Al-Hikmah University Journal

This paper investigated how to address the issue of ethnicity for the implementation of the UBE programme in South-South, Nigeria. Three research questions were answered and three hypotheses tested in the study. Survey design was employed in the study while the population of the study was all the Parents Teachers Association (PTA) chairmen in public senior secondary schools in South-South and the school principals out of which 240 (120 parents and 120 principals) were sampled using Multistage sampling technique. Instrument adopted for data collection was a 15-item questionnaire titled “Ethnicity and the Implementation of the Universal Basic Education Questionnaire” (EIUBEQ). The questionnaire was face and content validated by two Educational Management experts at University of Port Harcourt while the reliability of the questionnaire was 0.87 using Cronbach alpha statistics. Out of the 240 copies of questionnaire administered, 229 copies (118 parents and 111 principals) representing 95.4% were retrieved. Research questions raised were answered using mean and standard deviation while the hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance using z-test statistics. The result of the study showed that the issue of minority and politicized ethnicity were ethnic factors hindering the implementation of the UBE programme. It was also discovered that ethnicity affected the location of UBE schools among other effects. The study further showed the need for more awareness on the objectives of the programme for its successful implementation. It was recommended that government at all levels should make more financial commitment to the implementation of the UBE scheme to avoid the effects of ethnicity.