By Enitan Daramola
The Elejigbo of Langbasa, Lagos State, Oba Hafeez Olalekan Badiru takes a stand against the maltreatment of children by organising a seminar to sensitise parents, tutors and guardians of the Langbasa community as a step towards ending the cases of child abuse on the future leaders of tomorrow; the children.
This is in consonance with the ongoing battle against child abuse all over the world, especially in Nigeria where records prove that cases of abuse is prevalent in all 36 states of the country, so as to put an end to such injustice that has crippled, destroyed and sadly ended the lives of many young individuals including infants.
While speaking at the event which kickstarts the week long coronation ceremony of the Elejigbo of Langbasa, Oba Badiru said that he acted as a result of reports he received as a public servant as regards abuses of children as well as the need for citizens’ knowledge of their basic human rights.
” I feel it is necessary for children to know their rights within the society and I discovered that most of them do not know the meaning of child abuse, even the parents, therefore I want everyone to know”, the Oba said.
According to the representative of the Lagos State Domestic Violence Team, Mrs. kehinde Iyade, Children are mostly abused by adults that they trust and as a result they tend to persuade or threaten them to avoid reports of such incident. She informed that the Lagos State Government takes cases of such magnitude with utmost importance and seriousness to ensure that perpetrators are brought to justice.
Mrs. Iyade added that, “in those days, it used to be 7years imprisonment but today it is for life if you are caught maltreating of defiling a child” as she assured the children that the state government is fully behind them and as such, they shouldn’t be intimidated or scared of coming out to report any form of child abuse, including excessive flogging. She also informed the community members that the Lagos State Government, the Police, NGOs are in conjunction with the domestic violence response team.
Oba Badiru also implored every stakeholders in the community to take a from this sensitisation initiative and join the battle against child abuse to ensure that all members of the community are enlightened and have the knowledge of the implications of child abuse.
