Igbo Children's Right To Education: An Appeal To IPOB

Igbo children's right to education: An Appeal to IPOB...............................................I write this piece against the backdrop of the recent threat issued by the Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB) to all the school children in South-East Nigeria who are due to write the Mathematics paper on 30th May 2024 as part of the on-going West African Senior School Certificate Examination(WASSCE). I may be targeted for this write-up, but it matters less to me. I speak not for myself but for our children. Most Igbo people I know sympathize with the agitation of IPOB to have its leader, Nnamdi Kanu released by the Nigerian government. Myself inclusive. We believe that Nnamdi Kanu committed no crime in asking that Fulani killer herdsmen vacate the South East forests willy-nilly, especially when the Nigerian government under the immediate past president, Mohammadu Buhari was intentionally docile and folded its arms while thousands of Igbo people were murdered on their own lands by these marauding Fulani herdsmen. We also believe that Nnamdi Kanu committed no crime in demanding that a referendum be conducted in the former Eastern region of Nigeria for the indigenes to determine whether they want to continue to be part of Nigeria or not. These are legitimate demands (under international laws) that every conscionable Nigerian in today's Nigeria would agree with, given the current situation in the country. However, threatening our children who are due to write the Mathematics paper on 30th May 2024 as part of the on-going WASSCE exams and demanding that they boycott the paper is something I cannot agree with. The questions begging for answers are - who loses when our children do not write the exam? We do. Who gains when our children do not write the exams? The enemy. Unless the IPOB leadership has been infiltrated by the enemies of the Igbos, this threat against Igbo children is a catastrophic misstep, an own goal against the people of the South East. While the agitations for Nnamdi Kanu's release and restoration of actual federalism continue, our children's right to education must not be breached. I commend the Abia state government for appealing to IPOB to allow our children to write their Mathematics paper. In contrast, the comments of the Anambra state commissioner for education, Ngozi Chuma-Ude, are reprehensible. She is quoted to have said to the media, “The resolution to some of these problems lies with you, the members of the fourth estate of the realm. Some of the prominence given to wrong things have been the reason for this crisis. When you spread these bad things, you make the society worse... If a child doesn’t know that they were asked not to come out, he won’t fear and he will come out and take his exam. He will not bother. It is the media in their usual way that spread the news and instill fear in the people." This statement shows the commissioner's profound misunderstanding of how IPOB operates and thereby puts our children at risk. She needs to be cautioned. I appeal to IPOB as a stakeholder in the Igbo project to allow our children to take their Mathematics paper. Last year, the children wrote the exam in full, and it should not be different this year. As was done last year, children should wear their school uniforms for easy identification and safety. And IPOB must come out to provide security for our children at all examination venues. IPOB must understand that our children writing their academic exams does not undermine its agitations. In fact, writing this paper is an intrinsic part of their right to education, as provided and protected by Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 28 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 17 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, among other international laws.As usual, I believe IPOB would allow good reasoning to prevail by allowing our children to write their mathematics paper on 30th May 2024. However, if they do not and still prevent our children from writing this paper, it will not only harm our children's future but also erode the legal and moral foundations of IPOB's struggle. This must not happen.By Lawrence C. Nnolihttps://www.facebook.com/share/p/4ABQfjm44Ecrt6kg/