Author: Eunice Johnson

The Abia State division of the Federal High Court sitting in Umuahia on Friday ordered the Attorney-General of the Federation, AGF, Abubakar Malami to delete Section 84 (12) of the amended Electoral Act without delay.

Justice Evelyn Anyadike ordered Malami to delete the section of the Electoral Amendment Act “forthwith” because it’s unconstitutional.

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In her judgment, Justice Anyadike held that the section was “unconstitutional, invalid, illegal, null, void and of no effect whatsoever and ought to be struck down as it cannot stand when it is in violation of the clear provisions of the Constitution.”

The section says: “No political appointee at any level shall be voting delegate or be voted for at the Convention or Congress of any political party for the purpose of the nomination of candidates for any election”.

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The House of Representatives has urged the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory to implement the provisions of the Universal Basic Education Commission Act, 2004 and the Child’s Right Act, 2003.

The House urged the Minister of the FCT, Mohammed Bello, to ensure full compliance with the provisions of the UBEC Act and the Child’s Right Act in the territory, while urging the UBEC to liaise with state governments, which had adopted the Child’s Right and the UBEC Acts for the enforcement of the laws.
The motion, which was moved by a member of the House, Bamidele Salam, at the plenary on Thursday, was titled, ‘Need to reinforce the provisions of the compulsory, Free Universal Basic Education Act, 2004 in the Federal Capital Territory and other parts of the country’.

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Salam made reference to a report by the Federal Ministry of Education in 2021, which stated that the estimated number of out-of-school children in Nigeria was 10.1 million, while the United Nations Children’s Fund put the number at 13.2 million.

The lawmaker said the figure appeared to be on the increase as the ministry had stated that there had been an increase of more than three million in the figure from 2020.
“The House is worried about the report from UNICEF that Nigeria has the highest number of out-of-school children in sub-Saharan Africa and in the world,” he stated.
While citing Section 18 of the 1999 Constitution, Salam stated that Section 15 of the Child’s Right Act provided that every child had the right to free, compulsory and universal basic education, and it shall be the duty of the government in Nigeria to provide such education.

According to him, the section provides that every parent or guardian shall ensure that his or her child or ward attends and completes primary and junior secondary school education, while any parent who fails in this duty commits a punishable offence.

He noted that 27 out of the 36 states in Nigeria had adopted and domesticated the Child’s Right Act.
Salam also cited Section 2 of the UBEC Act, which provides that every government in Nigeria shall provide free, compulsory and basic education for every child of primary and junior secondary, and that every parent shall ensure that his or her child or ward attends and completes primary and junior secondary school education.
The lawmaker further stressed that Section 2(3) of the Act compelled stakeholders in education in a Local Government Area to enforce the provisions of the section, thus ensuring that every parent or person who had the care and custody of a child sent such child for primary and junior secondary school education.

Salam stated, “The House is concerned that the provisions of the UBEC Act and Child’s Rights Act are not being implemented, considering the statistics of the out-of-school children in Nigeria and the presence of children on the streets hawking, begging and undertaking all other activities during school hours in the Federal Capital Territory.
“The House is also concerned that the neglect of children puts their future and the future of Nigeria in jeopardy, as they are exposed to getting recruited into kidnapping and robbery gangs, drugs and other crimes.

“The House is worried that the number of out-of-school children in the country is on a rapid increase and no arrest of defaulting parents or guardians are being made.”

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The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Monday has said that voters in 270 polling units in Niger state may not be able to vote in the fourth coming general election due to displacement from their homes by bandits.

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This was disclosed by The Resident Electoral Commissioner, Niger State, Prof Sam Egwu during a stakeholders meeting with Political Parties, Security Agents and other Political stakeholders in the state on Monday

According to him, 14 out of the 25 local government areas, LGAs, of the state have been taken over by bandits and residents are presently scattered in different IDP Camps across the state with Most affected local government areas are Shiroro, Munya, Mariga and Rafi

He therefore calls for stakeholder’s support and cooperation to achieve results over the overburden capacity of IDPS for voting with the creation of 1,765 new polling units in addition to the existing 3,186 in the state.

The State Commissioner of Police Monday Kuryas assured the resident during the meeting that security agencies are on top of the situation to bring peace to the affected area before the general election.

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