Nigeria’s international image at stake: FENRAD condemns detention of underaged children

Stanley Ihedigbo

Foundation for Environmental Rights, Advocacy, and Development (FENRAD) has condemned the Nigerian government’s decision to arraign underaged children before the Abuja High Court for allegedly attempting to overthrow President Tinubu.

This move has sparked widespread concern, with some of the minors, aged 14 to 16, collapsing in court.

FENRAD Executive Director, Comrade Nelson Nnanna Nwafor, emphasized that this act violates Nigeria’s commitment to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and the country’s constitution.

He pointed out that Nigeria should focus on addressing pressing child-related issues, such as child poverty, out-of-school children, child marriage, and child labor.

According to the National MPI, two-thirds of Nigerian children (67.5%) are multidimensionally poor, and half of all poor people are children.

FENRAD criticized the government’s priorities, stating that prosecuting minors for “felony” and “treason” damages Nigeria’s international image.

The organization urged the federal government to release the detained children, citing violations of their rights to freedom of assembly, speech, and lawful assembly.

FENRAD also reminded the government of its obligations under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The Foundation wished to remind the powers that be today that they were once the victims of impunity and vile and oppressive systems and that, having graduated from such a school of hard knocks, they should be empathetic enough not to lower the bars and decencies of rights to the extent that human dignity seems endangered.

“It is sad that military rule (with all its draconian decrees and tribunals that never derived powers from the constitution) never instituted such a system,” they lamented.