January 18, (THEWILL) – Paediatric Association of Nigeria, PAN, has raised alarm over the incessant cases of child abuse in the country, despite existing Child Rights Act assented to in 2003 by the then President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.
President of the association, Dr. Edward Alikor said that it is estimated that six out of ten children across the country have suffered one form of abuse or the other before attainment of adulthood.
Alikor who spoke yesterday in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state capital while briefing newsmen on the activities to mark the association’s 52nd and 53rd Annual General meeting/Scientific Conference (PANCONF) which will be held in the state from January 18th to 22nd, 2022 with the theme, ‘Child Abuse: An escalating menace in Nigeria, explained that their finding about escalation of the menace followed a number of research carried out to measure the prevalence of such cases in the states of the country.
His words, “Nigeria is notorious in Child Abuse. It is estimated that six (6) out of every ten (10) Children in this country have suffered one form of abuse or the other. For boys, 10 percent and 4 out of 10 girls.
“And the more we look into it, the more we find out that it is not abating, it is increasing. When we talk about child abuse, we can’t actually talk much about it without going into Child Rights Act of 2003 which the states were supposed to domesticate.
“It is unfortunate that as large as we are, about eleven (11) out of 36 states of the country have not domesticated the Law. I am not even talking about seeing that it is properly executed.
“Fortunately Akwa Ibom state is not one of them. Many of them are in the northern part of the country. So we have devoted the majority of this conference to discuss this issue” he explained.
Alikor appealed to the media to assist the association in sensitising the public on the issue especially on the need for all the states to domesticate the Rights Law and also ensure it is properly executed.
He said the association on its part uses a number of methods such as training of health care workers, awareness of the public and healthcare workers to achieve its fundamental objective of advocating for children in both rural and Urban areas in the country.
