By Ijeoma UKAZU
Every 5th day of March yearly, Nigeria joins the rest of the world to commemorate the International Children’s Day of Broadcasting, ICDB, a day set aside to create awareness on issues affecting children.
In a statement made available to our correspondent, the Director/ Head Advocacy Child Rights Information Bureau, CRIB, the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, Mercy Megwa urged broadcasters to open airwaves to children for this year’s celebration and throughout the year and also to produce documentaries that highlight the plight of children in Nigeria.
The theme for this year’s celebration is: ‘More Money for Primary Education’. The ICDB is a day when broadcasters allow children to be part of the programming process, talk about their hopes and dreams, and exchange ideas with their peers on issues affecting them.
The ICDB was launched by the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, in 1991 to encourage broadcasters worldwide to create awareness on children’s issues. In Nigeria, primary education is officially free and compulsory, but 18 million of the country’s children aged between five to 14 years are not in school.
Only 61 percent of six year olds regularly attend primary school. Adequate funding of primary education will create an enabling environment for increased demand for qualitative education, which is the bedrock of enhanced knowledge, improved behaviour, and personal growth of the children.