The Chief of Field Office, UNICEF Nigeria, Bauchi Field office, Abdulai Kaikai, has appealed for an end to violence against children in Nigeria.
Kaikai made the appeal in Bauchi at a media briefing to mark 2017 Children’s’ Day with the theme, “Child Protection and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Issues and opportunities.
He said that 50 percent of all children in Nigeria experience physical violence.
His words: “According to the findings of the 2014 Nigeria violence against children survey conducted by the National Population Commission with the support of the United Centres for Disease Control and UNICEF, approximately six out of every 10 children also experience some form of violence.
“One in four girls and one in 10 boys experience sexual violence as well as one in six and one in five boys experience emotional violence by a parent, caregiver or adult relative”, he added.
Kaikai called on all stakeholders in the country to take action to end violence against children in Nigeria.
He said, “preventing violence against children is not just a legal obligation and a moral imperative, failure to prevent violence leads to substantial economic loses (estimated 2-8%GDP). Ending violence against children has been linked to sustainable growth in the National Priority Agenda for vulnerable children 2013-2010 and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
“So on the occasion of this year’s Nigeria Children’s Day, all must take action to end violence against children. As violence against children is found to be prevalent in all the states in Nigeria, I particularly call on the six states of Adamawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Jigawa, Plateau and Taraba states, which are supported by the UNICEF Nigeria Bauchi Field Office to take action to end violence against children.”
UNICEF also called on the states that were yet to enact the Child Right Law to pass the laws, stressing, “in the six states supported by the UNICEF Nigeria Bauchi Field Office, only Plateau and Taraba have the Child’s Right Law. The other four states comprising Adamawa, Bauchi, Gombe and Jigawa have not yet passed the child right law. I therefor call on these four states to pass the Child Rights Bill to have a law that provides legal framework for the protection of children.
Kaikai thereby assured that UNICEF would continue to support the government and all stakeholders to end violence against children as well as ensure the protection and realization of their rights, saying, “this is consistent with its mandate as given by UN General Assembly in 1946 when it voted to establish UNICEF as the agency for children”.
“In the UNICEF Bauchi Field office zone. UNICEF supported the Plateau state government to launch the campaign to end violence against children in 2016. UNICEF is currently working with the Gombe state government to launch the end violence against children campaign in Gombe state and 7th June 2017 has been scheduled for that launch which will be performed by the Governkr of Gobe state Dr Ibrahim Hassan Dakwambo”, he said.
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