The Catholic Church Diocese of Ekiti has withdrawn a suit it instituted against the Ekiti State government to challenge the imposition of education levy on pupils and students in primary and secondary schools in the state.
In the suit filed on behalf of the Incorporated Trustees of the Catholic Church Diocese of Ekiti by its lawyer, Reverend Father Emmanuel Akingbade, on April 22, 2016, the church had sought among other things a declaration of the court that the levies be declared illegal, contending that it was against the Universal Basic Education Law and the constitution of the country.
The church had also asked the court to declare that the pupils/students in kindergarten/nursery/primary and secondary schools in private schools in Ekiti State were not taxable individuals on whom the state could impose Education Development Levy.
But Justice Cornelius Akintayo struck out the suit on 13 October 2016, on the ground that the suit commenced viding originating summons instead of the writ of summons, but the Court of Appeal set the judgement aside and ordered its reassignment to another judge.
However, on 17 October 2018, the state government, through an Executive Order No 001 of 2018, abolished the payment of development levy in schools in the state, following which the church and the state government, through their counsels, approached the court to seek for an out-of-court settlement, to which the court consented.
A statement in Ado Ekiti, on Monday, by the Director of Social Communications of the Catholic Diocese of Ekiti, Reverend Father Antony Ijasan, said the two parties agreed that “Ekiti State government shall not impose development levy on pupils and students in primary and secondary schools including Catholic Church’s private mission schools in Ekiti State,” and that “Ekiti State Government shall not impose any other charges on the pupils and students in primary and secondary schools.”
Fr Ijasan added in the statement that “on 8 April 2019, the above resolutions were presented before the Court as the Memorandum of Understanding between the Church and the Ekiti State Government,” and added that resolutions were “adopted and entered as the judgment of the court by Justice Lucas Olukayode Ogundana on Tuesday, 30 June 2020.”
The administration of former Governor Ayo Fayose had imposed N2,400 and N800 levies on students and pupils secondary and primary schools in the state respectively under its novel Education Development Levy, with the then Commissioner for Education, Mr Jide Egunjobi, saying that all stakeholders in the education sector in the state, including teachers and parents, had consented to the introduction of Education Development Levy.
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