National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, said last year, it recorded 127 complaints of parents neglecting their children in Gombe State.
Spokesman of the commission, Mr Ali Alola-Alfinti, stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, in Gombe, the state capital, Tuesday.
Alola-Alfinti said 127 out of the 356 complaints of rights violations were on parental neglect, representing 35.67 percent of the cases under review.
He said the cases were mainly of fathers abandoning their responsibilities to their children and wives.
This, he said, involved fathers leaving their children and wives without any source of livelihood, shelter, clothing, care and medical attention.
Citing the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Law, he said it is an offence to neglect one’s children without a source of livelihood and care.
According to him, the spate of parental neglect is a source of concern, and the commission is taking measures to address it.
“Leaving a child without a source of livelihood and care constitutes threat to their dignity of human person, threat to life, health and wellbeing.
“This is a direct infringement on the rights of children and the VAPP law in Gombe State criminalises such acts with a view to protect children and ensure their wellbeing,” he said.
He noted that some of the parents shunned their responsibilities under the guise of economic hardship, warning that neglecting children is a violation of their rights.
He said the commission is working in partnership with relevant organisations to train and empower women with skills with a view to address the menace.
“We always listen to both parents in the case and where there is the need for support, we link them up with organisations that can help them,” he said.
He advised parents to re-strategise ways to fend for their family’s needs, adding that leaving children without care should never be an option, as it exposes them to greater risk of violations.
Alola-Alfinti said the commission also recorded 91 inhumane and degrading treatments, 47 economic development and two reproductive right cases.
Others include five threat to life cases, five right to property, four unlawful detention, 12 alleged rape, 15 domestic violence, amongst others.
He said the commission had treated 315 cases, while 41 others that required criminal investigation within its jurisdiction had been referred to relevant agencies.
He urged residents to report cases of abuse to enhance rights protection in the state.
NAN reports that 106 fathers abandoned their children in 2023, citing economic hardship as the reason behind their actions. NAN
