By: Mayen Etim
KADUNA, North-West, Nigeria – The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in partnership with European Union (EU), has said it is collaborating with the Kaduna State Government to provide access to justice for children below ages 18, who has come in conflict with the law.
Child Protection Specialist, UNICEF Kaduna, Dr. Wilfred Mamah, disclosed during an engagement with the media in Kaduna on Friday.
According to Dr. Mamah, the intervention called, “Access to Justice for Children on the move” is a continuation of the work the Fund is engaged with the Kaduna State Ministry of Women Service and Social Development to keep, protect and give children access to justice.
He explained that the intervention is a partnership between the Fund and EU collaborating to strengthen access to justice in six countries including Nigeria.
He added that in Nigeria, the intervention focuses on three states – Kaduna, Kano and Sokoto; while in Kaduna the project is being implemented under the state Ministry of Women Service and Social Development.
He further explained that Kaduna state in 2018 passed the Child Protection and Welfare law which has a provision for access to justice. He said the key provision is that when children commit offenses they must be handled in a family court.
“To this end three Family Courts has been designated by the former Chief Judge of Kaduna State (CJ), Honourable Justice Muhammadu Lawal Bello, in Kaduna, Kafanchan and Zaria covering the three senatorial zones of the state,” he stated.
The Child Protection Specialist, said the Kaduna family court is a milestone achievement, and one distinguishing factor is that it’s not only made up of judges and magistrates, but social workers also called, Assessors. According to him, a family court can not be constituted without the Assessors, who help the judges or magistrates understand the peculiarity of the child offenders.
He however said the software needed to getting the designated family courts functional like personnel, lawyers, police, assessors, among others are being built to undergo training. “To this end, a committee of Legal Aid lawyers would be trained to be able to stand for children on the move and other vulnerable children as survivors or conflict with the law
pro bono, since a child is not supposed to be in penal institutions like prison or adults correctional center. This is what we are doing.
“We are going to keep working on this in collaboration with the state Ministries of Women Service and Social Development, Justice and Judiciary to ensure we have examplary Family Court that will deliver justice for children,” he assured.
The Kaduna State Justice for Children Coordination Forum, chaired by Justice Darius Khobo, was set up in November 2021, with the following objectives: “To carry out advocacy visits to stakeholders in the administration or criminal justices for children in the state; to advocate for the establishment of family courts;
Others include; “to provide a baseline data of children in detention centres; and to ensure children in conflict with the law know their rights and has access to justice.”