The Niger state Child Rights Protection Agency said on Monday that it will ensure that parents of the 15 children rescued from a torture house in Suleja are prosecuted in accordance with the law.
Hajiya Mariam Kolo, Director-General of the agency, made this known during a visit to the COVID-19 Isolation Centre where the children are receiving medical attention in Minna.
Recall that the police, following reliable information received on July 18, rescued the children from a house disguised as an Islamic study centre.
The children were said to have been physically abused, chained by their teacher and had scars all over their bodies.
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They were later handed over to the state child rights agency to be taken care of.
Speaking on Monday, Kolo said: “The children are doing fine now, we have been taking good care of them in terms of feeding and medical care and when we are sure they are out of danger medically we will reunite them with their families.”
Kolo said that parents of the children would soon be prosecuted once the ongoing strike by the state labour union was over to serve as a deterrent to others.
The child rights activist appealed to parents, especially fathers, to look inward within their communities for Islamic schools to enroll their wards and desist from sending them to strangers, adding: “There are enough Islamic schools within their locality, children are supposed to be blessings to society rather than a burden, these children from every indication do not have moral training.
“Henceforth, any parents caught sending their children away from home to other places will be dealt with decisively.”
