It
is worthy to educate/enlighten the general public on the rights of every child,
enlightenment is superior to enforcement.
The
child right Act 2003 made proviso for the right of every child in Nigeria.A
child for the purpose of this discussion and under the act is anybody under the
age of 18years.
99.9%
of parents treats and protect the interest of their child (ren) but what
happens to that child that lives with them.
It
is no longer news that most average families in Nigeria have a child living
with them often referred to as ‘maid’ that helps in house chores and taking
care of their own child.
The
question now is that are those ‘maids’ children too? Do they have a right
protected under the Child Rights Act 2003?
The
answer is not far fetched, many custodians are ignorant of the right protected
under the child’s right act and these rights are as follows;
(i)
No Nigerian child shall be subjected to
physical, mental or emotional injury, abuse or neglect.
(ii)
The dignity of the child shall be respected at
all times.
(iii)
Freedom from discrimination on the ground of
belonging to a particular community or ethnic group, place of origin, sex,
religion or circumstances of his birth.
(iv)
Making tattoos or mark and female genital mutilation
are punishable offences under the act.
(v)
Child trafficking ,abduction and forced
exploitative labor are stated to be offences
(vi)
Betrothal and marriage of children are
prohibited.
(vii)
Every parent or guardian having legal custody of
a child under the age of 2 years shall ensure its immunization against diseases
of fake judicial penalties.
Anyone found guilty of any of the above mentioned
rights will face judicial penalties because those rights are enforceable.
Am sure some women will say ‘thank God my maid is from
Togo, i do not have problem, i am sorry to disappoint you, the definition of
who a child is doesn't change from Asia,
Europe, America, Africa and to
those men whose wives have maids you are as liable as your wife as provided in section 340 of the criminal code any
husband or wife of an offender who is guilty of endangering the life of
servants will equally be guilty and it is also aiding and abetting.
My advise goes to women, if we must have maids lets
endeavor to put them in government public schools where we cannot afford a
private school for them, this will not only put us on the positive side of law,
we’ll be greatly rewarded by God Almighty.
There is a popular saying that
the best form of partnership is the one you do with your wife (legal wife) this
is because partnership seems to be tearing friends, colleagues, siblings apart.
As a legal practitioner, I say to you that this is not entirely true especially
when you do the right and necessary things required by Law.
A 31 years old Waliu Ogunnoiki
was arraigned before the Sagamu Magistrate court for allegedly posting a
negative remark on the face book wall of the Ogun state governor, saying that
Ogun state government has demolished some citizens house without compensating
them accordingly, a statement the government say they find unacceptable as it
is capable of inciting the citizen against the government.
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