By Efe Onadjae

The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) has assured the Regional Development Commissions, especially the recently established ones, of cooperation and guidance in strengthening their respective educational programmes and structures.

The Deputy Executive Secretary (Services) UBEC, Mr Tunde Segun Ajibulu, gave this assurance when he hosted the Minister of State for Regional Development, Alhaji Uba Maigari at UBEC’s Head Office in Abuja.

The Deputy Executive Secretary lauded President Bola Tinubu for the establishment of the Regional Commissions, saying that their creation would help bring development closer to the people and indeed further actualize the administration’s globally acclaimed bottom-up approach to development in all facets, across the country.

Ajibulu said: “As someone who has a deep understanding of the profound impact of education, I can clearly attest to the fact that the fastest way of combating and curbing multi-dimensional poverty, stemming urban-rural migration and even degrading incidences of insecurity, is by investing heavily in educating our people, especially those of them in the grassroots. I cannot think of a better alternative to solid education, either formal or well-structured and certified skill acquisition programmes.”

He added that UBEC is poised to work very closely with the Regional Development Commissions to meet the educational targets of the Tinubu administration in all the states of the federation.

Earlier, Alhaji Uba Maigari, the Minister of State for Regional Development had stressed the need for deepened UBEC collaboration with all the Regional Development Commissions, on basic educational infrastructure, particularly in the North East.

The Minister said that the Regional Commissions would be counting on UBEC for technical guidance, since most of them are relatively new.

He noted that some of the Regional Development Commissions have their master plans that already prioritized education but that it was imperative they leveraged the support of UBEC.

The Minister also commended President Tinubu for appointing Mr. Ajibulu as the Deputy Executive Secretary (Services) of UBEC, saying that in making the appointment, the President “expertly placed a square peg in a square hole.”

Also at the meeting with the Minister were Mr. Razaq Olajuwon, the Deputy Executive Secretary (Technical) UBEC and Mr. Demola Oshodi, Senior Special Assistant (SSA), Foreign Affairs and Protocol, to the President.

The Deputy Executive Secretary (Services) thanked the Honourable Minister for the visit and assured that the collaboration with the Development Commissions was not only expedient but inevitable.

Mr. Ajibulu said a follow-up meeting with the Commission’s Executive Secretary, Mrs. Aisha Garba, who was engaged in another official engagement at the time of the visit, will be promptly scheduled to consider the requests made by the Minister.The Universal Basic Education (UBE) Programme was introduced in 1999 by the Federal Government as a reform programme aimed at providing greater access to, and ensuring quality of basic education throughout Nigeria.

The UBE Programme objectives include assisting States and Local Governments in Nigeria for the purposes of uniform and qualitative education throughout the country.