Kuni Tyessi in Abuja
The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) has digitised the management of its intervention funds and started work on a new 10-year strategic roadmap for basic education in Nigeria.
The Executive Secretary of UBEC, Dr. Aisha Garba, announced the reforms on Monday in Abuja at a consultative meeting on the Basic Education Action Plan Management System (BEAPMS) and the 10-year UBE Roadmap 2026–2035.
Garba said the new digital workflow will replace the manual process of accessing UBEC funds. States will now develop, submit, review and get approval for their action plans through an integrated online platform.
She said the innovation builds on the unified framework and revised guidelines introduced in 2025, which all 36 states and the FCT adopted.
According to her, technical support from the commission helped many states access their matching grants.
“Building on this process, the commission has now upgraded the process into an integrated digital workflow that improves efficiency, transparency, timeliness, traceability and consistency across the fund access cycle,” Garba said.
She explained that UBEC’s BRT and Solina technical teams, working with relevant departments, have converted the existing manual templates into a modular digital platform to enable better decision-making, faster feedback, improved documentation and stronger accountability.
On the roadmap, Garba said UBEC is replacing the current 2021–2030 plan with a new framework for 2026–2035 to align with ongoing reforms in the education sector and emerging national and global priorities.
The new roadmap, she said, would focus on policy prioritisation, resource alignment, institutional coordination, monitoring and results-based accountability.
It is also designed to drive the shift from “education for all” to “learning for all” and will guide states in developing realistic, evidence-based medium-term plans that respond to local needs.
She urged chairmen and Directors of Planning, Research and Statistics of State Universal Basic Education Boards (SUBEBs) to take ownership of the reforms by ensuring timely data submission, disciplined planning and sustained collaboration with UBEC.
She added that the meeting was expected to agree on system requirements, implementation timelines, reporting obligations, capacity-building needs and coordination mechanisms to make both the digital system and the roadmap effective tools for improving learning outcomes.
In his remarks, the Dean of SUBEBs, Shehu Adaramaja, called for stronger coordination between UBEC and SUBEBs to ensure proper planning, implementation and monitoring of interventions.
Also speaking, the Director of Physical Planning, Nura Ibrahim, said effective physical planning is critical to ensuring that infrastructure investments meet the real needs of schools and communities, and called for closer collaboration among stakeholders to improve accountability and learning environments.