184 And I will argue that children will soon have adult rights when they become adults. Again, a child cannot be sentenced to capital punishment or a term of imprisonment regardless of the enormity of his offence, adults don‘t have that privilege.
Protecting children from natural consequences of their actions teaches them to be irresponsible. Even if the full wrath of the law should not fall upon them as being learners, there must be a consequence.
Without consequence, the law will be only a very huge joke. The cane at least should not be thrown away.
It is discovered that most of the provisions in chapter IV the 1999 constitution contain salient exceptions where children are concerned. I believe this is because the drafters of the constitution supposed that any reasonable man would know that such exceptions should apply. Well with changing times and trends, such supposition has become a gaping lacuna through which many good intentions and many a child could fall.
Finally section 43 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child vests on the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the authority to interpret the provisions of the CRC. That provision also gives the Committee, the duty of ensuring compliance with the provisions of the CRC. One might argue that the provisions of the CRC, or the interpretations thereof are not directly our concern. However, our own CRA in section 265 gives the national and state Committeesthe duty to ensure observance of not only the provisions of the CRA, but also the provisions of the CRC. The logical conclusion to be drawn from the above is that in adjudicating on children‘s issues, a family court judge is duty bound to consult with the interpretations given by the Committee. Therefore the provisions of the CRC and the interpretations of the Committee are very much our business.
185 The researcher acknowledges the fact that the problem with equal rights for childrenlies not in extending fundamental rights to children but in the CRC‘s and the Committee‘s interpretation and contortion of these provisions. It is therefore recommended:
1. In the face of recent and very untoward developments, it has become very obvious that generalization and a presumption of reasonableness will no longer suffice. It becomes very pertinent therefore that the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria be amended to plug all the loopholes in its Chapter IV which are bound to lend themselves to conflicting interpretation with regard to children‘s rights. The extent of children‘s rights as well as the limits to those rights should be elaborately stated. For instance
(a). section 34 should explicitly provide for the removal of work children are compelled to do in school as a form of punishment, correction or discipline from the ambit of forced or compulsory labour.
(b). section 37 should be amended to limit the right of children to use phones in the classroom and in fact the school compound.
(c). section 38 should be amended to delimit the age at which a person can exercise this freedom.
(d). section 40 should be amended to clearly state that children cannot join political parties and trade unions; and in fact groups and organizations without permission from parents.
2. The CRC or CRA should never be a basis for abrogating any existing law concerning children and young people.
3. The government should invest on research concerning children‘s laws, find out how well these laws have worked to better the society in nations that have applied them before we import them
4. States that have adopted the CRA are advised to drop it or use it only as a reference for making their own laws; adopt the good parts of that law and discard the bad.
186 5. The CYPA is a fairly good document and will with a little amendment serve to protect our
children. The global document cannot work for us, our society is different.
6. Activities of NGO‘s, UN agencies and all such bodies should be monitored by government.
They should not be allowed to carry out agendum that is contrary to our law.
7. The CRC‘S and consequently CRA‘s definition of child appear to be at the root of the confusion concerning child rights law. I much prefer the definition in the CYPA which differentiates between a child and a young person, our child law document should retain that differentiation.
8. Principals and heads of secondary and primary schools should be sensitized about this trend of individuals and groups going to schools to educate children on their rights. This version of education is not helping as it leaves children headstrong and out of control.
9. There should be policy to help and support family life by releasing women with tender children an hour or two earlier from work so they can take better care of their children.
10. Philosophical theories drive policy, therefore it is recommended that lawyers take more interest in them especially in an issue like the one under consideration where even the privilege of interpreting the law has been wrested from the court.
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