By Gistflash News
July 11, 2021
The National Orientation Agency (NOA) in Niger has commenced sensitisation of 60 communities against child abuse, early marriage, child trafficking and failure to enroll children in schools.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports in Minna on Sunday that the programme supported by UNICEF on violence against children is being carried out in Rafi, Edati, Mashegu, Mariga, Mokwa, and Lavun of the state.
Malam Kallamu Paiko, who led a team from the agency to the communities in Lavun Local Government Area, explained that children were blessings from God, hence they should be properly guarded by parents.
He said it was role of parents to ensure their children are enrolled in school, stay in school, primarily and secondary school as well as higher education to become responsible in the society.
“As parents, you should always know the whereabouts of your child, the peer group they mingled with, and stop sending them to other states because they end in wrong hands and get abused,” he said.
Paiko cautioned parents and guardians against sending their wards to other states to either acquire Islamic education or as helps, adding that such acts expose them to all forms of danger and threat.
He advised members of the communities to desist from sending their children for street begging, child trafficking, female genital mutilation and violence against children.
In their separate remarks, Alhaji Abubakar Wachin-Pata, Ezonuwa of Kutigi, Alhaji Salihu Turku, District Head of Ma’ali and Alhaji Usman Suleiman, Community Head of Dabban, lauded the agency for embarking on the sensitisation in their communities.
They identified poverty and unemployment as part of the reasons why some parents don’t live up to their responsibilities.
The community heads also said some government policies on child rights favour the child more, thereby making some parents fail in their responsibilities to discipline their children.
“For instance, when a parent decides to make decision for a child by telling him or her to complete school before getting married, when the child refuses and the parent reports the case to the police, a child can decide to take the parent to a civil rights organisation,” they said.
They gave assurance that they would continue to educate their subjects on the need to take up the responsibility of training them on the right paths.
NAN
