As part of efforts to promote girl child education in Bauchi state, a Non Governmental Organization (NGO), Legal Defense and Assistance Project (LEDAP) has organized training to 50 community members drawn from different areas of the state tagged paralegals that will help in the advocacy for girl child education.
Speaking during the opening ceremony of the workshop on Tuesday held at the Secretariat of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Bauchi state council, the state Project Coordinator LEDAP, Mr Mbami Iliya Sabka said the organization plays a very key role in the campaign for the girls child right to education in Nigeria.
He said that in 2018, LEDAP obtained a groundbreaking judgment in the case of LEDAP versus Federal Ministry of Education and Attorney General of the Federation delivered by a Federal High Court in Abuja which ruled that girl child education should be made free and compulsory.
He asserted that by virtue of the Universal Basic Education (UBE) Act of 2004, the right to free, compulsory and universal primary and junior secondary education under Section 18 (3) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is an enforceable human right.
Sabka said that the Legal Defence and Assistance Project (LEDAP) in partnership with Malala Fund is undertaking the project in Kano, Kaduna, Adamawa and Bauchi states to implement the provisions of Universal Basic Education Act.
Also speaking, a facilitator at the workshop Barrister John Christopher Jaman, explained that the training was designed for paralegals to understand the provision of universal basic education Act so they could assist legal professionals and human rights activists in raising awareness on the matter.
” Paralegals should understand that parents have a duty to send their children to school and should be able to raise awareness of this duty in their localities regarding the importance of the universal basic education Act.
” A paralegal is a person trained with basic knowledge of the law and the legal system. He or she is trained to understand different methods that can be used in dealing with disputes and legal matters to assist vulnerable and disadvantaged people to assert their rights without necessarily engaging the services of a lawyer or resorting to litigation which may be time consuming and expensive.
” The paralegal assists community people to understand, demand for and access their rights,” he said.
