http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/01/falana-threatens-to-sue-fg-over-schools-holiday-extension/

LAGOS—RADICAL Lagos Lawyer and activist, Mr. Femi Falana, weekend, threatened to drag the Federal Government to court to challenge the one month extension of holiday for public and private primary and secondary schools in the country to enable Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, conduct a fresh voters’ registeration exercise.

Falana, who spoke at a symposium organised by Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, to mark the 70th birthday of Alhaji Hassan Sunmonu, founding President of NLC, urged government to withdraw the circular by Friday or he would drag it to court.

Mr. Falana said it was illegal for government to extend the holiday, adding that the directive was an indication that government valued elections more than education which is the bedrock of development.

He said: “Is this the first time we are doing voters’ registration in Nigeria? Why is government then forcing students to remain at home because of registration?” Where has the ministry got the power to keep students at home at forced holiday for no justified reasons.

WAEC and NECO have recorded more than 80 percent failure rate in recent time, is this the way we are going to improve education in the country. When workers go on strike for welfare reasons, the government declares it illegal now they want to keep pupils at home because of voters registration. If government does not withdraw that circular today, we will be heading to court next week.”

Also speaking at the event, Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola blamed government for allowing registration to drag so long to the extent that it is coinciding with resumption of schools in the country.

He faulted the decision of government, adding that there was no due consultations with stakeholders before making such pronouncement and said registration which ought to have been done earlier is been rushed nd the process coincide with resumption of schools in the country.

He said: “The most important aspect of the election process is the registration of voters. There is need for us to be properly registered if we are indeed expectant of any credible election, we must ensure the credibility in voters’ registration.

If we want a free and fair election, we must ensure that the voters’ registration is not inflated by politicians for selfish reasons, ”

Amen to dt

Dis can not happen in a developed country,where politicians make way 2 go and loot treasury at the expense of students. It is a shame that GEJ advisers are not able to give him good advices. Where do we go 4rm here,

Y nt declare 2wks public holiday so that everybody will come and register and during d election proper another 2months public holiday shld be declared for that purpose, FG over 2u. So d pupils in primary schools will be eligeable to vote dis time arnd whl their parents will be at their work stations abi and d schls closed abi? This administration is made up of CLOWNS, C D WAY DEM DEY REASON. I dey laugh ooo

bullsh.it wat abt finance firms

ye is right let falana sue dem. It never sound right 4 d FG 2 postpond skul till next month.

such a case will border on frivolity. the key question is whether there is an overriding public interest (facilitating a 'smooth' electoral process)in extending the holidays as against the injury that the disruption is likely to cause the children.

You dont need to be a lawyer to figure the answer. Mr Falana is wasting his time.

On a broader level, the decision to extend holidays by a month only a few days b4 kids were to resume shows again that we are largely incompetent in this country. We simply are not effective planners.

Interesting lets how that works

It's quite sad that a country as big as Nigeria cannot effectively handle national matters like this without bringing condemnation
upon itself! For Heaven's sake, why would resumption of schools be postponed for one full month for elections sake? this isn't the
first time elections are being conducted. Any wonder schools results are getting poorer by the day when no attention is given to education.
Dumb country with even dumber leaders! mscheeeewwww!

Govt obviously didnt plan well but I support the decision for security reasons.
PS: Falana is wasting his time.

Any action taken by fed govt to ensure f &f election nobody, i mean no maga should put assunder[b][/b]

if we say  because of the headache to cut the head off, I think its wrong for the Govt to close school for voters registration, we could easily think of easier way of doing that long time ago not last minute dot come they are doing now say 6month ago the exercise commenced by now it would have been a done deal, i dey laugh too

I am 100% behind falana, and i wish him success in this case. somebody must bbe able to speak 4 the people. its unfortunate that jonathan could approve this unproductive means of cooking the voters' register. we always apply the wrong approach to solving important issues. may God help us.

GJE does not have what it takes to rule this country effectively, it s just after the money and fame.

yes he should sue them to their own court let us see what the result will be.

Abegi , make falana go siddon make we hear word o'jare! im no even say make him sue the federal government for years of neglect of our schools, na extra two week holiday be the ILLEGAL thing wey the government don do our education system. abegi!

Well said Kobo. i don't understand why so called activist likes to double speak. They said they want free and fair election but not ready to sacrifice only two weeks for smooth registration to take place. They are quick to forget that Inec makes use of the teachers as ad-hoc staff during voters registration. bunch of hypocrites and attention seekers

Totally uncalled for! By the way how many wks are we talking abt here? Not as if the holidays are gonna last forever, just a few weeks. Falana shd sue the federal govt for something more serious and stop wasting his breath.

http://naturekay..com

Kobojunkie:

Abegi , make falana go siddon make we hear word o'jare! im no even say make him sue the federal government for years of neglect of our schools, na extra two week holiday be the ILLEGAL thing wey the government don do our education system. abegi!

@Missy85

Its people like you guys that allow our leaders to take us for a ride.

Free and fair election is not a function of PUBLIC HOLIDAYS but[b] GOOD AND SINCERE GOVERNMENT[/b].

Falana carry go we are behind you.

a right step in the right direction!thumbs up!

So confused where this country is heading to,

Nigerians are quick to criticize every government move even if it makes sense, I blame the government for not communicating well with the citizens.
We all want a free and fair election, at this time any improvement from the last election is a plus. INEC needs schools because they are neutral places with big spaces. The alternative is to use churches or mosques which for most cities are not the safest places.

Yes, INEC should have planned ahead but again they have being running late compared to the past,because of the time of the leadership change by the government which is part of the restructuring. Additional costs, yes for families but we have to sacrifice to make the same future of those children better. Kids won't fail, my secondary school once shut down for 2 months after a fire outbreak and we still adjusted and did our exams.
Running a successful election is logistically difficult, you will never know but it is. Government is right on this one.

The problem here is dat most of them their families don't stay in Nigeria, so they do what they like because their children study abroad, n their voter and children should play their roles well so dey get wot they want,
Move onnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

The problem here is dat most of them their families don't stay in Nigeria, so they do what they like because their children study abroad, n their voter and children should play their roles well so dey get wot they want,
Move onnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

What Falana is doing is called 'crying over spilt milk'.
We're already running behind schedule and the voters register needs to be renewed fast. At least we all heard the bitter tales of many Delta indigenes who could not vote due to a poor voters register.

What cowards like Falana do is to heap blame but shy away from proffering any solution. Instead of telling us what he would have done if he was faced with the scenario of a june voters registration, he's looking for who to put blame on.

As someone said before, schools provide a wide open, relatively conducive location for the registration process. Of course there's no question of using the schools while students are in session. That's just wrong. So what would you complaining lot have done differently?

Thank God some private schools resumed today. At least my daughter's school did. And the Association of Proprietors of Private Schools has directed its members to discard that misguided directive by the federal Government. Be sure that more schools will open in the days ahead. We shall see how Government intends to deal with this situation. After all it was the failure of Government to provide quality education in public schools that gave rise to the myriad of private schools. Now there are more students and pupils in private schools than in public schools. The real legal battle will begin when the government attempts to sanction any school.

The decision for the federal government to extend the school holidays is totally uncalled for and i think it should be rescinded NOW!!!

Xtfield:

Thank God some private schools resumed today. At least my daughter's school did. And the Association of Proprietors of Private Schools has directed its members to discard that misguided directive by the federal Government. Be sure that more schools will open in the days ahead. We shall see how Government intends to deal with this situation. After all it was the failure of Government to provide quality education in public schools that gave rise to the myriad of private schools. Now there are more students and pupils in private schools than in public schools. The real legal battle will begin when the government attempts to sanction any school.

Are you kidding me? You really have no idea that the decision was to help you and eventually your own children get a better future?? You mean you seriously think this is some attack from the government on your person??

For those against Falana's suit, please tell me if the children affected would be registering for votes.
I wonder why the DUMBEST things happen in Nigeria

pls, those of you kicking against this two weeks extention should register this fact properly on there blank skull and then shut the Bleep up. Easter holiday comes up ending of April as against middle of april or ending of march it use to be, so, if schools resume on the first week of february, the are still in place. This is a very good calculation by the presidency. the school premises will be used as venues for registeration or do you want inec to use your palor as registeration center?

yelanst:

pls, those of you kicking against this two weeks extention should register this fact properly on there blank skull and then shut the bleep up. Easter holiday comes up ending of April as against middle of april or ending of march it use to be, so, if schools resume on the first week of february, the are still in place. This is a very good calculation by the presidency. the school premises will be used as venues for registeration or do you want inec to use your palor as registeration center?

good talk!!!
na wao for naija, anything u do, they must complain
u are also kicking against the good-intention moves by INEC for a bit of credibility, [i][/i] i tire for una

Kobojunkie:

Abegi , make falana go siddon make we hear word o'jare! im no even say make him sue the federal government for years of neglect of our schools, na extra two week holiday be the ILLEGAL thing wey the government don do our education system. abegi!

no mind him, he didnt sue them when the students were in school and still got almost 100% failure.
he should first of all sue parents that take their children/wards to "magic centre", then sue the teachers and supervisors that aid and abeit cheating. sue the students that dont read any more, then and ond only then will his suing FG for 2weeks of attempt for credible elections make sense.