A Professor of Private and Property Law at the University of Ibadan, Prof. Osifunke Ekundayo, has called for a constitutional amendment to guarantee the right of every Nigerian child to free and compulsory basic education.
Prof. Ekundayo made the call while delivering the institution’s 580th Inaugural Lecture, titled “Speaking Up for the Numerous Voiceless Children Shut out of School in Nigeria: An Endless Odyssey.”
She noted that embedding this right in the Constitution would empower citizens to demand enforcement and enable the judiciary to uphold it more effectively.
Highlighting the dire state of education in the country, the law professor expressed deep concern over Nigeria’s position as the country with the highest number of out-of-school children globally, citing that one in every five out-of-school children in the world is Nigerian.
“Only 61 per cent of children between the ages of six and eleven attend primary school regularly,” she said. “An alarming 10.2 million Nigerian children of primary school age remain out of school.”
Prof. Ekundayo attributed the crisis to lack of political will, poor governance, and weak educational administration, warning that continued neglect of basic education could mortgage the nation’s future.
She urged the Federal Government to prioritise universal access to basic education, stressing that no Nigerian child should be denied the opportunity to learn.
