TURNING CHILD RIGHTS FROM DREAM TO REALITY IN NIGERIA: FINDING FUND THROUGH NIGERIAN CHILDREN TRUST FUND ACT (NCTFA) MODEL

Abstract

Child’s Rights Act was signed into law1 by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The Act since then has been passed into law by several State Houses of Assembly with the jurisdiction of the Act now limited to the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja2 . The Act ensures a host of legal rights3 to children in Nigeria. Some of these rights necessarily require the government to only protect and respect them4 while the others require the government to ensure them5 . In addition, the Act created a host institution that will facilitate the enjoyment of the rights in the Act. Ensuring some of the rights in the Act as well as the establishment and sustenance of the institutions in support of the rights in the Act all need substantial amount of money to establish and sustain. In recent times the economy of Nigeria has been badly affected by the drop in oil prices resulting in the fewer amount of money being available to the States in Nigeria to spend on capital expenditure6 situation that have resulted in the Federal Government making available money to many States to enable them pay several months of salaries to its workers. Consequently issues bothering on child’s rights have gone down the pecking order in the priority of expenditure for most Nigeria government. For instance 2016 budget N 500 billion was allocated “to tackle unemployment and provide care for the vulnerableâ€7 .