🌟 Resources for Children
Learn. Know Your Rights. Stay Safe.
At O5 Centre for Children and Women, we believe that every child deserves to grow up safe, informed, and confident. This page was created just for you—so you can understand your rights, learn how to stay safe, and know what to do if something feels wrong.
👶🏾 Who is a Child?
A child is anyone under the age of 18.
🧒🏾 What Are Child Rights?
A right is something that is legally yours. It is what you’re entitled to just because you are human.
✋🏾 Your Rights as a Child Include
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The right to life and development
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The right to education
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The right to protection from harm
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The right to participate and have your voice heard
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The right to a name, family, and nationality
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The right to privacy, rest, play, and good health
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The right to be free from abuse, neglect, and discrimination
These rights are protected by the Child Rights Law.
📚 Your Responsibilities as a Child
You have rights—but you also have duties. A responsibility is a duty or something you should do.
This includes:
• Respect your parents and elders at all times, and assist them when necessary.
• Work towards the unity of your family and community
• Contribute to the integrity of Nigeria
• Contribute to the moral well-being of the society, as well as social and national solidarity
• Respect the freedom, equality, humaneness, honesty, and justice for all persons
• Respect the cultural values, in the spirit of tolerance, dialogue, and consultation
• Boys and girls MUST, at all times, RESPECT one another, as both are created equal
🛑 Basic Principles of the
Rights of the Child
• Every child has the right to life and be allowed to survive and develop
• Every child is entitled to a right to a name, family and nationality
• Every child has the right to express opinion and freely communicate them on any issue subject to restriction under law.
• Every child is entitled to protection from any act that interfere with his or her privacy, honour and reputation.
• Every child is entitied to adequate rest, recreation (leisure and play) according to; his age and culture.
• Every child (male or female) is entitled to receive basic and compulsory education and equal opportunity for higher education depending on individual ability.
• Every child is entitled to good health, protection from illness and proper medical attention for survival, personal growth and development.
• Every child must be protected from indecent and inhuman treatment through sexual exploitation, drug abuse, child labour, torture, maltreatment and neglect
• No child should suffer any discrimination irrespective of ethnicy, origin, birth, colour, sex, language, religion, political and social beliefs or disability.
🛑 What is Child Abuse?
Child abuse is when an adult or older person hurts, mistreats, or takes advantage of a child. Abuse can happen in many ways:
Types of Child Abuse:
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Sexual Abuse
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Physical Abuse
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Emotional Abuse
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Neglect
🚫 Sexual Abuse
This is the involvement of a child in any sexual activity with an adult or child.
It includes
• Exposing children to pornography, either by taking part or viewing it;
• Encouraging a child to behave in sexually inappropriate ways;
• It is an abuse of power for sexual purposes
• It is inappropriate touching; touching a child’s private parts and making a child touch theirs.
👉🏽 This is wrong. Say “NO,” run away, and tell a trusted adult immediately or Call us.
🩹 Physical Abuse
This is an intentional physical injury to a child. Hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning or scalding, drowning, suffocating, or otherwise causing physical harm to a child. Are you being badly beaten and punished by your parents, uncle, aunt, teacher, or anyone? Do they beat you with hard objects and leave marks on your body? Call us.
💔 Emotional Abuse
This is the repeated rejection and humiliation of a child. It includes constant criticism and using negative words on a child. Does anyone at home or in school say mean and hurtful words to you? Is it happening to someone you know? Call us.
🥀 Neglect
This is the failure of parents or guardians to provide food, shelter, clothing, health care, education, love or nurturing to a child. Do your parents/guardians refuse to give you food at home or punish you harshly?
🚨 Who Can Abuse a Child?
Anyone—your daddy, mummy, driver, uncle, aunt, cousin, grandpa, daddy's friend, brother, sister, teacher, gardener, swim instructor, maid, or neighbour. ANYONE can abuse children.
Abuse can happen anywhere: at home, at a friend's house, in the church, in the mosque, in the car, at school, at parties, or in lonely places. You can be abused ANYWHERE!! So be careful.
🛡️ Body Safety Rules
Your body belongs to you.
Know the names of your private parts:
For Girls:
Vagina, buttocks, breasts, anus, lips, thighs
For Boys:
Penis, buttocks, anus, lips, thighs
These are your PRIVATE BODY PARTS. They belong to you, and NO ONE has a right to touch them. You should also NOT TOUCH another person's private parts.
🚦 Good Touch vs Bad Touch
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Good touch: When someone shakes your hands, gives you a high five, or when Mummy or Daddy gives you a peck on the cheek or a nice hug.
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Bad touch: When someone touches or plays with your Private Body Parts and makes you touch theirs.
🚫 Do not keep bad secrets.
📢 Say “NO,” shout “Help!” or “Stop It!” run, and TELL someone you trust.
🚫 No Bullying Zone
Bullying is aggressive behaviour that is intentional and involves an imbalance of power or strength. It is a repeated behaviour and can be physical, verbal, or relational. While boys may bully others using more physical means, girls often bully others by social exclusion.
1. Deliberate—a bully's intention is to hurt someone
2. Repeated—the behaviour is repeated or has the potential to be repeated over time.
3. Power imbalance—a bully chooses victims he or she perceives as vulnerable.
Forms of bullying:
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Physical: poking, pushing, hitting, kicking, beating up
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Verbal: yelling, taunting, name-calling, insulting, threatening to harm
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Relational: excluding, spreading rumours, getting others to hurt someone
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Cyberbullying: sending harmful messages or images over the internet or cell phone.
🚫 Say No to Bullying.
🎯 Don’t bully others.
🛡️ Don’t let anyone bully you.
🤝 Stand up for others being bullied.
💬 Remember: YOU ARE SPECIAL!
Your life matters. Your voice matters. You deserve to be safe, strong, and heard.
🧠 Feeling Sad, Scared or Confused?
Do you need to talk to someone? Do you think you or someone else is being hurt?
You can call us. We will listen. You are not alone.
📞 O5 CENTRE – 0806 625 2544
📞 Child Protection Network (CPN) Lagos – 0806 584 1438
📞 Child Protection Network (CPN) Nigeria – 0913 161 9354
📞 Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency (DSVA) – 0800 033 3333
📞 Ministry of Youth & Social Development (MYSD) – 0907 722 3426
📞 Office of the Public Defender (OPD) – 0708 060 1080