The Civil Society Action Coalition on Education for All on Thursday in Ilorin urged the Kwara government to ensure the judicious and expeditious use of the grant it recently received from the Universal Basic Education Commission.
In a statement by its coordinator, Abdulrahman Ayuba, a copy of which was made available to the News Agency of Nigeria, CSACEFA described access to the grant as “heart-warming considering the parlous state of virtually all the basic schools in the state.’’
The statement added, “We, therefore, praise and commend the current administration for the rare courage displayed in ensuring that the grant is finally accessed.
“We equally sincerely believe that the current government will not fall into the unfortunate but clearly avoidable recklessness and pitfall of the immediate past.’’
The CSACEFA said it was a willing partner ready to support access to quality education and was therefore looking forward to a robust engagement with the state government in the delivery of quality and inclusive education.
NAN reports that the Kwara government recently issued a statement announcing that it had received over N7 billion UBEC funds, after being blacklisted for seven years.
CSACEFA blamed the “pitiful state’’ of basic education infrastructure in Kwara on the failure of past governments in the state to access UBEC funds and the near-zero investment in the sector in the past few years.
Meanwhile, the government has pledged to spend the money in tranches over the next two years to fix 600 elementary schools out of the more than 1,400 decrepit basic education facilities across the state.