The Save The Children’s Better Life for Girls Media Group, Gombe State, has expressed concern over the non-passage of the Child Rights Bill by the Gombe State House of Assembly.
Speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria in Gombe on Tuesday, the Chairperson of the group, Mrs Suuda Mustapha, noted that the delay in the passage of the bill had subjected many children to harms way and social rights violations.
Mustapha also said that the dearth of information on the state of the bill was “particularly frustrating, considering the fact that neighbouring states had made progress in that regard”.
According to her, the high rates of rape and child labour are connected to the absence of adequate legal documents to deal with perpetrators of these crimes against innocent children.
Mustapha said, “I am particularly worried, knowing that we are going into an election year where everything is halted for political activities and I fear that the bill could be overtaken by political events.”
She distressingly wondered why a “bill of such importance can be delayed like this”, since “it (the bill) had passed through first and second reading” phases in the state parliament.
“I think it is time to conclude — by passing the bill. Our children need a better future where their rights are ‘rights’ and not perceived as ‘privileges’.
“We can only do that by domesticating the Child Rights Act in Gombe State to protect their wellbeing,” she remarked.
Mustapha therefore urged the state government and lawmakers to expedite the passage of the bill, while also appealing to parents, religious and community leaders, civil society organisations, groups and the media to intensify pleas in that regard.
NAN
