THE Peoples Democratic Party has while wishing Nigerian Children a happy Children’s Day celebration berated the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), and the All Progressives Congress, for allegedly mortgaging the future of Nigerian children.
The PDP expressed regrets that on a day that Nigerian children should join their contemporaries across the world to celebrate, the last six years has been a sad reminder of the harsh conditions the Buhari regime has subjected them to.
This was contained in a statement titled, ‘Stop Mortgaging the Future of Nigerian Children, PDP Tells Buhari, APC,” signed by the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Kola Ologbondiyan, in Abuja, on Thursday.
Ologbondiyan said, “Under President Buhari, violence against children, child trafficking and other acts that infringe on the rights of the child have escalated to a frightening proportion.
“Moreover, the Buhari-led APC administration has continued to mortgage the future of Nigerian children with its humongous corruption and reckless foreign borrowings, which is putting a huge yoke on the feeble shoulders of our innocent children.”
The PDP further noted that under the current regime, Nigeria accounts for about 10.1 million out of school children, the highest in sub-Sahara Africa.
This, it said, was in addition to over 19 million children languishing in Internally Displaced Persons camps in various parts of the country, with many more killed or orphaned by terrorists under APC’s watch.
The party urged the President to end his administration’s insensitivity to the children by deploying special incentives to boost access to education, healthcare as well as guarantee the security and safety of children, especially in crisis areas. The APC was yet to respond to inquiries as at the time of filing this report.