Jeff Amechi Agbodo, Onitsha
Disturbed by increasing rate of child labour, rape of minors and child abuse, the Anambra State chapter of the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), has urged the three tiers of government in the state and good-spirited individuals to come to the rescue of the children.
Chairman of CLO in the state, Mr. Vincent Ezekweme, while speaking on the abuse of children, in Onitsha, called on the state government to protect the children by prosecuting and committing the offenders to the prison to serve as deterrent to others.
He said, “As most vulnerable, armless, harmless and incapable of helping themselves, governments and citizens must spare no efforts towards making life more meaningful and comfortable for our children.”
“Child Rights Day must be domesticated to give credence to the African Child Act so that its reasons for its promulgation will not be a mirage”
Citing the trauma and sexual abuse that was experienced by a minor, a girl child, an eight-year-old pupil of Lafiaji Primary school, Fegge, Onitsha, who was lured by a man after she was sent out of school over nonpayment of school fees, Ezekwueme regretted that the suspect has not be arrested since then by the security operatives.
He stressed the need for the citizens to be their brothers’ keepers, while recalling that he had once spoken on the need not to send children back to their homes if they had come to school any day to avoid falling prey to the wicked.
According to him, a pupil of Adazi-Enu was one time crushed to death by a vehicle because she was sent back home by the school management for owing school fees.
