Femi Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to sign the bill that seeks to make education the basic right of every child in Nigeria.
Falana made his opinions clear in a statement that was released on Monday. He said that it is a fundamental right of every citizen to have access to free and compulsory education. He then pointed out that Nigeria had the highest number of children that are out of school, and with this figure, it was unacceptable that adequate attention was not being paid to the basic education bill as it was not among those that the president assented to.
In his statement, Falana, while noting that the president had approved bills for other sectors, said, “It is sad to note that while a section of the media and advocates of restructuring have celebrated these amendments, no attention has been paid to the refusal of President Buhari to assent to the constitution (Fifth Alteration) nill No. 63 (fundamental human rights) which seeks to alter the provisions of the constitution to make free, compulsory, and basic education a fundamental right of all citizens under chapter IV of the constitution. In the cases of SERAP v FRN (2010] ACHPR 109 and LEPAD v federal ministry of education (unreported suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/978/15) decided by the ECOWAS court and the federal high court respectively, the federal government was directed to provide education for every Nigerian child. But due to the failure of the federal government to comply with both judgments, the population of out-of-school children in Nigeria has increased to 20 million, the highest figure in the world.”
He then urged the president to sign the bill, thus, providing compulsory and free education for those who are in need of it.
Ozioma Samuel-Ugwuezi
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