Parents who keep children out of school risk jail term in Ekiti

Gov. Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti on Monday said parents who keep
their school-age children out of school run the risk of being
prosecuted.

Speaking in Eporo during an enrolment sensitisation campaign,
Fayemi called on all parents and guardians to key into his
administration’s free education programme.

The governor, who stressed that the state’s Child Rights Law
provided that all children must be given access to education, added
that acting contrary to this was unlawful.

The Ekiti government had last week commenced the school
enrolment campaign aimed at ensuring that all school-age children
register for the forthcoming 2019/2020 academic session.

The governor said that it was an abuse of a child’s right for
any parent or guardian to deny school-age children the opportunity
to go to school under any guise

He said the state government was currently providing free but
quality education which parents must embrace to build a solid
foundation for their children and wards.

“We have a Child Rights Act in Ekiti which prohibits parents
from disallowing children of school age to be out of school during
school session.

“If your child is not in school when the school is in session,
you have a lot to explain because we will apprehend the child
whether he is found hawking on the street or engaging in any
illicit activities which prevent him or her from being in
school.

“The parents will also have to explain to the government or the
relevant institutions why that child is not in school.

“In implementing the law, we have a family court in the state
that takes responsibility for children that are not in school and
parents who fail in their responsibility,’’ Fayemi said.

He pledged his administration’s commitment to restoring the
state to its pride of place as the fountain of knowledge.

The governor said his administration had provided instructional
materials, furniture and a conducive learning environment where
teachers could effectively contribute to the growth and development
of their pupils.

Fayemi said his administration was opposed to the collection of
fees in all public primary and secondary schools in the state,
stressing that any teacher or head-teacher caught collecting school
fees from pupils would be seen as collecting a bribe.

“For us in Ekiti, it is not enough to say we have free
education. We need to enlighten our people, particularly those in
the rural communities on the importance of education and the
necessity for their wards to be enrolled.

“This is because education is also compulsory in our state, and
we are doing this for basic education level because we have
experienced some challenges in the last four years in the
state.

“Enrolment figures in the state used to be the highest in the
country up till 2014, and then we suffered a decrease in enrolment,
according to UBEC’s national figure.

“We have a duty as a government to ensure that we get the figure
back to where it used to be in order to build the foundation that
is solid for our children.

“I think we have a duty to ensure that we don’t just encourage
them to come to school but also provide everything to make sure
education is pay-less for them.

“We are providing instructional materials and the school feeding
that we now offer in primary school and encouraging teachers to
deliver competently.

“Also, we are working on the school environment because it is
not just the teacher’s quality, but also the learning environment
that contributes to the growth and development of the average
child.

“You cannot put children in an environment where they can’t
learn properly because they have no table and chairs, no fence to
protect the school premises.

” The teachers don’t have all they need in terms of maintaining
discipline, there is an entire gamut of responsibilities that we
have as parents,’’ the governor said.

He urged parents to enroll their wards in public schools because
of the qualified teaching personnel, adding that the free education
being enjoyed by Ekiti children was in return for the tax being
paid by citizens.

Earlier, the Chairman, State Universal Basic Education Board,
Prof. Fransisca Aladejana, had urged parents to enroll their
children and wards in public schools because of their qualified and
competent teachers as well as conducive learning environment.

The South-West Zonal Director of UBEC, Mrs Mudubi Roseline,
called on political and religious leaders to sensitise the people
on the importance of enrolling their school-age children this
school session.

(NAN)

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Communication Minister Sets targets for Five Ministry’s
CEOs
The Honourable Minister of Communications, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim
Pantami, has set targets for the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of
the parastatals under the Ministry as well as the Directors of the
Ministry. He urged them to significantly improve the level of their
performance to reflect the Next Level paradigm of the
administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR.

He made this known during his extensive meetings with and
briefings by the various CEOs, which took place over a period of 1
week at the Ministry’s Headquarters in Abuja. The Minister assured
the CEOs of the Federal Government’s support as they discharge
their duties and reminded them of his commitment to sanction any
parastatal that fails to step up its performance.

The CEOs were given numerous targets, amongst which are some of
the following short-term targets:

1 Galaxy Backbone Plc:

i. To improve the reach and coverage of its services in the
public sector; and

ii. To significantly improve the quality of services
provided.

2. Nigerian Communications Commission:

i To bring to an end the issue of sales of pre-registered,
unregistered and partially-registered SIM cards, especially as this
can help in reducing numerous security challenges the nation faces;
and

ii To stem the tide of illegal deduction of the data of
subscribers and work towards the downward review of the cost of
data; and

iii. To ensure compliance with the maximum 2% Call Drop Rate
directive to telecom operators.

3. Nigerian Communications Satellite (NIGCOMSAT) Limited:

i. To significantly improve its level of visibility across the
country; and

ii. To ensure great improvement in the quality of its
services.

4. Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST):

i. To ensure an appreciable improvement in the efficiency of its
letter and parcel delivery service; and

ii. To increase the effective area of its coverage in the
country.

5. National Information Technology Development Agency
(NITDA):

i. To have a greater level of focus on increasing local content
development and patronage in the hardware and software sub-sectors;
and

ii. To strengthen the execution of its IT project clearance
mandate to capture more projects by the Ministries, Departments and
Agencies (MDAs); and

iii. To ensure the promotion and adoption of the Nigeria
e-Government Interoperability Framework (Ne-GIF) by the MDAs.

6. Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF):

i. To ensure there is a sustainability model in place for all
the projects deployed;

ii. To prepare plan to reduce the access gaps in the rural,
unserved and underserved areas.

Pantami emphasized the Ministry’s roles of supervision and
provision of broad policies for all the parastatals within the
Ministry. He informed the CEOs that their performance would be
assessed on a monthly basis. He asked them to be passionate,
hardworking and ensure that they exhibit high level of integrity in
the discharge of their duties. He urged them to follow due process
in their activities as championed by the President and also
directed them to communicate these values and targets to their
staff.

The Honorable Minister encouraged synergy, unity and the forging
of a harmonious inter-Agency relationship among the parastatals. He
also assured them of his total commitment to ensuring that no
obstacle stands in the way of the successful execution of their
mandates.

Phil, O. Oshodin (Mrs)
Deputy Director/Head
Information/Press & PR Unit.