School Fees Increment By FG, Lagos Illegal – Falana

Human Rights lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, has condemned the recent increment in school fees by the federal and Lagos state governments, describing the development as illegal.

Vanguard reports that the federal government had in July 2023 increased fees for Unity Schools from N45,000 to N100,000 per term, an increase by over 120%. In a similar fashion, the Lagos State government, yesterday, announced N100,000 as the new fees for state-owned boarding schools. It was previously N35,000.

Falana’s reaction, weekend, described it as a violation of the Child’s Rights Act and Lagos State Child’s Rights Law. He lamented that with the increase being above the minimum wage of N70,000, “a worker can no longer sponsor even one child either in the Unity School or any secondary school in Lagos State.” He vowed to challenge the decision in the appropriate High Courts.

He wrote, “The federal government has increased fees payable in all unity schools from N45,000 to N100,000 per term. Thus, the fee payable per annum is N300,000 per student.

“Similarly, the Lagos State Government has fixed fees payable in all secondary schools at N100,000 per term or N300,000 per annum by every student.

“At N70,000 minimum wage, the salary of a worker per term of 4 months is N280,000. The implication is that a worker can no longer sponsor even one child either in the Unity School or any secondary school in Lagos State.

“However, under the Child’s Rights Act and Lagos State Child’s Rights Law, every child is entitled to free & compulsory education from primary school to junior secondary school. To that extent, the imposition of N100,000 Fee on students in junior secondary schools in Unity Schools and secondary schools Lagos State is illegal.

“In view of the clear provisions of the Child’s Rights Laws applicable in all states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory, the illegal imposition of prohibitive fees on junior secondary school students will be challenged in the appropriate High Courts.

“Meanwhile, on July 10, 2024, the Executive Secretary of Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Dr. Hamid Bobboyi revealed that over N45.7 billion matching grant to state governments for the implementation of Universal Basic Education (UBE) between 2020 and 2023 has not been accessed by many states governments.”