Foreign

THE Cross River Ministry of Women Affairs has advised parents in the state to accord equal rights and privileges to their wards, irrespective of gender.

Dr Gertrude Njar, the Special Adviser (SA) to Gov. Ben Ayade, gave the advice while speaking at an event to mark the International Day of the Girl-Child on Tuesday in Calabar.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the state government commemorated the event in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and had “our time is now, our right our future” as its theme.

Represented by Mrs Nancy Nsor, the Director, Women Department in the ministry, Njar said that although the International Day of the Girl-Child is celebrated annually on Oct. 11, the state decided to shift its commemoration due to some exigencies.

He said “it is the desire of the UN and government of Cross River that the girl-child gets equal rights to be educated and empowered like the boy child.

“The girl-child should be allowed to flourish with her dreams and not inhibited by cultural practices and religion.

“Girls also have rights to safe education, healthy life, a name and birth registration, in fact the rights of a girl-child are human rights.”

He also urged school administrators to ensure that they did not differentiate boys and the girls in giving out roles in schools, adding that there should be no specific roles attached to a specific gender.

On his part, Mr Kebe Ikpi, the Chairman, Child Protection Network, (CPN), Cross River chapter, warned residents of the state to note that children have no right to give consent to sex.

According to him, in the eyes of the law anyone who engages in such act with a child has committed rape and is liable to life imprisonment whether the child consents or not.

Ikpi advised girls not to be in a hurry to get married, saying they only had a short time to enjoy their youthfulness, which he said they should enjoy to the maximum.

He also warned teachers in the state to shun corporal punishment, adding that available data showed that children nurtured without corporal punishment grew up to become good citizens.

He added that “it is not the cane that changes the child but moral upbringing imbibed in them; Nigerians must not hide under culture and religion and inflict injuries on their wards in the name of correction.

“There are several non-violent methods to correct a child instead of insisting on harmful practice of corporal punishment.” (NAN)

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Tags: Gertrude Njar GOV. Ben Ayade Kebe Ikpi Nancy Nsor