To underscore the importance the United
Nations attaches to children, one of the steps
taken was to set aside November 20 of every
year as the Universal Children’s Day. It was first
marked worldwide in 1954 under the auspices of
the UN.
The day was set aside to encourage nations of
the world to devote a special day for the
promotion of the welfare of children as well as
provide platforms for interaction and
understanding among children.
Here in Nigeria, May 27 of every year (today) is
dedicated to celebrate children. It is usually a
school-free day, with primary and secondary
school children traditionally decked out in their
school uniforms for competitive march-pasts in
open fields, with top government officials on
hand to acknowledge their salute.
Beyond the pompand pageantry however, the
Children’s Day in Nigeria calls for greater
attention to the multiplicity of challenges that
children face. Nigeria remains one of the
countries with the highest number of out-of-
school children and school dropouts roaming the
streets. In the North, they are known as al majiri
(or Islamic pupils cast loose in the streets to beg
for alms). In the South, they are mostly found in
the streets hawking (usually) a variety of petty
items.
Children have come under additional pressures
as a result of upsurges of violence, especially the
Boko Haram Islamist insurgency in the North
East, which has uprooted millions of people from
their homes. Boko Haram directly targeted
schools, destroying so many of them in the three
core conflict states of Borno, Yobe and
Adamawa. Many of these children have been
living in Internally-Displaced People’s IDPs
camps in many parts of the country and have
been out of school for upwards of three years.
In addition to this, Nigerian children still suffer
child labour, domestic violence and deprivations
linked to poverty and ignorance. The girl child, in
particular, is increasingly targeted by abductors
who either kidnap them for ransom or force
them into early marriage. The cases of Ese Oruru
and others are festering.
We call on both Federal and State governments
to take the welfare of our children, especially
the less-privileged ones more serious. We must
devote more care and attention to the wellbeing
of the children of the poor, otherwise, when
they grow up the society will never know peace.
Young people who have lent themselves to
agents of terror in Northern Nigeria by
becoming suicide bombers is a warning of how
the neglect of children on cultural, religious or
whatever basis can come back to haunt the
society.
Caring for the welfare of our children is in the
national interest. They are still the leaders – or
terrors – of tomorrow!
Ikpambese remains Benue CJ, NJC declares
-
The National Judicial Council has stated that Justice Maurice Ikpambese
remains the Chief Judge of Benue State. In a statement on Wednesday signed
by the...
21 minutes ago
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