Reps panel chief Salam decry non-implementation of Child Rights Act

The Chairman of the House of Representatives committee on Public Account, Mr Bamidele Salam has decried the non-implementation of the child rights Act in the country.

Speaking during the grand finale of the National Children Leadership Conference organised by the Children of Africa Leadership and Values Development Initiative (CALDEV), he said more still need to be done to address the issue.

“The good news is that most states of the federation have domesticated the law. The bad news is that I spite of domestication, there is little or no implementation,” he said.

“I dont have the percentage but if you ask me to make a quess I will say that it is less than 25 percent of the action plan have been implemented by the state government.”

The Osun state born lawmaker explained that the essence of the leadership programme which brought together over 300 children irrespective of their religious and ethnic backgrounds was to raise the bar of the quality of leadership in Nigeria as well as Africa as a whole.

Justifying the initiative, he noted: “We have came to the conclusion that the name of our development as a country is leadership. Every other thing is secondary. Leadership is the foundation of all the challenges of development that we have not only in Nigeria but in other African countries.

“And so we want to raise the bar. One of the ways is to make sure that we improve on our leadership education. When we talk about our children, our young ones and we think it is appropriate to catch them young by beginning the process of imparting on the children the art of leadership. To mentor them, to teach them on leadership and how they can live a life of impact in their young age.

“I can tell you the last 4 days of this conference we have had the amazing experience of children founding their own NGOs, with several initiatives in their communities, solving problems and having the opportunity to network with their colleagues

“Another very important thing is that one of the problem we have as a country in terms of division and mistrust of different ethnic groups can be tackled if we bring them come together to bond irrespective of their background.”