By Johnbosco Agbakwuru, Abuja

AS Nigeria joins the rest of the World to celebrate the 2017 International Day of the African Child, about six persons from Nassarawa and Kaduna States have been dragged to court by a Non-Government Organisation, NGO, El-meela Heritage Support Foundation, for allegedly defiling minors.

President of the Foundation, Jamila Isa who disclosed this in Abuja yesterday called on the government to ensure that there is stringent punishment for those engaged in rape or defilement of minors.

She said the incidents happened in Kaduna, Mararaba and Masaka in Nasarrawa state and another one in Niger state and that the Foundation has a team of lawyers handling the matters in court.

She wondered why children should be described as the future of tomorrow but they were being raped and defiled on daily basis, stressing that with the rate in which children were being defiled, she was not sure whether there would be future for the children.

Rape

She explained that it was the abominable act of violence against children by some men that made her to start the foundation, pointing out that the United Nation Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), particularly reflect Children’s right to participation, right to be protected from all forms of violence, likewise the Child Right.

She said, “This special Day also provides an occasion for governments and all relevant stakeholders to renew and unite their ongoing commitments to combat the ills which plague the daily lives of the children.

“The theme chosen by the African Committee of Experts on the right and welfare of the child for the Day of the African Child this year is ’Accelerating Protection, Empowerment and Equal opportunities for children in Africa by 2030.’ On her passion for children, she said, “Today, in our society the children are just there, they are not using their time for schooling and there are also hoodlums outside there, both men and women who use them to perpetuate crimes and evil.

“And when we keep on saying the children are the futures of tomorrow and we are defiling children here and there, are we sure of having the future of tomorrow? We are not sure of having them any more so somebody must start up, we must wake up to do it and it has to be from you just like the change can be from you. So, I decided to come out every day.

Commenting on the defilement of the children especially minors, she said, “we are handling cases of defilement not rape because I can’t imagine a sixty-year-old man sleeping with a child, I call it defiling not rape.

“This is why we are calling on the lawmakers that the law is there, we are not trying to propose a bill. Let the government, judges, lawmakers have  a pro active and stringent punishment on enforcement for these child defilers.”