Lagos SUBEB spent over N 1.94bn on basic education intervention in three years

A recent report by the Human Development Initiatives (HDI) foundation indicated that the Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (Lagos SUBEB) spent over N1.945 billion intervening on basic education across 11 local governments of the state.

This was contained in the HDI’s Universal Basic Education Funds Tracking (UBEFT) project report which is titled, ‘Tracking Basic Education funds in Lagos State: Blessings and lessons’. The report chronicled HDI’s activities, interventions, successes and challenges in the course of monitoring and tracking Lagos SUBEB action plans for 2018, 2019 and 2020.

According to the report, Lagos SUBEB spent N702m in 2018; N633m in 2019, and N427m in 2020. Similarly, Lagos SUBEB spent over N56m on furniture alone in 2015, while N911m, N764m were spent in 2016, 2017 respectively. A grand total of funds tracked by HDI over five years (2015 – 2020) are over N3.49 billion in 11 local government areas.

Based on the Action Plan, the eleven (11) Local Government Education authorities (LGEAs) selected for the UBEFT project intervention include: Agege, Ajeromi-Ifelodun, Amuwo-Odofin, Apapa, Eti-Osa, Ibeju-Lekki, Kosofe, Mushin, Ojo, Somolu, and Surulere LGEAs.

“The UBEFT project which officially kicked off in 2017 supported by the MacArthur Foundation has been a very impactful one with a series of activities and successes. It has been a project of intense engagement, with both government-side and community stakeholders.

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“After about seven years of intentional engagement with the major players in basic education both at the national and state levels, we have come to the conclusion that qualitative, inclusive and equitable basic education can be actualised in Nigeria and this is possible and will definitely happen with concerted efforts of all and sundry,” Olufunso Owasanoye, executive director, Human Development Initiatives (HDI) foundation, said at the public report launch and close-out of the Universal Basic Education (UBE) funds tracking project in Lagos state held on Friday 31, March in Yaba, Lagos.

According to her, the multi-level approach to engagement adopted in the course of the project has birthed quite a lot of accomplishments, including local stakeholders now appreciating their roles in the development of basic education. She said further that the project contributed to building the capacity of both government and community stakeholders for effective service delivery in the basic education sector.

“At the lower rung of the value chain, basic education goods and services were delivered to government schools in the right quality and quantity; defective projects were corrected and government contractors had to sit tight, knowing fully well that the community members were getting more interested in their work,” Owasanoye said.

Folasade Adefisayo, commissioner for education, Lagos State, stated that HDI has been supporting the ministry technically, by providing support around capacity building, competencies for education secretaries across the state.

“The key things that HDI have done successfully with the government is that they are the ones that help us to monitor all our individual projects to see the quantity promised, and the quantity and quality delivered and that’s what all this program is all about,” Adefisayo, who was represented by Yemi Adebayo, director, partnership, Lagos State ministry of education stated.

The Human Development Initiatives (HDI) received support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to track basic education funds utilisation in selected local governments of Lagos State. The initial project covered a three-year period from 2016 – 2019 while the follow-up funding covered the period from 2019 – 2021, with an extension which ended in March, 2023.

The initial report of tracking Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board’s 2016 and 2017 action plans was launched on 30th July 2019, while the current report covers the implementation of years 2018, 2019 and 2020 action plans.