Chidimma Uchegbu
The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) has reiterated the need to urgently restore its Zonal and State Offices in order to improve basic education delivery across the country.
The Executive Secretary, UBEC, Dr. Hamid Bobboyi who disclosed this on Wednesday at a two-day meeting with the commission’s management, zonal directors, and state coordinators, highlighted the importance for the decentralisation of its management staff and operational strategy.
He said past inefficiencies played significant role in crippling the commission’s vision for qualify, improved educational delivery system across Nigeria.
“It got to a level that staff members sent from Headquarters to the States will not bother to visit the Zonal and State offices to announce their presence in the States.
“The Commission’s Departments will implement activities in the States without the knowledge and participation of the UBEC State Offices. Project and other monitoring activities, which are among the Commission’s major functions also suffered.
“The staff members in the Headquarters were known to engage their colleagues in the field offices to monitor projects and activities for which they were fully paid to perform. This led to the submission of inaccurate reports which resulted in payments being made for shoddy jobs and uncompleted projects,” Bobboyi explained.
Bobboyi said the development impacted negatively on UBEC’s overall reputation and efficiency, leading to increased redundancy, significant decline in morale as well as absenteeism among field staff.
“The management has decided to reorganise its structure to empower Zonal and State Offices, which were initially established to perform specific functions,” he said.
Bobboyi however, emphasizing the importance of collaboration: “Synergy is essential for our success.”
He further outlined plans to ensure that the states and zonal offices receive the necessary resources and training to fulfill their roles effectively.
