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Senate mulls mobile court to jail out-of-school children’s guardians
The Senate, on Wednesday, called for the establishment of mobile courts for the trial and imprisonment of parents and guardians refusing to enrol their wards in school in compliance with the Universal Basic Education Act.
The move is to address the 20 million out-of-school children in the country.
The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, specifically urged the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory to adopt the measures he used in Akwa Ibom State when he was governor, which entailed six months imprisonment for parents and guardians of school-aged children found on the streets or in the farm, during school hours.
The Senate made the resolution, following a motion by Senator Idiat Adebule, (APC, Lagos West), titled: “Compelling need to tackle the challenge of out-of-school children in Nigeria.”
Adebule, in the motion, said it had become worrisome, going by the 2022 report of the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, UNESCO that about 20 million Nigerian children are out of school, which represents 10 per cent of the estimated Nigerian population of 200 million people and also represents the highest number of out-of-school children from any country globally.
She said, “Though 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 has become an albatross on the neck of the Nigerian state that must be dealt with as a matter of urgency.”
In his contribution to the motion, Senator Adams Oshiomhole (APC Edo North), said the menace must be tackled very urgently because illiteracy engenders poverty and poverty 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 child needs to go to school,” Oshiomhole said.
He accused some governors, particularly from the northern part of the country, of sabotaging efforts of the Federal Government to make basic education free and compulsory for every child in Nigeria.
“The governors sabotaging the policy, deliberately refusing to contribute 50 per cent of fund required from them as counterpart funding of UBE policy,” he said.
Supporting the motion, the Deputy Senate President, Jibrin Barau, said the problem needed to be frontally addressed because it was the out-of-school children that later became tools for terrorism, banditry, kidnapping and other violent crimes in the country.
Barau said, “I commend Senator Adebule Idiat for moving this motion. Bringing it forward at this point is a big service to our nation. Education is said to be the bedrock of every society; it’s a pillar upon which every human being begins his or her life.”
Other senators, like the former Senate President, Ahmad Lawan (APC Yobe North), Mohammed Monguno (APC Borno North), contributed to the debate by calling on government at all levels to urgently arrest the trend.
In his remarks after the adoption of prayers in the motion as resolutions, Akpabio said, “Since education is the bedrock of all good things in any society, government at all levels, should ensure that no school-age child stays out of school in Nigeria.
“We did it in Akwa Ibom State when I was governor by enforcing compliance to the UBE Act by all Parents or Guardians or were made to know that anybody caught not sending his or her child to school, risks six months imprisonment.
“By way of legislation, the Child Rights Act was put in place which has free and compulsory education as parts of its provisions. Other states in Nigeria should adopt this as required measures of making education truly free and compulsory for children in the country,” he added.
By Kayode Sanni-Arewa
The Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps (LAGESC) says it has sealed off the Idera market in the Oshodi metropolis.
In a statement on Thursday, Ajayi Lukman, LAGESC spokesperson, said the agency sealed the market due to unhygienic practices and indiscriminate dumping of refuse, which contravened the environmental law of the state.
He said the measure was taken to enforce adherence to environmental cleanliness across registered markets in the state.
‘‘Our operatives stationed across the Oshodi division during routine market monitoring identified the filth, unhygienic practices, and indiscriminate dumping of refuse around the Idera Market area, which prompted us to seal off the market until further notice,” the statement reads.
Lukman quoted Olaniyi Cole, the corps marshal of the agency, as decrying the level of hygiene at the market, which could lead to an outbreak of diseases.
He said Cole frowned at the inability of the market leadership to provide a valid waste collection contract, which resulted in the heaps of refuse in the facility.
He added that the display of wares for sale on road setbacks, lay-bys, medians, verges, kerbs, street trading, and hawking remained banned in the metropolis.
The LAGESC corps marshal reiterated the ban on the sales, distribution, and usage of styrofoam in the state, noting that anyone found culpable would be punished decisively.
By Kayode Sanni-Arewa
Hours to the Edo State governorship election, the guber candidate of the All Peoples Party (APP)Amb Osalumese Areloegbe on Thursday morning collapsed the structure for the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Asue Ighodalo and his running mate, Osarodion Ogie Esq.
Addressing journalists at the party secretariat in Benin City, Areloegbe said his decision to collapse the structure for the PDP candidate was because he believed that Ighodalo had all it would take to govern the state to greater heights.
According to him, I urged all my followers and supporters to disregard any information that I have aligned with the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Senator Monday Okpebholo.
“I am supporting Asue Ighodalo because he is competent, not that I am not competent but I believe Asue is on the forefront. That is my reason for supporting his candidacy.
“My party is aware because they have been having a series of negotiations for us to align with the APC, and I told them categorically that I am supporting PDP. My eighteen local government followers are in full support of my decision, I mean 100 per cent supporting the PDP candidate, Barr. Asue Ighodalo and his running mate, Barr. Osarodion Ogie in this election.
“My choice for Asue Ighodalo is because, apart from myself, I see him as the next better candidate that I can support and I can put my weight on because he has the capacity, mentally, physically and otherwise to pilot the affairs of Edo State to greater heights.
“The national secretariat of my party, APP – they are in Abuja and I am in the state, and know much more of what is happening in Edo State. They are not here and don’t know what is going on here in Edo. And I am in a position to tell them what will be better for the Edo people.
“There is a parable that says, ‘You cannot shave a man’s head when he is not present’. I am here in Edo State and I know who to support and why I am supporting him. The national leadership might have taken a different tone, but this is what I and my followers have chosen.
“We had a series of other politicians who had made such decisions before. That is why I agreed with the support of my supporters to collapse my structure for the governorship candidate of the PDP Barr. Asue Ighodalo and his running mate, Barr. Osarodion Ogie.”
By Kayode Sanni-Arewa
A resident of Ifetedo in Osun State, simply identified as Idowu, had reportedly died in an incident of collapse building that occurred in the town.
The collapsed structure was said to be a dilapidated building that suddenly caved in and killed the woman.
A resident of Ifetedo, simply identified as Ogunyemi, while speaking to The PUNCH on Thursday, said operatives of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, responding to a distress call, were at the scene of the incident.
Some NSCDC operatives rushed to the scene after they were informed of the incident. They were joined by some other people in the community.
Idowu was the only person in the building when the incident happened. She was brought out dead from the rubble.
“The incident caused panic in Omiloode Area, where the building is located. The building that collapsed is a dilapidated structure,” Ogunyemi said.
Osun NSCDC Public Relations Officer, Kehind Adeleke, when contacted confirmed the incident, adding that the scene was immediately cordoned off by security men.
“An abandoned dilapidated building located along Omiloode Street, Ifetedo collapsed and killed one Mrs Idowu, who was said to be around the structure when the incident happened.
“The tragic incident occurred at about 17:30 hours on Tuesday.
“Officers and men of NSCDC Ife South Division, upon getting information rushed to the scene of the incident for rescue operation. But unfortunately, the woman had passed on. She was brought out of the rubble dead. The site was immediately cordoned off,” Adeleke said.
LASG shuts down Idera market over ‘environmental pollution
Hours to Edo guber polls, major opposition candidate crumbles structure for Ighodalo
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