Favour Ishember, Abuja
The Universal Basic Education Commission has unlocked more than N100 billion in matching grants that states and the FCT had left untouched for years, channeling the money into upgrading basic education facilities across Nigeria.
Speaking at a media parley with education reporters in Abuja, UBEC Executive Secretary, Aisha Garba, said the previously unclaimed funds are now being put to work to improve classrooms, sanitation, and overall learning conditions.
According to Garba, UBEC’s collaboration with State Universal Basic Education Boards has delivered major infrastructure gains. These include:4,600 plus new classrooms built,6,100 classrooms and renovated 2,780 toilets, installed
-678 boreholes drilled in schools nationwide.
The commission also rolled out early learning support. Over 2,300 Early Childhood Care Development and Education (ECCDE) centres have been set up to give young children a better start.
On human capital, Garba disclosed that UBEC committed over N20.4 billion to teacher training and school leadership programmes. The goal, she said, is to sharpen teaching methods and management at the grassroots level.
The initiative also boosts transparency through the Effective Schools Programme and strengthens School-Based Management Committees.
Looking to the future, UBEC is scaling up technology in schools. Garba said the commission is expanding Digital Literacy Centres, fortifying Smart Schools, and introducing Artificial Intelligence, coding, and robotics into the curriculum to prepare pupils for a tech-driven economy.
To support learning outcomes, more than 7.8 million instructional materials have been distributed to schools across the country to aid literacy, numeracy, and foundational education.
Garba reaffirmed UBEC’s pledge to ensure every Nigerian child gets access to safe, inclusive, fair, and quality basic education.
Also speaking at the event, FCT Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Comrade Grace Ike, urged UBEC to make media briefings regular, run training for reporters, and organize site visits to UBEC projects.
She also called for backing investigative journalism on education to deepen public awareness of sector reforms.
Speaking before the main address, FCT Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Grace Ike, called on UBEC to make regular media briefings a standard practice. She also asked the commission to roll out skills-building workshops and to arrange site visits so education reporters can see projects firsthand.
Ike further urged UBEC to back investigative reporting on education, saying it would help Nigerians better understand and track government interventions in the sector.
Also weighing in, the Chairman of the Education Correspondents Association of Nigeria, Chuks Ukwatu, requested that journalists be given more chances to join field trips and inspect UBEC projects beyond Abuja.
According to Ukwatu, direct engagement with projects across states would allow education correspondents to report more accurately on basic education programmes nationwide.
For a better society
Follow us across our platforms:
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/championnewsonline/
Facebook – https://web.facebook.com/championnewsonline
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/champion-newspapers-limited/
https://x.com/championnewsng/
You can also like and comment on our YouTube videos.
https://youtu.be/QIBfD1tT80w?si=R4Qf3so2LxYu3GC2
