by As Nigeria joins the rest of Africa to commemorate the Day of the African Child, (DAC) with the theme “The Rights of the Child in the Digital Environment”, United Nations Children’s Fund, (UNICEF), has called on government and other stakeholders to exploit the opportunities offered by digitalization for learning and development of Nigerian children.
The International Day of the African Child is celebrated every year on June 16 with a theme based on the views of children collected from various consultations with children themselves.
As part of activities to mark this year’s occasion, children from various schools had a wonderful experience on the airwaves of FAD 93.1 FM Calabar, expressing their immense delight in being an African child.
One of the children who took over the Mic to host the day on radio with other pupils, Stacey Ovie gave a brief history for the observance, saying that the International Day of the African Child was instituted in 1991 and aims to celebrate children of Africa and promote their rights, as well as encourage reflection and action towards addressing the challenges they face on a daily basis.
Stacey, in a round table talk with other kids, highlighted the relevance of the ‘‘African Child’s Day’’ in sync with the theme for this year’s observance.
The children also noted that fulfilling the rights of a child starts with providing a basic, but adequate learning environment for children.
Another child who was on air, Bryan, said as an African child he is determined to develop his ideas into a reality; one he said would change the world’s perception of Africans.
The other kids in the studio used the opportunity to thank their parents for giving them a good basic education, promising to study hard and become great leaders of tomorrow.
In conclusion the children had a great time expressing their happiness as African Children and ended their time on air with these words; “I am an African child, Africa we will build.”
As Africa and Nigeria remember the children who died fighting for their rights, individuals and corporate organisations have been called upon to support the government to make the country fit for children.
