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*Says absence of credible data impeding progress in basic education

By Joseph Erunke, ABUJA

THE Executive Secretary of Universal Basic Education Commission,UBEC,Dr. Hamid Bobboyi, Tuesday,said the commission has earmarked the sum of N2 billion for the conduct of its 2022 National Personnel Audit , NPA.

This came as he lamentted the absence of credible data in basic education, saying the development had impeded
implementation of the sector for a long time.

Dr Bobboyi,who spoke at a media briefing,in Abuja, explained that the 2022 personnel audit was aimed at updating the basic education database.

Noting that the NPA data was important given that it was a planning tool,he said the 2022 NPA which will be in two phases, had already begun in 17 states of the country, specifically in South-East and South-south.

He further disclosed that the Northern phase covering 19 states and the Federal Capital Territory will begin on the 4th of July and ends on Saturday, 23rd July, 2022.

According to Dr.Bobboyi, during the exercise , enumerators will visit all basic education institutions in the country, the public , private, approved , unapproved , registered and unregistered will all be visited”

He explained that,”They are going to collect basic information on schools and personnel”

He added that the NPA exercise has no ulterior motive, stressing that data being collected will assist the country to plan effectively towards expansion of access to quality education and promoting gender parity at basic and other levels of education.

He said:”On the 2022 NPA, the commission is in partnership with relevant government government agencies, development partners and NGOs , National Bureau of Statistics, National Population Commission , Nigeria Air Space Research and Development Agency, NUT, Association of private school owners , the World Bank, UNICEF among others.

Earlier, the Chairman of the 2022 NPA, Prof. Bala Zakari, said the Commission had generated list of basic schools in each local government areas from State Universal Basic Education to address issues of hard-to-reach areas and places facing security challenges.

“We must acknowledge that there is no area where human activity can be 100 percent perfect”, Prof. Zakari said.

Açcording to him,any denial of 2022 NPA teams access to schools will further contribute to the increasing number of out-of-school.

“The NPA exercise is out to ensure that all existing learning centres are counted along with available facilities in the schools. We believe it will help partners in their intervention plans and will serve as database for the basic education institutions in Nigeria,”he further explained.

He recalled that UBEC’s first attempt at addressing data challenge in basic education sub sector was in 2006 and 2010, explaining that the scope was limited to only public schools.

Açcording to him,” A more comprehensive exercise was conducted in 2018 and was extended to cover public and private institutions.