The National Child Rights Implementation Committee (NCRIC) has called for a review of the Child Rights Act (CRA) to meet the current realities in Nigeria.
Dr MacJohn Nwaobiala, the Co-Chairman of NCRIC made the call on Thursday in Abuja at the 6th quarterly meeting of the committee, convened by the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, in collaboration with the Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption (RoLAC) programme.
”Some of the provisions in the act that were passed 20 years ago are not more realistic with the happenings in the current Nigeria society.
“The CRA was passed in 2003. Some of the provisions of that act are not realistic anymore. So it is important for us to start thinking of the review, even though the process will be long but we need to start it.
“We need to review this law so that the CRA will be in line with the dynamics of the changes and reality in the Nigeria society, the reality of the time,, this is another assignment that we have which is very important,” he said
Nwaobiala said that the committee was a multi-sectorial committee that was established by government to ensure that the rights of children and all the provisions of the CRA 2003 are implemented.
He said that the committee engaged stakeholders in advocacy, monitoring what is going on, report to ther government and the UN, AU committees.
He said that the purpose of the 6th quarterly meeting was to review the state of the Nigerian child and the state of implementation of the rights of the child.
Nwaobiala said that the meeting was also convened for members to identify gaps, challenges and see how the gaps can be close, adding that the current economic situation of the country could affect the children if care is not taking.
”Casess of child abuse is on the rise and that children are involved in exploitative labour, millions of them are out of school, many are being trafficked, kidnapped”, he said.
Also speaking, Mr Ali Madugu, Director of Child Development Department in the Ministry of Women Affairs, also called for review of the CRA.
He added that a lot of things were not captured in the CRA as at the time it was created.
Madugu said that the dynamic nature of the Nigerian society required that the CRA be review to meet the current challenges.
He advised parents to give their children positive upbringing, stressing that a lot of people now value money, work more than the home upkeep, and that they have forgotten many of their responsibilities.
The director said that parents must be careful in handing over their responsibilities to the housemaid, caregivers especially in the care of the children, stressing that these set of people are not too committed in bringing up the child.
Government, he said, was working hard to see that violence against children is brought to the minimal level or eradicated completely.
“Fighting violence against children is a project that needs a lot of resources, you don’t expect people that want to fight violence against children to go on only advocacy, there are so many things involved, government needs to pump money to the fight the menace,” he said.
The federal government re-inaugurated the NCRIC in 2018, in order to boost the observance and popularisation of the provisions of the Child’s Rights Act, Act, 2003.
