UBE Act: Five Years Grace for 50% States’ Counterpart Funding Not Feasible, Says Education Consultant

Kuni Tyessi in Abuja

Education Consultant with Malala Fund, Femi, Aderibigbe has revealed that the five years grace given to state governments for the payment of their counterpart funding in support of basic education was unrealistic in a term of four years.

Aderibigbe who stated this at the, ‘Accountability for Good Governance in Education Stakeholders’ validation meeting in Abuja, and which was organised by YouthHubAfrica, said the Universal Basic Education guidelines was not in tune with the political realities of the four-year tenure of governors and so defeats the purpose for its creation.

Lamenting the insufficiency in the education budget, he said increment should be dedicated to the imbalance, adding that this would be the formula with which UBE Act defines how it makes use of the two per cent consolidated revenue it gets from the federal government.

“The five-year grace period required for states to provide their 50 per cent counterpart funding as recommended in the UBE guidelines is not in tune with the political realities of the four-year tenure of governors.
“If a governor is given a term to complete his five-year payment in four years it defeats the purpose of that provision created,” it added.

Similarly, Programme Manager for YouthHubAfrica, Olusegun Medupin, said a citizen participatory framework was underway in the supervision of the budget and its implementation.

Noting that the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) had been trying to live up to expectation, the continuous decline in the education budget has been too low for meaningful progress.

“Increased budget for Nigeria by 2023 should not just be at the national level but also at the state level. We want a citizen participation framework where citizens will be part of the budgetary process in basic education in all the 36 states if the federation including the FCT.

“From the process of budgeting to the time when implementation will take place, the citizens will be at the demand side of education which includes parents, the community, etc and will be able to track the budget and follow it up in details.

“At the end of the day, they will be able to know if the components of the budget have been implemented or not.
“The demand side of education are parents, teachers, students, civil society organisations and the community, while the supply side is the government.

“Some states have gone to as far as 25 percent in terms of budgeting and not in terms of implementation. States like Kaduna and Kano should be lauded.”