CRC/C/NGA/CO/3-4
children’s rights in the State party. The Committee remains concerned, however, at the
adequacy of the human and financial resources available to the Special Rapporteur and
regrets that the State party’s report lacked information on the independence of and activities
undertaken by the Special Rapporteur, especially in light of the decision of International
Co-ordinating Committee of National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of
Human Rights on October 2007 to downgrade the NHRC to B status.
15. The Committee urges the State party to ensure that the NHRC complies with the
Paris Principles and is provided with adequate financial and human resources,
including by ensuring that the Special Rapporteur on Child Rights within the NHRC
is accessible to children and adequately resourced, taking into account general
comment No. 2 on the role of independent national human rights institutions in the
promotion and protection of the rights of the child.
Allocation of resources
16. The Committee welcomes information that budget allocations to health and education
have increased and that funds saved from the State party’s debt relief programme will be
invested in children’s programmes. Furthermore, it welcomes information from the State
party that a specific budget line on maternal health and the new born child has been
included in the 2010 Government budget. It also notes with appreciation the
implementation of a comprehensive economic and anti-corruption reform programme,
which includes prosecution of officials, and at the establishment of an interagency task
team of anti-corruption agencies. The Committee nevertheless wishes to reiterate its earlier
concern about insufficient budget allocations to children and that corruption remains
endemic in the State party (CRC/C/15/Add.257, para. 21) and its adverse effects on the
protection and promotion of children’s rights. The Committee notes with much concern
information that due to the fact that the state and local governments are not required to
provide budget or expenditure reports to the federal government, the latter is unable to
monitor the expenditure of funds.
17. The Committee strongly recommends the State party to undertake a budget
analysis of resources allocated to children, and to mandate and sufficiently resource a
government body responsible for monitoring and evaluating the appropriate use and
expenditure of such resources. In this regard, taking into account the Committee’s
recommendations during its day of general discussion on Resources for the Rights of
the Child – Responsibility of States, the State party is urged:
(a) To take all necessary measures to effectively prevent and combat
corruption, in particular by reinforcing enforcement of existing mechanisms
under the State party’s anti-corruption reform programme and by
investigating and prosecuting all suspected cases of corruption;
(b) To utilize a child rights approach in the elaboration of the State budget by
implementing a tracking system for the allocation and the use of resources for
children throughout the budget, thus providing visibility to the investment on
children. The Committee also urges the State party to use this tracking system
for impact assessments on how investments in any sector may serve “the best
interests of the child”, ensuring that the differential impact of such investment
on girls and boys is measured;
(c) To ensure that children are consulted in the process of budget allocation, as
requested to the federal Government by the Children’s Parliament;
(d) When possible, to follow the United Nations recommendation to start
results-based budgeting to monitor and assess the effectiveness of resource
allocation and, if necessary, seek international cooperation to this effect;
4