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By Madu Obi
The 8th Anambra State Children's Parliament, has called on the state government to establish Juvenile Correctional Centre for the proper rehabilitation, correction and reintegration of juveniles into the society.
Speaking during a joint session with the Anambra State House of Assembly at the legislative chambers in Awka, the Speaker of the Children's Parliament, Hon Victory Ekwunife also advocated for the establishment of Violence Against Persons Prohibition Law Commission, to ensure proper justice for victims of gender -based violence and punishment for offenders.
Hon Ekwunife, who cited the case of a 15-year old boy, who was kept in police custody for eight months, and was brought to court from the police station, observed that such unlawful detention could take place in Anambra State because of non-existence of a Juvenile Correctional Centre in the state.
She pointed out that the Correctional Centre is the right place where juveniles who are in conflict with the law should be kept in accordance with the law, and appealed to the State House of Assembly to help the children's parliament reach the State Governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, so as to actualize the project as soon as possible.
According to her, the Juvenile Centre would help to keep children who were convicted of crimes away from corrupting the innocent ones in society, and being corrupted by the adult prisoners.
She lamented that some police men sometimes inflate the ages of the children so as not to be held responsible for their illegal detention.
She revealed that in the course of their advocacy, the Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption (ROLAC) Programme had agreed to support the building of the Correctional Centre, and calked on the Anambra State government to provide land for the project.
In his response, the Speaker of Anambra State House of Assembly, Rt Hon Somtochukwu Udeze, promised that the state legislature would help the Parliament pass its resolutions into law, so as to make the establishment of the centre and the commission achievable.
The members of the Children's Parliament were accompanied on the visit by the Anambra State Coordinator of Child Protection Network (CPN), Mrs Eucharia Aniekwe and the Chaperone, Children's Parliament, Anambra State, Obianuju Nwude.
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