Keziah Yusuf, Gombe
The representative of the Honourable Minister, Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, Mr Ali Andrew Madugu on Thursday, expressed delight about the focus on girl child education in Gombe.
Madugu said based on a study conducted in 2019, the economic burden on violence against children survey of children revealed a magnitude of losses.
He revealed this during a Zonal sensitization on ending violence against children and promoting girl-child education in Nigeria, held at the ministry of Women Affairs Gombe.
According to him, “Cumulative loss earnings as a result of productivity losses across different types of violence against children was 967 billion naira accounting to 1.07% Nigeria’s GDP.
“National statistics revealed that 13.5 million Nigerian children are out of school; about 60% of them are girls. In addition, recent figure released by UNICEF ranked Nigeria as one of the highest in child Brides National, second to India.”
While urging stakeholders to help change this narrative by joining to end violence against children he added, “Covid-19 has increased the incidence of children experiencing and observing physical, psychological, and sexual violence at home and other forms violence against children is indeed worrisome and calls for serious cause of concern by well-meaning Nigerians.”
Madugu further called on parents and caregivers to keep children safe online by setting timers on all device used by the child adding that installing child appropriate apps/search engines, installing firewalls amongst others.
He said, “The Federal Ministry of Women Affairs is working assiduously to deliver the following core mandate which includes, Increased enrollment, retention and completion rates of girls in primary and secondary schools in collaboration with Federal Ministry of Education.
“Advocacy for the domestication of the Child Rights Acts (CRA) by all the state of the Federation
“Conduct the Review and Proposal for amendments to legislation to ensure gender equality and end all forms of discrimination against women and girls
“Collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health to eradicate harmful practices including female genital mutilation. In collusion, he urged CSOs not to give the relevant stakeholders a breathing space until the bill has been passed in the state.”
Also Speaking, Mr Olisaemeka Okafor, Head of Operations National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), also urged parents to keep a close watch on their children and to remain alert to signs of future addiction in children.
He added that, “Signs that your child will do drugs included; sensation seeking, impulsiveness, anxiety sensation and hopelessness. Nigerians should not treat a person with addiction problem like a criminal but to treat them like a patient, anyone who has an addiction problem or has a relation who does should not keep it a secret but seek help as soon as possible.”
