An advocacy group, Foundacion Exito, has asked the federal and state governments to address bullying, cultism and other deviant acts in schools across the country before such misconducts become uncontrollable.
The group argued that the safety of children should be guaranteed in schools and wherever they may be.
Addressing journalists in Abuja on yesterday on the rising violence against children, the Director, Foundacion Exito, Dominic Obozuwa, stressed that the Child Rights Act should be domesticated by the states and implemented to protect the Nigerian child.
He stated, “The Federal Government should ensure that every state domesticates the Child Rights Act. The government should work with civil society organisations and ensure that the Act is implemented.
“Violence against children should be a national emergency, especially in schools. Any school where a child is abused should be shut down and parents must wake up to their responsibility.”
Obozuwa said justice must be done in the case of a student of Dowen College, Lagos, Sylvester Oromoni, and Keren-Happuch Akpagher, a student of Premiere Academy, Lugbe, Abuja, who both died in controversial circumstances.
He lamented that no single person had been prosecuted or convicted for perpetrating violence against children despite media reports of schoolchildren’s deaths.
The President, Sam Obafemi Behavioural Change Academy, Sam Obafemi, advised parents to befriend their children to prevent them from getting caught in a cycle of bullying, cultism and violence or seeking wrong advice from their peers.
“Parents should build up their children’s emotional skills and schools should be a value orientation centre and not a profit centre,” he stated.
