Osinbajo lauds UN’s E4J initiative on crime prevention among youths

Wed, Jun 19, 2019 | By publisher


Foreign

VICE President Yemi Osinbajo has lauded the Education for Justice (E4J) Initiative by  United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC) in creating awareness to prevent criminal activities among youths.

Osinbajo who was represented by his Special Adviser on Rule of Law, Mrs Farida Waziri-Azi, made the commendation during the launch of the programme on Tuesday in Abuja.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls  that the E4J initiative was a component of the Global Programme for the implementation of the 2015 Doha Declaration of fostering a culture of lawfulness among young people.

E4J initiative aimed at creating awareness and disseminating educational materials on  issues of crime prevention, criminal justice and rule of law at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels.

According to Osinbajo, mainstreaming variety of topics regarding criminal justice and rule of law into age-appropriate educational materials will help prevent criminal thoughts in children at an early age.

He said the rule of law was the essential framework for development, security, economic growth, provision of social services , peaceful resolution of conflicts and access to justice  that ensure respect for human rights.

Osibanjo said that including young people in building a country of integrity and strong institutions also allowed  them to positively shape the face of public institutions where non violent and peaceful avenues of civil engagements were encouraged.

“The launch of the UNODC Education for Justice Initiative in Nigeria is a timely and laudable one.

“We are especially happy to see its collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Education and other relevant agencies in promoting culture of lawfulness in Nigeria.

“It is our hope that this collaboration further empowers our education systems in developing young people’s ability in critically understanding the essential elements of accountability.

“Equality, fairness and respect for the rule of law, in adherence with domestic and international laws.

“We also look forward to a youth populace that demonstrates skills, values and attitudes of integrity and positive engagements in all of their endeavors”, Osinbajo said.

The vice president said that Nigeria was  committed to repositioning its education sector in order to prepare its young people to thrive in the changing world.

He said  Nigeria hoped to achieve this by investing in development of practical innovative skills for young Nigerians who would be catalysts for Nigeria’s emerging  knowledge economy.

Osinbajo added that to achieve this, the Federal Government had introduced the Every Child Counts Educational Policy to transform digital literacy, functional skills acquisition and school infrastructure.

He said that this also included  retraining of teachers for the purpose of moving Nigeria to a knowledge driven economy.

According to him, model classrooms are being developed under the N-power Junior Programme across the six geopolitical zones and in collaboration with the states.

He explained that the every child count policy would target remodeling 10,000 schools every year, equipping and transforming classrooms  to labs, workshops and collaboration centers.

Osinbajo however urged stakeholders to be  committed to ensuring the E4J initiative was successfully implemented across states in the country.

-NAN

BE

– June 19, 2019 @ 09:45 GMT |

 

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