A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana and another lawyer, have sued the Attorney General of the Federation, the Nigerian Education Minister, the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), the Attorneys General of the 36 States of the Federation and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja over the education of the Nigerian child.
In an affidavit filed before the Court, the senior lawyer noted that a recent report made public by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimated the total number of out-of-school children in Nigeria to be 20.2 million, making it the highest number in the world.
The Applicants are asking the Federal High Court in Lagos to give an order directing the 4th-40th Respondents to pay the counterpart funds in order to access the matching grant of N68 billion in the Account of the Universal Basic Education Fund and report compliance to the Court order within 30 days of the delivery of the judgment.
They further want the Court to give an order directing the Respondents to always pay the counterpart fund to access the matching grant in the Account of the Universal Basic Education Fund as and when due, forthwith.
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They are also asking the Court to declare that by virtue of the provisions of Section 2(1) of the Compulsory, Free Universal Basic Education Act, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 the Respondents are legally obligated to provide free, compulsory and Universal basic education for every Nigerian child of Primary and Junior Secondary school age.
No date has been fixed yet for hearing of the suit.
The other applicant in the suit is Hauwa Mustapha, a lawyer.
(Editor: Ken Eseni)
