The Student Representative Council (SRC) governor, Ifeoluwa Opatola, has called for a more hands-on approach to child rights advocacy by students of the Nigerian Institute of Journalism (NIJ).
While commending the recently held awareness campaign by finalists of the institution on Wednesday, March 19, she urged the present Higher National Diploma 1 (HND1) students to take it further by engaging in street outreach when it gets to their time as finalists.
The campaign, which occurs every year, is in accordance with the course ‘Child Rights Reporting’ taught in the first-semester academic session.
It is a specialised course taught by Mr. Akin Ojo that allows finalists to convey their messages by wearing shirts of various colors branded with quotes related to child advocacy.
According to Opatola, next year’s finalists should consider visiting orphanages and supporting vulnerable children.
Speaking with NIJ Insight, the SRC boss said, “For many of us who previously knew little about children’s rights and the steps to take in protecting them, this campaign has been enlightening. It should definitely continue with every set.
“Additionally, I suggest we take it a step further by engaging in outreach activities—visiting orphanages, supporting children in need on the streets, or collaborating with organisations that advocate for child rights.”
The students’ spokesperson revealed that due to the country’s harsh economy, there were financial limitations on how much they could do for the campaign.
She stressed that this doesn’t mean efforts shouldn’t be made to promote children’s awareness and advocate for the proliferation and enforcement of the Child Rights Act (CRA) enacted in 2003 across all states in the country.
Data harvested from the Nigeria National Human Rights Commission confirmed that only 24 out of 36 states in Nigeria have adopted the CRA, with Enugu being the most recent.
Meanwhile, Mr. Ojo noted that everyone in the media industry—proprietors, professionals, the audience, and other end users of media products—must be involved in communications to aid children’s development.
The last two editions of the campaign took place at the school, usually after the students had completed their exams.
They would come out in their numbers, taking pictures and singing songs centered around child development.
One of the students who participated, Grace Akinyemi, said, “ I think it’s nice but there was hardly any major activity to underscore the purpose. This may mean some people participated just with a focus on the mark score that will be rewarded. We should have created more content relating to the purpose of the campaign.”
Current finalists also wrote news stories, columns, and articles on children-related issues before the campaign, which were published in the school’s annual newspaper, NIJ TIMES.
