An Appraisal of the Universal Basic Education in Nigeria

The Universal Basic Education (UBE) Programme could not have been introduced at a better time than now that the nation is in dire need of all round National Development. The major objective of the UBE programme is the provision of free, universal and compulsory basic education for every Nigerian child aged 6—15 years. However, for the Universal Basic Education programme to be truly free and universal, efforts must be made to check those factors that are known to have hindered the success of such programmes in the past. This paper specifically considered the implementation of Universal Basic Education (UBE) so far-.its success and problems. Relevant recommendations are therefore proffered. • Ensuring the acquisition of the appropriate levels of literacy numeracy, manipulative, communicative and life skills, as well as the ethnical, moral and civic value needed for paying. A review of related literature has revealed that attempts in the past to provide free education whether at the federal or state levels has never been successful due to poor planning and implementation. This view was supported by Nwagwu (2000) who sees poor planning as one of the problems responsible for the unsuccessful implementation of the former UPE programme. They posited that the planners of the programme were unable to project fairly accurate number of children that would gain from the scheme. Adequate efforts therefore, should be made to counter all the factors which led to the unsuccessful implementation of similar programmes in the past. This paper examines some issues associated with free education programme and proffers. solution for the effective implementation of UBE programme. The existing educational programmes in Nigeria failed to meet the educational needs and aspirations of the populace. This led to the proposal of the universal basic education (UBE) by the Nigerian government. This was a welcomed idea to the Nigerian populace. who were. unhappy that the 6-3-3-4 system which replaced the 6- 5-2-3 system and the earlier introduced universal primary education programmes. (UPE), (of the past regimes) was no better than the earlier introduced programmes.