President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has launched the National Action Plan on Ending Violence Against Children in Nigeria, with a call for stiff enforcement of the Child Rights Act and other child protection laws that guarantee the safety, dignity, and future of Nigerian children.
He outlined practical steps being taken by his administration to achieve this, including the establishment of a dedicated Child Protection and Development Agency, launch of the Universal Child Grant to reduce household poverty and children’s vulnerability; creation of a National Child Protection Database and a Child Well-being Index, to track the government’s progress and uphold accountability.
The President stated this on Thursday during the first regional meeting of the Africa Pathfinder Countries of the Global Alliance on Ending Violence Against Children at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
President Tinubu who was represented at the event by his deputy, Vice President Kashim Shettima, declared his administration’s commitment to “establishing a dedicated Child Protection and Development Agency to ensure coherent coordination of all issues relating to the Nigerian child.”
The president noted that while each day comes with a reminder of the dreams of Nigerian children, the conditions into which they are born, and whether these conditions protect or betray them, are also critical issues to ponder.
President Tinubu assured that relevant government institutions, including the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, are armed with the required training and resources to spearhead the protection of the Nigerian child across all levels of government, even as he maintained that it is a crusade for which sincerity and honesty are required.
To ensure stiff enforcement of child protection laws in Nigeria, President Tinubu said his administration is “strengthening existing institutions and laws, and launching national campaigns to promote awareness and drive behavioural change.”
The President underlined the importance of the first regional meeting of Africa’s Pathfinder Countries under the Global Alliance on Ending Violence Against Children, pointing out that “it breathes new life into the bold declarations made at the First Global Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence Against Children held in Bogotá.”
Earlier, the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary General on Violence Against Children, Dr Najat Maalla M’jid, urged African leaders to move beyond commitments and implement concrete actions to protect children from violence and exploitation.
Dr M’jid also charged delegates to the meeting and other participants to focus on peer learning, effective strategy sharing, and collective actions in addressing common obstacles to ensure child protection efforts are sustainable in Africa.
On her part, Nigeria’s Minister of Women Affairs, Hon Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, highlighted the country’s commitment and the progress made since the Ministerial Conference in Bogotá, Colombia, in November 2024, noting that the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Tinubu is strengthening legal frameworks, scaling up the Safe Schools Programme and expanding parenting interventions
In separate remarks, the heads of delegation to the regional meeting from Zimbabwe, Cote d’Ivoire, Sierra Leone and Burkina Faso, stated the recommitment of their various countries to the global alliance to ending violence against children as declared in Bogota in November 2024.
They presented progress reports from their respective countries, commended the leadership provided by Nigeria and urged all stakeholders to be intentional about ending violence against children and not to pay lip-service to the programmes and policies designed to actualize the objectives.
