NHRC seeks more support for children in Nigeria.

As Nigeria marks the 2017 Children’s Day, the  National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) is calling on government at all levels to accord  priority to provision of accessible and qualitative education for all children in the country so as to enable them attain their full potentials in life.

 It also calls for the full implementation of the Universal Basic Education Act, 2004, and the Child’s Rights Act, 2003 across the states of the federation.

The Acting Executive Secretary of the Commission, Mrs. Oti Ovrawah who made this call in Abuja on the eve of the children’s Day celebration which is observed on the 27th of May every year also expressed concern over the recent statistics credited to UNICEF which put the number of children out of school in Nigeria as 10.5 million of which a greater percentage are girls mostly from the North East geo political zone.

She observed that the challenges posed by insurgency in the country particularly in the North East, has further threatened the rights to life and education of Nigerian children necessitating the need for government to undertake deliberate policies that would effectively address the security and humanitarian needs of this vulnerable group.

The Commission also used the opportunity to urge the federal government to continue to take all necessary steps to secure the release of other persons, including the CHIBOK girls who are still under captivity of the Boko Haram insurgents.