Bayelsa Assembly holds public hearing on Child Rights Bill

Yenagoa—Bayelsa State House of Assembly, yesterday, said that it was committed to the protection of the Bayelsan child against molestation and abuse.

The leadership of the House, at the one-day public hearing in Yenagoa, in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, European Union, EU, United Nations Office on Drugs and crime, UNODC, Bayelsa State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development and Bayelsa Child Protection Network, said that the public hearing was a critical requirement as it would enable the public to scrutinize the bill before it is passed into law.

Chairman, Joint Committee of the House on Judiciary and Justice and General/Social Development, Bernard Kenebai, who declared open the hearing, said that though the proposed Child Rights Bill had undergone several processes of scrutiny, including first and second reading on the floor of the House, the public hearing will ensure that the bill gets speedy passage with inputs from critical stakeholders.

He said: “The UNO and the AU, in the interest of the child, developed the Convention on the Right of the Child, CRC, and Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, CRWC, in November 1989 and July 1990 respectively. The purpose of these instruments is to establish a universal template (comprising standards and principles) for the handling of child based issues.

“Nigeria domesticated the CRC in 2003 with the passage of the bill by the National Assembly and subsequent accent by the President. With issues of child rights being in concurrent legislative list, the baton was handed over to the state Houses of Assembly to do same putting into consideration their localities and peculiarities.”