Group calls for implementation of Child Rights Act, says one in four girls gets abused before the age of 18 in Kwara state

A leading pro-democracy group, Kwara Must Change, has called on the government of Kwara State to immediately set in motion, modalities to implement the Child Rights Act, already domesticated in the state.

Kwara Must Change also stated that the government should immediately create child rights enforcement unit across all schools in the state, with coordinating unit situated in State Universal Basic Education Board (Subeb) for basic school, Ministry of Education for senior schools and the governor’s office for overall coordination.

In a statement by the Kwara Must Change Coordinator for Gender (Women Wing), Alhaja Sikira Akande Okoso, the group decried the growing rate of child abuse and molestation, especially in private and government schools.

According to Alhaja Sikirat, schools and academic environment, which should ordinarily be centers for learning and character moulding, were gradually becoming breeding grounds for child abuse and miseducation.

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Alhaja Sikirat explained that Kwara State was one of those northern states that had domesticated the child rights act “due to our interest in the protection of the rights of children and we can no longer delay the implementation of the law, which is highly needed at this critical time, to tame the growing rate of child abuse, especially in schools.”

She noted that almost 20 years of Nigeria’s adoption of the Child Rights Act (CRA), the country had achieved less than 20 percent of its implementation, while the prevalence of violence against children, especially the girls child was still on the rise.

“Statistics show that, 1 in 4 girls and 10 per cent of boys reported to have suffered sexual violence in Nigeria and of the children who reported abuse against them, less than 5 out of 100 receive support.

“Children subjected to violence and abuse are unwilling to lodge formal complaints due to a lack of trust in the authorities and stigmatisation in the society”

Alhaja Sikirat explained that, Kwara State had domesticated the child rights act, but the implementation process had been very slow.

According to her, “children in Kwara State are facing serious abuses in their schools and even in their own houses, where some children are abused by their own family or parents.

“There are reported cases of children being used for labour works on teachers private farms, several incidences of child molestation by parents, teachers, family members and lots more calls for drastic steps, starting with the implementation of the child right act and establishment of enforcement units across all schools in the state.”

Kwara Must Change posited that increasing incidence of school principals and teachers defiling multiple children, impregnating some and engaging in abortion was too frightening to be left unattended and the group said that enforcing the child rights act in schools would be a good beginning.

Kwara Must Change also expressed surprise that some security agencies, which should ordinarily assist in the process of eradicating this menace, were also not being fair in their handling of reported cases.

While one of the security agencies in the state had also stated that, “hardly will a day passby without reports of abuse against children, especially gender-based violence’
“there are several reported cases of victims and their families being subjected to acts of intimidation and outright abuse by security agencies as well.”