Section 198 Child’s Right Act
Section 198 Child’s Right Act 2003 is about Inspection of children’s home, etc., by authorised persons. It is under Part XIX (Supervisory Functions and Responsibilities of the Minister) of the Act.
(1) The Minister may cause to be inspected, from time to time, any‐
(a) children’s home;
(b) premises in which a child who is being cared for by an appropriate authority is living;
(c) premises in which a child who is being accommodated by or on behalf of an education authority, health authority or voluntary organisation is living;
(d) premises in which a child is living with a person with whom he has been placed pending an adoption order;
(e) premises in which a child who is a protected child, is or will be living;
(f) premises in which a child, fostered privately, or a child‐who is treated as a fostered child by virtue of paragraph 9 of Part III of the Fourth Schedule to this Act, is or will be living;
(g) premises on which a person is acting as a child minder;
(h) premises with respect to which a person is registered under section 168 (1) (b) of this Act;
(i) a residential care home, nursing home or mental nursing home;
(j) premises which are provided by a State Government and in which any service is provided by that State Government under Part XV of this Act;
(k) independent school providing accommodation for a child.
(2) An inspection under this section shall be conducted by a person authorised to do so by the Minister.
(3) An officer of a State Government shall not be authorised as provided in Subsection (2) of this section except with the consent of that State Government.
(4) The Minister may require a person specified in subsection (5) of this section to furnish him with such information, or allow him to inspect such records, in whatever form they are held, relating to‐
(a) any premises to which subsection (1) of this section applies; or
(b) a child who is living in any of the premises to which subsection (1) of this section applies; or
(c) the discharge by the Minister of any of his functions under this Act; or
(d) the discharge by any State Government of any of its functions under this Act, as the Minister may, from time to time, direct.
(5) The persons referred to in subsection (4) of this section are‐
(a) a State Government;
(b) a voluntary organisation;
(c) a person managing a children’s home;
(d) the proprietor of an independent school;
(e) a person fostering a child or providing accommodation for a child on behalf of a State Government, education authority health authority or voluntary organisation;
(f) an education authority providing accommodation for a child;
(g) a person employed in a teaching or administrative capacity;
(h) a person who occupies any premises in which a person acts as a child minder within the meaning of Part XIV of this Act, or provides day care for young children, within the meaning or that Part;
(i) a person managing any home or a kind mentioned in subsection (1) (j) of this section.
(6) A person inspecting any home or other premises under this section may‐
(a) inspect the children kept in the home or premises; and .
(b) make such examination into the State and management of the home or premises and the treatment of the children kept in the home or premises as he thinks fit.
(7) A person authorised by the Minister to exercise the power to inspect records conferred by Subsection (4) of this section‐
(a) shall be entitled at any reasonable time to have access to, and inspect and check the operation of any computer, any associated apparatus or material which is or has been in use in connection with the records in question; and
(b) may require‐
(i) the person by whom or on whose behalf the computer is or has been so used, or
(ii) any person having charge of or otherwise concerned with the operation of the computer, apparatus or material, to afford him such reasonable assistance as he may require.
(8) A person authorised to inspect any premises under this section shall have a right to enter the premises for that purpose, and for any purpose specified in subsection (4) of this section, at any reasonable time and if so required shall produce some authenticated document showing his authority to do so.
(9) A person who wilfully obstructs another person in the exercise of a power conferred by this section commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding two thousand five hundred naira or imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or to both such fine and imprisonment.
(10) The minister may by order provide that subsections (1), (4) and (6) of this section not apply in relation to such homes or other premises as may be specified in the order and the order may make different provisions with respect to each of those subsections.
