FRAMEWORK ON THE PROTECTION OF CHILDREN IN NIGERIA
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.60787/kblsj.v1i2.17Keywords:
Rights of the Child, Enforcement of Provision, AU Charter on rights and Welfare, Protection, Violation, Best interest of the ChildAbstract
Abstract
It is the duty of every government and society to protect the children. This is because the care, safety and education they receive determine the extent to which they will mature into useful citizens of the society. Nigeria assented to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child and consequently transmuted the content provisions to the provisions of the Child Rights Act 2003, which emphasised ‘the best interest of the child’ is the interest aimed to be protected. It is against this background that the paper considered the meaning of the concept of a child, the instances of abuse and violations of the rights of the child, signs and symptoms of abuse as well as legal intervention by relevant authorities to protect children. The authors argued that the process of enforcement of the provisions of the Act has continued to be a barrier to the successful protection of the interest of children in Nigeria. The paper therefore maintained that the absence of official policy compelling States to domesticate the Act as well as indulgence in mass education will continue to operate as huge challenge to the realisation of the provisions of the Act on the one hand , and the best interest of the child on the other hand.
References
UNICEF, ‘Child Protection’ <https://www.unicef.org/nigeria/child-protection> accessed January 25,2021
Ibid.
Humanium,’ Children of Nigeria: Realising Children’s Rights in Nigeria, <https://www.humanium.org/en/nigeria/> accessed January 15, 2021.
IBRD and UNICEF Reports <https://www.humanium.org/en/rcri-world-ranking-by-countries/> This report was made using the Realization of Children’s Right’s Index (RCRI) and data collected by the World Bank and UNICEF amongst other sources.
UNICEF, ’Child Protection’
.UNICEF Child Protection Sheet: What is Child Protection?, <https://www.unicef.org/chinese/protection/files/What_is_Child_Protection.pdf> accessed 15 February 2021.
[Hereafter, The UNICEF]
Fhi360,’Child Protection Basics,’ <https://www.fhi360.org/sites/default/files/media/documents/child-protection-basics.pdf> accessed 20 February 2021.
.Article 1, Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989, <https://www.childrensrights.ie/sites/default/files/submissions_reports/files/UNCRCEnglish_0.pdf> accessed on 22 November 2020. This is consistent with Article 1 of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child 1990.
Sections 77, 117, 132 and 178 of the Constitution of Nigeria 1999 as amended.
S. 257 Companies and Allied Matters Act, LFN 2004.
Labinjoh v. Abake [1924] 5 NLR p.33, where the Court held that in accordance with the Common Law that was in force at that time, the age of majority was twenty-one years of age. This remains the provision of the Marriage Act till date in Nigeria.
Section 18 of Marriage Act 1990
Ibid
Fhi360,’Child Protection Basics”
Government of the Netherlands, “What is Child Abuse?’ <https://www.government.nl/topics/child-abuse/what-is-child-abuse#:~:text=Child%20abuse%20is%20not%20just,a%20form%20of%20domestic%20violence%20.> Accessed 04 February 2021. Child maltreatment refers to all forms of physical and/or emotional ill-treatment, (sexual) abuse, neglect or negligent treatment or commercial or other exploitation, resulting in actual or potential harm to the child’s health, survival, development or dignity in the context of a relationship of responsibility, trust or power.
Ibid.
Fhi360,’Child Protection Basics’
Resource Centre, ‘Child Exploitation,’ <https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/keyword/child-exploitation> accessed 10 February 2021
Ibid.
Fhi360, Child Protection Basics’
Ibid.
UNICEF Data, ‘Child Marriages,’ <https://data.unicef.org/topic/child-protection/child-marriage/> accessed on 19 January 2021
Plan International, ‘Child Marriage,’ <https://plan-international.org/sexual-health/child-marriage-early-forced> accessed 28 February 2021
Plan International, ‘Female Genital Mutilation,’ <https://plan-international.org/sexual-health/fgm-female-genital> accessed 28 February 2021
Mom.com, ‘How can Foster Care Affect the Mind of a Child,’ <https://mom.com/kids/5866-how-can-foster-care-affect-mind-child> accessed 15 December 2020
Mayo Clinic, ‘Child Abuse,’ <https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/child-abuse/symptoms-causes/syc-20370864> accessed 28 December 2020
[Hereafter, The CYPA 1943]
Adaora N. Iguh and Nosike Onyeka, An Examination of the Child Rights Protection and Corporal Punishment in Nigeria, index.php>naujilj>article>view> accessed 04 February 2021
Ibid.
[Hereafter, The UNCRC]
OHCHR, ‘Convention on the Rights of the Child,’ adopted November 1989, entered into force September 1990. <https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/crc.aspx> accessed 01 February 2021
Save the Children, ‘UN Convention on the Rights of the Child: An International Agreement for Child Rights,’ <https://www.savethechildren.org.uk/what-we-do/childrens-rights/united-nations-convention-of-the-rights-of-the-child#:~:text=The%20United%20Nations%20Convention%20on,their%20race%2C%20religion%20or%20abilities> Accessed 01 February 2021.
Ibid.
In 2001, the OAU legally became the African Union
Save the Children Resource Centre, ‘African Charter on the Rights of the Child,’ <https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/library/african-charter-rights-child> accessed 25 February 2021. It should be noted that the ACRWC and the CRC are the only international and regional human rights treaties that cover the whole spectrum of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights.
Ibid.
African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC), ‘Ratification of ACRWC, <https://endcorporalpunishment.org/human-rights-law/regional-human-rights-instruments/acrwc/#:~:text=Ratification%20of%20ACRWC,member%20states%20(June%202019> accessed 03 February 2021. The Military Government of General Ibrahim Babangida of Nigeria ratified the ACRWC in February 2003
Nigeria: Act No. 26 of 2003, Child's Rights Act, 2003 [Nigeria], 31 July 2003, available at: <https://www.refworld.org/docid/5568201f4.html> accessed 1 February 2020]
Stephen Nmeregini Achilihu (2010). Do African Children Have Rights?: A Comparative and Legal Analysis of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Adaora N. Iguh and Nosike Onyeka, ‘An Examination of the Child Rights Protection and Corporal Punishment in Nigeria, index.php>naujilj>article>view> accessed 04 February 2021. These provisions are replica of Art.3 (1) of the UNCRC.
Anya Kingsley Anya, The Nigerian State in Episcopal Frock and Consequences of Sermon with Legislative Force, Human Rights and Jurisprudence Journal, Jnl. Of the CAARS, Vol. 1 No. 1 2014 University of Pretoria, South Africa, Pp. 82, 96; See again Anya Kingsley Anya, Quest for Criminalizing Perceived Immorality in Nigeria: Challenges and Prospects (2008) 1 & 2 Ife Juris Review, Pp. 118-130
Bin Muhammad Husni, Z. Nasohah, and Izhar Ariff Mohd Kashim, (2015), Problem of Domestic Violence and Its Solution in the light of Maqasid Shariah, Asian Social Science, 11(22).
D. Powers, (1998). The Islamic Inheritance System, Islamic Law and Society, 5 (3), Pp.285, 290
The Igiogbe is the particular home where the deceased lived and died. See generally, AK Anya, Extending the Frontiers of Intestate Succession and Inheritance to Adopted Beneficiary: Olaiya v Olaiya, (2002) Igbinedion University College of Law Journal vol. 1 Pp. 76-96; ResearchGate.net/anyakingsleyanya, where the author examined the plausibility and possibility of accommodating persons ordinarily not related by blood, in inheriting as well as succeeding the intestate estate and / or traditional office, in a nonetheless peculiar customary setting against the backdrop of the decision of the apex court in Olaiya v Olaiya in Nigeria. The author demonstrated the fact that customary rule of law operated to preclude an adopted person to customary / traditional stools, posts and offices premised on the rule of blood descent, that is, patter-sociological. The author further argued that the decision of the apex court has lent credence to the fact that a person other than a biological child of a deceased though eligible to become a beneficiary, is nonetheless precluded against the backdrop of diverse cultural and customary practices, which, at best is notionally sectional in Nigeria. The author maintained the ingenuity of the decision in apparently curing whatever disability affecting adopted persons in Nigeria as well as in other communities where customary practices are extant.
Nosike and Iguh (2011), An Examination of the Child Rights Protection and Corporal Punishment in Nigeria.
Folami, O. Aruna, T. Ihimoyan, and D. Olatunji, (2018), Child Labour and Protection: An Exploration of Vulnerable Children in Lagos State Nigeria, Humanities and Social Sciences Letters, 6 (4), Pp.171, 179. Presently, in many areas of Lagos such as the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway, Ikorodu Road, Ikoyi-Obalende, Oyingbo, Carter Bridge, Idumota, Oshodi, Ketu, Mile 12, Third Mainland Bridge, Cele, Iyana-Ipaja, Agbado, Oke-Odo, Ikeja among others, it is not uncommon to see children ranging between 9-17 years of age hawking various goods on the road, it is also not uncommon to see young children between the ages of 5-9 begging on the streets. These children who hawk and beg by the roadsides usually suffer from fatigue and other health issues because they engage in activities too strenuous for their young and fragile frames. They are also exposed to the dangers of getting kidnapped, robbed or knocked down by vehicles. To further elaborate on the last point, a recent report published by the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), reveals that in Lagos about 40% of road accident victims are traffic traders located on the road or by the road side.
‘Bureau of International Labour Affairs, Child Labour and Forced Labour Reports–Nigeria, 2019,’ <https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ilab/resources/reports/child-labor/nigeria> accessed 10 February 2020
They include Abia, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bayelsa, Benue, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Ebonyi, Ekiti, Imo, Jigawa Lagos,Nassarawa, Niger, Ondo, Osun, Oyo Plateau, Rivers and Taraba States.
Ashogbon, A.,A, “Call for Increased Domestication and Implementation of the Child Rights Act in Nigeria”.
http://development.com/a-call-for-increased-domestication-and-implementation-of-the-child-rights-act-innigeria. assessed on October 19,2020.
For instance, Plateau State.
Saleh A, Gombe and Hassan Ibrahim, H.,” Nigeria:Gombe Children Seek Domestication of Child Rights Act”(2016) RHSS vol.6 No.9 pdf, https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/234675068.pdf
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