Section 277 Child’s Right Act
Section 277 Child’s Right Act 2003 is about Interpretation. It is under Part XXIV (Miscellaneous) of the Act.
In this Act‐
“act” includes an omission;
“adoption service” means an adoption service established under section 128 of this Act;
“age of majority” means the age at which a person attains the age of eighteen years;
“appropriate education authority” means the Ministry of Education of the State concerned;
“approved institution” has the meaning assigned to in section 285 of this Act;
“care order” has the meaning given by section 53 (1) (a) of this Act and also includes any order which by or under any enactment has the effect of, or is deemed to be, a care order for the purposes of this Act; and any reference to a child who is in the care of an authority is a reference to a child who is in its care by virtue of a care order;
“child assessment order” means an order made under section 41 (1) of this Act;
“child fostered privately” and “to foster a child privately” have the same meaning as in section
120 of this Act;
“child in need of special protection measures” includes a child who is mentally or physically
disabled and a street child;
“child minder” has the meaning given by section 163 of this Act;
“child” means, a person under the age of eighteen years;
“child of the family” in relation to the parties to a marriage, means‐
(a) a child of both of those parties;
(b) any other child, not being a child who is placed with those parties as foster parents by a local authority or voluntary organisation, who has been treated by both of those parties as a child of their family;
“children’s home” means a children’s home registered under section 195 of this Act;
“Commissioner” means the Commissioner charge with responsibility for matters relating to
children in the State and “Ministry” shall be construed accordingly;
“community home” has the meaning assigned to it under section 186 of this Act;
“contact order” has the meaning assigned to it under section 55 (9) of this Act;
“court” means the Family court established under section 149 of this Act;
“day care” has the meaning assigned to it under ‘section 163 of this Act;
“disabled” in relation to a child has the same meaning as the section 178 (8) of this Act;
“domestic premises” has the meaning assigned to it under section 168 (1)(a) of this Act;
“education supervision order” means an order under section 58 (1) of this Act
“education authority” means the Ministry of Education of a State;
“emergency protection order” means an order under section 42 (1) of this Act;
“family proceedings” means proceeding under the jurisdiction of a court under this Act with
respect to children;
“foster parent” has the meaning assigned to it under section 118 of this Act;
“functions” includes powers and duties;
“Government hospital” means a hospital established or managed by any Government of the Federation;
” Governor ” means the Governor of a State;
“guardian of a child” means a guardian (other than a guardian of the estate of a child)
appointed in accordance with the provisions of section 85 (1) of this Act;
“harm” has meaning assigned to it under section 35 of this Act;
“health authority” means the Ministry of Health of a State;
“ill‐treatment” has the meaning assigned to it under section 50(1),(b) of this Act;
“independent school” means a privately owned school;
“Minister” means the Minister charged with responsibility for matters relating to children and
“Ministry” shall be construed accordingly;
“parental responsibility” means ‐
(a) all the rights duties, powers, responsibilities and authority which by law a parent of a child has in relation to the child and his property; and
(b) the rights, powers and duties which a guardian of the estate of the child appointed, before the commencement of this Act to act generally would have had in relation to the child and his property, and includes, in particular, the right of the guardian to recover or receive in his own name or the benefit of the child, property of whatever description and wherever situated which the child is entitled to receive or recover;
“parental responsibility agreement” has the meaning assigned to it under section 68 of this Act
“prescribed” means prescribed by regulations made under this Act;
“prohibited steps order” has the meaning assigned to it under ,section 55 (9) of this Act;
“protected child” has the same meaning as in Part IV of this Act;
“registered children’s home” has the meaning assigned to it under Section 199 of this Act;
“relative” in relation to a child, means a grandparent, brother, sister, uncle, niece or nephew aunt whether of the full blood or half blood or by affinity or step ‐parent;
“responsible person” in relation to a child who is the subject of a supervision order, has the meaning assigned to it under paragraph 1 of the Second Schedule to this Act;
“school” has the meaning assigned to it in the Education (National Minimum Standards and Establishment of Institution, Act;
“secure accommodation” means accommodation which is provided in a community home for the purpose of restricting liberty;
“service” in relation to any provision made under Part XV of this Act, includes a facility;
“signed” in relation to any person, includes the making by the person of his mark;
“special education” means the meaning assigned to it in the Education (National Minimum Standards and Establishment of Institutions) Act; .
“special educational needs” means the needs of children who are receiving special education;
“specific issue order” has the meaning assigned to it under section 55 (9) of this Act;
“State Government foster parent” has the same meaning assigned to it under Part XI of this Act;
“supervised child” and “supervisor” in relation to a supervision order or an education supervision order, means respectively, the child who is, or is to be under the supervision and the person under whose supervision he is, or is to be, by virtue or the order;
“Supervision Inspection Service” has the meaning assigned to it under section 240 of this Act;
“supervision order” has the meaning assigned to it under section 53(b) of this Act;
“upbringing” in relation to any child, includes the care of the child but not his maintenance
“voluntary home” has the meaning assigned to it under section 191 (1)(i) of this Act;
“voluntary organisation” means a body other than a public or State authority) whose activities are not carried on for profit;
(2) Reference in this Act to‐
(a) a person with who a child lives or is to live as the result of a residence order; or
(b) a person in whose favour a residence order is in force, shall be construed as references to the person named in the order as the person with whom the child is to live;
(3) References in this Act to a child who is looked after by a State Government have the same meaning as they have by virtue of Section 180 of this Act;
(4) References in this Act to accommodation provided by a or on behalf of State Governments are references to accommodation so provided in the exercise of functions assigned to the Ministry;
(5) In determining the “ordinary residence” of a child for any purpose of this Act there shall be disregarded any period in which the child lives in a place ‐
(a) which is a school or other situation;
(b) in accordance with the requirement of a supervision order under this Act or any other enactment; or
(c) while he is being provided with accommodation by or on behalf of a State Government
(6) References in this Act to children who are in need shall be construed in accordance with Section 175 of this Act‐
“accommodation” means an accommodation which is provided for a continuous period of more than 24 hours;
“a person authorised to seek access” means‐
(a) in the case of an application by a State Government‐:
(i) an officer of the State Government, or
(ii) a person authorised by the State Government to act on its behalf in connection with the enquiries or
(b) in the case of an application by an appropriate authority, a person authorised by the appropriate authority;
“appropriate authority” means the Minister or Commissioner charged with the responsibility for matters relating to education or the authority in charge of an approved institution for treatment and training of the child;
“appropriate authority” means a person who is an appropriate authority for the purpose of section 52
as defined in section 61(1)(c) of this Act;
“appropriate authority” means the State Government in whose State it is proposed to foster the child
concerned;
“appropriate authority” means the State Government or any other body having responsibility for the welfare of children looked after by the State Government;
“appropriate authority” means the State Government or voluntary organisation responsible for the
management of a community home;
“appropriate officers” means such officers as may be assigned by the Ministry with the responsibility for carrying out the investigation referred to in Subsection (1) of this section; .
“an approved accommodation” includes –
(i) a community home as provided for in the Eighth Schedule to this Act,
(ii) a voluntary home as provided for in Part XVII of and the Ninth Schedule to this Act,
(iii) a registered children’s home as provided for in Part XVIII of Schedule to to this Act,
(iv) an educational institution to which a child is committed by an order under Part VI or XV of this Act, and
(v) any other form of accommodation which a State Government may provide for children within its boundaries under Part XV of this Act.
“approval child care training” means child care training which is approved by the Minister;
“child care training” means training undergone by any person with a view to, or in the course of‐
(a) his employment for the purposes of any of the functions mentioned in section 206 of this Act or in connection with the adoption of children or with the accommodation of children in a residential care home, nursing home or mental nursing home; or
(b) his employment by a voluntary organisation or similar purposes;
“Commission” means the National Population Commission established under the National Population Commission Act’ “
“Comptroller‐General” and the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Prison Service;
“contact order” has the meaning assigned to it under section 55(9) of this Act
“contact order” means an order requiring the person with whom a child lives, or is to live, to allow the child to visit or stay with the person named in the order or for that person and the child concerned to
have contact with each other;
“day care” means any form of care or supervised activity provided for children during the day, whether or not it is provided on a regular basis; .
“development” means physical, intellectual, emotional, social or behavioural development;
“Director” means the Federal or State Director responsible for matters relating to children in the Ministry.
“domestic premises” means any premises which is wholly or mainly used as a private dwelling; and
“family” in relation to a child, includes a person who has parental responsibility for the child and a person with whom the child is living or has been living; ‐
“fit and proper person” includes an appropriate authority;
“foster parent” means a person, with whom children are placed, from time to time, by an appropriate authority or a voluntary organisation;
“Foster parent” means a person‐
(a) appointed by the State Government to foster a child; or
(b) with whom a child has been placed, by a voluntary organisation, for fostering; or
(c) with whom a child has been placed to be fostered privately;
“Governor” means the Governor of a State;
“guardian” means a person who is the guardian of a child by virtue of the provisions of this Act or a person lawfully appointed to be guardian of the child by deed or will or by an order of a court of competent jurisdiction or by operation of law;
“harm” means ill‐treatment or the impairment of physical, mental, intellectual, emotional, or behavioural health or development;
“harmful publication” means any book magazine, film, picture, video or audio tape or print or other medium which is a kind targeted at or likely to fall into the hands of children and which consists wholly or mainly of stories told in pictures with or without the addition of written matter or video film and cassette tape, which contains pictures or stories which portray harmful information, such as‐
(a) the commission of crimes; or
(b) acts of violence, or cruelty or
(c) incidents of a repulsive or horrible nature; or
(d) acts of words of an immoral character; or
(e) obscene and indecent representation,
in such a way that the work as a whole would tend to Corrupt or deprave a child into whose hands it may fall ;
“health” means physical, emotional or mental health;
“home” includes an institution;
“imprisonable offence” means an offence punishable, in the case of an audit, with the death penalty or imprisonment only, without the option of fine;
“manager” means the supervisor, principal or person in charge of an approved institution;
“non‐institutional order” means an order, made by the Court on the disposal of a case, which does not involve a child offender being placed in an institution;
“nursing mother” means a mother whose child is not more than two years old;
“photographic film” includes photographic plate;
“photographic plate” means any plate treated as to reproduce or be intended to reproduce an image of a subject when photographed;
“plate” except where it occurs in the expression “photographic plate” includes any book, mould matrix and stencil;
“premises” includes vehicle, caravan and cabin;
“prohibited steps order” means an order that no step, which could be taken by a parent in meeting his parental responsibility for a child and which is of a kind specified in the order, shall be taken by any person without the consent of the Court;
“Register of Birth” means the Register of Birth kept by the Commission;
“relevant establishment” means any establishment which is mentioned in paragraphs 3 and 4 of Schedule 6 to this Act and includes a hospital, school and other establishments, exempted from the registration requirements which apply in relation to the provision of day care; and
“residence order” means an order setting out the arrangements to be made as to the person with whom a child is to live; and
“review period” means the period of one year beginning with the commencement of this Act and each subsequent period of three years beginning with an anniversary of that commencement;
“scientific sample” means any blood, tissue or any other sample taken for the purpose of conducting a scientific test;
“scientific test” means any test carried out under this Part of this Act, and includes any test made with the object of ascertaining the inheritable characteristics of blood, tissue, or any other sample;
“secure accommodation” means accommodation provided for the purpose of restricting the liberty of
children;
“secure accommodation” means accommodation which is provided in a community home for the purpose of restricting liberty ;
“sexual offence” and “violent offence” have the meanings assigned to them in the relevant code of criminal law;
“skin mark” means any ethnic or ritual cuts on the skin which leaves permanent marks; and
“specific issue order” means an order giving directions for the purpose of determining a specific
question which has arisen, or which may arise, in connection with any aspect of parental responsibility for a child;
“specified proceedings” means any proceedings‐
(a) on all application for a care order or supervision order ;
(b) in which the Court has given a direction under section 58 (1) of this Act and has made, or is considering whether to make, an interim care order;
(c) on an application for the discharge of a care order or the variation or discharge of a supervision order;
(d) on an application under Section 61 of this Act;
(e) in which the Court is considering whether to make a residence order with respect to a child who is the subject of a care order;
(f) with respect to a contract between a child who is the subject of a care order and any other
person
(g) under Part VIII of this Act;
(h) on an appeal against‐
(i) the making of, or refusal to make a care order, supervision order or any Order under section 58 of this Act ;
(ii) the making of, or refusal to make a residence order with respect to a child who is the subject of a care order, or
(iii) the variation or discharge, or refusal of an application to vary or discharge, an order of a kind mentioned m subparagraph (i) or (ii) of this Subsection,
(iv) the refusal of an application under section 62 of this Act, or
(v) the making of or refusal to make an order under Part VIII of this Act which are specified for the time being, for the purposes of this section, by Rules of Court;
“State Government accommodation” means accommodation provided by or on behalf of as Government within the meaning of Part XV of this Act;
“street child” include‐
(a) a child who is homeless and forced to live on the streets; in market places and under bridges; and
(b) a child who, though not homeless is on the streets engaged in begging for alms, child labour prostitution, and other criminal activities which are detrimental to the well being of the child;
“supervised activity” means an activity supervised by a responsible person;
“supervision” consists of such supervision as is provided for in Part XXI to this Act;
“tattoo” means the insertion into the skin of colouring material designed to leave permanent marks;
“the appropriate education authority” means the Ministry of Education of the State;
“the person responsible for the child” means a person who, for the time being, has care of the child by virtue of a care order, or under section 58 of this Act, as the case may be;
(a) “the appropriate order” means‐
(i) in the case of a child who is being provided with accommodation by, or on behalf of a State Government ; and
(ii) in any other case, the Government of the State in which the child concerned lives or will
live;
(b) “the education supervision order” means an order made under subsection (1) of this section; and
(c) a child is of compulsory school age, if he is not below six years old and eighteen years old;
“the relevant period” means –
(a) the period of six weeks beginning with the date on which the order in question is made; or
(b) the period of ten weeks beginning with the date on which the first order was made if that period ends, other than the period mentioned in paragraph (a) of this subsection;
“voluntary home” means any home or other institution providing care and accommodation for children which is managed by a voluntary organisation but does not include‐
(a) a nursing home, mental nursing home or residential care home;
(b) a school;
(c) a health service hospital
(d) a community home;
(e) any home or other institution provided equipped and maintained by the Minister; and
(f) any home which the Minister may, from time to time, by regulations, exempt for the purposes of this section;
A reference in this section‐
(a) “to a child who is being looked after by a State Government”, means a child who is‐
(i) in the case of the State Government, or
(ii) provided with accommodation by the State Government in exercise of its function as under this Act or any other law;
(b) to consultation shall be construed as a reference to such consultation, if any, as is reasonably practicable in all the circumstances of the case; and
(c) in relation to a child charged with or convicted of a violent or sexual offence, to protecting the public from serious harm, from him, shall be construed as a reference to protecting members of the public from death or serious personal injury, whether physical or psychological, occasioned by further commission by him of a similar offence;
