“I disclosed that N86.5 billion had not been accessed by the majority of the state governments as at January 2018 due to their refusal to contribute counterpart fund.”
Human Rights lawyer Mr. Femi Falana has urged the Inspector General (IG), Ibrahim Idris to arrest and prosecute parents and guardians, who refuse to allow their children and wards to acquire basic education.
He gave the advice sequel to the grant of N291 billion Universal Basic Education Fund (UBE) by the World Bank to fund primary education.
He gave the advice in a statement, titled: “Stakeholders must monitor the disbursement of N291 billion Basic Education Fund”, issued in Lagos yesterday.
Falana urged the IG to direct state police commissioners to arrest and prosecute parents and guardians, who refused to allow their children and wards to acquire the basic education, which, he said, is compulsory from primary to junior secondary school to ensure the success of the UBE scheme.
The senior lawyer counselled the IG to comply with the provisions of the “compulsory, free Universal Basic Education Act”.
Falana, who is the president of Peoples Alternative Front (PAF), counselled stakeholders in the education sector to monitor the disbursement and utilisation of the fund.
He contended that except this is done by all concerned, “the fund may be diverted by politicians who are desperately looking for money to purchase votes during the forthcoming general election in the country”.
He added: “Unless these measures are adopted without any further delay, the UBE fund will be diverted or wasted while the future of the 13.2 million out-of-school children will be doomed to the detriment of political stability and development of the country.
The statement stated in part: “A couple of days ago, I blamed the authorities of the 36 state governments and the Federal Capital Territory for the embarrassing increase in the number of out-of-school children from 10.5 to 13.2 million.
“I disclosed that N86.5 billion had not been accessed by the majority of the state governments as at January 2018 due to their refusal to contribute counterpart fund.
“However, I acknowledged that the World Bank had made available a grant $611 million ( N219 billion) for the UBEC scheme.”
The Genius Media.
