.Explains inability to domesticate Child Rigth Act
Bauchi State government has spent N71.8m on Ramadan feeding from 2015 till date.
Commissioner for Religious Affairs and Community Relations, Alhaji Baba Madugu,
disclosed this while briefing newsmen on the achievements of the present administration.
He said that 200 mosques benefited from the Ramadan feeding in 2015 while 255 mosques benefited in 2016 and 255 mosques are to benefit in 2017.
He further said that each mosque would feed 100 people per day in the ongoing Ramadan feeding in the state.
The commisoner also said that said N23 million was approved in 2015 while in 2016 the mosques got N23.8 million and in 2017, N25 million was spent.
“To win the hearts and minds of “have not ” and those in need, His Excellency approved the sum of N23 million for the feeding and more than 200 mosques benefited from the gesture in 2015. In the same year, the ministry successfully coordinated the distribution of essential food items during Easter, Christmas and Ramadan seasons, respectively.
“In 2016, His excellency approved the sum of N23, 800,000 for the conduct of Ramadan feeding and was successfully conducted where about 255 mosques benefited. Same year, the sum of N5,469,000 for the procurement and distribution of Sallah gift to 31 communities in the state.
“In July 2016, N5,480,000 was approved for the purchase of items for distribution to various communities in the state. In this year 2017, the sum of N25,000,000 was approved by His excellency for Ramadan feeding in which about 255 are to benefit”, he said.
The commiosner stated that plans were on the way for the costruction, renovations and completion of places of worship and religious oriented schools following requests received from various communities and organizations.
According to Madugu, “the establishment of the Minstry of Religious Affairs in 2012 has elicited the promotion of peaceful co-existence in the state and invariably became the most peaceful in the entire North Eastern states.”
The commissioner also unveiled the plan of the ministry to embark on registration of worship places as well as taxing beneficiary organizations which benefited from the services of the govenment to boost the state revenue base.
Meanwhile, the Bauchi State government has said that its inability to domesticate the Child Rigth Act was due to some grey areas of the law that were still stirring some controversies. The state Commissioner for Women Affair and Child Development, Asabe Hamma Mohammed, stated this in Bauchi.
She said that the ministry had already passed the bill to Bauchi State House of Assembly, but there were still some sensitive areas of the law such as the age for marriage for a girl.
“The document contains a lot of controveries, more especially for us here in the northern part of this country. There are things in the document we are finding it difficult to accept for instance the age for marriage for a girl.
“The Child Rigth Act law states that the stipulated age for a girl to get married is 18 years, but here in the north, we find girls who are 15 and 16 years given out in marriage. Secondly, a child who commits a crime cannot be reprimanded in prison, hence the difficulty in domesticating the law.”
The commissioner said that the law was on a stay of action, but that the ministry was still working on addressing those controversial issues in the law.