Bauchi LGAs set up child protection committees

From Ahmed Kaigama, Bauchi

Two local Government areas of Kirfi and Bogoro in Bauchi state, has set up child protection committees, aims at protecting, identifying child right, challenges encountered in their respective communities and improve their social wellbeing.
The Executive Director of Fahimta Women and Youth Development Initiative, Hajiya Maryam Garbage, said the committees is expected to educate community members on child’s right and the need to protect such rights in line with the culture and religion of the people.
She noted that children in rural communities had suffered neglect, hence the need to protect their rights to basic and affordable education, health care and protection from all form of abuse under the pretext of culture and religion.
Hajiya Maryam Garba implored the committees to carry traditional and religious leaders along so as to improve the nutritional status of children, increase school enrollment and check increasing incidence of rape.
Speaking shortly after the one day meeting, Mallam Danjuma Musa of the education department of Kirfi LG identified poverty as the major factor hindering children from attaining their set goal in education.
He assured that the committees will mobilize stakeholders to urgently address the matter including conflict arising from location of schools.
Speaking in the same vein, the Education Secretary of Bogoro, Zakka Dunga believed that children in this community had been denied the right to quality education as a result of inadequate teaching staff as according to him, those that retired or died have not been replaced while several children still learning under tree without recreational facilities.
About 30 participants comprising women, youth and the physically challenged drawn from Bogoro and Kirfi attended the harmonization exercise sponsored by Action aid Nigeria under its Local Rights Programme (LRP).