How Absence of LG Autonomy Hinders Implementation of Educational Child Rights 

Kuni Tyessi writes that with the structure of governance in place and with the local government being denied autonomy, mopping off out-of-school children/Almajiri from the streets despite existing laws will continue to remain a distant cry from reality

It’s no longer news that Nigeria is one of the countries with the best laws regarding the rights of children to acquire basic education and their protection in and outside school premises. However, implementing the laws is lacking, thereby making a mockery of the Child Rights Law, which in the SDGs, concerning education sits as number four.

Out of the 36 states, Kano is the latest in accenting the bill of the Child Rights Act, leaving only Bauchi in the cold, despite 30 years of being in existence as a proposal. With such gesture from the legislature and principally from the executive, it is expected that all state governments will beam their searchlights and place more priority on basic education through more budgetary allocation and the provision of counterpart funding to the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) for untoward release of funds which will cater for infrastructure, teacher training, writing materials, books, etc.

Sadly, this isn’t the case due to limitations placed on local government chairpersons by state governors who have vehemently fought and stood against local government autonomy, which should be responsible for the effective and smooth running of public schools, making the state governors culpable in the increasing figures of out-of-school children which latest figures have pegged at swinging numbers of 18.3 and 20.1 million.

The concurrent list that education falls into has not helped matters, as it has further strengthened the principal state actors. This is not forgetting the unserious role of some state governors in accessing the multi-billion funds domiciled in the nation’s apex bank by UBEC. The latest from the commission reveals that in the capital budget implementation report, N162,284,117,592 was allocated to the states as UBE grants between 2019 and 2022. For 2021 matching grants, only 11 states, including Kano, have accessed the funds, leaving out 25 states, including the FCT, as of April 30, 2023. In other words, 2022 funds are yet to be accessed, and 2023 is already folding away.

Insurgency and climate change have been documented as factors that led to the rise in out-of-school children. But even so, at this juncture, one is bound to ask why the number of out-of-school children (almajirai) has continued to soar even in states that have been relatively peaceful and have accessed the funds up to 2021.  

In conversations with almajirai and some stakeholders at Kasuwan ’Yan Kura in Kano, which was supported by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on ’child rights implementation and country programme results’, indigenes of the state no doubt understand the gravity of the plight of out-of-school children/almajiri and way forward which they advise has to be full autonomy for local government chairmen. 

The almajirai that were interviewed, who came from Jigawa, Katsina and Gombe, have all been enrolled into Koranic schools and have to beg for alms or go into child labour and hawking to provide basic needs for themselves. Although many are aware of the free offer to public schools, they do not attend due to poverty, lack of school uniforms and occasional exploitation from the teachers, but will be willing to enrol if the government’s ’free’ offer can be 100 per cent free.

Alhaji Sa’adu Koguna, a businessman of over for decades in Kano, believes that local government autonomy can end the menace of out-of-school children. Acknowledging that he also has out-of-school children in his household due to poverty and sometimes hunger despite being knowledgeable about formal education, he says, “In Kano alone, there are many of these children who are not just roaming the streets but also sleeping in the streets.”

Mallam Ahmed Sani said with local government autonomy, there will be strict vigilance on how funds are spent.

Another respondent, Sagir Mohammed, in support of local government autonomy, said dilapidated schools could be renovated and uniforms given for free. 

With calls to revisit the dicey issue of local government autonomy, optimists say the dream of the Nigerian child getting sound education will depend on the new government of President Bola Tinubu to do the needful in ensuring that the right to education is achieved and stands as non-negotiable.