Follow Us on Google
From Jude Owuamanam, Jos
Plateau State Child Protection Network (CPN) has said that the yearly ritual of celebrating Children’s Day cannot be meaningful while thousands of vulnerable children remain trapped in different types of abuse.
He said the abuse include child trafficking, hazardous labour in mining activities, drug addiction, sexual, kidnapping and institutional neglect.
The CPN raised the alarm in Jos yesterday during the 2026 National Children’s Day celebration.
Themed, “Future Now: Promoting Inclusion for Every Nigerian Child,” Sandra Dirmwa Chikan, the CPN coordinator in Plateau, challenged government authorities, parents, community leaders and stakeholders to move beyond what she described as performative celebrations and confront the worsening realities facing children across the state.
According to her, the prevalence and recurring incidents of child exploitation reported daily to the network expose a deep systemic failure in child protection structures.
Other News
She lamented that children are kidnapped daily and subjected to all forms of inhuman treatment in the kidnappers’ dens.
She asked, “Are we truly ready to have an honest conversation about the state of our children? We cannot authentically champion a ‘future now,’ while structural gaps continue to compromise their present.
“We cannot celebrate in good faith while our phone lines and offices are inundated daily with agonising cases of child abuse, trafficking and child labour. The statistics are not just saddening; they are a damning indictment of our collective failure.”
The CPN further lamented that many trafficked children repatriated from neighbouring states and countries often return traumatised, addicted to drugs and rejected by their families, with little or no rehabilitation support from the state.
While warning about the increase in mental health crises and substance abuse, it also disclosed that vulnerable children are frequently pushed into unsafe orphanages and poorly regulated care institutions due to the absence of functional state-backed transit shelters and rehabilitation centres.
However, CPN commended the Plateau State Government for establishing the Child Rights Implementation Committee (CRIC) and the Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force, describing both as important structural steps towards strengthening child protection systems.
