SERAP drags Amosun to UN over sacked workers

AUGUST 17, 2015 : RAMON OLADIMEJI
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Governor Ibikunle Amosun
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 the 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
officials in 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 in
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 a 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 Nigeria Union of Teachers should go to court to
challenge the unlawful sacking of the workers,” Ubani said.
Also SERAP, in a petition 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 petition, signed by its Executive Director, Adetokunbo
Mumuni, the organisation argued that all citizens, including
students taking examinations, had the right to have access to
information that would enable them to participate in political
affairs.
He noted that 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,” it said.
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