DOMESTICATION OF CHILD’S RIGHTS ACT IN NIGERIA USING LANGUAGE OF IMMEDIATE ENVIRONMENT

Abstract

Child Rights Act makes provision for children and roles of stakeholders in maximum protection of
children's rights in which Nigeria alongside other United Nations countries agreed to honour the
right of children through the enacted Child's Rights law. It is expected of all countries who adopted
the child's right law to domesticate and implement the act according to their pace and children's
needs. Despite Nigeria being a signatory to the law in the year 2003, the law is yet to receive the
adequate attention needed; because the major stakeholders (parents and teachers) have no or
little knowledge on the existence of the child rights act in Nigeria which can be linked to the level
of domestication of Child Rights Act. Thus, this study seeks to address the domestication of child's
rights acts law in Nigeria using the language of the immediate environment. The study adopted a
phenomenological qualitative approach. The data were collected from 12 states using document
and thematic analysis. The findings revealed that the language of the immediate environment has
not been used to domesticate the child rights act. The study concluded that domestication is
urgent if children’s wellbeing will be protected and recommendations were made.

Keywords: domestication; language; child abuse; child; child rights act