On a sunny afternoon in August 2020, 13-year-old Omar Farouq stood before a Sharia court in Kano State, accused of blasphemy. Too young to understand the gravity of the charges, he listened in disbelief as the judge sentenced him to 10 years in prison.

Omar’s ordeal began after a heated argument with a friend, during which they exchanged insults. Soon after, police officers summoned him, and he was charged with blasphemy. When the case became public, an angry mob attacked his home, forcing his mother to flee to a neighbouring village.

Nigeria’s Child Rights Act (CRA), enacted in 2003, was meant to prevent such treatment of children. The law domesticates the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and prohibits practices such as child marriage and exploitative child labour.

Section 221 (1) of the CRA guarantees restriction of punishment for children by prescribing that no child shall be ordered to be (a) imprisoned or (b) subjected to corporal punishment or (c ) subjected to the death penalty or have the death penalty recorded against them.

However, implementation of the Act has been uneven despite that 35 of Nigeria’s 36 states have domesticated the law.

Section 204 of the CRA states that children are to be dealt with only within a dedicated child justice system, not the adult criminal justice system.

The section states that “No child shall be subjected to the criminal justice process or to criminal sanctions, but a child alleged to have committed an act which would constitute a criminal offence if he were an adult shall be subjected only to the child justice system and processes set out in this Act.”

This means a child who allegedly commits an act that would be a criminal offense for an adult will not face criminal charges or sanctions but will instead be subjected to a child-focused system designed for their rehabilitation, correction, and reintegration into society.

But in practice, children are routinely arrested, detained, and tried as adults. Some, as young as 10, are accused of theft or even murder, and subjected to the same harsh procedures as adults, sometimes without legal representation, fair hearings, or referral to juvenile courts as required by law.

A joint study conducted by the Nigerian government, UNICEF, and the European Union between 2018 and 2022 confirmed these violations. The research examined the conditions, treatment, and experiences of children and young adults in correctional facilities nationwide.

The study drew on physical data from 87 adult custodial centre