UBEC Cracks Down On Poor Quality School Projects

The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) has warned contractors about the risks of delivering substandard school infrastructure in order to improve the quality of educational structures.

Executive secretary of UBEC, Dr Hamid Bobboyi stated this in Abuja yesterday, during the training of staff of physical planning on enhancing quality delivery of projects using simple tools for on-the-spot assessment at projects sites by Nigeria Building and Road Research Institute (NBRRI).

Bobboyi also disclosed that the commission will deploy monitors who will frequently go to find out what’s going on across the construction sites.

According to him, for quite some time, the commission has had an elaborate monitoring system as far as construction of educational infrastructure or school infrastructure is concerned.

He also said the commission is working with NBRI through the chief executive, Professor Samson Duna and has also been working with COREN for a few years to make sure that they are part of the monitoring teams at the state level.

“Instead of just looking at what is there and so on and so forth, it’s to go with the kind of gadgetry that can also help us to test the strength of the materials that are being used.

“And it’s our hope that with our partners, NBRI and other stakeholders, as well as the SUBEPs, because the primary responsibility lies with them in our effort to achieve good outcomes as far as these projects are concerned,” he said.

Also speaking, the chief executive of NBBRI, Professor Samson Duna, said the teams would visit the sites with tools to ascertain whether the contractor is using the right tool.

“So I’m now throwing a warning to contractors involved in taking contracts in constructing schools without following the required specification. They should sit up.

“UBEC has come up with an idea of ascertaining the quality of construction material used on site.
The quality of concrete needs to be specified and the contractor must adhere to it. If he didn’t use it, the UBEC staff visiting the site, they are expected to travel or to come with tools.

“And those tools will enable them to know if the contractor is using the right material. Both steel, which is a factory product, also they confirm if the steel used, it is in conformity with the design.”

He reiterated commitment to ensure that the quality of concrete meets the specification, saying that it has established tools that measures the concrete in its wet state and measure it when it has hardened.