By Joe Adedeji, Ilorin
Kwara State Government has not been able to access about N7billion Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) fund for school infrastructures since 2013.
Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq made this known while flagging off distribution of exercise books to public schools in Kwara State.
According to him, the State since 2013, had failed to pay its counter-fund to UBEC and at the same time, had left schools in deplorable conditions which denied the State access to the fund running to about N7billion.
However, he disclosed at the exercise distribution event that the state had paid the counter-part fund to UBEC to enable it access funds from the Commission to renovate and reconstruct public schools.
In addition, he said the state has not been able to access the UBEC fund because the contract awarded since 2013 have not been completed.
His words; “We are trying to meet up with the plan, because what is delaying us in that fund is that contracts that were awarded in 2013 need to be concluded and certify before we have full access to the fund.
“Hopefully, this year we will commence accessing the funds to improve our public schools,” he said.
The governor disclosed that the state’s accumulated fund in UBEC was over N7 billion, adding that the future of education in the state was bright with the N7 billion pending.
“We want to restore education in Kwara back to number one in Northern Nigeria,” AbdulRazaq stressed.
Meanwhile, the governor said he would soon flag-off reconstruction of 31 dilapidated schools across the state pointing out that over 100 public schools across the state were in dire need of reconstruction which he would start with the 31 schools.
“Like they say, the journey of a thousand miles starts with one step, so we are starting the first step with 31 schools. All our major schools are in deplorable condition which is nothing to write home about,” he added.
“From 2013, nothing much has been done, you only need to go to our schools; basic thing like walls, water and sanitation is not there, leaking roof.
“The number of students per classroom, some classrooms in Ilorin that I went to had about 100 students in the class, how can students learn in that condition?
“For the students to pick up, they have to cheat, that is why we have the WAEC issue which we are putting behind us very quickly,” the governor added.
The governor, who said people were talking of free education, declared that the money to be used for free education is not what was being used to rebuild the schools from scratch.