The Right to Education Coalition in Nigeria has urged the House of Representatives to speed up legislative actions on the Universal Basic Education (UBE) Act amendment bill.

According to the coalition comprising Malala Fund, Plan International, the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and Invictus Africa, the non-passage of the bill has contributed to the growing number of out-of-school children in the country.

YouthHubAfrica, Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), Save The Children, and the Civil Society Action Coalition on Education for All (CSACEFA) also make up the coalition.

Available figures estimate that 10.2 million children of primary school age are out of school in Nigeria, accounting for 45 percent of the figure in West Africa.

In fact, more than 60 percent of all out-of-school children at the primary level are girls, as  girls’ education continues to decline due to the socio-economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and insecurity in Nigeria.

The bill, which seeks to extend free and compulsory education from nine to 12 years, has been at the House of Representatives’ committee stage since December 2020.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, had indicated in January 2020 that the lower house would dedicate a special plenary session to consider the issue of millions of out-of-school children in Nigeria.

‘With the expressed desire to address the issue of out-of-school children in the country, one would have thought that issues of expanding access of Nigerian children to free, compulsory, quality, and safe education up to senior secondary would top the agenda of the Femi Gbajabiamila-led House of Representatives’, the coalition said in a statement to Development Diaries.

‘The coalition, hereby, urges the ninth House of Representatives to match promises with performance and speed up legislative and political actions on the passage of the UBE Act (2004) amendment bill’.

The development partners also called on the ninth House of Representatives to make the passage of the UBE amendment bill a priority before the 2023 elections.

‘The House of Representatives and other public office seekers must note that the quest for education will play a critical role in the 2023 decision-making process of many Nigerians’, the coalition added.

‘Basic education of up to 12 years must not be treated as a mere campaign agenda, but a commitment to national development and social safety’.

Photo source: UNICEF