This is clearly one of the worst decades for children in Nigeria. The heartbreaking stories of adults hurting children in different ways seem to be getting worse by the day. It is worrisome that on a daily basis, both orthodox and social media report various cases of inhumane treatments of adults on children. From child factories where several teenage girls are kept and made to produce babies for sale, to sexual and other domestic violence against both genders down to trafficking, abductions, murder and just all forms of cruelty against children. Stories of children being killed for rituals and other fetish purposes, to some being lynched for alleged witchcraft and sundry accusations, the Nigerian child seems to have no respite. There are reports of about 200 abducted children whose whereabouts are yet unknown. Most children are suffering in many internally displaced persons’ (IDP) camps across the country.
The recent abduction of five children between the ages of 18 months and four years in the Rukpakulus area of Port Harcourt in Rivers State by a woman who disguised as a school teacher is coming on the heels of a report of the alleged flogging and death of a 19-month old baby in a school in Delta State. It has been a litany of tragic tales for the Nigerian child more than ever before.
The recent abduction sounds like a script from the movies but it is sadly a true life story. The woman who abducted the kids in the same neighbourhood must have taken advantage of a people that take security for granted. For a new tenant in the neighbourhood to convince the parents that she could handle home lessons for the kids and they agreed and availed their children, to us, is the height of parental irresponsibility.
The story tells a lot about parental care in the country. To some extent, parents seem to continually cede the responsibility of child care to schools or just anyone who can relieve them of the burden of catering for their kids. In the past, there was an age below which a child cannot be admitted in school. It was to make sure that the child is physically and mentally developed enough to assimilate any form of instruction in school. These days, besides the crèche culture for working mothers, even non-working mothers now literally dump their kids in any semblance of a building with people who lay claims to being teachers.
It is the obsession with sending children out to some teaching environment that has in the last two weeks caused the death of a 19-month-old in Delta State and the abduction of the five kids in Port Harcourt. These children’s ages range from 18 months to four years! In the past some of them would still be breastfeeding and cannot be taken to outsiders for any form of formal instructions.
The parents in both cases must be held liable for child neglect. We however fear that these cases might just be ignored like most other cases of pupil abductions in Nigeria. There are child protection laws and international treaties but it does seem they are observed in breach as it seems cases of child abuse and neglect have not been seen to be prosecuted conclusively. The child rights and protection treaties Nigeria is signatory to seem just on paper, as not enough is done by states and even the Federal Government to protect children in Nigeria.
The sentiment of sympathising with negligent parents when their actions and inactions cause harm or death to children must give way to real prosecution and those involved punished as deterrent to others. There must be a system that protects children from irresponsible parenting and guardianship.
Children are very vulnerable and laws must be made to protect them because they are the future of any nation. Far too many children are endangered in Nigeria and that must change for the better. Adults must be made to pay for harming or predisposing children to any form of harm. That is the norm in most countries. Nigeria cannot be different.