Abstract:

Nigeria has been a signatory to the Convention on the rights of the child and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child since 1991 and 2001 respectively. The Nigerian Child Rights Act (CRA) was drafted in 1993 and signed into law in 2003.

Despite these measures, too many children still see their fundamental rights violated every day. The global statistics are dramatic, and may even be underestimations as 72 million children are not in school, of whom 56% are girls; 218 million children are working; 126 million are trapped in the worst forms of child labour; 25 million children are refugees and displaced; 9.2 million children die before their fifth birthday; 1.5 million children die every year from poor sanitation and unsafe water.

The study is a descriptive cross-sectional survey among parents in Ibadan North Local Government Area (LGA) of Oyo State to investigate the knowledge and practice of parents on child’s rights. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Chi-square and Independent t-test. Finally, information obtained were summarized and presented in tables and charts.

Findings revealed that respondents had inadequate knowledge of the rights of children. Respondents with poor, fair and good knowledge of child’s rights were 81.0%, 11.5% and 7.5% respectively. However, the attitude displayed by respondents is favourable towards the observance of the Child’s Rights Act. Factors limiting the effective implementation of the Child’s Rights from the perspective of respondents include economic situation, man-made disaster, poor enforcement by regulatory agencies and societal values and norms.

This lack of awareness has been attributed to the vulnerability of the Nigerian child to social vices and harmful practices such as child labour, child trafficking, early marriage, female genital mutilation and widowhood practices.

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