By Bashir Mohammed Kano
Th e Katsina state government has drafted a bill on child protection that would soon be presented to the state assembly for consideration. State Commissioner for Women Aff airs, Dr. Badiyya Hassan-Mashi, disclosed this at the sensitisation meeting for members of the Katsina State House of Assembly and Council of Ulamas, held in Kano atthe weekend. She said the meeting was aimed at enlightening the stakeholders and engaging them in dialogue on the child protection law before it was presented to the House.
“Th e objective is to engage in dialogue on child protection law passage in Katsina state with a view to drawing lessons learnt from the past eff orts and securing the support of key stakeholders to the passage of the bill. “Th e meeting will also enable stakeholders to reach a concrete agreement on way forward through joint eff orts and validate the bill for presentation to the executive arm of government for transmission to the state House of Assembly, “she said. Mashi said after the meeting, it is expected that the lawmakers and the council of Ulamas would be sensitised and their support secured for immediate passage of the bill into law.
“It is also expected that by the end of the meeting, representations and views of the stakeholders would have been received and harmonised. In his remarks, the chairman of drafting committee, Justice Abdullahi Sadiq-Mahuta (retd), said the decision to draft the bill was a clear indication that it was seriously concern about the rampant cases of child abuse in the state. He expressed the hope that the bill would come up with stiff er penalties for child abusers in the state to serve as a deterrent to would be off enders of the law. Th e Speaker of the House, Alhaji Yahaya Kusada, assured of speedy passage of the bill as it would go a long way in checking cases of wanton child abuse in the state. “As usual, when the bill comes to the House, it will be directed to the House Committee on Justice, Judiciary and Human rights for deliberation before taking action”, he said.
