Prison Fellowship Nigeria (PFN), a faith-based NGO, says it is set to support 47 vulnerable and “at-risk’’ children in Nasarawa State on education, safety, healthcare, social and emotional resilience.
PFN’s Chaplain, Simeon Ajibola, made the remark on Wednesday at Nasarawa, Nasarawa State, while flagging off a programme tagged: “Promise-path Mentoring and Psycho-Social Children Educational Programme’’.
HE said the programme was designed to reach out to vulnerable and “at-risk’’ children, especially those whose parents were incarcerated.
He explained that through the programme, the organisation sought to ensure that vulnerable and “at-risk’’ children received four essential supports: education, safety, health, and social and emotional resilience, all within the care of their family units.
The chaplain added that beneficiaries of the programme must be between the ages of four years and 18 years in public primary and secondary schools in Nigeria.
“These include either sentenced or pre-trial detention in correctional/custodial facilities, as well as house arrests, whereby house arrest prevents the parent from employment,’’ he said.
Ajibola also said the programme was conceived when Prison Fellowship International (PFI) conducted a comprehensive research in more than 30 countries across continents along with a survey of PFI national ministries.
“The analysis revealed that vulnerable and “at-risk’’ children from all development contexts share five major risks to their well-being,’’ he said.
According to Ajibola, Nigeria is reported to have the highest number of out-of- school children in sub-Sahara Africa with more than 10 million children of schooling age out of school.
Also speaking at the event, Deputy Executive Director PFN, Elijah Ogunsanya, said the promise-path children education programme would have wide-ranging impact on the lives of the children and their parents.
“It will help to break the cycle of ignorance, poverty and crime within the family and the society at large,’’ he said.
Mohammed Otto, who represented the Deputy Chairman, Nasarawa Local Government Area, Musa Idris, said that he appreciated PFN members for the support for vulnerable children through education.
He urged government to also assist PFN in its effort to better the lot of vulnerable children. (NAN)
