N75bn UBEC debt: Reps summon finance minister, AGF

File: House of Reps Green Chamber

The House of Representatives has summoned the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, and the Accountant-General of the Federation, Shamseldeen Ogunjimi, over an outstanding N75bn reportedly borrowed from the Universal Basic Education Commission.

The House Public Accounts Committee directed the two officials to appear before it on Thursday, October 22, 2026, to provide a definite repayment schedule and give firm assurances on when the funds would be returned.

 The committee’s action followed concerns over the withdrawal and borrowing of funds belonging to government agencies without clear repayment arrangements, prior notification, or established guidelines.

At a hearing in Abuja on Friday, October 16, 2026, the committee, presided over by its Deputy Chairman, Jeremiah Umaru, insisted that public funds could not be taken from one government institution to meet the financial obligations of another without clear terms governing the transaction.

“For each borrowing, there should be terms and conditions attached,” the committee said. “We want to know what your plan is. You borrowed money for certain reasons, but you should be willing to return it within a specific period, even without interest, since it is government-to-government.”

Umaru said the committee wanted the Finance Minister and the Accountant-General to appear personally to commit to a repayment date, stressing that the matter could not be resolved without a clear agreement.

“The main issue we are looking at is N75bn. We need the Accountant-General to appear in person, and we want the Honourable Minister to appear in person too so that we can get a timeline.

“We want to agree on when this money will be paid so that we can close this matter once and for all.

The lawmakers expressed concern that the diversion of funds meant for basic education could undermine UBEC’s interventions across the country, with possible consequences for states and federal constituencies that depend on the commission’s programmes.

They also questioned the reported practice of deducting up to 50 per cent of some government agencies’ revenues monthly or quarterly without a clearly established regulatory framework.

According to members of the committee, such deductions have left some agencies struggling to meet salary obligations and finance essential operations.

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“The agencies cannot do anything now because of those deductions. They use these monies to pay staff and fund their operations, but they can no longer do so because the funds have been taken without prior notification,” he said.

Responding on behalf of the Accountant-General, a Deputy Director in the office, Ezeoke Christopher, acknowledged the borrowings, describing them as internal arrangements intended to address funding shortfalls and meet statutory obligations.

 He explained that the arrangements were partly driven by the need to meet personnel costs reportedly exceeding N1 trillion monthly.

The Accountant-General’s office also disclosed that efforts had been made to refund as much as N90bn, while more than N70bn remained outstanding.

The explanations provided by Christopher and the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Muhammed Danjuma, however, failed to satisfy the committee, which insisted that the two principal officials must personally account for the outstanding amount and provide a repayment timetable.

The committee maintained that inter-agency financial arrangements must not be allowed to weaken the operations of institutions whose statutory responsibilities require predictable access to public funds.

In a related development, the UBEC Executive Secretary, Olajumoke Akinyemi, told the committee that more than 20 states accessed their matching grants in 2025, while over 13 states had accessed theirs in 2026.

He identified Imo, Ogun, Anambra, Lagos, Kwara, and Katsina as states with outstanding issues relating to counterpart funding, although he noted that many states were taking steps to meet the requirements.

Akinyemi also disclosed that the Universal Basic Education Act was before the National Assembly for amendment to empower the commission to redeploy funds left unaccessed by states after two years.

The proposed amendment is intended to improve the utilisation of resources available for basic education by preventing funds from remaining idle indefinitely when eligible states fail to access them.

The committee subsequently resolved that Oyedele, Ogunjimi, and Akinyemi must appear in person on October 22, 2026, to facilitate a definitive resolution of the outstanding repayment and related funding issues.