Contrary to the law which specifies compulsory basic education for Nigerian pupils, the Ekiti State government has shut down all the primary and secondary schools owned by Catholic Church for refusal to pay the state-government imposed pupil education tax levies of #500 and #1,000 respectively for each primary and secondary school pupil. This is worrisome as the pupils are currently writing their NECO examinations.
However the church has pressed charges against the state government. The church asked the court to determine “whether every child of primary school and junior secondary school age in the state is not entitled to free and compulsory basic education under Section 2 of Compulsory Free Universal Education Act, 2004 and Section 19 of Ekiti State Universal Basic Education Board Law.”
Ekiti state is about the only state in Nigeria where pupils pay such tax.