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Bill to Ban Children of Public Officers from Studying Abroad Passes Second Reading at the Senate

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There are some bills which come to the floor of the Nigerian Senate, gets debated upon, passes first and maybe second reading and then gets quickly trashed. From the time the bill is proposed, you immediately know that it won’t fly. But for formality sake, it gets a reading.

This one seems like one of such.

A bill which seeks to prevent children of public office holders from schooling abroad has passed second reading in the Senate.

The bill, if passed, will restrict children of public office holders from schooling abroad except for specialized courses not offered in any of the country’s educational institutions.

Channels TV reports that the sponsor of the bill, Senator Mohammed Basheer (PDP Kano) said the country’s education sector is confronted with serious challenges and it has become important for the Senate to adopt drastic measures to rescue the ailing educational system.

The bill was among three bills which passed second reading in the Senate earlier today without being debated.

I’m pretty sure that if a head count was to be conducted at the Senate, over half of the Senators have their children either schooling abroad, or plan to, or have completed their studies abroad. And I don’t think it is a practice they are willing to stop.

The sponsor of the bill noted that “it has become important for the Senate to adopt drastic measures to rescue the ailing educational system.” Pardon me Sir, but this doesn’t seem like a drastic measure to me. It rather seems like an unrealistic measure.

Yes, our education sector needs an urgent revamping. So does the health sector, security, agriculture, power and more. I think its better the Senate focuses on bills to improve funding and ensure transparency and accountability in such sectors rather than debating on bills we all know will not be passed into law. Or maybe I’m too hasty to judge. Maybe it can actually be passed into law. You tell me.

What are your thoughts?

Photo Credit: Cardiff.ac.uk

Adeola Adeyemo is a graduate of Industrial Relations and Personnel Management from University of Lagos. However, her passion is writing and she worked as a reporter with NEXT Newspaper. She believes that anything can be written about; anything can be a story depending on the angle it is seen from and the writer's imagination. When she is not writing news or feature articles, she slips into her fantasies and creates interesting fiction pieces. She blogs at www.deolascope.blogspot.com

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