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Nigerians celebrate 2015 children's day defying social, economic challenges

Xinhua, May 28, 2015 Adjust font size:

Nigerians on Wednesday defied myriad of social and economic challenges militating against them to celebrate the national children's day, hoping for a brighter, rewarding future.

Nigeria annually celebrates the national children's day on May 27, in response to a call from the United Nations to member states to set aside a day to promote mutual exchange and understanding among children and celebrate childhood.

School children, given a national holiday for the celebration, trooped out en masse to mark the day despite the daunting economic challenges and harsh social issues witnessing the country.

In the capital, most public gardens and other fun havens were filled to the brim, with children and some parents or guardians having unlimited fun, not minding the hike in transport fare occasioned by a recent shortage of oil in the country.

Some parents said they took their children to the fun spots, through commercial vehicles, paying cut-throat fares. Others who drove in their private cars said they had to move around the city by buying black market of the premium motor spirit which is still a scarce commodity despite the recent resolution of the fuel crisis in Nigeria.

Ronke Olatawura, a high school teacher in Abuja, said the fuel scarcity which has grounded some businesses in Nigeria could not affect the Children's Day celebration. "This celebration comes once in every year and there is need to make the children happy, no matter the challenges we are going through," she said.

The West African country chose "Violence against children and the urgent need to stop it" as theme of this year's celebration, considering that thousands of its young citizens have experienced violence and violation of rights in various ways.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) on Tuesday said the theme was timely and urged the Nigerian authorities to end the violence against children, by all means.

According to UNICEF, there has been an increase in the number of women and children being used to conduct suicide attacks in northeast Nigeria.

The UNICEF said both women and children were used to detonate bombs or explosive belts in 75 percent of these incidents, mostly targeting crowded and populated areas such as bus stations and markets. Endi