A Representative of the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund in Nigeria, UNICEF, Jean Gough, has said Bayelsa State had become the 23rd state in Nigeria to ensure the legal protection of children from all forms of violence through the domestication of the NCRA.
The international agency in a statement on Thursday commended the State Government for the domestication of the National Child’s Right Law this month.
UNICEF, however, declared that about 60 per cent of children, that is, six in 10 children in Nigeria, suffer one or more types of violence before they reach the age of 18.
Gough said, “A national survey by the National Population Commission, supported by the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and UNICEF, launched in September 2015, found that six in 10 children suffer one or more types of violence before they reach the age of 18 years.
“Also, one in two suffers physical violence, one in four girls and one in 10 boys suffer sexual violence and one in five boys and one in six girls suffer emotional violence. Most children never tell anyone what happened to them. Less than four per cent ever receive the support they need to recover.
“In response to these findings, President Muhammadu Buhari launched the Year of Action to End Violence against Children, calling on states to take action to strengthen their laws, policies and services to protect children. Bayelsa State has heeded the Federal Government’s call and is warmly congratulated.”
He further explained that the law is an important step in protecting and supporting the millions of children suffering physical, sexual and emotional violence every year in Nigeria.
While signing the NCRA law, Bayelsa state governor, Seriake Dickson, had express delight that the new law would provide protection for children in Bayelsa State.
He had said, “I stress that anyone caught violating the rights of children will be prosecuted according to the provisions of this new law.”
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