Sign Bill Seeking To Make Education Free, Compulsory: Falana Asks Buhari

Mr. Femi Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to sign the bill seeking to make basic education the right of every child in the country. 

In a statement, the senior lawyer says it is the fundamental right of every citizen to enjoy free and compulsory education. 

He also says that it was unacceptable that little attention was paid to the basic education bill which was among those not assented to by the President recently, adding that Nigeria’s figure of out-of-school children remains the highest in the world. 

Citing two cases on the matter decided by the ECOWAS court and the Federal High Court in Nigeria, he says the federal government was directed to provide education for every Nigerian child, but due to what he calls the failure of the federal government to comply with both judgments, the population of out-of-school children in Nigeria has increased. 

According to a 2022 global report on out-of-school children by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), Nigeria has at least 20 million out-of-school children.