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Sopuruchi Onwuka
Government of Anambra State has declared that it has eagerly mopped up all accessible funds for to guarantee the leadership of the state in development and promotion of excellence in education in the country.
Chairman of Anambra State Universal Basic Education Board (ASUBEB), Mr Patrick Ugboaja, said in a statement that the agency awaits maturation and collection of N4.4 billion accruable to the state from the office of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) in Abuja.
He explained that the state’s government was working to access the outstanding payment to enable its uphold and improve on the record of global competitiveness and excellence in basic education sustained by the state in the past seven years.
Mr Ugboaja was making clarifications to refute claims that the state had ignored whopping N41 billion waiting for claims at the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) in Abuja.
“We are issuing this statement to state the facts. There is no N41 billion accruing to Anambra State,” he declared, adding that “Anambra State has long accessed all its monies from UBEC up to 2018.”
“The monies are always paid in arrears. What is outstanding now is our monies for only 2019 and 2021 which total four billion four hundred million naira (N4.4BN). Efforts are being made to access the N4.4BN,” he pointed out
He dismissed as baseless media reports “claiming that there is a whole forty one billion naira (N41BN) waiting for collection by the Anambra State Government for the development of basic education, that is, primary education and the first three years of post-primary education.
“The reports claimed that the State Government has not been able to claim this colossal amount because it has yet to pay its counterpart funding for the construction and renovation of basic schools owned by the State Government and voluntary agencies as well as for the furnishing of these schools and the training of the school teachers.
“We have all along ignored this story because the claim that a whole N41BN is due to any state in the Federation for basic education development is too wild for any critically thinking Nigerian to believe. However, the sensational story has now become a subject of commentary by politicians contesting the November 6 gubernatorial election in Anambra State. What is more, one or two well-meaning persons have called to find out the true situation,” he narrated.
In stressing that the state government could not have left its legitimate financial entitlement at UBEC headquarters, Mr Ugboaja reiterated that “education is a most critical industry in Anambra State, and the State Administration treats everything concerning education as sacred.”
“No state throughout Nigeria has the record of global competitiveness and excellence in basic education which Anambra State has achieved in the last seven years. We will not only uphold this record but also improve on it,” he made clear.
