CHILDREN’S DAY: TSHA Speaker assures more child friendly legislation
By Christiana Babayo.
The Speaker Taraba State House of Assembly, Professor Joseph Albasu Kunini has assured that the state Assembly will continue to do its very best to put in place a legislation that will ensure the safety and comfort of children in the state.
The Speaker who stated this in his Children’s Day message noted that children are Gods gifts to their parents and the world at large, as such, the need for them to be guarded jealously cannot be over emphasized.
In his words, “Today we are adults but we must not forget that we were once children and these children are very precious gifts that must be cherished by all. Unfortunately, childhood is also the most vulnerable age in human development. Once we fail to protect them at this stage, we are likely going to have a broken and ripped adults”.
“Most of the challenges we have in our world today is because we failed the children at the time they needed us the most. And so we must wake up and give the children the much needed protection, love, care, comfort and the right upbringing”. He added.
Kunini said that as a legislature, they would continue do everything possible through oversight duties to ensure that the Child Protection Law passed recently is fully enforced in the state.
“The role of morality in the overall upbringing of the child is very vital, we are already contemplating a legislation that will ensure that the right moral values and the right principles such as dignity of labour, taking responsibility, honesty, patriotism and others are taught in our schools”. He said.
The Speaker further enjoined members of the public to use the occasion of the 2021 Children’s Day celebration to reach out to the vulnerable children, especially orphans, the physically challenged and those displaced by crisis to show them love and concern in order to build confidence in them.
Meanwhile, United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund, UNICEF had today commemorated Nigerian Children’s Day, saying that it comes at a challenging moment for Child Rights in the country and the world, with the COVID-19 pandemic threatening gains made for children’s development.
The Country Director of the UNICEF, Peter Hawkins who made a statement on children’s Day also commended the resilience of the Nigerian child.
According to him,
“Nigerian children are resilient, talented and aspire to do great things. And it is our responsibility to give them the platform and encouragement to do just that”.
While lamenting the violence rate experienced by children, Hawkins advised that the country must reinforce protection mechanism for all children.
“The pandemic is threatening decades of progress we have made for children. Violence is perpetrated against one in four Nigerian children – and one in three Nigerian girls are sexually abused. This has only increased during the pandemic. But we have learned from this pandemic too. One thing we have learned is that education takes place not only in schools – children can and should learn both in and out of school” he said.
He advised that, “as we celebrate our children today, we must act in their best interests and deploy innovative solutions to fast-track learning and health services to build back better, for every Nigerian child.”
