It is heart-warming that 34 out of the 36 federating states in Nigeria have domesticated the Child Rights Act.
That Kano and Zamfara States are yet to do the needful speaks volumes about the scant regard their political leaders have for children’s rights.
It is worthy of note that the Act was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1989 and signed into law in Nigeria as the Children’s Rights Act of2003.
In its distilled essence, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, regarded as the most widely ratified human rights treaty
in history, confers on every child the rights to survival, development, protection
and participation. It also offers a vision of the child as an individual and as a
member of a family and community.
Unfortunately, the appraisal of the rights on the average Nigerian child remains pitiable. Empirical evidence on the number of out-of-school children, the victims of terrorism as well as those with deplorably
ably low nutritional status and others who suffer from various forms of abuse, over the decades, supports our deep concern.
For instance, as at May, 2022, about 18.5 million children, 60 per cent ofwhom were girls, did not have access to education
in Nigeria.
The revelation came from Rahama Farah, the head of the United Nations Children’s Fund
(UNICEF) office in Kano.
She added that the numerous attacks on schools by jihadists and criminal gangs
up the north had particularly harmed the children’s education.
That the frightening figure jumped sharply from 10.5 million in 2021 should trouble the hearts of the governors of the states yet
to domesticate the Child Rights Act.
According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), about 20 million children are currently out of school in the country.
Since the 2014 Boko Haram abduction of200 schoolgirls from the north-eastern town of Chibok, several schools have been targeted in similar mass abductions. In 2021,
about 1,500 students were kidnapped by armed men, according to UNICEF.
As at June, 2022, nearly 290,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs), including 223,072 children were reached with integrated primary health care services in IDP camps and host communities, according to
Utarian Situation Report.
In spite of such commendable humanitarian efforts, the Human Development Index (HDI) on the average Nigerian child is at the bottom rung of the socio-economic and food security ladder.
For instance, UNICEF explains that many pregnant women, including an estimated two million children in Nigeria suffer
from Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM), but only two out of every 10 children affected are currently reached with treatment.
Not left out of the violations of the children’s rights are all forms of buse they are subjected to virtually on a daily basis.
Yet, only a fraction ever receive help as and when due.
In fact, UNICEF has revealed that six out of every 10 children experience some form of violence – one in four girls and 10 per cent of boys have been victims of sexual violence.
Against this grim backdrop, it is encouraging to note that the federal government has also evolved some institutions charged with child protectiosues, including the National and State Child Rights Implementation Committees and Child Development Departments in the federal and state Ministries of Women Affairs.
We call on the remaining two states of Kano and Zamfara to take a leaf out of their counterparts’ book without further delay.
Considering the fact that the issues of out-of-school children and Under-5 child malnutrition are also prevalent in these
states, the lawmakers should act with the desired promptitude.
