Issues On Education, Fgm And Child Security In Focus As Ebonyi North Children's Parliament Hold Special Sitting.

Ebonyi North Children's parliament has urged government to intensify monitoring and supervision in both public and private schools in the area to enhance quality of learning as well as restore reasonable discipline which is gradually being eroded.

The parliament also tasked government to move beyond mere statements and invoke existing laws against perpetrators of female genital mutilation in the area.

The issues were part of the many resolutions reached by the Children Parliamentarians in their special sitting on Saturday, March 8, 2025.

The sitting was held at the Abakaliki local government legislative chambers, Nkaliliki, Ebonyi State.

It marked the beginning of series of sittings of the parliament scheduled to hold across the three senatorial zones of the state aimed at giving the children a voice in governance.

The programme is powered by a Civil Society Organization, Human Rights and Conflict Resolution Centre in collaboration with the State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, with support from Saint Patrick's Missionary Society.

The parliament during the sitting deliberated on several other social issues affecting children in the zone focusing principally on health, education, child abuse, labour and trafficking, as well as parenting.

It decried female genital mutilation as a prominent form of abuse against the female child.

It also considered issues around infrastructure and standard of teaching and learning on public and private schools, healthcare facilities and the issues around child dignity and security, urging the government and parents to strive to tighten the many loopholes in order to safeguard the future of children.

The 19-point communique containing the resolutions at the end of the sitting was presented to newsmen by the Deputy Speaker of the Parliament, Miss Winifred Nwankwegu, who presided over the session.

The communique noted that good education is the bedrock of development and the best gift the government and parents can give to the children, and called for improved infrastructure, teaching and learning environment; equipment and other facilities which were obviously lacking in most schools in the area.

Parts of the communique read: "There is decline in reasonable discipline in schools, leading to declining respect for constituted authority.

"This has also aggravated bullying which tends to discourage children from schools.

"Government should intensify school supervision to ensure that reasonable discipline is restored in our schools.

"The parliament sadly observes that FGM is a prominent form of abuse of female children and recommends that government should go beyond statements and strictly invoke existing laws against anyone engaging in the obsolete practice, to serve as deterrent to others.

"Parents should begin to give listening ears and give more attention to the opinion of their children, especially in decisions affecting them in the family.

"They should also treat their children equally without discrimination based on gender or other social considerations."

The Executive Director of Human Rights and Conflict Resolution Centre, Abakaliki, George Etamesor in an interview noted that the affairs of children constitute major part of the Organisation's thematic areas.

He explained that the review of the Organisation's activities for the past years brought the need to give the children the voice to speak for themselves, articulate their own issues and problems for transmission to appropriate authorities rather than others speaking for them.

Etamesor added: "We therefore decided to revive and leverage the existing platform of children's parliament under the State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development to execute the idea, and that informed this sitting.

"The children will eventually harmonze the outcomes of the sittings from all the senatorial zones of the state in a State sitting to produce a document which would be transmitted to the government via various fora as concerns of children of Ebonyi state."

Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Mrs Felicia Nwamkpuma represented by the Head, Child Development in the Ministry, Emmanuel Mkwuda, said the children parliament is a legal platform which enables children to air their views and make demands on the government.

Mkwuda explained that Children's parliament exist from the federal to State and local government areas, adding that the current parliament in the state is the 7th edition while the state has two representatives at the national level.