Lagos State issues "Yellow Card" against child abuse

Lagos State has embarked on an action plan to fight child abuse in the state, as the state's ministry of women affairs and poverty alleviation on Thursday started a six-month campaign to sensitise and warn Lagos residents about child abuse and the child rights law.


The ministry's commissioner, Joke Orelope-Adefulire, disclosed this during a press briefing at the state house press centre.


The campaign

The mode for the campaign will involve the distribution of a "Yellow" or warning card, which contains the rights of the children in three major languages spoken in the state: Yoruba, Egun, and English. Another pamphlet will also be distributed which contains the codes of the Child Rights Law of Lagos State, 2007, what is expected of their parents and the government.


During the six-month campaign, specially constituted enforcement teams will arrest children found violating the codes of the law, and restore them to their guardians.


"This will serve as a warning," the commissioner said.


After the campaign, a "Red" or prosecution card will be issued to any offender. The commissioner, who attested to an increase in juvenile rape incidents in the state, warned parents: "Stop bringing children into this world if you cannot provide for them. Hawking exposes them to road accidents and rape. Last week, I heard of three rape cases and there may be many more unreported cases due to the size of Lagos State."


The Child Rights Law guarantees every child in the state free education, parental care, and protection against hawking, abuse, rape, and intimidation.


Ministerial account

Giving account of her ministerial activities in the last one year, Mrs Orelope-Adefulire said her ministry's vision is to provide economic, political, and financial empowerment for the women in the state.


"The means for achieving our vision is to promote self-employment, provide education and training, reduce prostitution and early pregnancy, provide technical assistance and micro-finance scheme, fight against all forms of discrimination against women, and provide free legal services for widows," she said.


She said 20,000 women were trained last year and about 4,000 this year, through the ministry's short-term training courses, which include Cake and Snacks, Hair Plaiting, Tie and Dye and Batik.


Through the Skill Acquisition Programme, 4,028 youth were graduated last year, she said. In addition to the 16 existing centres, three more are under construction at Ikorodu, Ibeju-Lekki, and Mushin.


The courses offered include Welding, Tiling, Aluminium Fabrication, Refrigeration and Air-conditioning, Wheel Balancing and Alignment. The ministry has also administered worm expellants for about 525,000 children in the state.


The graduates of the Skill Acquisition Centres also have access to microcredit loans operated by five Microfinance Banks, to which three more have been added.


Prostitution and infant mortality

Fielding questions after the briefing, the commissioner said that the responsibility of rehabilitating the commercial sex workers falls under the ministry of youth and sports.


"Where we come in is in the area of skill acquisition. We want the NGOs to help us because we can provide the training but we cannot provide accommodation for them. Our accommodation of about 250 beds will be ready by next month," she said.


On tackling infant and maternal mortality, Mrs. Orelope-Adefulire said her ministry's responsibility is to sensitise the women about the free health care delivery available to them at the Public Health Centres (PHC), while the provisions of health care facilities is the job of the ministry of health.


"However, we are training 100 medical Doctors that will be posted to each of the PHCs in the state to conduct examination for breast and cervical cancers," she said.