We’ll dump street kids in Govt House, says Falana

ACTIVIST lawyer Mr. Femi Falana yesterday threatened to begin
“arresting” street kids and moving them to Government Houses, if
the authorities fail to see to their welfare.

Falana warned that an organisation he belonged to would begin
the operation in January from Lagos State.

He said he had also filed a suit to compel the arrest of
parents, who prevent their children from going to school or
withdraw them prematurely.

Falana spoke at the Third Professionals’ Week annual public
lecture, themed: ‘Corruption, ethics and good governance”,
organised by the Association of Professional Bodies of Nigeria
(APBN), Lagos chapter.

A former Lagos State University (LASU) Vice Chancellor, Prof.
Lateef Hussain, chaired the occasion. Osun State
Attorney-General,Dr. Surajudeen Bashiru; a former Vice President of
the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Monday Ubani, immediate past
President of the Nigerian Institute of Architects (NIA) Abimbola
Ajayi and Chief Executive Officer CMC Connect Ltd Mr. Yomi
Badejo-Okusanya were discussants.

Falana bemoaned the rising menace of abandoned children and
urged the government to take over their education.

He said: “I belong to an organisation and we’re starting with
Lagos by January next year. Any child we see on the streets of
Lagos, we are going to arrest the child and dump that child in
Alausa (Lagos State secretariat and seat of government), so that
the people in Alausa will have sleepless nights putting all our
children in school.

“We have already filed a case in Abuja to arrest all parents who
refuse to put their children in school or who withdraw their
children from school.

“About four days ago, 12 parents were prosecuted in Niger State
for withdrawing their children from school. So, we are not going to
say it is not our business.”

He argued that if government officials invested more in
education, they would have less to steal.

The lawyer encouraged professional bodies to do more to stem the
tide of corruption and impunity perpetrated or encouraged by their
members.

Citing lawyers as an example, he urged the NBA to dis-bar
Attorneys-General serving under executives who disregard the rule
of law.

Falana said: “If professional bodies are carrying out their
statutory duties, it should be possible for the NBA to summon an
Attorney-General, whose government has disobeyed a court order to
say ‘Mr. Attorney-General, you either resign from that government
or we remove you as a lawyer.’ I can assure you that everybody will
sit up.”

Prof. Hussain urged professionals to live up to the ethics of
their professions and stand their ground against abuse of due
process.

Dr. Bashiru, who was represented by Dr. Mubarak Adekilekun,
canvassed a return to ethical values, like “discipline, integrity,
dignity of labour, religious tolerance, self-reliance and
patriotism”, most of which, according to him, the country seems to
be lacking.

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