Federal government and the United Nations Children Funds, (UNICEF,), have set up a harmonized case management tools for the protection of children in Nigeria.
Signing the tools’ commitment at a meeting with the 36 states commissioners for Women Affairs Including the FCT yesterday in Abuja, minister of Women Affairs, Barrister Uju Kennedy-Ohaneye, decried the increasing cases of abuse, violence, maltreatment and harmful traditional practices affecting children, calling for more actions to address the challenges.
She said the partnership will ensure stakeholders commitment to implement integrated case management tools for vulnerable children and their caregivers. the minister urged the state commissioners to ensure that the tool was effectively used in their states to protect vulnerable children.
she said “Those children are our children, every child belongs to the state, so if any child is been maltreated, you have every right to fight for the child that is been maltreated.
“We have to work together, let every one be involved
“We will call a meeting of all African women affairs commissioners and ministers and we will have a meeting and relay the meeting to the donors that are eager to help us and tell them to help us in a way that will benefit us and make impact.
“The main reason they are coming to help us are the vulnerable, women and children and we expect and plead that they help us in a way that poverty will be a thing of the past,” she said
UNICEF Deputy Country Representative Rownak Khan, explaINED THA the tool will play significant role in addressing the plights of vulnerable children, especially those at the grassroots.
“As we know, there is a report that came out recently that reveal the prolonged armed conflict in Northeast Nigeria.
“It has cost the national economy over one hundred billion dollars in the last thirteen years. It has displaced children and families leading to child abductions which actually deprives reunification, rehabilitation and reinterpretation.
“All should be managed through the case management system so until we have a robust case management system, this will not be possible. This is equally applicable to regular development issues, she said.
Director Child’s Development at the federal ministry of women affairs, Andrew Madugu, said: “These are instruments essential to effectively implement our policies and strategies to take care of vulnerable children.
“With these tools, we will be able to know where the children are coming from, services that will be rendered to them and the end results of the services and see how effective it is.”
Lending her support, Children’s Parliament Speaker, Miss Umeh Progress, called on stakeholders to build the capacity of children’s parliament and address challenges affecting children in Nigeria.
“Children are the future and if we use them in battle, we are destroying the future. We must reclaim them, let us come together with one mindset to make the world a better place for children,” she points.
