By Innocent Anaba

LAGOS- President of the Senate, Senator David Mark, has said that the Senate would take action on the implementation of the judgment by the ECOWAS Court of Justice, which upheld the rights of Nigerian children to free, quality and compulsory basic education.

Senate President in a statement by Senator Anthony Manzo, to Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, said “the President of the Senate is in receipt of your letter, seeking support for the implementation of the ECOWAS right to education judgment.”

“He commends you, SERAP, for drawing his attention to this issue, and has accordingly referred the matter to the Senate Committee on Inter-Parliamentary Affairs for further necessary action.”

The action followed SERAP’s letter to the President of the Senate, urging him to support the efforts to implement the judgment.

SERAP, expressing satisfaction with the Senate President promise, thanked him “for taking steps to ensure the full and effective implementation of the right to education judgment. We applaud your leadership and political will as the first political leader to acknowledge the judgment and to take action towards its implementation, at a time the government of President Goodluck Jonathan continues to ignore the judgment.

“We urge you to exert the Constitutional authority of the Senate to put pressure on the government of President Jonathan to put in place mechanism to effectively enforce the judgment for the sake of more than 12 million Nigerian children of school age still roaming the streets and have no access to quality basic education,” the group added.

It will e recalled that SERAP, International Commission of Jurists, ICJ, Interights, Nigeria Union of Teachers, NUT, and Nigerian Guild of Editor, NGE, in June sent an open letter to President Jonathan, urging him to “use your good offices and leadership to establish a plan of action for the implement of the judgment.