Governor Godwin Obaseki’s administration in Edo State is facing serious allegations of diverting and squandering a whopping N1.2 billion from the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) intended for education development in the state. Financial records reviewed by sources reveal that the funds, meant to finance critical UBE intervention projects for 2022, were misappropriated by the Edo State Universal Basic Education Board (EDOSUBEB).
According to official correspondence from UBEC, Edo State was instructed to deposit N1,204,452,353.76 into the Edo SUBEB Matching Grant Account with Sterling Bank to access funds for the 1st – 4th quarters of 2022 UBE projects. The state complied and the matching grant account was credited on December 22, 2022, with the same amount. However, instead of waiting for UBEC’s counterpart funding and approval of a project action plan, EDOSUBEB reportedly transferred N1,122,692,720.24 from the matching grant to a separate, unauthorized account on June 5, 2023.
This action, which violated several provisions of the Federal Government’s UBE Intervention Fund guidelines, raises serious questions about the handling of public funds. The existence of an undisclosed domestic matching grant account, not recognized by UBEC, further compounds suspicions of financial misconduct, including illegal withdrawals, misappropriation, and embezzlement.
Observers are now demanding an investigation into the whereabouts of the N1.2 billion, with critics calling on Governor Obaseki to account for the missing funds. “Only Obaseki can provide the answer to what happened to the money,” one source remarked.
