Minister of Women Affairs, Pauline Tallen, says the government has established family courts in 16 states to ensure child-friendly justice for children, either as victims or as offenders of violence.

Mrs Tallen noted that the establishment of family courts results from the effective and sustained advocacy and sensitisation for effective implementation of the Child Rights Law (CRL).

“In the meantime, the ministry, in collaboration with relevant stakeholders, has developed policies and carried out a series of programmes to ensure the safety of children.

“The establishment of family courts in 16 states of the federation is a direct result of the effective and sustained advocacy,” she said.

The minister disclosed this while briefing journalists on Tuesday in Abuja, ahead of the 2022 Children’s Day celebration, which has “Strengthening Supportive Systems for the Protection of the Nigerian Child; A Wake-Up Call” as its theme.

“As a ministry, we are sometimes overwhelmed with these issues and it will seem as if we are not doing enough,” she stated.

Mrs Tallen added that to ensure the safety and protection of children, she also reconstituted the technical working group on ending violence against children and the technical working group on case management in Nigeria.

She said the ministry had also launched the Beta Version and upgraded the National Orphans and Vulnerable Children Management Information Systems (NOMIS) database.

She explained that the database was to provide robust data on the National Orphans and Vulnerable Children, generated from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The ministry had also launched the Movement for Good to end Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and mobilised some persons to pledge to end the practice by 2030, she added.

She noted that despite efforts by the government and other stakeholders, children were still vulnerable and victims of abduction, ritual killings, rape, child marriage, domestic abuse and others.

“More worrisome is the recent increase of violence in schools, where children are physically and sexually abused online and offline,” she said.

(NAN)