Kemi Busari
In recent times, the nation’s consciousness has been raised on the need to protect the children from violence. Mostly domestic, violence has continually robbed budding ambitious Nigerian children of the promised bright future.
Stories of violence abound in the national dailies. Just last week, nine-year-old Precious Chinwendu was scalded by his foster mother for not been able to buy crayfish which she sent her. What a gruesome act!
In another case, four-year-old Sadiq from Kaduna state will remain blind for the rest of his life due to the callous act of two men who promised to buy him sweet, tamed him to the bush and removed his two eyes leaving the young innocent boy in forever darkness.
For how long will a Nigerian child continue to suffer in these dastardly acts?
In a bid to put an end to these obscene acts, Playback Nigeria, a non-governmental organisation has proposed a nationwide march to end Violence Against Children (VAC) in Nigeria on May 27, 2016. The organisation is also calling for partnership in order to achieve the set goals.
Playback Nigeria is a member of the International Playback Theatre Network, an art-based social development organization which uses interactive art for transformation, healing and social enhancement in Nigeria.
Coming at the right time, the campaign seeks to partner organisations who are interested in ending the seemingly unending violence against Nigerian children. A release by the organisation vividly captures the need for the campaign.
“Our organization is concerned about the increasing rate of reported (and most times unreported) cases of violence against children in Nigeria particularly studying the summary report on VAC survey by the National Population Commission supported by UNICEF on violence against children. We believe that if organizations like ours and yours do not take a stand to ensure that all children are treated with dignity, there may be danger awaiting our nation in future.
“In view of this, we have proposed a nationwide “art-based” embodied march in all 36 states of the federation and the FCT on the 27th of May(Children’s Day) to allow us raise social consciousness around VAC and request for immediate prosecution of all offenders and establishment of functioning Child Protection councils across the nation.”
Playback Nigeria is putting plans in top gears to leverage on connection and network of partners to give a wider coverage to the project.
“We are already working with some implementing partners while reaching out to you and a couple of other partners across the country. We are hoping to leverage on your amazing connection and network in the state you operate from in carrying out this project at the grass-root. We hope that as organizations, we can complement each other and work together to build a Nigeria safe for every child.”
Oyebukola Oyeyemi the Project Coordinator also informed that partnering organisations will receive certificates of partnership at the end of the programme. She enjoined intending partners to obey the clarion call to end child violence in the country.
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