Ms Onyeka Onwenu, the Director-General, National Centre for Women Development (NCWD), on Friday urged President Muhammadu Buhari and his wife, Aisha to be promoters and advocates of child rights.
Onwenu, a famous Nigerian artiste, gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.
“At this stage, we have to implore Mr President and the wife of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to take it on as a very important issue, talk about it anywhere they go.
“It’s so important to protect the child; we can’t move forward as a society unless we protect those who are not able to protect themselves.
She emphasised the need for all the 36 states of the federation to domesticate the Child Right’s Act (CRA) passed in the country in 2003.
Onwenu said, “The first family, public institutions, media and the civil societies must advocate more on it for these states to do the needful.“
She urged the state governors and the various state houses of assembly to be proactive in ensuring the domestication of the Act.
“We must say to the governors and the various state Legislatures that the Act is aimed at protecting these young ones. So, it is more of their responsibilities to protect these young people.
“They have to be made to explain to us why they are not comfortable with recognising or domesticating this Act,“ she said.
NAN reports that 24 states have so far domesticated the law, which is aimed at protecting children’s rights.