Kwara: Past Govt. shunned N5.3bn education grant – AbdulRazaq

Kwara State Government has a total of N5, 385, 619, 303. 68 at the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) not accessed since 2014.

Gov. AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq made this known in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary (CPS), Rafiu Ajakaye on Friday in Ilorin.

According to Ajakaye, the governor got to know of the fund not accessed when he visited UBEC on Thursday in Abuja.

He said that UBEC has to blacklist the state because the immediate past administration mismanaged N1. 5 billion grant meant to upgrade schools in Kwara in 2013.

Ajakaye said UBEC officials told Gov. AbdulRazaq that N1.5 billion was allotted to the state in 2013 with a request for the state to pay another N1.5bn as counterpart funding.

“The officials said the government was later discovered to have borrowed the N1.5 billion from a bank with which it immediately accessed the UBEC fund.

“Upon receipt of the UBEC’s N1.5 billion, Kwara returned the N1.5 billion it had borrowed from the bank and then diverted the UBEC’s N1.5 billion without investing it in educational infrastructure as required by the law,” he said.

The governor’s aide said this led to UBEC blacklisting Kwara and demanding for immediate refund of its N1.5 billion.

Ajakaye said Kwara later refunded N1.050 billion leaving an outstanding of N450 million which the Abdulfatah Ahmed’s administration never paid to UBEC.

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Kwara accessed UBEC fund last in 2013.

In 2014, UBEC allocated N952.2 million to Kwara, 876.7 billion in 2015, in 2016 Kwara was to access N1.04 billion, N1.3 billion in 2017 and N1.5 billion in 2018.

Ajakaye, however, said AbdulRazaq has promised to pay the N450 million to enable the state to access the funds to develop its schools.

AbdulRazaq’s visit to UBEC came barely 48 hours after he visited decrepit schools in the northern senatorial district of Kwara where most of the schools’ roofs had collapsed.

The governor promised to look into the devastating state of the infrastructure across the state, especially in schools, hospitals and road networks.