President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has intervened to resolve the bureaucratic bottlenecks that have prevented the disbursement of over N263 billion in Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) funds, aiming to address Nigeria’s struggling basic education sector.
Following his return from Paris, Tinubu approved a new action plan crafted by the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, to ensure the release of unclaimed education grants dating back to 2020.
This intervention follows several states’ failure to access the funds due to their inability to meet the counterpart funding requirements.
The new strategy includes direct engagement with governors, focusing on specific, state-by-state projects for using the funds, such as teacher training, school construction, and the provision of sanitation facilities.
In a letter to Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun, Minister Alausa urged the state to access the N7.8 billion it had not claimed from UBEC grants for the years 2020–2024. The funds, he noted, would help improve the education sector in Ogun by addressing critical infrastructure gaps and reducing the number of out-of-school children in the state.
At the close of 2024, only Katsina and Kaduna had accessed their UBEC grants for the year. However, in early 2025, nine states, including Borno, Jigawa, Kano, and Ondo, made significant progress by clearing outstanding debts and re-entering the funding stream.
The education ministry’s strategy also includes performance-based metrics to demonstrate how federal funds can directly contribute to reducing the number of out-of-school children and improving literacy rates in Nigeria.
Through this bold intervention, the Tinubu administration hopes to accelerate the development of Nigeria’s educational infrastructure while holding governors accountable for utilising available funds to improve the education system in their states.
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