The Children's Parliament of Nigeria has advised parents to adopt family planning methods to enable them to have the number of children they can cater for, the News Agency of Nigeria reported on Saturday.

The advice was given here by stakeholders at a public hearing by the parliament in commemoration of this year's "Day of the African Child."

According to the parliament, adopting family planning by parents will reduce the menace of child trafficking in the country.

"A lot of parents bear too many children they cannot cater for, and this has often led to poverty, which makes them traffic their children in exchange for money", it said.

The parliament noted that child trafficking was a major violation of children's rights and a setback for the development of Nigeria.

It stressed the need for children, especially those at the grass roots, to be enlightened on their rights.

The parliament also called for the proper training of security personnel to enable them to protect children from the menace of child trafficking.

It urged governments to provide job opportunities for people at the grass roots to tackle the problem of poverty.

It also called for the proper registration of orphanages and motherless babies' homes with the Corporate Affairs Commission.

The Children's Parliament of Nigeria is a member of the Children's United Parliament of the World, which is a nonpolitical and nonreligious children organization for children of the world.

The theme for this year's celebration is "combat child trafficking."

The Day set aside by the African Union (AU), is observed annually across Africa in remembrance of the massacre of innocent children in Soweto, South Africa in 1976 at the height of racist apartheid regime.

In the same year, thousands of black school children in Soweto, South Africa, took to the streets to protest the inferior quality of their education and demanded their right to be taught in their own language.

Hundreds of young boys and girls were shot, prompting the annual celebration of the African Child.

Source: Xinhua