FG not doing enough to protect children, women -WANEP

The three tiers of government, especially in the Norther Nigeria have been accused of not doing enough to protect the rights of children and women despite an increase in cases of violence and abuse against them.

This was one of the highlights of a one-day Consultative Meeting on Women and Countering Violent Extremism in the North East organised by the West Africa Network for Peace building (WANEP-Nigeria) in Abuja with the support of Norwegian Agency for Development and Cooperation (NORAD).

Speaking at the event, the immediate past Board Chair of WANEP- Nigeria, Prof. Patricia Donli, lamented that some children in the Northeast have known nothing but violence, saying that the lack of implementation of relevant laws that protects the rights of children has given rise to varying degrees of abuses.

She said, “Rape cases are on the increase in the North East. We have four cases in Maiduguri IDPs alone last week. Just recently two sisters were raped by a teacher, a little boy was nailed on his head. General hospitals smell so bad because of girls suffering from VVF due to child marriage,” Donli said.

She regrets that 11 northern states are yet to domesticate the Child Rights Act (CRA) enacted in 2003 and the VAPP Act and even in states which have, implementations have been very slow due to lack of coordination among actors and political will from government.

She said only four states in the North East has the SAP to include Boronu, Gombe, Yobe, Adamawa. This according to is due to a lack of political will in the part of government.

Also, the National Coordinator, WANEP-Nigeria, Chief Bridget Osakwe, said that women and girls bear most of the brunt of violence, yet are excluded in the peace building and conflict resolution processes.

She explained that, in the North East geo-political zone, violent extremism has increased in tenacity from unabated attacks from the violent extremist group Boko Haram.