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The Nigerian Child Safety Report Initiative (NCSR) has staged a nomination program ahead of its maiden edition of the Nigerian Child Friendly Awards coming soon.
President of the Awards, Wilson Ukhurebor told www.nationalwire.com.ng that issues concerning children have always been pushed to the backgrounds in Nigeria and the reason stars are not detected early in life.
“Issues bothering on children are always treated with levity and this will continue to affect the children and the nation at large. These children have no say unlike in developed world where their opinions are sought before major decisions are taken about them,” Ukhurebor said.
Briefing the media earlier last month Ukhurebor said, “The motive behind the award is simple, we are trying to see if we could make impact in the aspect of the safety of the Nigerian child. A couple of years ago we tried to do a project, Nigerian Child Safety project, but we couldn’t really do it to taste because we were doing it on a platform of my registered company, so the response was not as much as we wanted. But this time, we are doing it under the platform of an NGO which is the Nigerian Child Safety Report Initiative.”
Fielding over 40 categories, the nomination exercise staged in Ogun State recently gave opportunity to the children to vote for six best brands among the lot in each category.
According to Ukhurebor, the reason for the exercise is clear. “It is for the children to make nominations of their choice for the Nigerian Child Friendly Award ahead of the proper elections which would hold across the six geo-political zones in Nigeria,” he said, adding that, “It is going to be a big exercise because Nigerian children would have the rare opportunities to vote their favourite brands at our various centres. Others who may not be able to go to the centres would also be able to vote through our online platform via http://nigerianchildfriendlyaward.org/.”
Noting that the nomination exercise couldn’t have featured several millions of children in Nigeria, Ukhurebor said, “The nomination exercise carried out by children from various schools from Lagos and Ogun States made it easier for the children to elect their top brands which sets the stage for the election proper in few weeks when larger numbers of Nigerian children would have the chance to participate in the voting exercise.”
He added that, “The organisation also intends to use the Awards to put the child in the hearts of every adult Nigerian mostly in the areas of safety and care.”
*Story by: Dayo Emmanuel
