RIGHTS INSTITUTE BLAMES CORRUPTION FOR PLIGHT OF CHILDREN

Published in Punch of Tuesday, June 6, 2006

The Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, on May 30, 2005, blamed the plight of children in the Niger Delta on the high level of corruption by those charged with the responsibility of catering for them.

In a statement in Port Harcourt Rivers State, the institute said the stealing and diversion of public funds had made it impossible for the basic needs of children to be provided for.

It added that top government officers were merely paying lip service to issues affecting the welfare of children.

The institute said, in the Niger Delta, corruption committed with impunity by public officers has engendered bad governance and blighted the benefits that could have accrued from the government to the children.

Feedback:  The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu on Monday said past corrupt public officers would not be allowed to contest for elective posts in 2007 elections.

But the EFCC Act has not been amended by the National Assembly to empower the commission on this plan.

Nogi Imoukhuede,
Project Coordinator,
Women's Rights Watch Nigeria-www.rufarm.kabissa.org