Correct your child violently, go to jail – OPD Director

Director of the Office of Public Defender in Lagos State, Mrs. Omotola Rotimi said  the agency handles cases of extreme punishment of children by their parents. She explained that it is wrong for parents to think that the government does not want them to punish their children at all.

Rotimi said, “Section 199 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2011 says that you can punish or correct your child but the punishment must be commensurate to the age, physical and the mental condition of the child. If because a child stole meat and money, you cut off his/her finger, that is assault occasioning harm. Such parent would face the full wrath of the law. “You have a right to correct your child but it must be in moderation. If you sent your child out of the house in trying to punish her and she gets sexually abused on the streets, of course, we would take action against you for criminal negligence and the child would be taken away from you.”

She said that the state had put in place a process called mandatory reporting which requires school administrators, school counsellors, teachers, social welfare officers and any state government official dealing with children, including doctors, nurses, and caregivers to report cases of physical and child sexual abuse, neglect and maltreatment to either the Office of the Public Defender or the office of the Attorney-General. “A case that happens in their jurisdiction that goes unreported but is discovered later can earn this class of people two years imprisonment. This also includes neighbours who witness any form of abuse on a child, they are mandated to report such cases,” Rotimi said.

Lagos lawyer and activist, Mr. Malachy Ugwummadu, said there is a legal distinction between corporal punishment as and torture. He said, “It is not sufficient to claim you are the father or mother or guardian of the victim and refuse to deal with the child as a human being. Torture, assault, grievous bodily harm are all offences within the criminal justice system of our country.”

According to him, abuse, lack of respect for human dignity and dehumanisation are all against the fundamental human rights of children under the Child Rights Act and various other statutes.

He said punishment meted for malfeasance of children has always been welcome within African traditional system but torture is never accepted.