SAN FRANCISCO, June 16, (THEWILL) – The wife of the President, Mrs Aisha Buhari, has urged stakeholders to make concerted effort towards protecting the rights African children.
Mrs Buhari made the call in Abuja, on Friday, in an event to mark the 2017 day for the African child organised by the African First Ladies Mission Secretariat to commemorate the children, who died in Soweto during a protest for quality education in South Africa.
Mrs Buhari, who was represented by the former Deputy Governor of Plateau State, Mrs Pauline Tallen, said that the theme of the event, Accelerating Protection, Empowerment and Equal Opportunities for children in Africa 2030, was apt considering the rate of child abuse in the continent.
She also stressed the need for parents to protect their children from all forms of violence and abuse because it forms part of the 17 goals of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Mrs Buhari, who quoted a UNICEF 2016 comprehensive report, said that children in sub-saharan Africa may be more likely to die before their fifth birthdays than their counterpart in high-income countries adding that more than 60 million primary school age children will be out of school and more than half will be from Sub-saharan Africa.
“Despite huge challenges ahead of us, realizing these goals have deadline; we should accelerate our progress to achieve the goals by 2030,” she said.
“We need peace to improve the quality of our children’s lives, accelerate protection, empowerment and give them equal opportunities by the year 2030 and beyond.”
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