- The Universal Basic Education Commission has disbursed over N2.76bn as grant for the renovation of classrooms in 2,505 primary schools across the country.
The Universal Basic Education Commission has disbursed over N2.76bn as grant for the renovation of classrooms in 2,505 primary schools across the country.
At a ceremony to mark the commencement of the project in Kano on Tuesday, the Executive Secretary of UBEC, Dr Hamid Bobboyi, said the disbursement ranged from N250,000, N1m, N5m to N7m to each of the selected schools based on their need assessment.
“The grant, which is more like seed money, is meant for the renovation, construction of blocks of classrooms, supply of furniture, completion of abandoned buildings/classrooms as well as purchase of teaching materials.
“The selection were made based on a need assessment of the schools upon a directive to State Universal Basic Education Boards to receive request letters from the commission through which communities submitted proposals for the projects,” he said.
By this gesture, according to him, individuals, volunteers, donor agencies can partner the community and schools for meaningful development.
“The guiding principle of the self-help and community engagement approach is to engender strong partnership and the desire to draw and harness state resources and skills alongside the abundant material and human resources in the community, with a view to developing the basic education sub-sector, which depends largely on the level of community awareness, participation and support to the programme,” Bobboyi stated.
The Education Minister, Mallam Adamu Adamu, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Sunny Echono, said Universal Basic Education programme “is Nigeria’s homegrown initiative, aimed at addressing national aspirations and meeting global expectations through the provision of qualitative functional education, free of charge to all children of school-going age.”
