‘We are Working Towards Domesticating Child Right Act’

Segun Awofadeji in Gombe

The Gombe State Government has said that it is gradually addressing bottlenecks hampering the domestication of child right law in the state.

The State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Mrs. Naomi JJ Awak, gave the indication yesterday at the stakeholders meeting on strengthening the implementation of strategies that would end child marriage in Gombe State.

The meeting was sponsored by Girls Strand Catalyst, United States of America, in collaboration with Save the Children International (SCI).

The Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and faith based organisations were among the stakeholders that were advocating and mounting pressure on the Gombe State Government to domesticate the child right’s law following daily increase in the abuse of the rights of children.

This is coming in the wake of the domestication of the CRA in Katsina State and some northern states where girl child marriage has become a menace, thus, infringing on the rights of the girl child from attaining her full potentials.

However, Awak told the stakeholders during the meeting that there is the political will and support by the Governor of Gombe State, Mr. Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya, to see to the domestication of the law.

She said that the state governor had taken the bill to the State House of Assembly, but some “stumbling blocks” are not allowing it to see the light of the day.

She, however, expressed optimism that by the grace of God, in no distant future, the Child Right Act (CRA) would be a reality considering the passion the state governor and his wife have been following the bill.

“This is because in 2019 when I presented the matter to the State Executive Council, the governor immediately took interest in it. The effort is not by physical strength, the government is on our side. Education is key and the governor has made it his priority. If Katsina could domesticate the CRA, why not Gombe?” she queried.

She described child marriage as a menace, saying, girls must not be withdrawn from schools for the sake of marriage. “It is not possible for a girl child to give birth to a child and be raised by a child,” she decried.

Earlier, giving an overview of child marriage in Gombe State, the CSI’s Interim Project Manager, Towards Ending Child Marriage in Nigeria (TECM), Mr. Akpan Effiong, said that the Gombe State’s Strategic Plan to End Child Marriage (SPECM) in the state by 2030 is a giant effort towards curtailing the multifaceted sociocultural endemic practice of child marriage.

He said that child marriage as practiced in Gombe State is considered to be a formal union whereby victims did not either attain full maturity or consent to marriage.

While arguing that child marriage has remained one of the developmental challenges affecting children in Gombe State, Akpan said that its successful elimination would require multi-sectorial and coordinated approach and legislation that would be strongly enforced without fear or favour.

He stressed that the role of the State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development in achieving the strategy could not be over stated. All the law enforcement agencies of the government should ensure strict compliance to the proposed law that would prohibit child marriage and address gender inequality.

Several CSO’s spoke extensively, giving suggestions and expressing dismay at the long delay in domesticating the CRA, which would address the challenges affecting children especially the issue of child marriage and rape of minors in the state.