Wife of Enugu state governor moves to fast track domestication of child rights act

ENUGU—THE wife of the Enugu State Governor, Mrs. Monica Ugwuanyi has disclosed her commitment to  the domestication of the Child Rights act in the state as passed into law by the Federal Government in 2003. Mrs. Ugwuanyi noted that she would collaborate with the State Ministry of Gender Affairs to fast track the domestication of the said law to alleviate problems of children in the state.

In a speech when she received in audience the young African Stars of Nigeria led by their National President, Amb. George Uru Nwoke in her office, Mrs. Ugwuanyi assured that her office would continue to deal with the issue of the Child Rights act until it is actualized in the state.

The wife of the governor commended the group for their advocacy for the rights of children in Nigeria and their other efforts to make children better future leaders, urging them not to relent in that direction. Earlier in an address, Mr. Uru   Nwoke disclosed that the organization bagged an award from the United Nations for its fight against maltreatment of children and child right act in the country.

He noted that the organization was in  Government House to thank Mrs. Ugwuanyi and her husband for their efforts towards domestication of child rights law in the state.

Skill acquistion

Mrs. Ugwuanyi also thereafter received in the new Commandant of Enugu Prison Training School, Lady Clementina Okpara whom she commended for her efforts in reforming the prison inmates through skill acquisition programmes.   She affirmed her readiness to assist the Prison Training School to ensure the wellbeing of the prison inmates.

According to the governor’s wife, training and retraining of the inmates would go a long way in creating job opportunities for them and reduce crime rates among them after serving their jail term. Mrs. Ugwuanyi urged that the female inmates should be properly handled, adding that close contact with their male counterparts should be avoided to prevent cases of rape and other social ills that could tarnish their image.

In an address, the Commandant, Lady Okpara revealed that prisons are no longer called prisons but correction and reformation centres intended for positive attitudinal and character changes.

She added that the training school has packaged skill acquisition programmes for training and retraining of the inmates to be experts in different fields of human endeavour, saying that the school has trained its staff in different fields to enable them impart the knowledge to the inmates.

She enumerated the areas of training as shoe making, production of detergents and other artisan skills but regretted that lack of machinery equipment has hindered all efforts being made. She appealed to the Enugu State government to assist the training school actualize its drive to provide in vocational training for inmates.