17th July, 2018
Lagos State Commissioner for Youth and Social Development, Mr. Agboola Dabiri has called on parents and guardians to be aware of the likely increase in the rate of child molestation, sexual abuse and rape, saying that some impostors are in the habit of using the school holiday period to perpetuate evil against school children.
The Commissioner made the call on Tuesday at the stakeholders’ meeting with owners/administrators of Day Care Centres In Lagos State held at Adeyemi Bero Auditorium, Secretariat, Alausa, Ikeja.
He said that the state government prioritised the welfare of children and also recognized the roles played by owners of creches and Day care centres in ensuring a saner and prosperous society, especially in nurturing and molding our leaders of today for the challenges of tomorrow.
Dabiri stated that the government cared about every of the developmental stages of children from conception through their teens and throughout their entire life.
According to him, the government was aware of the proliferation of different operators of Day Care Centres and Creches who having been carrying out their duties in an unprofessional manner thereby posing a threat to the activities of trained and certified operators.
He expressed the belief that henceforth, the activities of the various stakeholders in child care would be checkmate to give a chance to only certified and trained persons to operate creches and day care centres.
He added that government identified the need for proper registration and capturing of all information regarding the operations of Day Care Centres/Crèches into the data bank of the State Government with the aim of standardizing the operations of the various stakeholders.
“It is imperative for operators of Day Care centres to imbibe and implement the principles and content of the Lagos State Child Rights Law in their operations. As Government, we shall continually update operators on all current regulatory policies of the State and also ensure that all necessary safety measures are put in place in Child care services.” The Commissioner assured the stakeholders.
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Mr. Hakeem Muri-Ojunola disclosed that the theme for the meeting: “Towards achieving best practices in early childhood care in Lagos State’’ was in line with the State Governor’s Executive Order on Child Protection Policy which states that all child centre institutions shall be guided by the principles of overall well-being of the child, best interest of the child, consultation and transparency and early recognition and intervention.”
He enjoined all the stakeholders to support the move by the government to improve the lives of children through the provision of quality services while also taking cognizance of their interest in compliance with the State Government’s policies and programmes.
While making a presentation at the event, the Director of Compliance, Monitoring and Enforcement, Lagos State Safety Commission, Mrs. Ronke Odeneye urged owners of creches and Day care centres to be aware of the legal implications of their operations.
She said that it was expedient for the operators to prioritize the passion attached to the job above the monetary gain, stressing that operators must be passionate about caring for children as against seeing their operations as a mere business establishments.