THE ENFORCEMENT OF THE RIGHTS OF THE NIGERIAN CHILD: CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS

The child is an integral part of human society; importantly the future existence of the society depends on the health and wellbeing of the child. That is why the childis regarded as a national asset. The need for the protection and enforcement of the rights of the child in order to prepare him for future task is, therefore, imperative. Nigeria is signatory to various international and regional instruments for the protection and enforcement of the rights of the child. At the domestic level, various legal and institutional frameworks have been put in place for the protection, promotion and enforcement of the rights of the child. Despite the overabundance of various international, regional and domestic legal instruments for the enforcement of the rights of the child, the enjoyment of these rights in Nigeria is still bedevilled with lots of challenges. In carrying out the research, both THE doctrinal and empirical research approaches were adopted.the doctrinal research approach utilizes both primary and secondary sources of law from which inferences were drawn as the basis for some of the findings in the work, with the objective of principally finding solutions to the challenges to the enforcement of the rights of the child in Nigeria.The empirical data reflected the various factors that constitute challenges to the enforcement of the rights of the child in Nigeria. It was found that among the factors constituting challenges to the enforcement of the rights of the child,religious factor ranked the most, followed by corruption and cultural factors. Lack of implementation mechanisms formost laws on the rights of the child, non justiciability of some of the rights ofprovided in the Child’s Rights Act, (CRA) 2003 and the conflicting provision of laws on the rights of the child are other challenges to the enforcement of the rights of the child. The child cannot utilize the benefit of the rights articulated for his enjoyment in Nigeria due to insecurity, illiteracy and economic factors. It is recommended that the Child’s Rights Act, (CRA) 2003,the principal legislation relating to the rights of the child should be amended to include some aspects of Child’s Rights protection not included therein such asthe rights of the child with disability; to specifically reflect the rights of the disabled child.Also that the Borstal Institutions and Remand Centres Act and other allied laws, be amended to empower States to establish their own Borstal Institutions and Remand Centres, so as to solve the problems associated with the detention of children in adult facility. Furthermore, monitoring and reporting mechanisms be put in place to track and follow-up child’s right violation and challenges, especially with respect to the child whose rights are susceptible to violation.The contribution of this research to the body of knowledge is principally the discovery of the role and impact of non-governmental organizations, individuals, civil societies and the likes in the enforcement of the rights of the child without which the rights of the child will forever remain a mirage