The co-founder of Advocates For Children and Vulnerable Persons Network (ACVPN), Mr. Ebenezer M. Omejalile, has condemned the Lagos State Government’s hasty shutting down of Chrisland schools in the state, following a viral video, which showed two minors of the school branch in Lekki, VGC, having sex.
He said: “Hasty shutting down of Chrisland schools is not the solution! Rather, unscheduled visits should be conducted by the Ministry of Education Quality Assurance Department, the Lagos Ministry of Youth and Social Development (MYSD) Alausa, and the School Social Work Department with direct engagement with the students. I’m very sure a lot of unimaginable summations would be uncovered.”
Omejalile, recalling how he got wind of the scandalous viral video, stated that a concerned comrade sent it to him and when he clicked on it, “I initially thought it was an adult that was riding a male adult. My take on this issue is clear; we have a situation of a damaged child, only God knows how she degenerated to this level, and she was not discovered by her parents, and school teachers, because definitely, she would have exhibited such signs that no one took into cognisance.”
The child rights advocate, fuming at the state government for laxity in having oversight bodies to enforce laws, asked: “I dare to ask, where are the Lagos State Child Protection and Safe Guarding Policy and Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) that was signed into law by the former Governor Ambode on 16th of December 2016? Where is the efficacy of such Law, in terms of enforcement? Where’s the Federal Government Ministry of Education SAFE School Programme? Where’s the Child Rights Law CRL of 2007, which has been reviewed on two to three occasions?”
According to Omejalile, the problem in Nigeria was that the government is never proactive. He noted that Nigerians were good at damage control than prevention.
“We forgot to realise that the proactive measures if put in place, consist of both prevention and consequences, which would put a stop to these various social vices. What we should be looking out, for now, is the complete disorientation of the children involved in this unethical practice which poses a great danger to other children. I see no reason why the Lagos State Government should close down Chrisland schools; was there a report that the entire students were all involved in this unethical practice? After all, some bunch of individuals who hide under government agencies conducted Child Protection and Safe Guiding Policy in these same Chrisland schools, and a huge amount of service fee was paid to this individual, of what essence were their interventions? After all, Nigeria is a signatory to the UN Conventions on the Rights of the Child (CRC) which stipulates that whatever we do as a country, states and agencies should be in the best interest of the child,” said Omejalile.
He further argued that other Chrisland students should not be deprived of attending school because of the inactions of some few deviants.
