Lagos State government says it would soon begin to arrest school age children who roam the streets during school hours.
The state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Opeyemi Bamidele disclosed this in Lagos at the weekend.
Bamidele stated that the exercise was in keeping with the commitment of the government to implement the Child Rights Act and reduce child abuse in the state.
He noted that Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola in order to make the exercise successful had approved the procurement of four new buses and the recruitment of 50 ad hoc staff to assist in the sensitisation of Lagosians before the commencement of arrest of violators.
He added that the Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, the agency handling the project is to commence the distribution of yellow cards which contains relevant information on child abuse before the commencement of arrests. “The first phase of the exercise would span 60 days,” he said.
The commissioner stated that with government policy on free education, there was no excuse for any school age child to loiter or hawk on the streets of the metropolis when his or her mates are in school studying.
Bamidele said the nature of Lagos as the nation’s melting pot, where everybody wants to work was posing social challenges. He added that the state government is concerned about the issue of Child Rights Act and child abuse.
He stressed that the government through its social welfare department was inundated with issue of child abuse and could not therefore, as a responsible government fold its arms. He pointed out that the state’s social welfare institutions like boys and girls approved schools; girls and boys remand homes; and children transit homes had a lot of abuse cases, and most of them were receiving attention.
“If a particular parent would choose not to be responsible, we would not hesitate as government to take such abused children from such parent into government custody. The issue of child abuse is an issue that calls for our collective efforts and commitment to drastically reduce it. Most of the children cannot report their situations to government, it is neighbours and teachers who can help identify these children and that is why we as a government are ready to investigate volunteered information,” he said.