Gombe Children’s Parliament holds special plenary, demands domestication of Child Rights Act
The Gombe state Children’s Parliament has held a special sitting to demand for the domestication of the Child’s Rights Act in the state to protect children from all forms of violations and abuses.
The session which held at the conference hall of the Gombe state House of Assembly on Friday was chaired by the speaker, Hon Umar Farouk Abdullahi.
During plenary, Hon Nicodemus Lisiyas, member representing the children of Billiri Local Government Council, moved a motion on the need for the state to have a child protection policy to protect children in the state.
Lisiyas stated that children in the state were exposed to several forms of abuses because there was no legal means to ensure their protection from emerging threats to their rights.
“If our children are not protected, they will be denied access to education, health which in the future will make them threats to peace in the society as the children will grow up to constitute serious threats to peaceful coexistence.’’
In view of this, Lisiyas prayed that the state government would establish child protection commission that will handle the issue of children.
He also prayed the state house of assembly to hasten up processes in scrutinising the child protection bill with a view to ensuring its quick passage for the benefit of children in the state.
He appealed to the traditional and religious leaders to support efforts at ensuring that children in their domains are protected and well educated in the interest of their wellbeing.
The motion was seconded by Hon Esther Abdon, member representing Balanga and House Leader, children’s parliament.
Abdon said children in the state deserved to be given adequate protection to help them realise their potentials towards contributing meaningfully to the growth of the society.
Also in the course of the plenary, Khadija Yakubu Bello, Child Ambassador, Gombe state moved a motion for the enrolment of children into school especially the girl-child to bring down the huge statistics of out-of-school children.
Bello noted that most parents in the state often see the education of the girl-child as a waste of time and resources, adding that such was not good for the future of the girl-child in the state.
She added that education was one tool that could be used to eradicate violence or abuse, adding “if a child is well educated, he or she will know his or her rights and you know knowledge is power.’’
She stated that with education, every child would be useful to the nation-building tasks of citizens, hence, prayed the state government to create awareness so that parents would support the education of their girl-child and children generally.
She further called on the state government to build more schools in rural areas of the state to reduce the stress children face in the process of seeking education, adding that such would help reduce challenges of accessing education in rural areas.
While reiterating some of the points raised by his colleagues, the speaker Hon Abdullahi assured the house that efforts would be made to send their motion to concerned stakeholders in the interests of the wellbeing of children in the state.
The speaker commended Save the Children International and the Ministry of Women Affairs for efforts being made to ensure the domestication of the Child’s Rights Act in the state as a legal tool to protecting the rights of children.
Mr Effiong Akpan, SCI’s Interim Project Manager Towards Ending Child Marriage in Nigeria (TECM) Project who witnessed the session commended the children parliament for raising issues that affect the children.
Akpan stated that with such performance and platform that the children is getting, the future was looking good for the young parliamentarians.
According to him, the young parliamentarians were groomed by SCI in partnership with the state’s Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, training them to become future leaders and to help add voices towards exposing the challenges affecting children in the state.
Akpan seized the opportunity to call on all stakeholders to fast-track the domestication of the Child’s Rights Act in the state to help address the issues of abuses of children’s rights in the state.
Our correspondent reports that the sitting was part of the Towards Ending Child Marriage (TECM) project being funded by the Embassy of the Netherlands.
