Niger House of Assembly orders refund of illegal levies to primary six pupils

By Correspondent in Minna

The Niger State House of Assembly has directed that all illegal fees/levies collected from the primary six pupils should be refunded to the parents immediately.

The Speaker of the House,Mr Abdullahi Bawa Wuse,gave the directive during plenary on a matter of public importance, brought before the House by the member representing Paikoro Constituency, Mr Suleiman Gambo Rabiu.

Wuse also approved that the issue be referred to the House of Assembly Committee on Judiciary, to advise the House on the legal implications and possible prosecusion of all those indicted in the collection of illegal fees/levies, directly or indirectly from primary six pupils.

The Speaker also directed the Clerk to invite the State Commissioner for Education, Hajiya Hannatu Jubrin Salihu, to appear before the House of Assembly to explain further actions taken by the State Education Board NSUBEB when the fees were collected from the parents.

Our correspondent reports that Rabiu had earlier told the House that it was illegal to collect such levies from parents of primary six pupils, for the issuance of testimonials, insisting that testimonials were usually given by respective schools to primary six pupils and not by the NSUBEB.

The development, The Reporters correspondent gathered, is coming against the backdrop of monies allegedly collected from parents by schools who claimed to be acting on the orders from the NSUBEB, supposedly for the payment of testiminials and final year examinations.

Most parents also complained that the levies were rather ‘strange and unheard of in the history of the state, for NSUBEB to conduct examination and as well issue testiminlas to primary pupils instead of the respective schools they graduated from.

The Online platform learnt that charges by the different schools vary, depending on the amount agreed by the different schools’ management who allegedly charged between N500 and N2, 000 per pupil, as the case may be.

According to Rabiu, the collection of such fees or levies from the constituents was very inhumane and contravenes Section 19 and 20 of the law that setd up the Niger State Universal Basic Education Board.

The Member representing Bosso Constituency, Mr Malik Madaki Bosso and his colleagues who also contributed to the issue, said since the action was illegal and meant to siphon money,the individuals involved should be made to face criminal trial in a competent court of law.