BAUCHI State Government has been called upon by the United Nations Children and Education Fund, (UNICEF) to as a matter of necessity ensure the domestication of the Child Rights Act in order to effectively tackle the persisting violence faced by the Nigerian child.
The call was made by Communication Officer of the UNICEF ‘D’ Field Office, Bauchi, Samuel Kaalu during an interactive session with school children organised by the Bauchi State Universal Education Board (SUBEB) in collaboration with UNICEF Bauchi Filed office in Bauchi.
The session, which was to commemorate the 2018 Day of the African Child in Bauchi had participants drawn from Alkaleri, Bauchi, Ganjuwa and Toro Local government Areas of the state.
Sam Kaalu noted that despite all the interventions to ensure safety and protection of children, “the Nigerian Child is not safe and is faced with different forms of violence, abuse, maltreatment, exploitation and perpetrators of such are not adequately brought to book”.
He further explained that the Child Rights Act is meant to protect the welfare of the Nigerian child and therefore appealed to the state government to domesticate it as children are the future of any society.
According to him:”Any society that does not take care of children is destroying itself because a lot of children who are supposed to be enjoying health care and education are not getting it.
If we do not do something about it, an important segment of the population that is supposed to be contributing to development will be lagging behind ”
“The child right act is the legal framework for the right of children to be protected. We are appealing to the state lawmakers to ensure speedy passage of the law. The state government should also come up with other interventions to ensure all children are in school”, he said.
On his part, the Emir of Bauchi, Dr Rilwanu Suleimanu Adamu lauded the various interventions by UNICEF towards educating children, saying that it has gone a long way in complementing government’s efforts towards ensuring that school children were enrolled and mobilised to obtain the basic education.
The Emir said that “We appreciate the various contributions by UNICEF in the area of education because it has complemented government’s efforts towards providing basic education for our children”.
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