The Child Rights Act: a sine qua non to the Freedom of the Nigeria Child

I boarded a bus, after a while a female passenger and her daughter boarded.

Male Passenger 1: Ahhhhh! Madam (exclaimed) don't tell me you want to lap this big girl.

Driver: No! No! No! No! Madam abeg carry two (2) seats.

Female Passenger: This little girl? Please oh, I am lapping her.

Male Passenger 1: You call this woman little girl? Hmmmm!

Female Passenger: She is my daughter nah 

Male Passenger 2: Madam your pikin mates don born finish for north oh

This statement ofcourse caught my attention so I listened keenly.

Female Passenger: (laughs) Abeg oh, my daughter nah small girl.

This time, every passenger started conversing on the issue, some citing obvious cases to back their submissions.

As I listened, I couldn't help but agree to some of the salient truths pointed out by these passengers. They however missed it when they were only referring to the northern part of the country. (though they are worst hit). 

The last time I visited some rural communities in the south, early childbirth/pregnancies was an eye saw. You literally will not need a soothsayer to tell you what was going on. You could see young girls with pregnancies, some with up to three children. 

By physical evaluation, the ages of these children has barely a year interval and their young mothers far below eighteen. 

So many questions aroused from these encounters;

1. Where are the parents of these young girls?

2. Who is responsible for these pregnancies?

3. Where are the fathers of these children?

4. Were they given out in marriage or just unwanted pregnancies.

5. Aren't they supposed to be in school?

6. Why did they not go back to school after delivery?

7. Who is to be blamed?

As these questions and many more filled my mind, I was however able to make a clear assertion; the government, society and the individual homes has failed in it basic responsibility.

I was about alighting, quickly I corrected the various misconceptions the passengers had especially their "northern view" and then enlightened them about the 'child right act' which was adopted in Nigeria in 2003. This law is however ineffective until the different states domesticate it, but it will however surprise you to know that since 2003, 14 years after, only 16 out of 36 states has done this. And in the states were the child right act has be domesticated, it lacks implementation. 

A full domestication and implementation of the child rights

act remains a sine qua non to the liberation of the Nigerian child.