The Emir of Lafia, Justice Sidi Bage has advocated stiffer penalties including imprisonment for parents who failed to enrol their children to acquire basic education.

In his intervention during the Basic Education Summit organised by the Nasarawa State Basic Education Board yesterday in Lafia, the emir decried the state of basic education especially in the North describing it as “very sick” and requiring an immediate and complete restructuring.

The retired Justice of the Supreme Court noted that basic education was the most important legacies the colonial administration handed over to the local leadership at the point of their exit.

He averred that this tier of education flourished under the traditional leadership before it was taken over and the decline began.

According to him, one of the key challenges the basic education faced is the failure of some parents to enroll their children despite the fact it was made free and compulsory.

“We need to come out more forcefully to deal with this situation. All of them that are causing this problem, especially in the northern part of Nigeria, it is because they are not treated as criminals; that is the reason why you give birth to a child and throw him to the street and you are left like that, and that child becomes a nuisance to the society. We have to criminalize it now and deal with them decisively,” he advocated.

He called for the return of basic education to traditional institutions to manage as it was the case when indirect rule was introduced.

“And at the time when we were managers of education, those who are old enough here can say that the basic education in Nigeria then was as good as the basic education in Britain, and any part of Europe or North America,” he explained.

Also speaking, Governor Abdullahi Sule said the state must confront issues of enrollment, diversion of school facilities, teacher truancy, lax supervision, and the failure of officials to uphold standards frontally.

“Whatever investment we make in education is worth it. But we cannot continue this way. Facilities meant for schools are diverted. Teachers who are promoted do not show the corresponding commitment. We must reward those who work and sanction those who do not,” he stated.

He recalled the comprehensive baseline survey conducted in 2019, which exposed deep-rooted weaknesses in the system, insisting that significant progress can only be achieved through discipline, transparency, and moral responsibility.