12/12/2024
My dear constituents, I led the debate on the amendment of The Compulsory Universal Basic Education Act of 2004.
The Bill which was first read on the 24th of September 2024 was not amended from 2004 when the Act mandated for the creation of a Compulsory Basic Education and Other Related Matters Act (2004).
The Universal Basic Education Commission is empowered by law to be the Federal Government’s intervention Agency through which contributions to Basic Education would be made to States and Local Governments across the country.
The Act empowers State Assemblies to establish State Basic Education Boards (SUBEB), including the FCT (through the National Assembly) while in the case of Local Governments, the Act requires Local Government Education Authorities to be established.
This Bill is aimed at achieving the following:
1. School age children must have access to Complete Basic Education, Literacy, Numeracy and Basic Life Skills to shape them as they grow to be able to contribute to meaningful national development goals.
2. Basic Education Teachers must possess a minimum of Nigerian Certificate on Education (NCE) and the schools shall have a conducive learning atmosphere with categories of learners, provided equitable and ample opportunities, irrespective of their gender and social standing.
3. after thorough discussions during the retreat organized by UBEC in July 2024, it was agreed that the Act establishing the Commission is to be amended due to current socio-economic realities. The Bill which is being sponsored by every Member of the Committee on the basis of the need to overhaul the Basic Education Sector in order to curtail the challenges hindering the successful implementation of Universal Basic Education in Nigeria. The Bill seeks to squarely deal with the issue of Out-Of-School-Children which stands above 20.5 million as at 2022.
4. also noted is the non inclusion of Child Care Education Development and Education Act which is crucial in the development of our children towards a successful future.
5. also identified is the lack of adequate infrastructure, based on a report by UBEC, 907,706 Classrooms are required to conform with the Pupil/Classroom ratio. While the Junior Secondary School has a shortfall of 2,805,000 classrooms in order to conform with the Student/Classroom ratio.
6. inadequate and low access to funding such as non allocation of additional funds for Basic Education by most State Governments while largely relying on the intervention from the Federal Government without due input.
7. the issue of late implementation of programmes is as a result of delays in releasing allocated funds, was also identified.
8. State Governments failure to access or utilize their grants due to their inability or outright refusal to pay their 50% counterpart funding. The total amount of matching grant due to States between 2005 to 2018 was in excess of 72 billion Naira. However, the backlog was cleared under a Presidential directive in 2018, which was deducted from their Paris Club refund. This delay created a huge gap due to the lack of commitment from State Governors. Such a gap accumulated to over 22 billion yet again between 2019 to 2023.
9. inadequate comprehensive sanction under the UBEC Act to enforce policies, regulations and strategies towards boosting, Basic Education Rights of children. This is a captured under Article 17 of the African Charter on Human Rights and the UBEC Act. These Acts and Articles empower UBEC to sanction State Governments that do not provide the needed infrastructure And conducive atmosphere for smooth education delivery for the benefit of our children.
10. The important subject of direct disbursement of funds to Local Governments is urgently required under strict supervision of UBEC. On the other hand, As a result of the Local Government autonomy, it is imperative that UBEC disburses funds directly to LEAs.
11. The application of the agreed sharing formula by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) does not empower UBEC To directly intervene or utilize the funds that have not been accessed by State Governors.
This Bill is poised to Amend the segment of the Act as I summarized above.
