GUARDIANSHIP OF CHILDREN IN ISLAMIC LAW AND THE CHILD’S RIGHTS ACT 2003: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

As the saying goes “children are the leaders of tomorrow” and. for their tomorrow to be bright and positive, they need to beproperly guided. This can be achieved either by the biologicalparents or the guardians. Islamic law has provided detailed -provisions for the guidance of such children in terms of theirperson and property. The Child’s Rights Act also attempts todo so. This paper did a comparative analysis of the two laws,with the aim of determining which is better and which hasjurisdictional powers. This was achieved utilising data obtainedthrough the doctrinal method. It was observed, amongst others,that the Islamic law provision is more detailed and caters morefor the interest of the child than the Child’s Rights Act which isvague and lacks proper definitions. Based on the observations,it was recommended that the Act should be amended toprovide proper definition of the terms ‘guardian’, ‘guardian ofa child’, ‘guardian of the estate of the child’ to give a clearidentification of the scope of their responsibilities and powers.Also, the sections that vested the family court with exclusivejurisdiction on matters of the child should be expunged as itconflicts with the provision of section 262 of the Constitutionof the Federal Republic of Nigeria (CFRN).