The Country Director, Baywood Foundation, Mr. Chukwudi Ojielo, has faulted the ineffectiveness of the Child Rights Act in some parts of the country.
Ojielo blamed the development to poor knowledge of the law among implementing institutions.
He made the observation on Friday in Enugu at an event organised by the Centre for the Eradication of Violence Against Women (CEVAW) to mark the end of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence.
He noted that Enugu State Government passed the Child Rights Act into law in 2016 to wide applause from stakeholders and regretted that the law was inactive in the state.
Ojielo, however, believed that more still needed to be done to make the Act become active.
He explained, “In terms of content, the Act is perfect; however, in terms of usability and effectiveness, it is not.
“The law has been there but the institutions that are meant to use it are not even aware of its existence. And those who know about its existence are not even conversant with its contents.
“A lot still needs to be done in terms of publicity of the law and getting the various institutions who work with it to know about it so that we can have an effective usage.”
Also speaking at the event, the Deputy Zonal Coordinator of the Centre for Children and Youth Counselling, Dr Chinyere Chibuko, lamented the rising cases of incest in the South-East region of Nigeria.
To redress this, Chibuko explained that the “generational gap” between parents and children must be bridged so that children could learn to confide in their parents.
She noted that parents must teach their children to be assertive and resist improper advances always.
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On his part, the Communication Officer of the Catholic Prisoners Interest Organisation (CAPIO), Chukwuanu Okoli, called for partnership with religious bodies to campaign against incest.
In her contribution, the founder of We Are For The Child Foundation, an NGO, Chimfumnanya Nwandu, emphasised the need to take decisive action once an alert is raised.
“We have to keep speaking out. And then we need to believe our children and take immediate action.
“This is what western countries do: Once they hear it, they take action. They don’t play,” she added.
Earlier in her welcome address, the South East Zonal Coordinator of CEVAW, Mrs Margaret Nwagbo, called on women to break the “culture of violence” by speaking up always against incest.
The 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence is an annual international campaign that kicked off on Nov. 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and runs until Dec.10, International Human Rights Day. (NAN)
