Tuesday 17 September 2013
Yunus Ustaz Usman (S.A.N): THE FALLING STANDARD OF EDUCATION IN NIGERIA
Yunus Ustaz Usman (S.A.N): THE FALLING STANDARD OF EDUCATION IN NIGERIA: THE FALLING STANDARD OF EDUCATION IN NIGERIA By Yunus Ustaz Usman (SAN) T he only way to rejuvenate our public schools is for the...
THE FALLING STANDARD OF EDUCATION IN NIGERIA
THE
FALLING STANDARD OF EDUCATION IN NIGERIA
By Yunus Ustaz Usman (SAN)
The only way to
rejuvenate our public schools is for the Federal, States and Local Governments
to make it a condition for continuous employment in the public service that
every public servant must not send his/her children or wards to private schools
or abroad. No public servant should be allowed to have his children or ward
sent to private schools or abroad by a feigned relation or friend.
The
condition is not contrary to the right to education as enshrined under Chapter
IV of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended)
because, any public servant who does not want to abide by that law is free to
leave public service. For example, it is a Constitutional requirement that any
public servant who intends to contest election in Nigeria, must resign at least
60 days before the Election Day even though the self-same Constitution
guarantees freedom to every Nigerian to participate in politics without let or
hindrance. Therefore, any public servant
who intends to send his child/ward to a private school or abroad, must also
resign his or her appointment if he/she insists on sending that child/ward to a
private school or abroad. It is not a violation of the Supreme Court decision
in Okogie vs. Governor of Lagos State, where
the ratio decidendi is whether
anybody can establish private schools.
I
have drummed this advice time without number in all the lectures I had
delivered on ways to raise the standard of education in Nigeria. It is the only
way Policy Makers can pay attention at all to the education sector in Nigeria.
Unless
this advice is heeded, the quality of education in our schools will continue to
decline tremendously whether ASUU goes on strike or not.
Yunus
Ustaz Usman, (S.A.N.)
(Ezienyi Ndi-Igbo 1)
Trustee, Int’l Islamic
Relief Org., (World Muslim League).
Tuesday 3 September 2013
THE LEGAL IMPLICATIONS OF STATE GOVERNMENTS DEPORTING SOME NIGERIANS FROM SOME STATES IN NIGERIA.
THE LEGAL IMPLICATIONS OF STATE GOVERNMENTS
DEPORTING SOME NIGERIANS FROM SOME STATES IN NIGERIA.
Section 25 of
the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) reads:-
“25. (1) The following persons are citizens of Nigeria by birth-namely-
(a) every person born in Nigeria before the date of independence,
either of whose parents or any of whose grandparents belongs or belonged to a
community indigenous to Nigeria;
Provided that a person shall not become a citizen of Nigeria by
virtue of this section if neither of his parents nor any of his grandparents
was born in Nigeria.
(b) every person born in Nigeria after the date of independence
either of whose parents or any of whose grandparents is a citizen of Nigeria;
and
(c) every person born outside Nigeria either of whose parents is a
citizen of Nigeria.
(2) In this section, "the date of independence" means
the 1st day of October 1960.”
Section 28(1) of the said Constitution reads:
“28. (1) Subject to the other provisions of this section, a person
shall forfeit forthwith his Nigerian citizenship if, not being a citizen of
Nigeria by birth, he acquires or retains the citizenship or nationality of a
country, other than Nigeria, of which he is not a citizen by birth.
(2) Any registration of a person as a citizen of Nigeria or the
grant of a certificate of naturalisation to a person who is a citizen of a
country other than Nigeria at the time of such registration or grant shall, if
he is not a citizen by birth of that other country, be conditional upon
effective renunciation of the citizenship or nationality of that other country
within a period of not more than five months from the date of such registration
or grant.”
Section 30 reads:
“30. (1) The President may deprive a person, other than a
person who is a citizen of Nigeria by birth or by registration, of his
citizenship, if he is satisfied that such a person has, within a period of
seven years after becoming naturalised, been sentenced to imprisonment for a
term of not less than three years.
(2) The President shall deprive a person, other than a person who
is citizen of Nigeria by birth, of his citizenship, if he is satisfied from the
records of proceedings of a court of law or other tribunal or after due inquiry
in accordance with regulations made by him, that
(a) the person has shown himself by act or speech to be disloyal
towards the Federal Republic of Nigeria; or
(b) the person has, during any war in which Nigeria was engaged,
unlawfully traded with the enemy or been engaged in or associated with any
business that was in the opinion of the president carried on in such a manner
as to assist the enemy of Nigeria in that war, or unlawfully communicated with
such enemy to the detriment of or with intent to cause damage to the interest of
Nigeria.”
Section 31 of the same Constitution reads:-
“31. For the purposes of this Chapter, a parent or grandparent of
a person shall be deemed to be a citizen of Nigeria if at the time of the birth
of that person such parent or grandparent would have possessed that status by
birth if he had been alive on the date of independence; and in this section,
"the date of independence" has the meaning assigned to it in section
25 (2) of this Constitution.”
Section 41(1) of the Constitution reads:-
41. (1)
Every citizen of Nigeria is entitled to move freely throughout Nigeria and
to reside in any part thereof, and no citizen of Nigeria shall be expelled from
Nigeria or refused entry thereby or exit therefrom.
(2) Nothing in subsection (1) of this section shall invalidate any
law that is reasonably justifiable in a democratic society-
(a) imposing restrictions on the residence or movement of any
person who has committed or is reasonably suspected to have committed a
criminal offence in order to prevent him from leaving Nigeria; or
(b) providing for the removal of any person from Nigeria to any
other country to:-
(i) be tried outside Nigeria for any criminal offence, or
(ii) undergo imprisonment outside Nigeria in execution of the
sentence of a court of law in respect of a criminal offence of which he has
been found guilty:
Provided that there is reciprocal agreement between Nigeria and
such other country in relation to such matter.”
From the few Constitutional provisions I have referred to, what is
Fashola’s own quo warrants to have deported some Nigerians from Lagos State?
Fashola is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and for that reason, I do not expect
him to have followed the wrong footsteps of some other Governors who have done
so in the past.
I do not want others to follow the unreasonable outburst of people
like Femi Fani-Kayode, Asari Dokubo, Tompolo and some others who bother more
about their pockets than the peace which Nigeria needs most now.
The real problems of terrorism in the North, kidnapping in the
South, crude oil theft, armed robbery, corruption, hunger in the face of
plenty, poor educational institutions, poor health care systems are the only things
we must concentrate on praying to tackle now. Whoever thinks of creating other
mundane problems for Nigeria today must know that he will die one day to face
the Wrath of AMIGHTY GOD.
YUNUS USTAZ USMAN, (SAN)
(Ezienyi Ndi Igbo 1)
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