LEDAP urges FG to implement UBE Act

The Legal Defence and Assistance Project (LEDAP) has called on Federal Government to implement the universal free basic education act for every Nigerian child, particularly, the girl-child. 
   
The group, which joined others to celebrate the International Day of Education,  urged government to ensure effective implementation of the UBE Act and increase budgetary allocation to the sector. 
 
LEDAP programme manager, Pamela Okoroigwe, said that the right to basic education is a fundamental human right contained in Chapter 2 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).        

The organisation had, in 2017  obtained a judgment from the Federal High Court affirming that by enacting the UBE Act, the National Assembly has made the right to basic education an enforceable and justiciable right.  
   
Speaking on this year’s theme, Changing course, Transforming education, Okoroigwe said the call for the nurturing of fundamental rights of every individual, especially right to education, with emphasis on role of education in peace and development, is imperative.
 
“Notwithstanding this recognition, the actualisation of the right to basic education is bedeviled by issues such as low enrolment of children, particularly, the girl-child, high rate of school dropout, shortage and poor-quality infrastructure in schools, such as classrooms, water, electricity, toilets and other educational facilities. 
   
“These challenges have been intensified with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, rising insecurity and school kidnappings.  Girls account for 60 per cent of Nigeria’s 10 million out-of-school children, mostly, due to barriers such as, child marriages, poverty and discrimination,” she said.