Keep Watch Over Your Children During The Holiday – LASG

Child Molestation Increases During Long Holiday

Parents have been urged by the Lagos State Government to keep full watch on their children during the course of the long holiday, stating that there will be increase in child molestation, sexual abuse and rape.

Mr Agboola Dabiri, the Commissioner for Youth and Social Development, revealed this at a stakeholders’ meeting with owners of day care centres in the state in Ikeja on Tuesday.

He said, “Some people are in the habit of using the school holiday period to perpetuate evil against schoolchildren; so beware.”

Dabiri stated that the welfare of children are of importance to the government and the roles played by owners of crèches and day care centres in nurturing children for the challenges of tomorrow are also recognized.

The commissioner revealed that the government are aware of illegal different day care centres and crèches, stated that they posed a threat to the activities of trained and certified operators.

He said, “Soon, their activities will be checkmated to give a chance to only certified and trained persons to operate crèches and day care centres.”

He added there was the need for day care centres and crèches to register with the government in order to standardise their operations.

Mr Hakeem Muri-Okunola, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, said the theme of the meeting, “Towards Achieving Best Practices in Early Childhood Care in Lagos State, was in line with the executive order on child protection.

The Director of Compliance, Monitoring and Enforcement, Lagos State Safety Commission, Mrs Ronke Odeneye, urged owners of crèches and day care centres to be aware of the legal implications of their operations.