49.19
Refugee Education:the State of Nigeria's Preparedness
Oluwayemisi A. Obashoro- John Ph.D
and
Gbolabo J. Oni, Department of Adult Education, University of Lagos, Nigeria
The spate of insurgencies and conflicts in the country and around the sub-region have led to the increased presence of refugees and Internally Displaced People (IDPs) in Nigeria. This has resultant challenges on the basic needs of refugee and IDPs at different levels. One of the highest priorities of refugees and IDPs communities is education. Nigeria is obviously struggling to provide basic education for her citizens hence the emergence of refugees and IDPs and their need for education put a double burden on the nation's education system.
Sections of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Fundamental Human Rights; 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees, 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, and 1990 Declaration of World Conference on Education for All call for no discrimination in the education of men, women and children irrespective of status; compulsory and free education for all and the right to education in emergencies. These are supposed to be policy and implementation guidelines for ratifying countries.
Observations show that in spite of the challenging situation, there is little evidence of commitment by the Nigerian government through the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) to the education of refugees and IDPs. In cases where some levels of provisions are available, one wonders about the quantity and quality of such provisions.
Since there is no guarantee that the situation will change soon, this paper examines available provisions and institutional approaches for the education of refugees and IDPs in Nigeria; establishes the level of Nigeria’s preparedness for providing education for refugees and IDPs persons; and makes propositions for meeting this global reality.