From Henry Ibya, Makurdi
United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, in partnership with the Nigerian Bar Association,NBA, has called for urgent reforms to safeguard the rights of children within Nigeria’s legal and justice system.
The call was made during the 2025 NBA Annual General Conference in Enugu, which brought together over 20,000 participants including legal professionals, policymakers, development partners, academics, civil society and the media, with the theme “Stand Out and Stand Tall.”
At a high-level session titled “Ending Child Detention: The Role of NBA in Advancing Justice and Reintegration”, UNICEF and the NBA in a statement made available by UNICEF’s Communication and Advocacy Specialist, Susan Akila, yesterday in Abuja, reaffirmed their joint commitment to ensure that every child, especially the most vulnerable, has access to fair, timely and child-sensitive justice.
In a remark, UNICEF’s Representative to Nigeria,Wafaa Saeed, advised that children should never be left behind bars simply because of who they are or the circumstances they were born into, arguing that every child deserves protection, dignity and a chance to rebuild their future.
She said the partnership with the NBA is about transforming the justice system into one that protects rather than punishes, empowers rather than excludes, and restores rather than breaks lives.
Saeed emphasized that justice for children must go beyond legal protection, ensuring empowerment, reintegration and lasting opportunities for every child.
According to the representative, the partnership with the NBA focuses on advancing reforms in four key areas including promoting alternatives to detention and reducing overcrowding in juvenile facilities, strengthening child protection system at the state and community levels, expanding access to legal aid for children in conflict with the law and advocating for the full implementation of the Child Rights Act across the 36 states.
The NBA President, Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN, in his presentation, reaffirmed the association’s commitment, stating that the country has made progress in enacting child protection laws, lamenting that enforcement remains a major challenge.
He assured that together, UNICEF and the NBA will continue to champion reforms that align with national and international standards for child rights, insisting that this year’s conference provided a platform to mobilise the legal community toward action.
According to Osigwe, the collaboration signals a growing movement within Nigeria’s legal sector to put children’s rights at the center of justice reform.
