Children’s Day: Saraki remembers Leah Sharibu
By Tunde Opalana, Abuja & Isaac Job, Uyo
*As Udom warns children against social vices
Senate President Abubakar Saraki on Monday used the occasion of this year’s Children Day celebration to call for concerted efforts towards securing the release of Leah Sharibu, who is in the custody of Boko Haram insurgents.
He also described children as Nigeria’s most important treasure as a nation. Saraki in a message to mark the 2019 Children’s Day, felicitated with Nigerian children and urged leaders at all levels to recommit to the continuous empowerment of the Nigerian child.
“Today, our nation celebrates its future – our children; our most important national treasure. As we do so, we recommit ourselves to ensuring that all Nigerian children are empowered to aspire to achieve greatness.
“On this Children’s Day 2019, we remember Leah Sharibu and all other young Nigerian children who will be commemorating this symbolic day without their loved ones. We commit them into our prayers and continue to call for their unequivocal release.” Saraki said
He noted that the 8th National Assembly worked assiduously to provide for primary healthcare fund in the budget as well as ensuring that the Child’s Rights Act is domesticated across the states of the federation.
“Over the last four years, the 8th National Assembly has worked fervently towards ensuring the provision of basic primary healthcare and the domestication of the Childs Rights Act in all Nigerian states- so that young Nigerian children can live healthy, violence-free lives.
“Today, we say to all Nigerian children; we stand with you. We are one! Happy Children’s Day 2019,” he added.
In a related development, the Akwa Ibom state Governor, Udom Emmanuel has said his administration will not tolerate anti- social behaviours such as cultism, kidnapping, armed robbery, rape or any other crime among youth in the state.
He said the state is becoming the safest in the country due to the government’s zero-tolerance for criminal tendencies as the state is committed to raising children who will compete with their counterparts all over the world.
Speaking yesterday in Uyo during the 2019 Children’s Day celebration with the theme: “Drug abuse among children: Addressing the challenges,” Gov. Udom said the government has tried to improve the fortunes of youth in the state by investing in the education sector and strengthening the Child Rights Act which criminalises truancy among children.
He charged the youths to resist peer pressure to engage in illicit behaviour, noting that the government has made the Children’s Day celebration a yearly ritual to celebrate them as worthy future leaders.
The governor further encouraged parents to guide their wards on the right path of moral rectitude and obedience to the laws of the land, adding that they have a greater role to play in shaping and instilling the right values in their children.
“We have remodelled several schools across the three senatorial districts and continue to pay the over N600 million WAEC fees so no child may be left behind on account of economic adversity their parents may encounter. The result of this has seen our school enrolments quadrupled.
“We remain dedicated to raising children who will compete with their counterparts all over the world fully conscious that the best legacy any leader can leave is one where the future of our people, especially our children is guaranteed.
“A situation where children sent to school to study and become productive citizens instead of immersing themselves in their academic pursuits rather elect to engage in cultism, rape and other anti-social behaviour will and cannot be tolerated,” he warned.
Gov. Udom reminded the children that they have been given everything to become all that they ever want to be and charged them to seize the moment and make their parents and the state proud.
“Drug abuse will not lead you to the fulfilment of your purpose in life; it will rather take you down the path of destruction,” he advised.
