|
The child rights NGOs Stepping Stones
Nigeria and the Child Rights and
Rehabilitation Network (CRARN) have
requested an urgent meeting with
Governor Chief Godswill Akpabio to
discuss the recent accusations of fraud
that have been made against them. The
two organisations have also emphasized
that they remain entirely committed to
ending child abuse in Nigeria .
Gary Foxcroft, Programme Director of
Stepping Stones Nigeria, said yesterday
“We implore the Governor to meet with us
immediately to discuss the allegations
that have been made against us. We are
deeply concerned that Governor Akpabio
has been given misleading information by
certain people who have a commercial
interest in undermining our work. There
seems to have been a gap in
communications between us and it is now
urgent that we meet in order to fill
this gap”.
Mr Foxcroft also commented: “We would
also like to inform the Governor that we
did not invite CNN to come to Akwa Ibom
and to cover this story. In fact, we
very much admire the tremendous efforts
that the Governor has made to uphold
child rights in Akwa Ibom, in particular
his initiatives to combat abuses of
child rights resulting from witchcraft
stigmatisation, and we would like to
meet with him to discuss how we can
continue to work
together to improve the lives of the
children of Akwa Ibom”.
Sam Itauma, President of CRARN, stated
“Both of these NGOs are entirely
transparent and accountable
organisations. We have nothing to hide,
as all of our financial dealings are
publically available, and we would like
to invite anyone who wishes to do so to
view our accounts and annual reports.
People are also very welcome to visit
our centre to see the condition of the
children for themselves, to see the
progress that has been made over the
last four years, and to hear about the
many successes that we have had in
rescuing and reuniting children”.
He adds: “The only objective of our work
is to protect Nigerian children from
abuse of their rights. We know that
Governor Akpabio is deeply committed to
child rights and we offer him any
assistance that he may require to help
in this cause”.
The issue of witchcraft stigmatisation
as a form of child rights abuse has
received increased attention recently.
In June the UN Committee on the Rights
of the Child identified overcoming this
problem as a
key priority for the Nigerian Federal
government, and in July UNICEF published
a large-scale report which examined how
witchcraft stigmatisation affects
children across West Africa
The group had earlier debunked
allegations of fraud levelled on the
groups by some government officials in
Akwa Ibom, insisting that they remain
committed to fighting for the rights of
so-called child witches in the state and
remain open to scrutiny.
Speaking at a conference held by both
organisations and the Bar Human Rights
Committee, the Child Rights Unit,
Programme Director of Stepping Stones
Nigeria, Gary Foxcroft, said: “Stepping
Stones Nigeria refutes these false
allegations in the strongest possible
terms. As a registered charity in
England and Wales we are accountable to
the Charity Commission and publish our
accounts on their website and ours
annually. Stepping Stones Nigeria and
our partners are committed to upholding
the highest standards in transparency
and accountability. We have absolutely
nothing to hide.”
“The Akwa Ibom State government may have
been misinformed by uninformed
individuals and those with commercial
interests. We therefore wish to request
a formal meeting with officials of the
government to help address this
misunderstanding,” Foxcroft said.
According to him, Stepping Stones
Nigeria and other like-groups working on
Child
Rights issues found it shocking that
some individuals were out to discredit
its activities before the state in order
to promote their own pecuniary
interests, even as he added that, under
the leadership of Governor Godswill
Akpabio, the state has made significant
progress in improving the lives of
children accused of witchcraft through
the Child Rights
Act as well as mass literacy which has
been boosted through education for all
school age pupils in the state.
“Stepping Stones Nigeria and its
partners remain committed to working
with the Akwa Ibom State Government to
stamp out this evil practice once and
for
all”, he insisted. Commenting on
allegations that the child witch issue
in Akwa Ibom State had been
“exaggerated”, President of the Child
Rights and
Rehabilitation Network (CRARN), Sam
Itauma, stated that: “in the last
seven years CRARN has dealt with
numerous horrific cases of child abuse
linked to the belief in child witches.
Recent reports by UNICEF and the UN
Committee on the Rights of the Child
show this problem is real and that it
has not been exaggerated at all. We hope
that the state government will give us
the opportunity to discuss this with the
relevant government ministries working
on this issue”.
Leading International Human Rights
barristers from the Bar Human Rights
Committee Child Rights Unit, Kirsty
Brimelow said: “Whilst we commend the
Akwa Ibom state Government for enacting
the Child Rights Act; there is clearly a
lot of work to be done if it is to be
successfully implemented. We wish to
support the Governor’s positive work to
secure convictions of those who
stigmatise children as witches. All have
a common interest in strengthening the
Rule of Law to prevent the mistreatment
of children. We are here to explore the
possibility – together with other
international agencies -of providing
free training to judges, prosecutors,
police and social welfare teams”.
|
