In order to reduce illiteracy to the barest minimum, the Senate on Wednesday called for establishment of mobile courts to enforce the compulsory Universal Basic Education Act.
Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, specifically urged state governments and the Federal Capital Territory, to adopt measures applied in Akwa-Ibom state when he was governor, which entails six months imprisonment for parents or guardians of school-aged children found on the streets or in the farms during school hours.
The move by the Senate for stringent action against parents or guardians of such children, followed a motion by Sen. Idiat Oluranti Adebule (APC Lagos-West), in reaction yo the reported 20 million out-of-school children in the country.
Adebule in the motion said it had become worrisome, going by 2022 report of the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) that about 20 million children are out-of-school representing 10 percent of the estimated Nigerian population of 200 million people and also represents the highest number of out of school children from any country globally.
“Although the Federal Ministry of Education has disputed the figure, it’s generally agreed that whatever the real figures, the issue of out-of-school children had become an albatross,” she stressed l.
In his contribution, Sen. Adams Oshiomhole (APC Edo-North), said the menace must be tackled urgently, reasoning that illiteracy engenders poverty and poverty, which, according to him, engenders crime.
“I really don’t think we need any tutorial to remind us that he or she who didn’t have the opportunity or was denied the opportunity to go to school, is destined to be poor forever.
“An illiterate young man or woman is bound to give birth to another illiterate child which will lead to a dynasty of the poor constituting a risk to the rich and the society at large.
“Today in Nigeria, we can see and we are all witnesses that inequality and abject poverty anywhere has constituted a huge security risk to everyone in Nigeria.
“It is clear that every Nigerian children needs to go tio school”, he said.
Other Senators including the former Senate President, Ahmad Lawan (APC Yobe-North); the Deputy President of the Senate, Jibrin Barau (APC Kano-North); Mohammed Monguno (APC Borno-North), contributed to the debate by calling on governments at all levels to urgently arrest the trend. Ahmad Lawan in his contribution , said the 20million figure given is smaller to what is ground as not less than 30million Children are out of School in Nigeria.
Senate President Akpabio briefed them on what he did in Akwa Ibom as state governor, by enforcing compliance to the UBE Act by parents.
He suggested that nationally, parents and guardians who failed to send their children to school, should face the law.
