The Chairman of the House Committee on Basic Education and Services, Mark Useni, says proposed amendments to the Universal Basic Education (UBE) Act aim to address long-standing implementation gaps in Nigeria’s basic education system.
Useni spoke on Friday at a two-day legislative retreat in Lagos, organised by the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), where education stakeholders and lawmakers gathered to review the 20-year-old law. He said the revised law would allow UBEC to release funds based on needs assessments in states, even when states fail to provide counterpart funding. “We cannot continue to have idle funds while children are out of school and schools decay from neglect,” he said.
UBEC Executive Secretary Aisha Garba described the retreat as a critical step toward addressing foundational challenges in education. She said 18 million Nigerian children remain out of school, citing 2023 figures. Garba noted that only 27 per cent of children in school meet basic literacy and numeracy levels, and regional disparities persist, with the North East trailing at 12 per cent literacy. Senator Orji Kalu called for laws to shield UBEC from political interference and advocated integrating Western and Islamic education models to improve access in the North.
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