The Federal Government has begun moves to strengthen Nigeria’s Child Rights Act (CRA), 2003, saying the 23-year-old legislation must be reviewed to address emerging threats and the changing realities confronting Nigerian children.
Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, stated this at the opening of a three-day National Stakeholders’ Engagement on the Review and Amendment of the Child Rights Act.
The engagement, themed “CRA at 23: From Law to Action for the Nigerian Child,” brought together government officials, development partners, civil society organisations, legal practitioners, academics and child rights advocates to examine proposed amendments to the Act.
Fagbemi, represented by the Solicitor-General of the Federation and Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Justice, Mrs Beatrice Jedy-Agba, described the review as timely, stressing that the true value of any law lies in its ability to protect those for whom it was enacted.
He said the Federal Government remained committed to strengthening the legal and institutional framework for the protection, welfare and development of every Nigerian child.
According to him, the enactment of the Child Rights Act in 2003 was a major milestone that gave domestic effect to Nigeria’s obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child.
He, however, noted that developments over the past 23 years had created new challenges that required a reassessment of the effectiveness of the existing legislation.
“Technology has transformed how children learn, communicate and experience the world, bringing extraordinary opportunities but also new forms of vulnerabilities,” Fagbemi said.
He identified violence against children, harmful traditional practices, child labour, trafficking, the growing number of out-of-school children and children living or working on the streets as some of the challenges requiring stronger legal responses.
“Our purpose here, therefore, is not simply to amend words in a statute. It is to ask whether the law, 23 years after its enactment, still speaks effectively to the lived realities of the Nigerian child and whether it is sufficiently equipped for the challenges that lie ahead.
“A law may be progressive in its conception, but its true value lies in its capacity to protect the person for whom it was made,” he added.
The minister assured stakeholders that the Federal Ministry of Justice would carefully consider the outcome of the engagement in finalising the Child Rights Act Amendment Bill for onward legislative action.
“Twenty-three years after the Child Rights Act, the distance we must now close is the distance between what the law promises and what the child experiences.
“If this review succeeds in closing that distance, then we would have moved, in the truest sense, from law to action,” he said.
In her opening address, Chairperson of the Committee on the Review and Amendment of the Child Rights Act, Hon. Justice Suzzette Nyesom-Wike, urged stakeholders to regard the exercise as a national responsibility to secure a better future for Nigerian children.
She said that while the 2003 Act was a landmark intervention, the nature of threats facing children had evolved significantly over the past two decades.
According to her, emerging challenges include online exploitation, sextortion, grooming, cybercrime and cyberbullying, while trafficking, gender-based violence and harmful practices continue to demand urgent attention.
She also identified access to justice, diversion, rehabilitation and reintegration as areas requiring stronger provisions.
Nyesom-Wike explained that the review committee adopted a thematic approach by establishing six groups to examine the Act, identify gaps and recommend reforms.
She said contributions from development partners, civil society organisations, academics and child rights practitioners were subsequently subjected to legal scrutiny, consolidation and harmonisation by the Technical Committee.
According to her, the process resulted in the third draft of the proposed Child Rights Act Amendment Bill currently being considered by stakeholders.
Also speaking, the Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajiya Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, said the proposed amendment represented a national commitment to protecting the dignity, wellbeing and rights of every Nigerian child.
Represented by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Mrs Nko Asanye Esuabana, the minister described the review as both a legal responsibility and a moral obligation.
She said the exercise provided an opportunity to strengthen Nigeria’s child protection framework and ensure that the law remained responsive to contemporary realities.
“Our task is not merely to amend legislation. Our task is to strengthen the national child protection system and create a framework that can translate rights into services, protection, opportunities and measurable outcomes for children,” she said.
In a goodwill message, Director of People-Centred Justice at the Justice Research Institute, Mrs Foluso Idumu, commended the government, review committee and partners for adopting an inclusive approach to the amendment process.
She said effective laws could not be developed in isolation but must reflect the experiences, aspirations and realities of the people they were designed to protect.
Idumu said the involvement of children, government institutions, development partners, civil society organisations, practitioners and experts demonstrated a people-centred approach to justice.
“A child is not merely a beneficiary of a legal framework; the child is a rights-holder whose dignity, voice, safety, development and best interests must inform the design and implementation of our laws and institutions,” she said.
Citing the Speaker of the Children’s Parliament, Rt. Hon. Progress, Idumu said the effectiveness of the Child Rights Act should ultimately be measured by whether vulnerable children could access protection and effective remedies when their rights were violated.
She added that children who come into contact with the law must be treated with dignity and given genuine opportunities for rehabilitation, while children with disabilities must also receive the protection guaranteed by law.
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