FALANA CALLS ON NASS TO STOP PAYING LIP SERVICE TO BASIC EDUCATION
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Femi Falana, a senior advocate for Nigeria, has urged the National Assembly to quit making empty rhetoric about basic education in the nation.
He made this call in a statement on Sunday titled, ‘National Assembly should stop paying lip service to Universal Basic Education in Nigeria.’
The parliamentarians’ attempt to modify the Universal Basic Education Act of 2004 by imposing harsh fines on parents who do not send their children to school was also criticised by the human rights attorney.
“The needless resolutions are indeed unfortunate because they show that the federal law markers are seemingly lacking in institutional memories of even the progress made by the legislature in making laws to promote universal access to basic education,” he stated.
“Since each of the 36 States of the Federation has adopted the Child’s Rights Act and enacted a Child’s Right Law, it has become the joint responsibility of the Federal, State and Local Governments to ensure that every Nigerian child is given access free and compulsory education.”
He criticised the political elite for not showing a greater commitment to ensuring that every child in Nigeria receives an education, pointing out that they have neglected basic education by not making sure that the counterpart fund that states are required to pay is paid to UBEC.
“Hence, the members of the legislative and executive organs of governments have failed to appreciate the danger of having 18.5 million out-of-school children, the highest number in the world. Therefore, amending the Compulsory Free Universal Basic Education Act to make it more strings for parents who will not work in a poverty-stricken environment.
“What the National Assembly should do instead is address the refusal of state governments to make counterpart contributions to the Universal Basic Education Fund pursuant to section 2 of the Compulsory Free Universal Basic Education Act.
“As a matter of urgency, the National Assembly should ensure the amendment of the Constitution to empower the Accountant-General of the Federation to deduct from the source the counterpart fund payable by every state government to the Universal Basic Education Fund,” Falana said.
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