The Gombe State Government has inaugurated a 38-man child protection committee aimed at ensuring the Rights of a Child in the state is not tampered with.
Asma’u Muhammad Iganus, Gombe State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development who disclosed this in an interview with Daily Trust in Gombe, said members of the committee were drawn from four Local government areas including Balanga, Yamaltu Deba, Kaltungo, and Kwami.
According to her, the four selected local governments are the flash points where the rights of children are abused and the work of the committee is to sensitize the communities on child rights and the need to uphold the VAPP law.
The Commissioner explained that the selected local governments would serve as pilots and the work of the committee will later be extended to remaining local governments in the state.
Iganus, revealed that she played a vital role that culminated into signing the child right Act into law by Governor Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya when she chaired the committee on women in the 7th Assembly after 19 years of its passage by the State Assembly.
She tasked stakeholders in the state to contribute their quarter towards curtailing the menace of child abuse and lauded the Association of Women Lawyers and the Journalists for assisting the Ministry in enlightening the populace on the existence of the Child Rights Act.
“Any person who violates the contents of the law will not be spared by the government.
“We are going to look for more funding of support from the existing donor partners in 2024 activities for the 16th-day activism of girl child to invest in fighting against women and girls, so we ask for more funding since VAPP has been passed into law in Gombe state,” she added.
The commissioner called on the committee members to be fair and just while discharging their duties, stressing that they were selected based on their capabilities to sensitize people on how to handle the situation in their respective localities.
Iganus described the attitude exhibited by some farmers in the state who abuse their biological children by inducing them with hard drugs to work harder on the farm as child labor, saying punitive measures will be taken against such farmers.
She stressed the need for traditional and religious leaders to cooperate with the ministry in the fight against child abuse and called on people to alert the ministry of any wrongdoing perpetrated in their communities for necessary action.
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