Voice for Child Rights and Rescue Initiative (VCRRI) has called for
proper public sensitisation to promote children’s rights and curtail
their abuse.
The Convener of VCRRI, Mr Henry Ehi, made the call in Abuja during the
commemoration of its “Back to School’’ Project 2019.
The project, a yearly event organised by VCRRI is designed to assist
200 out-of-school children in public school gain basic education.
Ehi decried inadequate awareness about child rights laws and poor
policy implementation saying they were reasons people violated child
right laws.
“Although government established laws to promote child rights and curb
all forms of violence against children in the community, more needs to
be done to curtail incidence of child abuse.
“There should be public enlightenment about child right laws; failure
to do so poses major challenge and contributes to child abuses, which
mostly arise from close family members.
“Sometimes, child abuse victims hardly report alleged fathers, uncles
and aunties to court, where punishment might result to imprisonment
that can span five years and more.
“The implementation of child rights laws are low; people are ashamed
to talk about child-related abuses, and tend to back out when called
to speak upfront,” Ehi said.
He said that the federal government’s school feeding initiative had
encouraged children to learn more effectively calling on the private
organisations to support government to achieve growth.
The convener reiterated that protection of children’s right and the
provision of basic education were not the responsibility of government
alone, adding that there should be a holistic approach that would
ensure sustainability.
Ehi said that the organisation plans to publish a book to promote
proper ways to tackle issues about child abuse and related offences.
“We are working on the “Back to School Project” to support 200
out-of-school children across the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in
September, to acquire basic education and become self-reliant.
“We just want to fix indigent out-of-school children in government
secondary schools whose fees are as low as N3, 000.
“We found children hawking on the streets during school hours because
they cannot afford school fees and we thought it wise to support them
to enroll in school,” he said.
Ehi said that children that would benefit from the programme would be
determined by the organisation’s enquiries at local education
authorities’ schools within the FCT.
He appealed to good-spirited individuals and non-governmental
organisations to support the project through the provision of books,
school uniforms, sandals and fees to encourage vulnerable children to
go to school.
