By Stephen Adeleye
The Kogi Government has restated its commitment to the full implementation of the Child Rights Law (CRL) in the state.
The Commissioner of Education, Science and Technology, Mr Wemi Jones made this known at an advocacy visit of CRL Advocacy Cluster in Lokoja on Wednesday.
Jones explained that the World Bank had made the CRL a precondition for states to access the World Bank Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) grants to 11 participating states.
He added that Kogi was among the 11 states that would access part of the U.S 500 million dollars, earmarked by the world bank to fund AGILE project.
According to him, the initiative is aimed at improving Secondary Education opportunities among girls in targeted participating states.
The commissioner added that the state must like every other participating state, fulfil the precondition required for accessing the fund.
“This will assist the state to achieve its policy objectives in promotion of the girl child education.
”We are lucky to have domesticated the CRL since 2019, with nine functional family courts in operation out of the 21 family courts based on the provisions of CRL 2023.
“Our governor is committed to any project that adds value to life in Kogi, and the child rights law scale project is of immense value to us.
”As a government, we are committed to serving the people to live a better life, where children are given the best considerations and priority In the scheme of things,” he said.
The commissioner assured that Gov. Yahaya Bello had the political will to implement the CRL state implementation Committee to the glory of the state.
“We at the ministry of education, will work with other relevant ministries to ensure the setting up of the state CRL implementation committee,” Jones said.
The commissioner assured that Bello would unconditionally support full implementation of the law.
Earlier, the Team leader of CRL Advocacy cluster in the state Mr. Titus Alonge, appealed to government to approve full implementation of the CRL, saying it would lead to the realisation of five key policy demands in the 2023 budget.
He said the project would also address gender issues by taking precedence over everything.
“I urge the state government to take pragmatic approach to CRL implementation rather than the current piecemeal approach.
“I hope the law will be adequately considered during the sectoral budget allocations.
“We hope Bello, will dispassionately approve the five key demands for the timely implementation of the CRL in 2023 ,” he said. (NAN)
