The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) has introduced a digital monitoring platform aimed at strengthening the tracking of school projects and improving transparency in the management of funds allocated to basic education across Nigeria.
The initiative is part of the commission’s broader efforts to modernise project monitoring, improve accountability and ensure that interventions funded through UBEC are properly implemented and produce measurable results.
The platform is designed to support digital reporting and monitoring of UBEC-funded infrastructure projects across states and local government areas. An official UBEC project-monitoring application allows authorised field officers to access assigned projects, record their locations, provide project-status updates and upload photographic evidence from project sites.
The digital system is expected to make it easier for monitoring officers to document whether projects are yet to commence, ongoing or completed, while also recording challenges encountered during implementation and recommendations for corrective action.
UBEC’s move towards digital monitoring is consistent with its revised guidelines, which specifically provide for the establishment of a digital monitoring system or dashboard as part of supervision and monitoring activities. The guidelines also emphasise data generation, management and tracking of education interventions.
The commission has increasingly placed emphasis on transparency and evidence-based monitoring as it manages federal interventions in basic education. UBEC works with State Universal Basic Education Boards and other stakeholders to implement projects covering areas such as classroom construction and renovation, furniture, water and sanitation facilities and other school infrastructure.
The need for stronger monitoring has become particularly important given the scale of resources being deployed to improve basic education nationwide. In July 2026, UBEC disclosed that more than ₦100 billion in previously unaccessed matching grants had been mobilised by states and the Federal Capital Territory for investments in education infrastructure, teacher development and improved learning outcomes.
The commission also reported significant infrastructure interventions, including the construction of more than 4,600 classrooms, renovation of over 6,100 classrooms, provision of 2,780 toilets and 678 boreholes, as well as the supply of more than 334,000 pieces of school furniture.
Beyond infrastructure, UBEC has been expanding its use of technology in education. The commission has highlighted investments in digital literacy centres, Smart Schools, artificial intelligence, coding and robotics as part of efforts to equip Nigerian learners with skills needed in a changing economy.
The digital project-tracking initiative is therefore expected to complement these broader reforms by providing more structured information on the implementation of education projects.
UBEC has also continued to rely on community participation in monitoring school interventions. Its School-Based Management Committee programmes are designed to involve communities in identifying school needs, implementing small-scale improvement projects and monitoring the use of funds. The commission’s guidelines also assign communities responsibilities relating to financial management, project monitoring and oversight.
In 2026, UBEC announced a ₦5.18 billion School-Based Management Committee–School Improvement Programme for 518 communities across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. The programme targets infrastructure improvements, including renovation of dilapidated classrooms, provision of furniture and upgrades to water, sanitation and hygiene facilities.
The commission has stressed the importance of ensuring that funds allocated to basic education are translated into visible improvements in schools and learning conditions.
With the expansion of digital monitoring, UBEC is seeking to strengthen the flow of information from project sites to its monitoring structures, potentially allowing officials to identify delays, implementation challenges and other issues more quickly.
The initiative also forms part of a wider shift towards using technology and data to improve accountability in Nigeria’s education sector. As more projects are captured digitally, the system could provide decision-makers with better information for assessing project implementation and planning future interventions.
UBEC’s digital monitoring efforts are expected to continue alongside its infrastructure, teacher-development and school-improvement programmes as the commission works to improve the delivery of basic education across the country.
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