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Tag: UNICEF

  • Boko Haram: Over 3m children need emergency education support in North East – UNICEF

    Boko Haram: Over 3m children need emergency education support in North East – UNICEF

    The United Nations Children Education Fund (UNICEF) on Friday says an estimated three million children need emergency education support occasioned by the Boko Haram insurgency in the North East.

    UNICEF’s Deputy Director, Justin Forsyth, told newsmen in Maiduguri that urgent interventions were necessary to address the situation.

    Forsyth said that over 57 percent of basic and post basic schools in Borno were closed down due to the crisis caused by the Boko Haram insurgency.

    He disclosed that 1,400 schools were destroyed; 2,295 teachers killed, while 19 000 teachers were displaced by the insurgency in the region.

    “An estimated three million children are in need of emergency education support at the start of the new academic year.

    “Children in the North East are living through so much horror; in addition to malnutrition, violence and outbreak of cholera.

    “The attacks on schools is in danger of creating a lost generation of children threatening their future and countries.

    “To date, nearly one million children have been displaced by the crisis and 450,000 of them under the age of five are expected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition this year,” he said.

    Forsyth explained that UNICEF in collaboration with government and partners were working to rehabilitate schools, classrooms and training of teachers to build a stronger education system.

    The UNICEF official disclosed that the organisation in concert with development partners had so far enrolled 750,000 children in schools, established 350 temporary learning centres and distributed 94,000 packs of instructional materials to the displaced children in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states.

    “However, some children living in displaced camps in Borno state are actually benefiting from education for the first time in their lives.

    “At Muna Garage Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp in Maiduguri, an estimated 90 percent of children were enrolled in schools for the first time,” he said.

    Forsyth noted that the prompt interventions by the government and humanitarian organisation had assisted to mitigate malnutrition and famine in the war-ravaged region.

    The director stressed the need for a more comprehensive approach and greater commitments to address education, malnutrition and health needs of children affected by the insurgency in the region.

    Forsyth also commended the Federal and Borno Governments over their commitment to reinvigorate the education sector and address the humanitarian crisis in the state.

    He said that he would report to the organisation’s headquarters on the situation to enable it scale up activities in the region, adding that UNICEF is committed to the protection of children fundamental rights.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that Forsyth is in Borno for a three-day working visit, to appraise the UNICEF humanitarian interventions in the region.

    The UNICEF chief visited IDP camps in Banki and Maiduguri where he interacted with families and children displaced by the insurgency.

    UNICEF operates in 190 countries to promote the rights and well-being of children, safeguard and guaranty their rights to education and health as well as protection from violence and abuse.

  • Nigeria, Afghanistan, Pakistan may not meet 2020 education target – UNICEF

    Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan may not meet the 2020 target of education for children of school age unless a collective involvement of stakeholders with political will is encouraged, the United Nations International Children’s Education Fund (UNICEF) has said.

    The UN agency said: “The number of Out of School Children (OOSC) in Nigeria constitutes 20 per cent of the global total and therefore, we have strata of the Almajiris, girls of school age not enrolled, nomadic herdsmen and fishermen children. And those displaced by the insurgency in the Northeast.

    “If Nigeria gets it right, Africa gets it.”

    A UNICEF official, Mrs. Azuka Menkiti, spoke at the weekend in Kaduna at a one-day planning meeting with journalists as a prelude to the flag off of 2017 National Enrolment and Birth Registration Campaign slated for October.

    The meeting was themed: “For a better tomorrow, enrol your child in school today and get free birth registration certificate from the National Population Commission (NPC)”.

    It was organised by the Federal Ministry of Education and Universal Basic Education Commission in collaboration with UNICEF, Nigeria.

    Mrs. Menkiti, in her presentation, titled: “Objectives, expected results and rationale for expanded partnerships, NPopC”, said statistical records showed that over nine million were in Qur’anic system of education, who she noted were also considered OOSC.

    She said the three countries facing the challenge topped the global ranking with alarming proportion of OOSC.

    The UNICEF official added that girls and boys of school age in Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan are expected by 2030 to access free education.

    According to Mrs. Menkiti, research identified more girls as being out of school than boys in the North.

    “What we are concerned about is equity, fairness and justice for every child of school age. Every child has a right to be educated without gender disparity.

    “UNICEF is passionate about children in the Northeast, whose education foundation has been threatened,” she said.

    The UNICEF official, however, identified socio-cultural norms and practice, religious beliefs, lack of qualified teachers, inadequate infrastructure and poor governance as responsible for denying the child the right to education among other factors.

    Mrs. Menkiti attributed the poor level of enrolment to poverty, distance and parental ignorance on the benefits of educating their wards.

    Representative of the Federal Ministry of Education Mr. Elisha Francis, who spoke on the Federal Government’s framework on enrolment, said the first tier of government had designed a responsive drive to reaching out to OOSC for integration into the formal school system through effective campaign implementation drive at all levels.

    Francis said: “The drive would consider parental demand for education, influence of change of attitude, inherent benefits, promote equity in basic education delivery, stakeholders participation as well facilitate Nigeria’s attainment of education related SDGs”.

     

  • ‘Many innocent Nigerian children languishing in Lagos, other state prisons — UNICEF

    The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)’s Child Justice Consultant, Dr Wilfred Mamah, on Thursday said that there were many Nigerian children currently languishing in different prisons across the country.

    Mamah disclosed this in Lagos at a one-day Sensitisation Meeting on Diversion Community Rehabilitation Programme with media practitioners.

    The UNICEF’ Consultant also announced the inauguration of a pilot Community Rehabilitation Programme for Children in Conflict with the Law and Children at High Risk of Offending, in Lagos State.

    Mamah said that the inauguration of the pilot programme was to reduce the number of Nigerian children in the various Prisons, adding that certain children could not commit offences.

    “We have been working with the Lagos State Government in the protection of the Rights of the Children.

    “There are currently many children languishing in many Lagos State Prisons, as well as in other Prisons across Nigeria.

    “We have, therefore, come up with a Community Rehabilitation Programme with Grace Springs Rehabilitation Home, to gainfully engage these children and ensure that other children are not sent to Prison unnecessarily,’’ he said.

    Mamah said that UNICEF, as a global children’s protection organisation, would continue to create a situation whereby children were showed a better way of becoming responsible in life.

    “We need to know that no child is born a failure or an offender, but should be corrected and shown love always. We are aware that a number of children are still in prison.

    “Were it not for the intervention of the Chief Judge of Lagos State, who recently released about 80 children from the Badagry Prisons, those children would still have been languishing in there,’’ he said.

    Mr Yakubu Jubril, a Chief Social Welfare Officer with the Lagos State Ministry of Youth and Social Development, said that many of the children in Lagos Prisons were being wrongly held.

    Jubril said that his Ministry had come to realise that some of the children in different Prisons across Lagos State were not supposed to be there.

    “We have realised that children who are not supposed to be in Prison are there today.

    “We have found out that some of these children did not actually commit the offences levelled against them. Some of them were unduly raided by the Task Force,’’ he noted.

    Around the world, children languish behind bars, sometimes for protracted periods. In many cases, they face brutal and inhumane conditions.

    The lack of record-keeping and a wide array of institutions means that the number of children held worldwide in such environments is not known. The United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, has estimated that more than 1 million children are behind bars around the world.

    Many are held in decrepit, abusive, and demeaning conditions, deprived of education, access to meaningful activities, and regular contact with the outside world.

    Many of these children¬ — and adults who were convicted of crimes committed when they were children — have received excessive or disproportionate sentences that violate international law, which requires that imprisonment of children be in “conformity with the law and shall be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time.”

    Others are held for acts that should not be crimes at all, such as skipping school, running away from home, having consensual sex, and seeking or having an abortion. Some have never been tried for their alleged crimes; others are tried as if they were adults and, when convicted, sent to serve time in adult prisons.

    Migrant children are also routinely held in immigration detention, contrary to international standards. Children with disabilities and others may be institutionalized in the guise of protection.

    A UN study expected to be finalised in 2017 promises to put international focus on the detention of children and hopefully result in more systematic monitoring of abusive practices, increased compliance with international standards, and a dramatic reduction in the number of children deprived of their liberty.

    But governments need not wait for this report; they can and should act now to establish genuine alternatives to detention and ensure that those children who must be detained are held in humane conditions and benefit from schooling, health services, recreational opportunities, and contact with the outside world.

     

     

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  • Access Bank Group/UNICEF initiative: 10 years commitment to Africa

    The annual event is part of its continued support of UNICEF and the climax to the high-profile Access Bank/UNICEF Charity Shield Polo tournament, celebrating a decade of commitment to UNICEF projects and aimed at reaching out to and highlighting the plight of vulnerable children and orphans and internationally displaced persons.

    Access Bank Group, along with 5th Chukker, The Access Bank UK and Access Private Bank hosted the 10th annual Access Bank Polo Day at the Guards Polo Club, Windsor.

    The annual event is part of its continued support of UNICEF and the climax to the high-profile Access Bank/UNICEF Charity Shield Polo tournament, celebrating a decade of commitment to UNICEF projects and aimed at reaching out to and highlighting the plight of vulnerable children and orphans and internationally displaced persons.

    From its base with 5th Chukker in Kaduna, Nigeria, the Access Bank/UNICEF Charity Shield has grown to be the biggest charity polo tournament in Africa and generates interest and support from organisations and individuals across Africa for the UNICEF/Access initiative.

    Since the UNICEF/Access Bank initiative was started in 2007 it has seen the rebuilding of two schools in Kaduna and more than 8,000 students sustained in continuous education, at the same time developing new school blocks and a computer literacy building all in a more secure and friendly school environment.

    The communities surrounding the schools are being supported with boreholes for water, and sewing and grinding machines to secure employment and stimulate economic and social development.

    Access Bank Plc Group Managing Director and Chairman of The Access Bank UK Limited, Herbert Wigwe, explained the reasons behind the Bank’s continued support for the Fifth Chukker UNICEF initiative.

    “We are conscious of our role as a change agent in Nigeria that can help institute socio-economic development through responsible business practice and environmental considerations,” Wigwe said. “In addition, we are continually seeking ways through which more resources can be pooled towards supporting the children. We are part of the community and as such should support its wellbeing.”

    The UK event, which is the culmination of the tournament, was organised by The Access Bank UK Limited, which has just published its Annual Report for the year ended December 31, 2016.

    This shows impressive growth indicators, including a growth in assets of 81 percent to £1.1 billion, operating income of 27 per cent to £25 million, with profit before tax up 45 per cent to £12.5 million.

    Commenting on this success, The Access Bank UK’s Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Jamie Simmonds, said: “Our objective is to grow a sustainable business through customer service excellence, and innovative solutions in trade finance, commercial banking, private banking and asset management.”

    The Award as Best Africa Trade Finance Bank, for the second year running, as voted by CFI-Co readers and contributors is testimony to the value of our principles of relationship-based banking, growing our business through the depth and quality of customer relationships, while at the same time maintaining a moderate appetite for risk.

    “Our achievements owe a great deal to the strong partnership that we have with our parent company, as evidenced by our joint support of the Access Bank Day at the Guards Polo Club in Windsor,” Simmonds said.

  • Play, engage your children in learning, UNICEF advises fathers

    Ahead of the 2017 Father’s Day, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has stressed the need for fathers to spend more time with their children, citing critical role fathers play in early childhood learning.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that Father’s Day which is on Sunday, June 18, is celebrated by Americans every third Sunday in June.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that no fewer than 80 countries around the world are set to celebrate Father’s Day on Sunday.

    Mr Laurence Chandy, UNICEF Director of Data, Research and Policy, in a statement on a new study released by the UN agency, said: “we must break down the barriers that prevent fathers from providing their babies and young children a conducive environment to thrive, including love, play, protection and nutritious food.”

    According to the study, a majority of children aged between three- and four-years-old in 74 countries, or about 40 million, have fathers who do not play or engage in early learning activities with them.

    “What these numbers show us is that father’s are struggling to play an active role in their children’s early years.

    The UNICEF analysis examined whether children aged three and four engaged in any play and early learning activities with their fathers, such as having their fathers read to the children or tell them stories or sing with them.

    Other analysis included having their fathers taking them outside and playing with them as well as naming, counting or drawing with them.

    UNICEF urged governments and the private sector to increase spending and influence policies to support early childhood development programmes that focus on providing parents with the resources and information they needed to provide nurturing care to their children.

    “We must ensure that all parents have the time, resources and knowledge they need to fully support their children’s early development,” Chandy said.

    According to him, advances in neuroscience have proven that when children spend their earliest years in a nurturing, stimulating environment, new neural connections can form at a once-in-a-lifetime speed of 1,000 per second.

    “These connections help determine their health, ability to learn and deal with stress, and even influence their earning capacity as adults,” he said.

    Research also suggests that exposure to violence and a lack of stimulation and care can prevent neural connections from occurring, according to the report.

    It added that when children positively interacted with their fathers, they had better psychological health, self-esteem and life-satisfaction in the long-term.

    This month, UNICEF is inviting families to post photos and videos of what it takes to be ‘super dads,’ using the hashtag #EarlyMomentsMatter on their Instagram and Twitter accounts.

    Photos and videos of UNICEF ambassadors and supporters who have got behind the campaign are being posted on UNICEF’s Instagram and Twitter.

    They also featured on the campaign’s gallery, to inspire families across the world to share their ‘super dads’ moments.

     

     

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  • Children’s Day: UNICEF adopts comprehensive approach to end violence against children

    The United Nations Children Fund says it is adopting a comprehensive approach to curtail violence against children in Nigeria.

    UNICEF Child Protection Specialist, Dr. Olasunbo Odebode, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Saturday in Abuja to mark this year’s Children’s Day.

    The 2017 theme is: “Child protection and SDGs: Issues and opportunities.”

    Violence against children, according to her, is any form of abuse; it may be physical, emotional or anything that constitute an attack on the children.

    She identified some violence against children to include sexual and all forms of abuses, exploitation, child labour, trafficking, neglect and slavery, among others.

    Odebode noted that UNICEF is after children protection system strengthening approach which is all encompassing rather than taking them in silo or addressing them one after the other.

    The expert, who described violence as multifaceted, however, said that addressing the menace in the society and ensured perpetrators were brought to book required multi-sectoral approach and efforts.

    Odebode who expressed displeasure on the rate of molestation, sexual abuses, assault, among other vices in the country, underscored the need for all hands to be deck to address the scourge.

    According to her, we cannot fold our hands and allow the future of our children and the society to be ruined by the wicked ones.

    She emphasised that any child that is being violated in whatever form, if not addressed adequately, would suffer physically, emotional, morally and psychologically.

    “In Nigeria, children are faced with a lot of challenges whether in the area of health, education, poverty, security or protection.

    “In this regard, curtailing violence against children in the society require multi-sectoral efforts or response.

    “And UNICEF has put mechanism in place across the federation like capacity building of Judges, teachers, Police, traditional and religious leaders, social welfare, changing the perception of what constitute violence, among others.

    “The capacity building was to acquaint them with what constitute violence and ensure that when the child is confronted with any form they will know what to do to effectively address the cases.

    “What we are after is child protection system strengthening approach; this means an encompassing strategy including prevention and response, not that we will wait till violence occurs before we act,” she said.

     

     

     

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  • Children’s Day: UNICEF seek end to violence against children

    Marking Nigerian Children’s Day today, which this year is on the theme of child protection and the Sustainable Development Goals, the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) has called for urgent action to adopt the Child Rights Act across all of Nigeria’s states and to heed the President Muhammadu Buhari’s call to end violence against children.

    Millions of Nigerian children suffer some form of physical, emotional or sexual violence. According to a 2014 survey by the National Population Commission, with support from UNICEF and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, six out of ten Nigerian children experience at least one of these forms of violence before they reach 18.

    “Each one of us is responsible for creating a world where children feel safe, protected and empowered to speak up for themselves,” said Mohamed Fall, UNICEF Representative in Nigeria, using Nigerian Children’s Day as an opportunity to highlight the prevalence of violence against children in the country and measures needed to address it.

    In line with the Sustainable Development Goal to end all forms of violence against children by 2030, Nigeria has launched a Campaign to End Violence Against Children by 2030, which reinforces the Presidential call to end such violence first made in September 2015.

    Since 2015, Lagos, Cross River, Benue and Plateau States have launched state-wide campaigns. The Federal Capital Territory and Kano states marked the Children’s Day today by launching their own campaigns to end violence against children and Gombe State will launch its campaign on 7 June.

    To drive the implementation of the national campaign, the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development is working with key government partners, civil society and faith-based organizations to develop a National Plan of Action that will set targets and milestones to end violence against children in Nigeria by 2030.

    UNICEF applauds Nigeria’s national and state governments’ efforts to reduce violence and exploitation of children in Nigeria and has recognized Nigeria as a Global Pathfinding country in the world-wide battle to combat violence against children.

    Nigeria adopted the national Child Rights Act in 2003 to domesticate the international Convention on the Rights of the Child.

    So far, State-wide Child Rights Acts have been passed in 24 of the Nigeria’s 36 states, with Enugu being the most recent to enact the law in December 2016.

    “We call on the State Assemblies of the remaining 12 states to urgently pass Child Rights bills and on governors to sign those bills into law.

    “We also call on governors of the 29 states who have not yet launched state-level campaigns to end violence against children to do so,” said Mohamed Fall.

    “And even while we increase our commitments to protect children’s rights,” he added, “We must work even harder to make these rights a reality for children in Nigeria.”

  • UNICEF hails release of 82 Chibok girls

    UNICEF hails release of 82 Chibok girls

    The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has expressed delight at the release of the 82 of the Chibok schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram insurgents more than three years ago.

    UNICEF Nigeria Acting Representative Pernille Ironside in a statement obtained by Correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) from UN in New York, said the girls’ release was “heartening”.

    Ironside said “it is heartening to know that the girls will be returning to their families who have been waiting for this day.

    “They will face a long and difficult process to rebuild their lives after the indescribable horror and trauma they have suffered at the hands of Boko Haram.

    “UNICEF is on standby to support the Nigerian authorities to provide the comprehensive psychosocial support and other specialized services needed.

    “We will help reunite the girls with their families and make sure they can continue their education in a safe environment.

    “Already staff at a UNICEF supported health clinic have been supporting immediate efforts to identify the girls and conduct medical check-ups before their onward transport.

    “UNICEF calls on Boko Haram to end all grave violations against children, especially the abduction of children and the sexual abuse and forced marriage of girls,

    Ironside said UNICEF commended the Federal Government for this important achievement in helping to protect children impacted by the conflict in northeast Nigeria.

    According to her, however, the UN children’s agency remained deeply concerned for the thousands of women and children still held in captivity by Boko Haram.

    The UNICEF official said greater efforts must be made to bring them all to safety and home to their families.

    “UNICEF has a comprehensive plan to help children who have been affected by the conflict in the Lake Chad Basin and works with national authorities to support hundreds of children and women who have escaped or been released by Boko Haram.

    “Every child is unique and requires different levels of support, so there is no standard formula or defined timeframe for these children to recover.

    “UNICEF is committed to doing whatever it takes, as long as it takes, to help these children recover a sense of normalcy with our available resources,” Ironside said.

    TheNewsGuru.com that the 82 girls were released to international negotiators who have been working in collaboration with the Federal government for their safe return since they were kidnapped in April 2014.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu on Saturday in a statement issued in Abuja also confirmed that the girls were release by their captors in exchange for some Boko Haram suspects held by the Federal Government.

  • Boko Haram: 600 teachers killed, 1,200 schools closed in Lake Chad – UNICEF

    The United Nations Children’s Funds, UNICEF, has said that no fewer than 600 school teachers have lost their lives in the Lake Chad region ravaged by the Boko Haram insurgency.

    The UN agency, in a statement made available to newsmen yesterday, revealed that the agency is targeting 158,900 Children to benefit from the training program, which is expected to run until the end of the year.

    The statement said, schools are particularly vulnerable to bombings, attacks, and abductions by the insurgents but many lacked detailed safety plans.

    “Boko Haram, whose name in the Hausa language means ‘Western Education is Forbidden’, has killed more than 600 teachers and forced over 1,200 schools to close during its eight-year insurgency in Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad.

    “Three years ago, the abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls by the jihadist group in Chibok in northeastern Nigeria sparked global outrage.

    “The training program, run in partnership with the European Union, encourages teachers to evaluate the risks facing their schools and helps them develop action plans so that students and teachers know what to do in case of emergency.

    “Ensuring access to education for crisis-affected children is important, however opening schools is not enough,” said Marie-Pierre Poirier, UNICEF’s regional director for West and Central Africa said in the statement.

    “Children and teachers need to be equipped with knowledge and skills, to be prepared and able to mitigate the effects of something dangerous happening around the school premises,” she added.

    UNICEF spokesman, Patrick Rose said, “Some of the plans include appointing student leaders, designating assembly points and practicing emergency evacuation techniques. Some 1,600 teachers have been trained so far.

    “The training also includes techniques for providing traumatized children with psychological support and making schools feel like a safe place in the midst of the chaos.

    “Teachers learn games that can have a healing effect, and how to incorporate lessons about looking after each other into the children’s activities.”

     

  • Just in: Boko Haram used 117 children as suicide bombers

    Just in: Boko Haram used 117 children as suicide bombers

    The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has said terrorist group, Boko Haram has used 117 children for suicide attacks in Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon since 2014.

    In a statement on Wednesday, UNICEF said 27 children had been sent on suicide missions in 2017 alone.

    UNICEF Regional Director for West and Central Africa, Marie-Pierre Poirier, said, “In the first three months of 2017, the number of children used in bomb attacks is nearly the same as the whole of last year. This is the worst possible use of children in conflict. These children are victims, not perpetrators. Forcing or deceiving them into committing such horrific acts is reprehensible.”

    The statement also said over 1.3 million children have been displaced by the insurgency in the four countries.

    The statement reads in part: “So far, 117 children have been used to carry out bomb attacks in public places across Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon since 2014.

    “We had four in 2014, 56 in 2015, 30 in 2016 and 27 only in the first three months of 2017.

    “Girls have been used in the vast majority of these attacks. As a consequence, girls, boys and even infants have been viewed with increasing fear at markets and checkpoints, where they are thought to carry explosives.

    “The alarming increase reflects the tactic of the insurgents. We call on parties to the conflict to end grave violations against children by Boko Haram and move children from military to civilian environment as quickly as possible.

    “Children who have been taken into custody solely for their alleged or actual association to armed groups should be immediately handed over to civilian authorities for reintegration and support.”