ECOWAS Establishes Partnership To Address Plights Of Street Children

The Clerk, ECOWAS Female Parliamentarians Association, Mrs. Blessing Samuel-Atiri says the Economic Community of West African States has established a regional partnership to address the phenomenon of Street Children in the sub-region.

Speaking on “Street Children”, a Radio Nigeria, network programme, Mrs. Samuel-Atiri who relayed her experience on the streets as a child, said the partnership would include civil society organisations, religious and traditional rulers across the region to squarely identify core issues and create awareness on the plights of street children.
“We are talking about the insurgency in the country, the sub-region, and street children is the breeding ground for all of these”, she said.

Mrs Samuel-Atiri further stressed the need for technical and vocational education in the region to meet the current demand for creativity and innovation.

Another guest on the programme and the Chief Security Officer (CSO), ECOWAS Parliament Mr Kamba Aliyu who also shared his experience as a street child with the quest for education, advised the government to create a conducive and favourable atmosphere for education and equally intensify sensitisation on the importance of education.

Some Nigerians who called into the programme want government and civil society organisations to collaborate to take children off the streets and provide social welfare services for them.

FRCN ABUJA