Emir Sanusi wants basic education law amended

The Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, has appealed to the Federal Government to amend the Universal Basic Education Act with a view to making girls’ education from primary to senior secondary school free and compulsory. The monarch emphasised that giving the girl-child sufficient and qualitative education about her rights and reproductive health would reduce […]

The Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, has appealed to the Federal Government to amend the Universal Basic Education Act with a view to making girls’ education from primary to senior secondary school free and compulsory.

The monarch emphasised that giving the girl-child sufficient and qualitative education about her rights and reproductive health would reduce the common problems confronting the nation by 70 percent.

In his keynote address at a roundtable discussion organised by the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) in Kano recently, Sanusi blamed the rising rate of poverty in Nigeria and Africa to the increasing rate of population growth in the continent in the face of depleting resources.

He noted that educating a girl would enable her take informed decisions when it comes to marriage and divorce as well as the number of children she has.

“One of the things I have said we can do, if the Kano State Government and the governments in the North today decide, is to look at the Basic Universal Education Act and introduce just one amendment and that amendment is to say all girls would have free, compulsory, qualitative education up to senior secondary school. This will save up to 70 percent of these problems.

“We don’t have to keep fighting ideology, getting people to come and give contraceptives. No, keep them in school; teach them all that they need to learn in marriage including their rights,” he said.