Human Rights Day: “Make Education a Right, Not a Privilege,” says Change Leader

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Muideen Adekunle has renewed his demand that the National Assembly include the Right to Education in Chapter IV of the Nigerian Constitution.

In 2022, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) held a strike that lasted over eight months. The strike caused immense suffering to students, created great financial stress for parents, and undermined the credibility of Nigeria’s educational system. As multiple infrastructural and funding challenges, as well as repeated strikes, continue to derail academic trajectories in the country, the basic right to stable education has been severely impacted.  

On Human Rights Day (December 10), Nguvu Change Leader Muideen Adekunle is renewing his demand that the National Assembly include the right to education in Chapter IV of the Nigerian Constitution.

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He says, “Education should be a right, not a privilege. Today, students are suffering not only due to the disruption caused by incessant strikes, but ill-equipped classrooms, inadequate learning materials and below-par education. By including the right to education as part of Fundamental Human Rights entrenched in Chapter IV of our Constitution, lawmakers will facilitate not only timely budgetary allocations  needed to improve infrastructure but also make a huge difference to the overall quality of education.”

The theme of this year’s Human Rights Day is ‘Our Rights, Our Future, Right Now’ and Adekunle says, the time has come for every Nigerian citizen to access uninterrupted, quality education as their fundamental right. When education is made into an enforceable Constitutional Right, its breach by the government or ASUU, can also be challenged legally, he says. 

“A country’s growth is rooted in the quality of education it imparts to its citizens. We need to closely examine our education system to see if it imparts employability in the global job market, cultivates innovation and empowers our young people or not. More thought must be invested in updating curricula, paying educators adequately and creating safe and stimulating learning environments. Only then will we be able to do justice to the vast potential of Nigeria’s struggling youth,” concludes Adekunle.