Child rights NGO Stepping Stones Nigeria today called upon all Nigerians to recognise the value of child participation and to support children to participate in Nigerian society. In a statement signed by Dr Emilie Secker, SSN’s Advocacy Programme Manager, the NGO said that it was important to remember that child participation is a right under Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child which gives every child “who is capable of forming his or her own views the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child”.
Dr Secker said “Today the UN is upholding the right of everyone to participate in public decision-making. It is very important to also remember the value of child participation and that children have a right to participate. People often think that children have nothing to add to decision-making, but children will often have particular knowledge that other people in the community do not have, and being included gives children confidence as well as helping to protect them from abuse”.
Stepping Stones Nigeria has just completed a research project in partnership with the University of Sheffield on ‘Facilitating Children’s Participation in the Niger Delta’. The study, which took place between June and November 2012, explored how child participation is understood by NGOs in the Niger Delta and the ways in which children are able or not able to participate in society[1].
Dr Afua Twum-Danso Imoh, lead researcher on the project, said “This project produced some extremely interesting results. In particular, we discovered that children have a very good understanding of the problems in their society and clear ideas for how these should be solved. We also found that although there are a great many obstacles to child participation, opportunities for child participation do exist in Nigeria and these should be supported by those working on child rights issues. There is clearly a need for more attention to be paid to child participation if children in Nigeria are to enjoy their rights to the full”.
Dr Emilie Secker
Advocacy Programme Officer
