The United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund says about 60 per cent of children, representing six in 10 children, suffer one or more types of violence before they reach the age of 18 years in Nigeria.
The international agency in a statement on Thursday also commended the Bayelsa State Government for the domestication of the National Child’s Right Law this month.
The Representative of UNICEF Nigeria, Jean Gough, said Bayelsa had become the 23rd state in Nigeria to ensure the legal protection of children from all forms of violence through the domestication of the NCRA.
Gough said, “A national survey by the National Population Commission, supported by the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and UNICEF, launched in September 2015, found that six in 10 children suffer one or more types of violence before they reach the age of 18 years.
“Also, one in two suffers physical violence, one in four girls and one in 10 boys suffer sexual violence and one in five boys and one in six girls suffer emotional violence. Most children never tell anyone what happened to them. Less than four per cent ever receive the support they need to recover.
“In response to these findings, President Muhammadu Buhari launched the Year of Action to End Violence against Children, calling on states to take action to strengthen their laws, policies and services to protect children. Bayelsa State has heeded the Federal Government’s call and is warmly congratulated.”
According to him, the law is a significant step in protecting and supporting the millions of children suffering physical, sexual and emotional violence every year in Nigeria.
Governor Dickson had said while signing the NCRA that he was delighted that the new law would offer protection for children in Bayelsa State.
“I stress that anyone caught violating the rights of children will be prosecuted according to the provisions of this new law,” Dickson had said.
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