Benin City, Nigeria (The Informant247) – Starting from September 12, parents and guardians of out-of-school children in Nigeria’s Edo state will begin to face prosecution, its governor said on Monday.
“Any child found loitering or hawking during school hours will be arrested and the parents or guardians will be prosecuted,” Governor Godwin Obaseki told reporters in Benin City, adding that special courts had been set up to prosecute perpetrators of sexual and physical abuses against children in schools in the state.
“If we find any child under the age of 18 years being used for manual labour, such parents will be prosecuted. We thank the chief judge for providing special courts to prosecute any offender who perpetrates violence against any child or involves in sexual defilement or physical abuse in our school system.
“From September 12, when school resumes, any child found loitering or hawking during school hours will be arrested and the parents or guardians will be prosecuted and seriously dealt with. We have specially trained people to observe and watch over our children to ensure no child is abused in Edo State,” he said.
He added that his administration was committed to guaranteeing the care, protection and wellbeing of every Edo child.
The governor said he had instructed the state’s ministry of education to demolish all dilapidated buildings in schools and move affected students to other schools to allow rebuilding.
According to the United Nations children’s fund (UNICEF), in Nigeria, 18.5 million children, are out of school, a figure that has risen since 2001.
Last year, Unicef estimated that 10.5 million children were out of school in Africa’s most populous country.