NAN-H-15
Violence
By Benson Ezugwu
Calabar, Jan. 29, 2018 (NAN) An NGO, End Violence against Children Campaign, on Monday called for collaborative efforts toward ending violence against children.
The Coordinator of the NGO, Malam Abdulsalam Abiodun, made the call at a Town Hall meeting organised by the Nasrul-Lahi-I-Fatih Society (NAFSAT) in Calabar, Cross River.
The meeting was organised in collaboration with the United Nations Children Education Fund (UNICEF).
Abiodun said violence against children had become a global phenomenon, adding that in Nigeria, it occurred both in the rural and urban areas.
He said research had shown that six out of every 10 children suffered one form of abuse or the other, adding that violence caused emotional and physical trauma on the child.
“Violence against children is real; it is not hearsay. It happens both in the rural and urban areas; that is why we are calling on all stakeholders to join the fight to end the menace.
“We have carried the campaign to schools, villages and markets in three selected local government areas- Calabar Municipal, Calabar South and Akamkpa.
“Child violence destroys an entire nation; we must not allow it to continue in our society. The time to end it is now,’’ the NGO coordinator said.
On his part, Mr Austine Oqua, the Special Assistant to the Gov. Ben Ayade on Religious Affairs, said that violence could deny a child the opportunity to grow and realise his or her natural potential.
Oqua stressed the need for mothers and caregivers to give them love and care at all times, irrespective of their biological background.
“We need to protect these children because we do not know what they will grow up to become in future. We must give them education, care and love,’’ the governor’s aide said.
In his remarks, Mr Chidi Nkwonta, the Sector Commander, Federal Roads Safety Corps (FRSC) in the state, said that the corps had introduced safety rules in nursery and primary schools in all parts of the country.
Nkwonta, represented by Mr Oluwashola Johnson, the Head of Training, FRSC, said that the rules were to inculcate value orientation into the children.
He said that introducing road safety rules into the education curriculum in Nigeria would go a long way in allowing a child to know his or her rights early in life.
“This is a way of catching them young,’’ the FRSC Sector Commander said. (NAN)
BEN/COF/GOK
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Edited by Oluyinka Fadare/Olagoke Olatoye