In a bid to benefit from the 2019/2020 projects of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), the Ekiti State government has approved the borrowing of a sum of N3 billion to pay for the counterpart funding to be able to access the fund.

The approval for the term loan was given at the virtual meeting of the State executive council held in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital on Thursday.

A statement signed by the Commissioner for Information, Mr Muyiwa Olumilua, said the loan is to enable Ekiti State Government to meet up with its statutory 50 per cent counterpart obligation towards the release of funds for UBEC/State Universal Basic Education Board( SUBEB) projects for the year 2019 and 2020.

Olumilua said the fiscal step became imperative on the premise that failure to pay the counterpart fund would disqualify the State from receiving her share of the UBEC/State Universal Basic Education funding.

The statement said: “Memorandum on the offer of N3, 031,076,059.82 term loan for 2019 and 2020 Ekiti State Government counterpart contribution for SUBEB/UBEC projects:

“Being a Federal and State Government partnership, both tiers of government are required to come up with their respective 50% contributions before the total sum is released to the State Government.