UBEC matching grant: Group demands sanctioning of erring contractors

The Independent monitoring report on the implementation of the 2015 Kano Sate Universal Basic education (SUBEB) action plan has emphasized the need for urgent collation of details on contractors who failed to deliver and ensure that, such contractors are blacklisted and reported to the appropriate anti-corruption agencies for persecution.

The call was made on Wednesday in Kano during a meeting of Stakeholders for upward projections organized by Human Development Initiative (HDI) in collaboration with Grassroots Health Organization of Nigeria.

The group, also called for the disclosure of the proactively approved UBE action plans, bills of quantity of projects in public, through a functional website and other social media platforms to enable access for proper scrutiny.

According to the research and monitoring officer (HDI), Mr. Olayemi Samuel, the overall aim of the monitoring exercise is to track the utilization of Universal Basic Education matching grant in Kano towards ensuring improvement in the teaching and learning process and also encourage citizen’s participation in monitoring of UBEC projects.

In the same vein, the assistant programme Officer, GHON, Malam Ali Abdu Sambo reiterated that, without effective monitoring mechanism in the execution of the UBEC projects in states, the tendencies of use of substandard materials and delay in project execution will continue to be experienced and the aim of the matching grant can be thwarted.

Also, he expressed dismay over instances of schools in the government list turning out to be nowhere to be found during their inspections either as a result of mistakes or deliberate act in some quarters as a means of diverting funds.

The meeting was attended by relevant stakeholders from different sectors of the society, who deliberated on critical matters on how to move the educational sector to a greater height from its present level.