SERAP tackles Amosun over education workers’ sacking

A civil society group, Socio-Economic and Accountability Project, has urged the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to education, Mr. Kishore Singh, to ask Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun, to rescind his decision as regards the sacking of some education workers in the state. Also, a former Chairman of the Ikeja Branch of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr. Monday Ubani, described the sacking of the workers as an unlawful breach of their contract, and called on the governor to recall them and apologise to them. Amosun had, last week, reportedly ordered the sacking of six officialsin the Ogun State Ministry of Education, Science and Technology following an exam where pupils were asked to summarise a comprehension passage on a policy defect on education. It was alleged that the governor, who considered the passage to be too critical of his administration, had ordered the sacking and compulsory retirement of six workers in the state. But Ubani, who spoke with our correspondent on Sunday, said Amosun was being intolerant. “That for me was the height of intolerance on the part of the governor. It is clearly an unlawful breach of the contract of the workers’ contact with the government. The governor had no right to terminate their appointment just because they set examination questions that he considered to be critical of his administration. We are not in a military era and in democracy, the constitution guarantees freedom of expression. “The Nigerian Union of Teachers has to intervene. The governor should recall the sacked workers and apologise to them otherwise the Nigerian Union of Teachers should go to court to challenge the unlawful sacking of the workers,” Ubani said. Also SERAP, in petitions sent to Singh and the UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression, Mr. David Kaye, described Amosun’s decision as “unlawful, unfair, and a serious violation of internationally recognised human right to academic freedom and freedom to hold opinion.” In the said petition, signed by its Executive Director, Adetokunbo Mumuni, the organisation argued that all citizens, including students writing examinations, had the right to have access to information that would enable them to participate in political affairs, saying by sacking the workers, Ogun State government had “posed insurmountable barriers to the right to access information and the right to quality education.” SERAP, which argued that the right to education could only be enjoyed, both by the workers in the education sector and students, if it was accompanied by academic freedom, said sacking the workers had removed an important tool for combating impunity and corruption. “By dismissing those involved in setting the examination questions, SERAP believes that the government of Ogun State of Nigeria is invariably undermining the ability of the examiners and the students to take decisions; exercise their human rights; challenge or influence public policies; monitor the quality of public spending; and promote accountability. This in turn has seriously undermined established control to prevent abuse of power. “The freedom to form an opinion and to develop this by way of reasoning has been violated by the action of the Ogun State government in this case. The ability to hold an opinion freely is indeed a fundamental element of human dignity. The enjoyment of this right is essential for the enjoyment of other human rights and freedoms and constitutes a fundamental pillar for building a democratic society and strengthening democracy. “The first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognises that everyone is ‘endowed with reason and conscience,’ a principle developed further in human rights law to include, among other things, the protection of opinion, expression, belief, and thought. Article 19 (1) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which Nigeria is a state party, also echoing the Universal Declaration, provides that everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference,” SERAP said. It therefore called on Singh and Kaye to prevail upon Amosun to “immediately and unconditionally reverse the sacking and retirement of officials involved in putting together the perceived critical examination questions.”