Right to education 245. The CRM established through interactive sessions with nonstate and state sectors in centres such as Jos, Maiduguri, Makurdi, Uyo, Owerri and others that Nigeria has made education accessible to its citizens, mainly by means of the national constitutional commitment to provide free education at all levels – including university level. However, there are numerous hidden costs that render the right to ‘free’ education practically ‘unfree’ for the majority of the poor. Many children of school-going age are involved in selling petty consumer commodities along busy commercial centres along the travel routes. There is also a proliferation of private tertiary institutions. 246. To guarantee quality control in the private sector, the regulatory institutions should be strengthened. Presently, the regulatory and quality control agencies appear to be overwhelmed. A meeting between the CRM and a group of Nigerian academics revealed keen interest among Nigerian academics and other intellectuals in focusing the country’s attention on the importance of competitive remuneration and conditions of service, the drive towards a ‘knowledge-driven economy and society’, and the creation and promotion of African Renaissance studies centres that are linked to similar centres on the African continent. Access to housing, health, clean water and sanitation 247. The interactive sessions established that, despite the obvious need (especially among the urban poor), the right of access to adequate housing is not recognised as a general right for all Nigerian citizens or at any state tier of government for citizens or indigenes of the state. The only allusion to the possibility of a national commitment to providing housing or shelter for the needy is the provision in the constitution of “public assistance in deserving cases or conditions of need”. Testimony in nonstate-sector sessions, especially by the ordinary citizens who spoke in the local languages, was that many live in self-built shelters with inadequate or no clean water, electricity and sanitation. Sanitation and waste management pose major challenges in many urban centres. A few cities like Abuja (but not the satellite townships) appear to have good sanitation and management of waste. Some states, like Imo, have embarked on major clean-environment campaigns. Right of access to employment and social welfare 98 248. The possibility of national, policy-based entitlement to ‘suitable employment’ and ‘livelihood’ is enshrined in the constitution. The CSAR notes this and points out that unemployment is widespread in Nigeria, even though there seems to be no reliable data about the rate of unemployment in the country as a whole or in each of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. The country also does not have meaningful unemployment benefits. 249. There are high levels of unemployment throughout the country, particularly in the Niger Delta region, where conflict over resources has exacerbated the situation.