The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, (SERAP), has urged President Muhammadu Buhari “to direct the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, (SAN), to work with appropriate anti-corruption agencies to promptly probe allegations of corruption in the Universal Basic Education Commission, (UBEC) and the State Universal Basic Education Boards (SUBEBs) between 2004 and 2020, including missing N3.8 billion documented in the 2017 Annual Report by the Auditor-General of the Federation, (AdGF)”.
In the open letter dated 20 February 2021 and signed by SERAP’s Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, the organisation said: “Allegations of corruption in UBEC and SUBEBs violate the right to education of millions of Nigerian children who continue to face unsuitable learning conditions, as shown by the poor learning and boarding facilities at the Government Science College, Kagara, Niger State, where dozens of schoolchildren, teachers and their relatives were abducted by gunmen”.
The organisation also urged him to “direct the Attorney-General of the Federation, (AGF), Abubakar Malami and the anti-corruption agencies to make public the outcome of any investigation, and to prosecute suspected perpetrators if there is relevant admissible evidence, as well as fully recover any missing public funds”.
According to SERAP: “Many years of unresolved allegations of corruption and mismanagement in UBEC and SUBEBs have resulted in decreasing quality of education for poor children while many politicians send their own children to the best private schools in the country and abroad, and thereby leaving behind generations of poor children”.
The letter is copied to AGF Malami; Chairman Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye; and Mr Mohammed Abba, Acting Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
