WRITTEN BY TIMOTHY ONYEJELEM

Children are bedrock of the society. They are the future leaders of any given generation. The importance of children in society is not negotiable.  This is because no society can boast of achieving sustainable growth if there is a decline in the number of its children. Consequently, the higher the number of children and youths, the brighter the future of the society.

Thus, it is important to recognize that children are like the proverbial yam tendrils which must be guided with stakes before they can flourish. Hence, the need to protect their fundamental human rights is a task that demands all hands to be on the deck.

A child, according to the United Nations, “is a human being under 18 years of age”. The UN Convention on the Right of the Child recognizes the inalienable rights of the child to include right to life, identity, expression, thought, education, healthcare, dignity, privacy, family life, among numerous others.

Article 19 of the Convention obliges all stakeholders to “take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse, while in the care of parent(s), legal guardian(s) or any other person who has the care of the child.”

Under the Nigerian law, the child, like every other individual, is entitled to the fundamental human rights as enshrined in the Chapter Four of the 1999 Constitution. However, being a particularly vulnerable group, children are further accorded special legal protection as represented by the passage of the Child’s Rights Act and Nigeria’s signing of the UN Convention on the Right of the Child.

Despite all the efforts by stakeholders in protecting the rights of the child globally, the Nigerian child has continued to suffer various degrees of abuse, particularly those being fostered by uncles, aunties, stepfathers and stepmothers, among others.

The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) makes provision for emergency food and healthcare to children and mothers in countries that have been devastated by war and crisis of all kinds is in the forefront of protecting the rights of children.

To protect our children from being abused of their rights and to create an enabling educational, social, cultural, religious, and economic environment that will enthrone mental, moral and physical development of every child in Nigeria, there is the need to put into work the Child Rights Act of 2003.

Again, those states that are yet to domesticate the Child Rights Act should do so or be sanctioned. Offenders should be made to face the full weight of the law. Education should be made free for all, since it is said that “an educated mind breeds an enlightened society”. 

More so, the role of the mass media as agents of socialization and mass mobilization has not been in doubt. Their role in advancing the course of the Nigerian child should be commended. It would be recalled that a social media post of the teenage marriage between a 56-year old man and a sixteen-year old girl recently drew the attention of the relevant stakeholders which brought about the dissolution of the purported marriage and the consequent withdrawal of the teenage girl.

Also, a single post of a young school child, Miss Success Adegor, who was sent out of school in Delta State, brought good fortunes to the girl, the lady who posted the video and the School, These roles by the media are empirical evidence to the fact that the media is a sine qua none in the business of protecting the rights of the Nigerian child.

However, the wrongful use of the new media technologies could lead to pandemonium, fake news, misinformation, indecency and the likes. So, we have got good tools in our hands, let us use them wisely.

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