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Stakeholders want FG to enforce Child Rights Act

By John Okeke Abuja
16 August 2015   |   7:48 pm
STAKEHOLDERS have called on Federal Government to set a law enforcement agency to ensure enforcement and total adherence of the Child Rights Act by state governments.

School-Children-pix-8-8-15-CopyUrge girl-child education, training of youngsters in skill acquisition

STAKEHOLDERS have called on Federal Government to set a law enforcement agency to ensure enforcement and total adherence of the Child Rights Act by state governments.

Nigeria has adopted the Child Rights Act with 28 states in Nigeria haven signed this act into law.

Speaking in Abuja at the weekend during the 1st and 2nd annual award presentation for essay writing competition among secondary school girls in Nigeria organized by Monu-Olarewaju Foundation, Coordinator, Society Against Prostitution and Child Labour in Nigeria (SAP-CLN), Dr. Grace Adogo lamented that the Act has been neglected by states.
“We are amazed that some of the states in the federation have not passed the Child Rights Acts into law and even the states that have passed it into law have not implemented it. This is because we see most of the children being sent by their parents to peddle products on the street.

“The Federal Government should set up law enforcement agency that will proactively enforce this law on them so that these girls are not wasted on the street or fall into trap of being use to fulfill the devil’s agenda.”

According to Adogo, if you look at the recent trend adopted by terrorists in suicide bombing, you will understand that the girl-child is endangered specie, with seventy per cent of suicide bombers being under-aged girls.

She said, “Policies should be formulated to encourage the education of the girl-child as the gateway to national development.”

“Skill acquisition should become a key element in the development of the girl-child. As a young girl growing up after post secondary school, the girl-child should be enrolled in a skill acquisition centre to develop her capacity, while waiting to further her education,” she said.

“If we, as a nation are serious about developing the potentials of the girl-child, then we really need to work collectively on the above,” she added.
Mrs. Chinwe Olarewaju, founder, Monu-Olarewaju Foundation, said the importance of education of girl-child education cannot be over emphasized adding “girl-child education has become a major issue of concern in most developing countries of the world today, especially in sub-Sahara Africa where a large number of girls do not go to school.”

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