by Chris Agbo,
Disability Rights Advocacy Center (DRAC) on Thursday in Abuja organized a stakeholders’ meeting on disability-inclusive child protection and safeguarding policy in the FCT.
The activity is part of DRAC’s Policy to Practice project aimed at improving access to justice for women and girls with disabilities in Nigeria, supported by the Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption (RoLAC) Program of the British Council, funded by the European Union.
The Associate Director, DRAC, Mrs. Olanike Akinbola on behalf of DRAC’s Executive Director, Dr. Irene Ojiugo Patrick-Ogbogu in her welcome remarks welcomed the participants who found time to be part of the meeting. She said that the meeting is a continuation of DRAC’s effort on the review of Child Protection Policy in the FCT, looking at how the project has gone and chat a way forward to achieving the set objectives of the project.
According to Idris Agboluaje, a program officer at DRAC, the meeting came about as a result of DRAC’s efforts towards protecting and safeguarding children with disabilities and vulnerable adults in the FCT whom research has shown to experience different forms of violence at home, in the community and in their learning environment. Therefore, this meeting was organized to extract recommendations from the stakeholders for a possible review of the 2014 FCT Child Protection Policy.
Mr. Aisuedion Abel, Director, Special needs Education, Federal Ministry of Education, in his goodwill message, emphasized the need for stakeholders to mainstream disability in their plans for the education sector, as education is a right of every child irrespective of their disability status. He further stated that it is pertinent to put a process in place for the protection and safeguarding of children with disabilities within schools and that is why the Ministry deemed it necessary to be part of the meeting and join hands with other stakeholders to identify the gaps and make recommendations to enhance the process of reviewing the child protection policy for the FCT.
He concluded by thanking DRAC for the initiative and stepping up to the task as government cannot do it alone and government encourages this kind of partnership.
Mrs. Bilkisu Hamja, Head of Special Needs and Gender, FCT UBEB, in her goodwill message, thanked DRAC for what they have been doing to ensure that children especially children with disabilities are protected in the schools around the FCT. She said DRAC understands that government cannot do it alone and there are many policies of the government that either are not being implemented or need to be reviewed and that is why DRAC found it necessary to partner with FCT Administration to kick-start a process of reviewing the current FCT child protection policy and also enhance the modalities of implementing the policy. She assured that FCT UBEB would be supportive both in the review of the policy and its implementation.
Hadiza Ingawa, Head of Gender Unit, FCT Education Secretariat, in her goodwill message said that protection of children especially children with disabilities is very important and is a duty of all stakeholders. She urged participants to be cooperative towards achieving the objectives of the meeting. She further stated that in protecting children with disabilities, FCT schools need to be made disability-inclusive. She appreciated DRAC for the initiative.
Olorunfemi Olusegun, Coordinator, Child Protection Network, FCT Chapter, in his goodwill message said that as a network of civil society groups working on child protection, they have a mandate of ensuring that the right of a child within the FCT is protected irrespective of the status of the child. He urged all stakeholders to make inputs in the policy being reviewed so that at the end, the purpose of the gathering would be achieved.
Noel Balogun, a program officer at DRAC presented the research report carried out by DRAC, the Situation Analysis / Needs Assessment of Children with Disabilities and Child Protection in the FCT which was done to ascertain the level of violence and abuses suffered by the children especially children with disabilities, their access to social services, the demand for social services by communities for children with disabilities, perpetrators of the violence and abuses against them to make recommendations for disability-inclusive child protection and safeguarding mechanisms in the FCT.
The provisions of the FCT Child Protection Policy were presented Mrs. Rashida Apahade, an expert in child protection and safeguarding. She gave a background history of the policy and emphasized on the fact that the policy is due for two reviews since its development in 2014. She educated participants on the provisions of the policy which she stated is domiciled at FCT Social Development Secretariat and is binding on all schools and other places were children stay within FCT. Participants thereafter according to their areas of expertise, thematically scrutinized all sections of the policy and provided recommendations to be utilized in the final review.
The stakeholders’ meeting was well attended by relevant stakeholders such as the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities, FCT Secondary Education Board, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), the National Human Rights Commission, teachers, students, OPDs, etc.
SOME PICTURES OF THE MEETING
