The National Assembly has expressed its readiness to partner the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) to name and shame states yet to access their counter funds and those not properly implementing projects. The Chairman, House Committee on Basic Education and Services Prof. Julius Ihonvbare, who made the disclosure on Wednesday during the commission’s budget defence at the floor of the National Assembly, applauded UBEC for its proactiveness especially in the area of project implementation and monitoring across states.
A statement signed by UBEC’s Head, Public Relations and Protocol, David Apeh, noted that fielding questions to the Executive Secretary of UBEC, Dr. Hamid Bobboyi on programme implementation in the 2021 appropriation, the House Committee had decried the level of negligence especially in completion of projects in some states by State Universal Basic Education Boards (SUBEB). The lawmakers, however, applauded the governments of Gombe and Lagos states for leading by example, by being consistent in the implementation of projects and programmes.
The statement partly reads: “The National Assembly while expressing satisfaction in the implementation of activities and programmes of UBEC in the 2021 budget stated that it is willing to partner the Commission in naming and shaming defaulting states, especially states that have failed to access their counter funds and those that are poorly implementing projects across their states. “The members also proposed to seek the consent of the Minister of Education to use a percentage of the counter funds for the building of Libraries, fencing of schools and the provision of water supplies to public schools.”