Buhari reassures children of protection against attacks

Ukpono Ukpong, Abuja

President Muhamadu Buhari has said that his administration has put in place several interventions to ensure protection for every Nigerian child against incessant attacks, kidnap, violence, abuse and exploitations.

In his message of felicitation to them to mark this year’s Children’s Day, Buhari said one of such interventions include Safe Schools Declaration (SSD) which was ratified in 2019 to ensure the Government of Nigeria puts in Place a national policy that would guide its implementation nationwide.

“My Dear Children of Our great Country. Nigeria, I congratulate you all on this special day set aside to celebrate you across the Federation.

“The Government of this nation has set aside 27th of May each year to rededicate her unalloyed commitment to your total wellbeing and protection as enshrined in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Child Rights Act, the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act (VAPP Act) and other international treaties and conventions.

Our aim is to emphasize your importance as the future leaders of our great nation.

“This administration is therefore deeply concerned about these worrying incidences and has put in place several interventions to ensure that all our children are protected from incessant attacks, kidnap, violence, abuse and exploitation and live in a holistic and protective environment for a guaranteed and prosperous future.

“One of Such interventions is my commitment to the “Safe Schools Declaration (SSD)” which I ratified in 2019 to ensure the Government of Nigeria puts in Place a national policy that would guide its implementation nationwide.

“However, endorsement of the safe School Declaration is not sufficient as implementation or the project is very critical to the prevention and response to attacks on education, including those targeting women and girls.”

He therefore called on state governments and security agencies to rededicate themselves to this project to protect children from incessant attacks and ensure that their education suffers no setback.

Furthermore, Buhari said that his administration is also expanding the Home-Grown-SchoolFeeding Programme by targeting an additional 3 million children who will receive one free nutritious meal a day.

“In the same vein, the issue of Street Children or children in non-conventional educational system are also being given the requisite attention through the Alternative School Programme, where children who are out of conventional schools are enrolled in schools or supported to continue their education wherever they are.

“Furthermore, I have directed that a full range of Social Intervention Programmes be deployed across all Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government to achieve the, vision of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty by 2030.

The goal is that in the next 10 years, there will be less out of school children, less indices of malnutrition and less child mortality rate.”

In a related development, the Minister of the FCT, Malam Muhammad Bello, while congratulating all the children in the Federal Capital Territory on the celebration of the 2021 National Children Day charged them to imbibe the virtues of integrity, honesty, hard work, discipline and a deep sense of patriotism and love for country.

He also reminded them that as national and global leaders of the future with the desire to ensure the greatness of Nigeria and also excel in their chosen fields of endeavor, it was essential that they embraced these character traits.

He also charged them to shun all acts that might negatively impact their future such as cultism, immoral behavior, disrespect for authority, drug abuse, and online criminal activities amongst others.

Malam Bello also charged them to be patriotic at all times and love and honour Nigeria, calling on them to always work in harmony for the benefit of the country.

“You have no other country but Nigeria and as residents of the FCT, you have an obligation to live together in peace and harmony as envisaged by our founding fathers”, the Minister said.