Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has sent an open letter to President Goodluck Jonathan urging him to use his “good offices and leadership to ensure full compliance with the judgment by the ECOWAS Court of Justice on the right of Nigerian children to free, quality and compulsory basic education, as the most effective way to address the root causes of the post election violence and killings.”
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has sent an open letter to President Goodluck Jonathan urging him to use his “good offices and leadership to ensure full compliance with the judgment by the ECOWAS Court of Justice on the right of Nigerian children to free, quality and compulsory basic education, as the most effective way to address the root causes of the post election violence and killings.”
In the letter dated 23 April 2011, and signed by Solicitor to SERAP Femi Falana, the group said: “By fully and effectively implementing the ECOWAS Court judgment, your government will be demonstrating its commitment to end longstanding election-related violence once and for all. Your government’s compliance with the judgment will also send a strong message that it is ready and willing to make substantial investments into our country’s most valuable resources: children.”
“While we welcome the efforts of your government to tackle the post election violence and killings in several parts of the country, we believe that it is important to go beyond the arrest and prosecution of suspected perpetrators. You should take concrete steps to address the root cause of the problem, which is the lack of access to quality education for over 12 million Nigerian children who are out of school and roaming the streets,” the group added.
The group said: “We believe that the ECOWAS Court right to education judgment provides your government with the legal and policy framework to do this. Unfortunately, since the judgment was delivered in November 2010, your government has neither acknowledged the judgment nor taken steps to implement the letter and spirit of the judgment.”
The group noted that “Article 15(4) of the ECOWAS Treaty and Article 18(2) the 1991 Protocol make the judgments of the court final and immediately enforceable.”
“But while senior government officials send their children to schools abroad, poor children continue to be denied access to quality primary education in the country. Yet, Nigeria has the resources and capacity to implement the ECOWAS Court judgment if the government is able to exercise the required political will,” the group also said.
The group also said that, “The lack of real tools for poor children to fight the cycle that plagues their families and villages, make them more susceptible to manipulation and victimisation by political leaders who seek public positions at all costs for personal enrichment. Without access to quality education, our children cannot have the chance to end the cycle of poverty, disease, abuse, manipulation, victimization, and violence. But education is more than an escape; it is a legally enforceable fundamental human right.”
The group also said that, “The implementation of the judgment by your government will also strengthen your role as the current Chair of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS and show good example for states to implement ECOWAS treaties and decisions.”
The group therefore asked the president to:
➢ Publicly acknowledge and welcome the ECOWAS Court right to education judgment, and to express your government’s commitment to complying fully and effectively with the judgment
➢ Urgently institute a mechanism to review legal and constitutional remedies for the right to education and bring them into line with the ECOWAS Court judgment
➢ Encourage states that have not yet done so to urgently enact Child Rights Laws similar to the Child Rights Act enacted into law in 2003.
➢ Make available funds that can be used to replace stolen education funds and cater for the children that have been left behind as a result of the corruption in the UBEC
➢ Work with the anti-corruption agencies to ensure the effective prosecution of those responsible for the theft of the UBEC funds, and the full recovery of stolen funds. Also, promote the expansion of the mandates of the anticorruption agencies to ensure specific monitoring and transparency spending of education funds
➢ Ask the Ministry of Education to review national school curriculum to include peace education campaigns in our schools
It would be recalled that following a case SERAP instituted against the Nigerian government and the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice in November 2010 in suit no: ECW/CCJ/APP/12/7 delivered a ground-breaking judgment requiring your government to provide as of right, free quality, and compulsory basic education to every Nigerian child. The ECOWAS Court noted that there was prima facie evidence of embezzlement of funds on the basis of the reports of the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC). The UBEC has also confirmed that several states have failed to provide the counterpart funds to access over 30 billions of the UBEC funds, which remain unspent to date.
The Court stated that while steps should be taken to recover funds and/or prosecute the suspects, the Nigerian government should provide the funds necessary to cover the shortfall in order to avoid denying any of its people the right to education. The court also asked the government to ensure that the right to education is not undermined by corruption. The court held that the UBEC has the responsibility to ensure that funds disbursed for basic education are properly used for this purpose.
Signed
Adetokunbo Mumuni
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