Despite exorbitant expenses on education, yet no result — UBEC

By Racheal Oyelola

The Executive Secretary of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) Dr Hamid Bobboyi, has raised concern over the poor outcomes from the education sector despite the billions of naira spent on basic education in Nigeria.

He said the billions being channelled into the basic education sector has not adequately correlated with learning outcomes.

The UBEC boss said the 2021/2022 National Assessment on Learning Achievements in Basic Education (NALABE ) will also evaluate the impact of the multi-billion naira annual interventions at the basic education level.

He spoke at a Two-Day International Workshop on Large Scale Assessment for Basic Education organised by UBEC in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on Wednesday in Abuja.

While saying that each state receives an average of N1.5 billion for funding of basic education from UBEC every year, which adds up to N3 billion with payment of matching grant, Bobboyi, lamented that the amount has not adequately rubbed off on learning achievements in schools.

According to Bobboyi: “You know UBEC is an intervention agency; it provides resources. In a good year, apart from 2020 that was affected by COVID, we dispense billions every year.

“A state gets a minimum of about N1.5 billion and at least N3 billion (as a whole) on a yearly basis.

“But at the end of the day, you start wondering – the money and resources going to these states and agencies that are implementing basic education. How much of it goes down to the level of the classroom and making a difference in teaching and learning?

“Because it worries one. We measure our success by how much money we are able to give out. We have dispensed this, we have done that, and so on.

“We have dispensed textbooks to states, and SUBEBs will wait for UBEC to pay for transportation of these books to various schools and most of the time the textbooks are locked up in the headmasters’ offices awaiting instructions from their ministries on what to do with them.”