The Governor of Cross River State in southern Nigeria, Senator Bassey Otu has invested ₦3.5 billion counterpart funds for the development of the primary education sector infrastructure.
The Executive Chairman of the Cross River State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Esu Effiong Esu made the disclosure during an interview with some journalists in Calabar, the state capital.
Esu, who indicated the board had already published a call for public tenders in line with due process, said the fund has been matched up by the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) to the tune of ₦7 billion naira only.
“To underscore his commitment to the education of children at the primary school level, the governor has paid a counterpart fund of ₦3.5 billion for the 2024 intervention, which is for renovation and construction of schools in the state.
“Also, since the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), has seen the response of Governor Otu in that regard, it has paid up it own 50 percent totalling ₦7 billion only. The money is intact and that is why we have advertised the jobs. The total jobs so far advertised is 106,” the SUBEB chairman said.
According to chairman, only reputable companies with proven records would be selected at the pre-qualification stage, noting that companies which were blacklisted will not be allowed to bid for jobs.
“We have just advertised, by the time we move on to pre-qualification stage, we will insist that companies with proven track records and good reputation do our jobs. Under my watch, if you get the job, you must do it to specification
“We want to carve a niche for SUBEB under this administration. We will not allow standards to be compromised in carrying out our jobs,” he insisted.
He also explained that the evaluation and monitoring unit would be effectively engaged to embark on supervision, saying “we have a robust technical team comprising architects, engineers, quantity surveyors and directors, who will carry out the supervision.”
Improving Teaching Skills
On other measures deployed to Rejig primary education in Cross River State, Dr. Esu said that the Otu led administration was also investing on training and retraining of teachers and non-academic staff to provide the early childhood education services.
“UBEC is a body that is very well organized and has robust training programmes for staff. It is already captured in the work plan. There is provision for training and the College of Education, Akamkpa is our teacher training centre.”
He explained that SUBEB was collaborating with UBEC to implement programmes and projects in Cross River State utilising the needs assessment to achieve success and promised a much better, higher outcomes for the primary education sector in 2025, adding “My desire is to leave SUBEB far better than I met it.”
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