The House of Representatives on Tuesday called for the enforcement of the right of every child to basic education as provided under Universal Basic Education Scheme.
The House’s resolution which was sequel to a motion by Hon. Obi Aguocha, Chairman, House Committee on Monitoring and Evaluation of the House Standing and Ad hoc Committees urged the Universal Basic Education Commission to ensure that every Nigerian child has access
to Free and Compulsory Education as contained in Article 17 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Section 15 of the Child’s Rights Act, and Section 2 of the Compulsory Free Universal Basic Education Act, 2004.
Presenting the motion, Hon. Aguocha noted that in partial fulfillment of its duty to provide education for citizens of Nigeria, the State had enacted the Child’s Rights Act, 2003 and the Compulsory Free Universal Basic Education Act, 2004;
He said both laws guarantee the right of every Nigerian Child to Compulsory Basic Education from Primary to Junior Secondary School at the expense of the State.
Aguocha said with respect to the funding of the Universal Basic Education Scheme, the Federal Government is required to contribute 2% of its Consolidated Revenue Fund to the Universal Basic Education Fund (UBEF) annually while State Governments are entitled to access the Universal Basic Education Fund through the provision of counterpart funding;
He noted that to ensure compliance with the law, parents and guardians who refuse to allow their children and wards to be educated by the State are liable to be prosecuted.
He expressed concern that in spite of the clear provisions of both legislations, the country continues to witness increase in the number of out of school children, insufficient funding, uneven distribution of resources, poor teacher quality, socio-cultural barriers such as child labour, early marriage, gender bias against girl education;
He observed that millions of children of school age are found on the streets either begging for alms or hawking goods, thus increasing the number of out-of-school children which will eventually lead to serious crisis in the nearest future;
He said according to UNICEF, as of September 2024, Nigeria has 18.3 million out of school, one of the highest figures in the world.
“The crisis has continued to escalate the insurgency in the North East region, which has led to the closure of schools on account of the abduction of school children, displacement of parents, children, and destruction of schools by the Boko Haram sect and other terrorist organizations in the country,” he said.
Cognizant of the need for the Universal Basic Education Commission to provide a supervisory role on the scheme and ensure an impressive enrollment of children for basic education in the country, the House among other things mandated its Committee on Basic Education and Services to invite the management of the Universal Basic Education Commission to provide report on the implementation of the scheme. The committee was also mandated to ensure compliance
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