UBEC Disburses ₦4.3bn For Special Needs Education

The Universal Basic Education Commission, UBEC has disbursed the sum of ₦4,257,638,624.66 to the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory for the education of children with special needs.

This was contained in a document obtained from UBEC by Punch in Abuja on Monday.

In the document, the commission noted that it had disbursed ₦4,257,638,624.66 from 2016 to 2018.

In 2016, each state and the FCT got ₦47,942,799.68 each, while in 2017, states and FCT obtained ₦30,400,600 each.

The disbursement was increased in 2018, with each state and the FCT obtaining a total of ₦36,727,914.50 each.

An education advocate Toluwalase Adeniyi, during an interview with Punch explained that if the states access the funds it would be easier for them to properly educate the children.

His words: “If these states access these funds, they can easily find ways to get equipment and things that will make learning for these children easier. Education for special needs is not simple; it is not just about learning ABC. That is why we talk about the quality of the teachers.

“It is a glorified service. There are teachers who want to get involved but the government itself is not ready to pay much. It is a sector that, if not talked about, they (government) might not even remember it.”

Data from the federal government shows that only 1,177 full-fledged special needs schools exist in the country with Kano (153), Kaduna (79) and Lagos (75) having the highest number of special needs schools.