The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Child Rights Law

  • Seven jailed for rape in A’Ibom, 30 cases in court

    Seven persons have been jailed for rape in Akwa Ibom while 30 rape cases are ongoing in various courts in the state, Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Welfare, Dr Glory Edet has said.

    Edet, who disclosed this on Monday to our correspondent in Uyo, said the feat was achieved by government between 2017 and this year.

    According to her, the Governor Udom Emmanuel administration was committed to the full implementation of the Child Rights Law as well as the protection of vulnerable persons from abuse.

    She appealed to states in the country that have not domesticated and implemented the Child Rights Law to do so without further delay.

    The commissioner said rape cases and similar crimes would be curtailed if states with domesticate and fully implement the Child Rights Law.

    “When I called for the domestication of the Child Rights Law, I don’t mean only domestication but emphasis on implementation. It is one thing to domesticate it, but another thing to implement it. I want to thank our governor, Udom Emmanuel for implementing the law in the state because anything that has to do with child abuse, falls under the Child Rights Law.

    “So far between last year and now, seven persons have been convicted and jailed while we have 30 cases in courts. I want to thank the judiciary who has been sending their lawyers to assist us in court, court assessors, the women lawyers and other NGOs for their supports in the course of trying these cases.

    “We have created a lot of awareness in schools, churches and other public places on the punishment associated with rape, child trafficking and other child abuses. We do not publicize rape cases so that the victim should not be stigmatized; in the Child Rights Law, you have to protect the child from trauma and psychological stress”,
    she said.

    According to the University lecturer turned politician, the awareness efforts of the ministry has helped a lot in recent times as the reported cases especially on rape has reduced drastically, adding that, the fear of victim being sent to jail has also helped in this direction.

    On benefits from her ministry to Akwa Ibom women, she explained that, in the current local government administration, 56 women are serving as councilors and more than 57 are also serving as supervisory councilors across the 31 local government councils in the state, adding that, most permanent secretaries, Head of service, board members, commissioner, House Members are women.

    “Governor Udom Emmanuel government is the first to send widows to pilgrimage in Israel, five widows each were taken from the 31 local government councils and sent for pilgrimage; again, 155 women, five each from the 31 council areas are given N200,000 grants for trading in their businesses”.

  • ‘Child rights law adequate for girls’ protection’

    The Child’s Rights Law 2015 is an important tool to protect the girl child, Lagos State Office of the Public Defender (OPD) Director Mrs Olayinka
    Adeyemi has said.

    According to her, the law’s provisions on family court, Police gender unit, among others, have raised the bar in safeguarding child rights.

    Adeyemi spoke at the New Era Girls Secondary School, Surulere, Lagos during an event to mark the International Day of the Girl Child.

    The programme, with the theme: With her: A skilled girlforce was organised in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

    It featured, among others, rights sensitisation discussions between OPD legal experts and pupils of New Era Girls Secondary School.

    Adeyemi stated that since 2012, setting aside a day to celebrate the girl child, helps to raise awareness about several issues that mostly affect girls, including gender bias, domestic violence and child abuse.

    Explaining the theme, she said: “UNICEF is looking at the world; the world is changing.

    Technology, automation is disrupting the workforce and the world is demanding skilled workers. In order not to leave girls behind, this advocacy is starting so that the girl child will be carried along.”

    According to the director, the OPD assists girls in distress in various ways. Adeyemi said: “In Lagos State, the OPD is the official counsel for children; this, of course, includes girls. There are several ways that we assist vulnerable girl children.

    “Where there is abuse, domestic violence, sexual harassment, they can come to our office or contact us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or our other social media platform that they are in distress and we will be there for them. They don’t even need to disclose their identities.

    “Also a girl-child can contact us on behalf of another girl in distress. If she sees that her co-student is in a problem, she can contact us and we will always help, whether it is a case of sexual harassment, domestic violence, even where that child is in a conflict with the law, we are ready to assist and render free legal services to them.”

  • Child Rights Law for review, says govt

    Some sections of Lagos State Child Rights Law are reviewed to meet present day realities, the Lagos State Government said yesterday.

    The Solicitor-General and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Justice, Mrs. Funlola Odunlami, made this known at a stakeholders meeting on amendment and implementation of the Child Rights Law, 2015

    According to her, some punishments as stipulated in the law have not served its purpose of deterring abusers of children.

    According to her, the intention of the review is to place emphasis on empowering children and protecting their rights from being infringed upon.

    The outcome of the review, she added, would be more beneficial to stakeholders on children matters.

    She listed the provisions for review to include Sections 3, 7, 13, 17, 19-23.

    The sections, according to her, border on parental neglect, sentencing terms, forms of punishment for offenders, inclusion of persons responsible for facilitating under-age or forceful marriage of an underage girl.

    Justice Iyabo Kasali, who chaired one of the sessions, urged the stakeholders to ensure that the proposed review corresponded with the new sentencing guidelines.

    Participants suggested community service for minor offenders instead of prison terms, especially if the offender is the child’s parent.

    This, they said would prevent a situation whereby the absence of the child’s parent would expose the child to further abuse.

  • Police arrest 58-year-old man for defiling minor in Edo

    …Edo sets up committee on child defilement

     

    The Edo State Government has set up a committee to check the incidence of child defilement in the state, in a renewed effort to strengthen the Child Rights Law to address issues of sexual abuse of children.

    Acting Chairman, Edo State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) and Special Assistant to the Governor on Basic Education, Dr. Joan Oviawe, disclosed this during a press briefing at the Government House, Benin City, when the state government handed over a 58 years old man, Mr. Lambert Ighodaro, to the State Police Command for prosecution for allegedly raping a 12 years old girl in Benin City, Edo State capital.

    Dr. Oviawe added, “After the case was reported by SUBEB to the Police, Mr. Lambert was apprehended by the Police.”

    She said, “This was after SUBEB received report of the incident from the class teacher of the 12 years old girl, who is a pupil in one of the primary schools. She had observed that the girl was always absent from school and contacted the girl’s guardian to find out the cause of her absenteeism.”

    “The girl told her class teacher how she was being sexually abused by Mr. Lambert Ighodaro, in his house during school hours since 2017. She alleged that the man gives her money after defiling her,” she added.

    The SUBEB boss told journalists that the state governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, had set up an inter-ministerial committee to develop a framework to curb the incidence of child defilement in the state.

    She said the board is concerned about the wellbeing of pupils while in and out of school, noting that structures are being put in place to assist victims of rape overcome stigma, while the perpetrators are not only shamed but prosecuted.

    She said, “Teachers who were trained recently in the Edo Basic Education Sector Transformation (Edo BEST) programme, were trained on ways to identify children who have been abused physically and sexually.”

    Oviawe explained that the board was also investigating two other cases of sexual abuse involving an 11 years old girl and another eight years old girl.

    “The state government is reviewing existing Child Rights Law to strengthen the law made to combat all forms of abuses against children in the state,” she noted.

     

     

  • Int’l Day for Street Children: Obaseki warns against abuse of children

    …‘Govt will use Child Rights Act to punish erring persons’

     

    Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has said that the state government has robust policies and laws to cater for the needs of children to ensure that none of them is left unattended to on the street.

    The governor said this in commemoration of International Day for Street Children marked every April 12, by the United Kingdom-based Consortium on Street Children and other partners across the world.

    He said that the state’s Child Rights Law has provisions for the protection of children against abuse, urging people to blow the whistle on parents who abandon their children.

    “The state’s Child Rights Law is clear on punishment for people who abandon their children. On this day, I want to make it categorically clear that we will come hard on people who violate the law. I also want to call on people to report parents who abandon or abuse their children,” he said.

    He added that the state government has made adequate provision to cater for children in the state, especially to their health and education needs, noting, “We implore parents to look after their children on the home front. As much as we are providing the environment and other amenities for acculturation of children into society, there is also the need for parents to look after their children, ensure that they get enrolled and stay in school, and are not left to wander about.”

    He added that it was imperative to provide basic needs for children because they are the bedrock of societal progress, assuring that the state government is reforming the health and education sectors in Edo State to ensure that children are better prepared to compete favourably with their peers anywhere in the world.

    According to him, “On this day, it is important to warn against abandoning children and leaving them to fend for themselves on the street. Not only will this stunt their development, they will be shortchanged later in life and will get fewer opportunities to succeed.”

    “In Edo State, we are making sure we close gaps that expose children to vices on the streets and ensure that they are in classrooms during school periods. It is for this reason that we are revamping the support structures for them to get the best of healthcare and education and be well prepared to contribute to societal growth,” he added.

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  • Man arrested for raping stepdaughter

    Police on Wednesday in Niger state arrested a 45-year-old-man, over alleged rape of his three-year-old stepdaughter.

    The suspect was arrested in Kundu, a village in Rafi Local Government Area of the state.

    Abdullahi Mayaki, Police Inspector attached to the state Child Rights Protection Agency, said that the mother of the girl, Malama Fatima Bawa, reported the matter to the agency.

    He said that the suspect, however, denied the allegation during investigation, claiming that he only intervened whenever his wife beat the girl.

    But Bawa had told the agency that she caught her husband sexually abusing her daughter after he approached her for sex at night and she refused him.

    “My husband likes sex too much, so I chased him out of the room in the night and locked the door.

    “It was after I chased him out that I heard my daughter, who was sleeping in the parlour, crying.

    “I quickly ran to her only to see my husband abusing my daughter sexually.

    “I am a breast feeding mother and I spend the whole of my day taking care of the children, yet my husband does not allow me to rest,” she told the agency in her statement.

    Bawa alleged that she saw blood stained and semen on the girl’s body and informed her brother in-laws wife about the incident who advised her to take the girl to the hospital.

    The Director-General of the agency, Hajiya Mariam Kolo, said that the victim would be treated in the hospital.

    Kolo also said that the suspect would be charged to court in accordance with Section 18 of the Child Rights Law.

    The Director-General described the act as ‘ungodly’, saying that the state government would no longer condone any form of violence against children and women.

     

  • EU, UNICEF hail Bayelsa on Child Rights Law 

    The European Union (EU) and the United Nations Children Funds (UNICEF), Thursday, commended Bayelsa State for domesticating the Child Rights Act.

    Bayelsa became the 23rd state in Nigeria to ensure the legal protection of children from all forms of violence, through the domestication of the Act.

    It was gathered that UNICEF, the State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, the State Ministry of Justice and civil society groups, especially the Child Protection Network (CPN), advocated for the passage of the law.

    The law was reportedly passed under the Support to Justice Sector Reform Programme, a €26m initiative funded by the EU.

    The law passed by the Kombowei Benson-led state House of Assembly, was assented to on May 6, by the state Governor, Mr. Seriake Dickson.

    The law for the first time in state criminalises violence against children and sets out the role of every stakeholder in preventing and responding to violence against children, which is said to be widespread in Nigeria.

    According to UNICEF, a national survey it conducted in conjunction with the National Population Commission (NPC), the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and UNICEF, in September last year found that six in 10 children suffer one or more types of violence before they reach the age of 18 years.

    Quoting the report, UNICEF said: “One in two suffers physical violence, one in four girls and one in 10 boys suffer sexual violence and one in five boys and one in six girls suffer emotional violence. Most children never tell anyone what happened to them. Less than four per cent ever receive the support they need to recover.”

    The Representative of UNICEF in Nigeria, Jean Gough, who spoke in Yenagoa added: “In response to these findings, President Muhammadu Buhari launched the Year of Action to End Violence against Children, calling on states to take action to strengthen their laws, policies and services to protect children.

    “Bayelsa State has heeded the Federal Government’s call and is warmly congratulated. This groundbreaking law is a significant step in protecting and supporting the millions of children suffering physical, sexual and emotional violence every year in Nigeria”.

    In his remarks, Dickson said the law would offer protection for children in the state.

    He said: “I am delighted that the new Child Rights Law will offer protection for children in Bayelsa state. I stress that anyone caught violating the rights of children will be prosecuted according to the provisions of this new law”.

    Also, the Head of EU Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Michel Arrion, welcomed the domestication of the Act by Bayelsa State.

    Arrion urged other states which yet to do so to follow the example of the state saying: “Bayelsa has taken an important step to further the protection of children in Nigeria”.