APPLICATION OF THE PRINCIPLES OF DECENTRALIZATION IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF UNIVERSAL BASIC EDUCATION (UBE) PROGRAMME IN NORTH CENTRAL ZONE, NIGERIA
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This study, Application of the principles of decentralization in UBE programme implementation in the North Central Geo-political Zone was necessitated by concerns over Nigeria‟s huge investment in the programme implementation, the poor results attained between 2005 and 2017 as well as States and LGAs‟ inability to assume full responsibility for UBE implementation as specified in Nigeria‟s 1999 Constitution, as amended. The study used a descriptive survey research design targeting a population of 35,835 UBE system administrators at Federal, State and LGA level in the study area. 2,003 sampled respondents provided insight on decentralization practices in UBE implementation in the geo-political zone through questionnaires and an interview schedule used in collecting data. Frequency counts, percentages and charts as well as Mean and Standard deviation were used to answer the research questions, while Chi-square statistics was used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Among other things, the findings revealed that there is non-implementation of the principles of decentralization in its full extent. Specific findings included the fact that Federal, State and Local Government Authorities, to a large extent have not applied the principles of decentralization in UBE implementation in the North Central geo-political zone; States, and Local Government Areas have not enjoyed due autonomy in the performance of constitutionally assigned UBE roles and appropriate resources especially funds have not been provided by States and Local Government Areas for successful UBE implementation. These findings prompted the study‟s recommendation of strict adherence to the principles of decentralization in UBE implementation, creation of an enabling environment for States and Local Government Areas to enjoy due autonomy in the performance of assigned constitutional roles in UBE implementation, provision of adequate resources, especially funds for designated activities under the UBE programme arrangement in the North Central Geo-political zone, among others. While acknowledging Federal Government‟s constitutional right to intervene in critical aspects of UBE implementation, the study however recommended that such interventions should be done in proper consultation with States, reflecting and fully supportive of States‟ priorities while at the same time reinforcing States‟ constitutional obligation to lead and own their basic education delivery processes.