Bauchi Assembly Vows to Pass Child Rights Bill

Kuni Tyessi in Abuja

Speaker of the Bauchi State House of Assembly, Abubakar Suleiman, has promised to give the child rights bill before the house accelerated hearing and subsequent passing in the coming weeks.

The speaker said this in Abuja at an orientation workshop organised by Plan International Nigeria for members of the Bauchi State House of Assembly.

The child rights law was passed by the federal government in 2003 under the then President Olusegun Obasanjo. All the states in Nigeria have since domesticated the law except Bauchi.

“We are here today for a special assignment that is aimed at passing a decision to better the lives of our children. I want to tell us that we are committed about these issues and the delay in not passing the bill has come to an end,” Suleiman said.

“I want to assure us that immediately we go back home, we are going to pass the bill into law. The first reading has been done, we will ensure we go through the second and third reading and thereafter, pass the bill into law.”

The speaker also made a pledge to have one health centre rehabilitated each by the respective lawmakers representing the 31 constituencies in the state.

Mr. Charles Usie, who is the Country Director of Plan International Nigeria, the organisers of the two-day orientation for the lawmakers, said the organisation’s primary commitment in Bauchi state was to support government in the protection of children and young people especially girls.

He said the orientation became necessary to bring the new members up to speed to the provisions of the bill given that many of the lawmakers were new.

Usie said Plan International through the Adolescent Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (ASPIRE) project was providing advocacy and technical support to the state’s legislators to prepare the ground for the ratification of the child rights law.

“The Child Rights Act is a law that seeks to protect the rights of children in Bauchi state. Majority of the members of the house are new, about 90 per cent of them are new and it is important that we give them an orientation.

“In the last dispensation, the bill had already gone through the first reading so new members have come in and it is right that we give them an orientation to bring them up to speed,” he said.

In 2022, Plan International supported the validation and finalisation of the draft bill through the state’s ministry of women affairs including supporting the process of submission to the state legislators.

The Child Rights Law seeks to guarantee children’s rights to survival, a name, family life, private life, dignity, recreation, cultural activities, health services, and education.