Falana Calls On NASS To Move Beyond Mere Rhetoric And Take Concrete Actions To Improve Basic Education
Human Rights Lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, issued a call to the National Assembly on Sunday, urging them to take concrete action to improve the deplorable state of basic education in the country instead of merely paying lip service to the issue.
In a statement he personally signed and shared with our correspondent, Falana criticized the lawmakers for their attempts to amend the Universal Basic Education Act of 2004, particularly the introduction of harsh penalties for parents who do not send their children to school. He described these actions as unnecessary and expressed his disappointment with the apparent lack of institutional memory among federal lawmakers.
Falana highlighted that all 36 states of the Federation have adopted the Child’s Rights Act and enacted Child’s Right Laws. As a result, it is the joint responsibility of the Federal, State, and Local Governments to ensure that every Nigerian child has access to free and compulsory education.
He pointed out that while these laws exist, they are frequently violated by members of the political class who have not demonstrated a genuine commitment to the education of every child in Nigeria. As a result, there are currently 18.5 million out-of-school children in Nigeria, the highest number in the world.
Instead of making the Compulsory Free Universal Basic Education Act more stringent for parents in impoverished environments, Falana suggested that the National Assembly should address the issue of state governments refusing to make their counterpart contributions to the Universal Basic Education Fund, as required by section 2 of the Compulsory Free Universal Basic Education Act.
He recommended that, as a matter of urgency, the National Assembly should work on amending the Constitution to empower the Accountant-General of the Federation to deduct the counterpart fund directly from the source of every state government and transfer it to the Universal Basic Education Fund.
