Gombe restates commitment to protect children’s rights
The Gombe State Government on Thursday restated its commitment to the protection of the rights of children in the state.
The Commissioner of Women Affairs, Mrs Naomi Awak, who stated this while delivering her speech at an event to mark the Day of the African Child celebration in the state, said children rights and welfare were top priority to the state government.
The event, sponsored by Save the Children International (SCI) in collaboration with the Gombe state Government was funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Awak stated that children were ‘precious gifts’ and as such “ should be accorded all the rights and privileges due to them including quality education at all levels.
She stated that the administration of Gov. Inuwa Yahaya had not only provided an environment conducive for learning but had also improved infrastructure in schools.
She added that the improvement of the quality of education through employment of qualified teachers as well as the safety of children in schools across the state was being given due attention.
She said that there was an ongoing effort to domesticate the Child Rights Act in the state by the state government.
“Within a short while the bill will be passed into law by the state house of assembly and then assented to by the governor,” she said.
The commissioner warned perpetrators of rape to desist as anyone caught would be prosecuted in accordance with the law of the land.
While appreciating SCI for prioritising issues of children in the state, Awak appealed to development partners to support government in its efforts to address issues of health and general well-being of children in Gombe children.
Also, State Commissioner of Education, Mr Dauda Batari, said education remained a vital tool for empowering children in any society.
Batari said the state government was aware of this, hence the massive infrastructure development in schools across the state.
In his remarks, Mr Akpan Effiong, Community Engagement and Advocacy Coordinator, SCI, Gombe State Office said the day was an opportunity for serious reflection and commitment towards addressing numerous challenges facing the children.
Effiong stated that the celebration should be a build-up to the realisation of the rights of children across Africa, while appreciating the stakeholders for participating in the celebration.
Some of the participants who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) said education should be made free and compulsory from primary to secondary school level.
Miss Hafsat Waziri, a student of Alheri Model School, Gombe, said poverty was a major challenge to educating children in the state.
She “Education will bring out the potential in the African child. The girl-child is special so they should be given rights to education.”
Waziri appealed to parents to send their female children to school, adding that “ having female children are blessings and if they are educated would bring great change and contribute to the development of the nation.”
Gombe restates commitment to protect children’s rights (NAN)