Governors divert UBEC funds on salaries, alleges Bobboyi
The Executive Secretary, Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Dr. Hamid Bobboyi, has accused some state governors of diverting money meant for the development of their basic education subsector to pay workers’ salaries.
He said most of the states which owed and still owing their workers for several months were fond of this habit, which he claimed to be thwarting the development of that level of education in their respective states.
Bobboyi made this revelation recently in Abuja at a lecture organised by the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ), as part of the activities to mark the 83th birthday anniversary of the Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka.
He explained that all they do to perpetrate the act was to hijack the UBEC grants from their state’s Universal Basic Education Boards and divert it to pay salaries and do other illegal things rather than the purpose it meant.
He revealed that because of this development, his commission had suspended accounts of no fewer than five SUBEBs whose states indulge in the practice.
The UBEC chief however asked stakeholders to support in the implementation and monitoring of UBEC mandates in order to become achievable.
He said all the data flying around about the out-of-school students in Nigeria cannot be correct and may be grossly inadequate, saying the need for a technology-based data generation is required and should be done fast.
Speaking on the theme- “Light up, Light in: Interrogating the Nexus between Electricity and Basic Education in Nigeria,”- of the annual lecture, which was ninth in the series, the United Nations Resident Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Mr. Edward Kallon, disclosed that about 65 per cent of the 74,280 public primary and junior secondary schools in Nigeria are with no electricity, and as a result cannot guarantee technology-based education.
He said energy crisis in Africa had, and would continue to be a tragedy to the continent, saying out of the 1.5 billion people who lack access to electricity globally, 57 per cent, amounting to 622.6 million are in Africa.
But the facts have shown, according to him, that students who have access to electricity have been confirmed to perform better because they have access to modern facilities.
On her part, former Education minister, Dr. Oby Ezikwesilli, lamented what she termed the gross neglect of education sector, saying there is a correlation between poverty and public school system.
She described the public school system without power supply as an intergenerational dynasty of poverty.
Other speakers at the forum include the former Acting Chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, Dr. Anthony Akah; Prof. Olabisi Obadofin of the Lagos State University (LASU) and the Provost of the Nigerian Institute of Journalism, Mr. Gbemiga Ogunleye.
