2017 DAC: Children are worst hit during armed conflicts ―Ambode’s wife warns

THE wife of the governor of Lagos State, Mrs Bolanle Ambode, has warned of the inducement given to violence and armed conflicts in the country stating that children were more at risk of suffering untold hardship during conflicts.

Mrs Ambode made this disclosure at the 2017 celebration of the Day of African Child (DAC) in Lagos on Thursday, tagged “Accelerating Protection, Empowerment and Equal Opportunities for Children in Africa by 2030”.

Citing a continent-wide evidence, Mrs Ambode, who was represented by Mrs Kemi Durotimi Etim, stated that children were more vulnerable to emotional and psychological trauma, physical injuries and death in a society that does not preach peace.

She called on state governments to “live up to their obligations to protect children both in war and peace times and to ensure that they build societies that are just and peaceful for all especially for children”.

She said that “in accelerating the protection agenda of 2030 for children, a world which invests in its children and in which every child grows up free from violence and exploitation” was crucial.

Speaking at the event, the Lagos State Commissioner of Youth and Social Development, Mrs Uzamat Akinbile-Yussuf, said that the Day of African Child was set aside by the African Union in memory of the students that lost their lives in the Soweto uprising in South Africa on 16th June, 1976, as well as to “discuss the challenges and opportunities facing the full realisation of the rights of children in Africa”.

She said, “The general objective of the celebration of the 2017 Day of African Child is to call attention to the linkages between the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the African Children’s Charter with the goal of inspiring states to accelerate efforts towards realising all of children’s rights as provided by the African Charter”.

Ambode and Uzamat also called for the implementation of free and compulsory primary education in all states as part of the requirements of the SDGs as well as the eradication of all forms of child abuse and molestation in the country.