This year’s Children’s Day was marked yesterday, May 27. The day is set aside every year to highlight the plight of the world’s children. On this day some activities are organised, speeches are made and some pledges are made to address the problems children face such as abuse and neglect among others. However, it seems as soon as the ceremony ends, nothing much is done until another year for another round of celebration.
The theme of this year’s celebration was ‘Creating Safe Spaces for Children: Our Collective Responsibility.’ This topic is apt taking into account how unsafe our children are, even in homes where they are supposed to be safe and protected. President Muhammadu Buhari said in a statement, “Today affords me another opportunity to re-affirm our administration’s commitment to the protection of children, a day to reflect on our roles and responsibilities as parents and leaders towards our children, and also assessing how far we have fared in this regard.”
He added that this year’s theme “is an opportunity to promote the safety and security of our children. As a responsible government, we are committed to ensuring that children are protected from violence and exploitation against them, and that their environments are safe enough for them to pursue their educational attainments, discover their full potentials to grow into responsible citizens.”
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Deputy Representative in Nigeria Mr Isiye Ndombi, while reiterating UNICEF’s desire to end violence against children in Nigeria, described violence against children as pervasive, adding that it occurred in the home, school and workplace. He said perpetrators often include the very people children are expected to trust – parents, caregivers and other family members, friends, teachers and intimate partners.
He said, “We are currently re-analysing the 2014 Violence Against Children Survey findings to gain an even deeper understanding of the drivers of violence against children.We are also supporting our government partners to launch our National Plan of Action to End VAC by 2030, alongside a national Social Norms Change Strategy. We are supporting the government to track and monitor reported cases to end the menace.’’
For a Nigerian child to feel loved and cared, he should get free health care, education and nutrition for growth and development. Therefore the government should encourage anything that would empower families, such as increasing the minimum wage, skills acquisition, farming and so on because the fate of children is attached to the fate of their parents. The condition of the economy reflects on the families and their children.
However, the single biggest child abuse in Nigeria currently is the Almajirci system where some parents send their children out to other towns to learn the Qur’an without provision for food or health care. The children roam the streets, becoming a nuisance to the society. Some deviate and end up not learning the Qur’an and without learning any skill. We urge President Buhari to tackle the system by seeking the collaboration of traditional rulers, the ulama and the state governments of the nineteen northern states.
This issue should be addressed headlong because the system is no longer tenable in this age. After all many children have learnt the Qur’an and memorised it without being an almajiri.
In addition another obstacle is the non-implementation of the Child Rights Acts that was passed in 2003. Twenty one states have domesticated it, but the implementation is another thing altogether. So we call on these states to practice it while those that are yet to domesticate it should do so immediately.
Henceforth, we urge the relevant authorities to set targets and follow it up diligently so that at the next year’s celebration, they will table what has been achieved, instead of reeling out complaints year after year. We wish our children Happy Children’s Day. We are optimistic that with political will their suffering could be overcome.
