Aisha Buhari enjoins stakeholders to protect children

The wife of the President, Aisha Buhari, has urged stakeholders to make concerted efforts towards protecting the right of the African child. She made the call yesterday in an event to mark this yearís day for the African child in Abuja.

The event was organised by the African First Ladies Mission Secretariat to commemorate the children who died in Soweto during a protest for quality education in South Africa.

The theme of the event was, îAccelerating Protection, Empowerment and Equal Opportunities for children in Africa 2030. Mrs. Buhari, who was represented by the former Deputy Governor of Plateau State, Mrs. Pauline Tallen, said that the theme of the event was apt, considering the rate of child abuse, stressing the need for parents to protect their children from all forms of violence and abuse.

Mrs. Buhari, who quoted a UNICEF 2016 comprehensive report, said that children in sub-Saharan Africa might be more likely to die before their fifth birthdays than their counterparts in high-income countries.

She said that more than 60 million primary school age children will be out of school and more than half will be from Sub-saharan Africa.
She therefore, called on stakeholders to invest heavily in expanding the opportunities of the African child.

In his remark, the South African Deputy High Commissioner to Nigeria Mr. Lulu Liuos commended Nigeriaís effort towards ending the apartheid regime in South Africa and called on African leaders to rally support to end the spread of violence against children in the continent.