Source: Leadership Newspaper
The Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Mrs Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, on Thursday urged Nigerians to intensify efforts toward curbing insecurity, abuse and violence on the Nigerian child.
Orelope-Adefulire spoke in Lagos through Dr Yewande Adeshina, Special Adviser to Gov. Babatunde Fashola on Public Health.
She gave the urge at the 2014 Annual General Conference and Scientific Meeting of the Medical Women's Association of Nigeria (MWA), Lagos branch.
The theme of the conference and scientific meeting is: "Insecurity and the Nigerian Child; Implications, Now and the Future".
Orelope-Adefulire said that children remained the most affected in the face of any insecurity challenge.
"They are harmless, innocent and still in the care of their parents, yet they find themselves in most difficult situations where they cannot ordinarily protect or defend themselves.
"The case of the over 200 Chibok girls kidnapped on April 15 remains fresh.
"It is unfortunate that they are still in captivity of their captors after over six months of their abduction," she said.
Orelope-Adefulire said that there was a strong connection between security and survival as security is a basic condition for the survival of human beings.
"The absence of security inhibits healthcare system. It is a threat to the right of children and the realisation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
"In the health sector, children become most vulnerable when government cannot provide the best form of quality healthcare delivery," she said.
Orelope-Adefulire said that domestic violence posed a great threat to a child's development.
"Domestic violence in the home and activities of human traffickers, and the abuse of the child such as child prostitution, rape, forced marriage, beating, harassment and threat to life are insecurity signals.
"They pose threats to the full development of the child," she said.
The deputy governor also said that insecurity and poverty not only affected a child's health, but also freedom of expression and socialisation.
Also speaking, Dr Joe Okei-Odumakin, the President, Women Arise and Campaign for Democracy, noted that implications of insecurity on children include lack of access to medical care, internal displacement, lack of access to education, malnutrition and death.
Okei-Odumakin, who was a guest speaker, said a recent survey showed that 470,500 people were displaced in 2013.
"According to Global Overview report on Internally Displaced Persons (IDP), 470,500 people were displaced in Nigeria in 2013 alone.
"About a half of this were children due to insecurity: Boko Haram insurgency.
"According to the Human Right Watch, about 2,800 children lives were lost to terror-related violence between 2009 and 2012," she said.
Okei-Odumakin called for effective action to address both the complex root causes of insecurity, as well as its immediate and long-term effects on children.
She said that the Child Rights Act should be implemented and urged high-level government officials to consistently and publicly denounce violence against children. (NAN)