Stakeholders assess implementation of Child Rights Act in South-south Nigeria

Stakeholders in the South-south region of Nigeria have stated that the country’s Child Rights Law is yet to yield significant results, urging relevant authorities to collaborate more effectively to safeguard the future generations.

The stakeholders in Cross River, Akwa Ibom, and Rivers States reacted to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) survey on the extent of the implementation of the Child Rights Act and Labour laws.

In Cross River, James Ibor, the principal counsel of Basic Rights Council Initiative, described the implementation of the Child Rights Law as poor and slow.

He explained that the state domesticated the Act in 2009 and amended it in 2023 into the Cross River Child Rights Law 2023, which explicitly criminalised branding children as witches and stipulated punishment for the offender.

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He observed that despite the legislative advancements, effective implementation remained a challenge, following socio-cultural practices such as male child preference, child marriage, Female Genital Mutilation, among others.

However, Mr Ibor said that with the increased awareness of the law provisions, crime reporting has increased, and the steps taken by the police have also improved, but this has caused a lot of congestion in the courts, especially in Calabar.

He called for more family courts, which handle such cases, to expedite hearings, as the existing ones were too few in the state

“We currently have only two family courts in Calabar, which only sit once a week without the necessary facilities that a family court should have.

“This is why cases in the family courts last up to three to five years, and this defeats the purpose of the Child Rights Law.

“We have trained judges to handle the cases, but there is a need for improved funding for the Ministry of Social Welfare and the Ministry of Women Affairs so that the implementation of this law will be effective,” Mr Ibor said.

For his part, Kebe Ikpi, the coordinator of the Child Protection Network Nigeria in Cross River, said the law was on the right track even if its implementation was slow.

He said the amended Child Rights Law of 2023 was made available in hard copy to stakeholders through the state’s 18 local government areas.

Mr Ikpi added that the State Child Rights Act Implementation Committee was inaugurated in December 2024 in fulfilment of Section 260 of the Cross River Child Rights Law.

“As an organisation in partnership with the state government, we have trained Divisional Police Officers, traditional rulers, lawyers, social workers and other stakeholders on the content of the law.

“However, in terms of other provisions of the law, we have not improved. For instance, till today, we still have cases where children, survivors of violence or private individuals, have to pay out of pocket to receive care in medical facilities.”

Mr Ikpi said the budgetary provision for child protection and its performance were poor, stating that a lot would be needed for the implementation of the Child Rights Law to be effective in the state.

He, however, called for more family courts, whose judges would be different from the regular court, to hear cases of violence against children, saying that the existing ones were not properly constituted.

Mr Ikpi explained that they were not child-friendly as they did not have many colours and toys to make a child comfortable speaking out, adding that the courts were still using the regular court facility.

On street children, Edema Irom, the commissioner for Women Affairs in Cross River, emphasised that street children were often victims of circumstances.

Mrs Irom also noted that through the initiatives of the First Lady of Cross River, Eyoanwan Otu, an enabling platform was created to highlight issues concerning children in vulnerable situations.

She added that the ministry always interfaced with parents and guardians to ensure they embraced their responsibilities and rejected any narratives that tended towards rejecting and neglecting their children.

Akwa Ibom’s situation

In Akwa Ibom, Eyibio Okon, a legal practitioner in Uyo, attributed the violation of the Child Rights Act to the number of divorces instituted by parents.

He said children are more often neglected when parents are living apart or separated.

He called for monitoring the state Child Rights Law implementation, adding that with the law, a lot had been done to protect the children, although there was not much publicity to showcase them.

The lawyer said that Family Courts, Magistrate Court, the Ministry of Women Affairs, the International Federation of Women Lawyers, and the family units department in the police, family units were involved in the implementation of the law.

According to Mr Okon, there are also agencies that support the issues relating to children and young persons in the state.

“The problem I observe is that there is not much publicity about it; these courts sit on issues and affairs relating to children and how to take care of them.

“Many people don’t know that children can report their parents to the family court when they are not providing them with necessary things as enshrined in the law; I think that is the problem,” he said.

Mr Okon further said that the children who committed crimes were not taken to the police or prison but to a state rehabilitation centre where they would be rehabilitated and returned to their families.

He outlined factors that contributed to street children, including economic hardship, parents ejecting their children from home based on witchcraft accusations, and children being exposed early to street begging and hawking to make money.

Also speaking, Sam Itauma, the chief executive officer, Child Rights and Rehabilitation Network (CRARN) in Eket alleged that the Act implementation was being marred by the police, lack of seriousness and court procedures.

He said that sympathies of families and friends, which aimed at perverting justice, also marred the implementation of the Act, disclosing that some prosecutions already recorded were from the efforts of non-governmental organisations, especially CRARN.

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NAPTIP Commander speaks

In Rivers, Nwamaka Ikediashi, the NAPTIP Commander in the state, said besides the Child Rights Law, the Trafficking in Persons Prohibition Enforcement and Administration Act 2015 has provisions to tackle child abuse, child labour, and sexual exploitation.

According to her, this law, enacted by the National Assembly, applies to all 36 states in Nigeria.

Ms Ikediashi said individuals who violated children’s rights had been prosecuted, and the Federal High Court had delivered judgments on several cases.

“The government’s emphasis on existing laws underscores its dedication to safeguarding children from abuse and exploitation,” she said.

(NAN)