A bill seeking to increase the allocation from the consolidated revenue fund, to the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), has passed second reading in the House of Representatives.
Mark Bako Oseni, the chairman of the committee to UBEC disclosed this at the Committee’s facility tour of the UBEC Digital Resource Centre in Abuja.
Sponsored by Muktar Shagaya from Kwara, the proposed legislation seeks to amend the UBE Act, 2004, to increase the share of the consolidated revenue fund allocated for UBEC, from two percent to four percent.
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The chairman said the current two percent allocation to UBEC is insufficient to address the challenges in basic education.
“Since its founding in 2004, UBEC has achieved a lot, and the house believes that if its founding is increased, it will do a lot more. For that reason, the deputy chairman proposed an amendment to the act, for an I lncrease from 2% to 4% to be given to UBEC so that the commission can use that to develop basic education,” Oseni said.
“We are happy that our colleagues at the house of representatives have received this proposal with excitement, it scaled the first reading, yesterday the house debated on it, and the bill was read the second time, and referred to this committee for further legislative action.”
Speaking further about the new UBEC digital facility, Oseni reiterated the committee’s support to the commission.
“We have assured the commission that we’ll continue to collaborate with them, and achieving that is by making sure we continue to support in the way of budgetary provision, and we’ll also make sure that what we have provided funds for are truly achieved for the good of Nigeria,” he said.
Speaking to newsmen, Hammid Bobboyi, the executive vice secretary of UBEC expressed excitement over the UBEC resource center that the house committee came to inspect.
“The house committee came to see what UBEC are doing in the area of digital education, and efforts to move the basic education to the next level, and we have gone round to see the facilities, the teachers facility, laboratories including artificial intelligence, robotics, museum, studios and so on,” he said.
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Speaking about the expectations of the facility to basic education, the EVS said “we are making sure that our teachers are trained on the new technology. We have made sure that school administrators, quality assurance officers to understand what digital learning is, and to prepare them to be real participants and not just copy cats in the classroom, to develop their own resources and to take advantage of those resources that are in place.
