandate,” she said.
The training will address topics including:
- The new SUBEB Action Plan template
- Overview of the Nigerian Tax Reforms Act 2025
- Red flags and audit queries in UBE project execution
- Procurement procedures and financial record keeping
Participants at the workshop welcomed the initiative as a timely intervention to improve transparency, efficiency, and impact in the management of basic education funds across the country.