The study investigated the financial management skills required of principals for the implementation of the Universal Basic Education programme in Ebonyi State junior secondary schools. Three research questions and two null hypotheses were formulated for the study. The population of the study was 2,221 junior secondary school principals across urban and rural areas of the state. Disproportionate simple random sampling technique was used to select 1,000 junior secondary school principals for the study. The study adopted descriptive survey method. The instrument for data collection was a questionnaire known as Financial Management Skills Questionnaire (FMSQ). Data collected were analysed using mean and standard deviation. t-test statistic was used to test the hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance. Findings revealed that junior secondary school principals require budgetary skills for financial management for the implementation of the UBE programme in Ebonyi State junior secondary schools. Based on the findings it was recommended among others that government should organize workshops and seminars for junior secondary school principals to update their knowledge more on financial skill management
Keywords: Implementation, Junior Secondary., Universal Basic, financial management
