The
UNICEF Representative in Nigeria, Mohamed Fall made the call in a press
statement made available to our correspondent in Osogbo, Osun State by the
UNICEF Communication Officer, Blessing Ejiofor on the commemoration of the
Children’s Day in Nigeria.
Mohamed
Fall also called on the State Houses of Assembly of 12 states who have not passed
the Child Rights bills to pass them so that the governors would sign those
bills into law.
He
lamented that millions of Nigerian children were suffering some form of
physical, emotional or sexual violence and urged governments across the 36
states of the country to end violence against children in their respective
states.
He
said “Marking Nigerian Children’s Day today, which this year is on the theme of
child protection and the Sustainable Development Goals, UNICEF is calling for
urgent action to adopt the Child Rights Act across all of Nigeria’s states and
to heed the call to end violence against children.”
According
to him, a 2014 survey by the National Population Commission, with support from
UNICEF and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that six
out of ten Nigerian children experience at least one of these forms of violence
before they reach 18.
Mohamed
said the Children’s Day should be used as an opportunity to highlight the
prevalence of violence against children in the country and to determine
measures needed to tackle the problem and address it.
His
words “Each one of us is responsible for creating a world where children feel
safe, protected and empowered to speak up for themselves.”
“In
line with the Sustainable Development Goal to end all forms of violence against
children by 2030, Nigeria has launched a Campaign to End Violence Against
Children by 2030, which reinforces the Presidential call to end such violence.”
“Since
2015, Lagos, Cross River, Benue and Plateau States have launched state-wide
campaigns. The Federal Capital Territory and Kano states will mark Nigerian
Children’s Day today by launching their own campaigns to end violence against
children and Gombe State will launch its campaign on 7 June.”
“To
drive the implementation of the national campaign, the Federal Ministry of
Women Affairs and Social Development is working with key government partners,
civil society and faith-based organisations to develop a National Plan of
Action that will set targets and milestones to end violence against children in
Nigeria by 2030.”
“Nigeria
adopted the national Child Rights Act in 2003 to domesticate the international
Convention on the Rights of the Child. So far, State-wide Child Rights Acts
have been passed in 24 of the Nigeria’s 36 states, with Enugu being the most
recent to enact the law in December 2016”.
“We
call on the State Assemblies of the remaining 12 states to urgently pass Child
Rights bills and on governors to sign those bills into law. We also call on
governors of the 29 states who have not yet launched state-level campaigns to
end violence against children to do so,”
UNICEF
reiterated its commitments to continue to protect children’s rights and vowed
to work even harder to ensure that Child Rights Act is fully implemented in
Nigeria. Mohamed Fall said “Even while we increase our commitments to protect
children’s rights, we must work even harder to make these rights a reality for
children in Nigeria.”
Mohamed
applauds efforts of the Nigerian governments to reduce violence and
exploitation of children in Nigeria and has recognised Nigeria as a Global
Pathfinding country in the world-wide battle to combat violence against
children.
ENDS
Kudos to UNICEF
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