The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has said six out of 10 children in the country experience forms of physical, emotional or sexual violence before attaining the age of 18.
The UNICEF Communication Officer at the Bauchi Field Office, Mr. Samuel Kaalu, stated this yesterday in Gombe at a media dialogue with newsmen on Violence Against Children ahead of the launch of a campaign tagged ‘End Violence Against Children’ (EVAC) in the state.
Mr Kaalu said a survey conducted by the National Population Commission (NPC) with support from the UNICEF and the United States Centre for Disease Control and Prevention in 2014 indicated that: one in two children experience physical violence, one in four girls and one in 10 boys experience sexual violence, while one in six girls and one in five boys experience emotional violence.
The UNICEF communication officer said Governor Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo would officially launch a campaign to put an end to violence against children in the state on Wednesday (tomorrow) in response to a directive by President Muhammadu Buhari in September 2015.
President Buhari had during the launch of the National Action to End Violence Against Children directed that every state in Nigeria should initiate its own campaign.
Our correspondent reports that the EVAC campaign is funded by the European Union (EU) to create awareness and end acts of violence against children in the society.
Also speaking, the Permanent Secretary of the state Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Welfare, Hajiya Laraba Ahmed Kawu, said the ministry had submitted a draft copy of the Child Rights Act to the House of Assembly for domestication.
She said the Act sought to protect children against any act or form of violence and discrimination.
