Layi Olanrewaju Ilorin
On Tuesday, Kwara State’s female children identified child abuse as poor parenting, bullying, and sexual harassment.
The state government organized a programme with Olive Community Initiative, OCDI, to curb child abuse and gender-based violent (GBV) in the state.
Mariam Danmaigoro from Ilorin East was one of the participants in the event. She identified poor parenting among the child abuse problems in the state.
She stated that some parents send their children out on errands at odd hours of the night.
Morenike Kasim, Asa and Oluwabukola Rahin, Ilorin South, identified bullying and sexual abuse as other forms child abuses that are prevalent in their respective localities.
The programme themed “State Of The Nigerian Girl Summit Songs 2022” is aimed at documenting various issues of child abuse in the state.
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Participants were shown films and videos about documented cases of child abuse and gender-based violence.
Declaring the programme open, an Assistant Director, Child’s Directorate, Ministry of Women Affairs, Hajia Idiat Alabi- Amuda, urged the participants to feel free to disclose the abuses they had suffered in their respective localities.
She said the programme was orgasised in furtherance of the state government’s efforts at eradicating gender -based violence (GBV) in the state.
Blessing Akanki, Olive Community Development Initiative representative, encouraged the children to cry out whenever anyone abuses them or attempts to abuse.
She explained to the participants that violence against any woman is violence to all women. They were asked to help any victim of abuse and expose the perpetrator.