Contextualising Nigeria's child's rights acts 2003 within the islamic child's rights provisions frame / Muibi O. Opeloye

The Child being a precious gift from Allah and comfort of the eye [qurrataayyunin) is granted some basic inalienable rights by Islam well entrenched in the Shari'ah. Conscious of various ways by which the rights are being trampled upon in the country, the Nigerian National Assembly responding tothe United Nation's (UN) convention on the rights of the child and the African Union's (AU) Charter passed the Child's rights Acts in 2003 intended to be domesticated by the 36 states of the Federation for the protection of the rights. The rights granted by Islam being divine, and those enacted through legislative instrumentality being human, manifest diametrically opposed principles thus creating dilemma for the Muslims, a dilemma resulting in resentments for the Child's Rights Acts in the Muslims dominant states of the country. The aim of this paper therefore is to examine the Islamic factor for the non-implementation of the law in some states of the federation with a view to finding solution to the problem.