UBEC Disburses N4.3bn 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 N47,942,799.68 each, while in 2017, states and FCT obtained N30,400,600 each.

The disbursement was increased in 2018, with each state and the FCT obtaining a total of N36,727,914.50 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.