The group also asked the states and the FCT to register all the estimated 20.2 million out-of-school children in school and urged UBEC to disburse the counterpart funds directly to the state governments and the FCT.
The Alliance on Surviving Covid-19 and Beyond (ASCAB), a civic group led by human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), has given the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) till January 15, 2024, to access the over N68 billion matching grants from the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) or face legal action.
The group also asked the states and the FCT to register all the estimated 20.2 million out-of-school children in school and urged UBEC to disburse the counterpart funds directly to the state governments and the FCT.
The ASCAB in a statement issued by its Chair, Falana on Thursday recalled that early this year (2023), the United Nations Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF) estimated the total number of out-of-school children in Nigeria to be 20.2 million.
The report further disclosed that one in three children in Nigeria is out of school, totalling 10.2 million at the primary level, and 8.1 million at the junior secondary school level.
It said one in every five out-of-school children in the world is in Nigeria. Over 60 percent of the illiterate are in the North. The report has confirmed that Nigeria has the highest number of out-of-school children in the world.
On November 24, ASCAB through Falana & Falana Chambers wrote to UBEC requesting the Commission to provide information on access to the Commission’s matching grant by the 36 state governments and the FCT.
In its reply to the letter, the UBEC on December 11, disclosed that the total amount of unaccessed matching grants from all states of the Federation and the FCT stood at N68, 737, 873, 073. 52 as of December 11, 2023.
The Commission also disclosed that only seven states including Osun, Niger, Taraba, Sokoto, Enugu, Jigawa and Ondo had made lodgements as of December 4, totalling N10,603,248,284.94 for 1st-4th Quarters 2023 and were at various stages of accessing their matching grants.
ASCAB said, “In view of the fact that state governments have failed to comply with section 3 of the Education Reforms Act which mandates them to contribute half (50%) of the total cost of projects to be executed in the State as its own commitment in the execution of the projects, we are compelled to call on the UBEC to disburse the fund directly.
“This call is in line with the combined effect of sections 12 and 17 which have saddled the Commission with the responsibility to ensure effective implementation, evaluation and monitoring of the Universal Basic Education programme of the Federal Government and help teachers, school managers and other stakeholders in Basic and Secondary Education institutions in Nigeria to identify areas of deficiencies in achieving curriculum goals and help to remedy these deficiencies.
“As a matter of urgency, we call on the Federal Government, State Governments, and the 774 Local Governments to adopt remedial measures to ensure the immediate registration of the 20.2 million out-of-school children in schools.
“If the said sum of N68 billion unmatched grant is not accessed by the 36 state governments and the Federal Capital Territory before January 15, 2024, we shall seek an order of mandamus to compel them to do so forthwith.”