The Executive Secretary of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Dr Hamid Bobboyi, has urged Local Education Authorities (LEAs)  to strengthen transparency and accountability in fund management to ensure that funds meant for basic education are utilised for the purpose they are disbursed.

Bobboyi stated this during a training and sensitisation workshop for education secretaries of the 774 LGAs in Nigeria, which kicked off with those from the North Central region.

He said: “It is my expectation that, with the recent autonomy granted to LGAs in Nigeria, more responsibilities would be devolved to them with the possible direct disbursement of primary education federal intervention funds to states through the LEAs.

“We are, therefore, taking advantage of this training to draw your attention to the dos and don’ts in managing UBE intervention funds. You should remember that the strength of our educational system, and indeed the development of the nation at large, rests on the quality of primary education,” he said.

• Gov Uba Sani advocates marshal plan for youth dev’t
• Drug influence, overloading, cause of boat mishaps on waterways, MD NIWA

Bobboyi also said: “Your role in basic education implementation is too crucial to be taken for granted. So, pay adequate attention to the training, ask relevant questions and seek explanations on what you do not understand.”

The executive secretary said basic education is the responsibility of the LGAs and in the position education secretaries occupy today, they are the administrative and professional heads of the local government education authorities and primarily expected to ensure that the primary schools in their domains are run efficiently.

Speaking, the Director of Teacher Development at UBEC, Mr Aleshin Olumuyiwa, said over the years, the monitoring reports of the Teacher Development Programmes have identified anomalies in the conduct of training, which include sending the wrong people for training and transferring teachers who have been trained to other schools shortly after training.

“These trained teachers are supposed to stay for a minimum of two years in their schools to give them the opportunity to share the knowledge and skills gained with their colleagues in the schools from where they were selected for training,” he said.

Also, the Minister of State for Education, Dr Suwaiba Ahmad, said it has been observed that at the primary education level, Nigeria is facing two major challenges in education delivery, which are grappling with the challenge of the large number of out-of-school children and the problem of those in school who are not learning.

“Primary school education is today bedevilled by what is popularly called ‘learning poverty’. Primary school children are performing below their capacity, and this must be ‘arrested’. There are ongoing programmes being implemented by different agencies under the Ministry of Education, which will require review, redirection and proper coordination,” she said.

She assured teachers that the federal government remained committed to supporting local and state governments in ensuring that the goal of the universal basic education programme is achieved in the shortest time possible.