Group takes FG to ICC over 13.2m ‘uneducated’ kids

THE Socio-economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate the Federal Government for allegedly leaving 13.2 million children out of school.

The group’s request was contained in a petition to the ICC prosecutor, Mrs. Fatou Bensouda, urging her to use her “good offices to investigate whether the problem of out-of-school children in Nigeria and the failure of the Nigerian authorities over the years to address it amount to violence against children and crimes against humanity within the jurisdiction of the ICC.”

It enjoined the prosecutor to “push for those suspected to be responsible for this problem, including current and former presidents and state governors since 1999, who directly or indirectly have individually and/or collectively breached their special duty towards children, and are therefore complicit in the crime, to be tried by the ICC.”

In the petition dated July 19, 2019 and signed by SERAP’S deputy director, Kolawole Oluwadare, the organisation said: “Investigating and prosecuting high-ranking Nigerian officials and providing reparations to victims will contribute to serving the best interests of Nigerian children, the most vulnerable citizens in our country, and ending the impunity that is denying them their right to education and a life free of violence and fear.

“These out-of-school Nigerian children have been exposed to real danger, violence and even untimely death. Senior Nigerian politicians since 1999 have failed to understand the seriousness of the crime of leaving millions of children out of school, and have made an essential contribution to the commission of the crime.”