NBA urges protection of children against abuse

BY IJEOMA NATHANIEL

Nigerian Bar Association, Ikeja branch, has advised parents to protect their children against abuses.

Chairman of the branch, Mr. Monday Onyekachi Ubani, gave the advice at an interactive session organised by African Women Lawyers Association, AWLA.

Ubani, who was represented by his Vice, Mr. Adeshina Ogunlana, said children needed protection to insulate them against social vices which had eaten deep into the fabrics of the society.

Chairman of the occasion, Mrs. Titi Akinlawon, SAN, who spoke on the topic, “Child Protection; Culture and Responsibilities”, said there was no law that guided the rights of the child in Lagos until 2007.

According to her, before then, there was only one law that protected the rights of a child in Nigeria.

She noted that though the new generation of children had the privilege of electronic media network, there was need for parents to inculcate high level of disciplines and integrity in their children.

Mrs Akinlawon said: ”You are our future and if we fail to seek for your welfare, how then do you become the future of tomorrow?”.

Speaking on ‘Child Protection’, Mrs. Tam George, Secretary of Nigerian Bar Association, Ikeja branch, quoted the recent report by United States that over 10.5 percent of children of school age in Nigeria were out of school.

She said: “You have right to sound education, you have right to leisure and recreation, you have right to move together in group, you have right to ask and to express yourself, you have right not to be physically abused.”

She also spoke on the need for the rights protecting the children and women, saying laws were made to define performance and contribute to thedevelopment of the society.

George, however, charged Nigerian children to pursue their goals and seek more information that could assist them in their academics.

Similarly, Mrs. Lara Williams, a seasoned educationist, spoke on culture and religion, saying culture had taken away over 99% of day to day activities in Africa.

She added that men were supposedly given more opportunities than women and implored women to be bold to reach beyond the cultural norm of the society.

According to her, there should be an end to the attitude of discrimination between the male and female child in the family.

She also frowns on public discrimination against disabled persons in the society.

”Disable children are always not being properly taking care of, they are always being hidden for the public,” she added

These people should be catered to and allowed to be what they want to be in the society as long as it is moral and lawful.

She also task Nigerian children to always listen to instructions from their parents, adding that, “parents have responsibilities to their children as the children have also to them”.