Schoolchildren from Jigawa, Kano, and Katsina states have called on the media to intensify advocacy for the protection of children’s rights, particularly in education, nutrition, and social justice.
The appeal was made during a panel discussion organised by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to mark the 2025 World Children’s Day at Tahir Hotel.
The session brought together child representatives from the three states, who raised concerns over the rising numbers of out-of-school children, malnutrition, weak healthcare systems, inadequate school security, child abuse, and poor hygiene.
They emphasised that full implementation of existing policies, including the Child Protection Law and the Nutrition Policy, would help eliminate barriers affecting children’s survival and development.
The children also urged UNICEF, government agencies, the media, and the general public to strengthen collaboration on policies and programmes that protect their well-being and secure a better future for every child.
Speaking at the event, the Chief of UNICEF Kano Field Office, Mr. Rahama Rihood Mohammed Farah, said UNICEF continues to provide technical and financial support to improve child survival and development indicators across the region.
He noted that recent reports show increased government and public commitment to child rights protection, with improvements in immunisation coverage, access to basic education, and primary healthcare—accompanied by reductions in child mortality, malnutrition, and the out-of-school population.
“As we celebrate these gains, we also acknowledge the major challenges that remain,” he said. “UNICEF will continue to work with all stakeholders to support interventions that enhance the survival and development of children.”
The new world presents a mix of opportunities and challenges for children across the globe. On one hand, technological advancement, improved healthcare, enhanced security systems, and longer life expectancy have made life easier and more accessible. These developments offer children better chances to learn, communicate, and thrive in ways previous generations could only dream of. However, on the other hand, the same new world has exposed children to serious threats that demand urgent attention.
In many parts of the world today, children face numerous challenges such as poor parental care, early exposure to social media, child abuse, wars, child labor, and even kidnapping. These problems are not limited to conflict zones alone; they also exist in homes and societies where values and responsibilities are eroding. The result is a generation of children struggling with emotional distress, lack of guidance, and the dangers of premature exposure to adult realities.
In the developing world, the situation is even more alarming. Millions of children are trapped in the cycle of poverty, lacking access to quality healthcare, good education, clean water, and proper hygiene. Many are forced to work at a young age to support their families instead of being in school, where their minds and futures should be nurtured. These hardships violate the fundamental rights of children to protection, education, and a decent standard of living.
The true defense and foundation of a child’s well-being lie in responsible parenting. When both father and mother understand and accept their duty to provide love, care, education, and guidance, the child gains the most important right in life—the right to proper upbringing. Parental involvement in a child’s early development shapes character, values, and future success far more than any external influence.
Furthermore, when parents are educated, children gain an additional advantage. Education empowers parents to make informed decisions, provide moral and emotional support, and protect their children from the dangers of ignorance and exploitation. Religious teachings, particularly in Islam, emphasize this responsibility strongly. The Qur’an and the teachings of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) make it clear that parents are custodians of their children. They are entrusted by Almighty Allah to care for, guide, and protect them in every aspect of life—spiritually, emotionally, and physically.
As the world continues to evolve, so must our approach to child rights. Governments, communities, and parents must work together to ensure that every child is protected, educated, and nurtured to become a responsible and productive member of society. The new world will only be truly progressive when it guarantees a safe and supportive environment for every child to grow and reach their full potential.
Tasiu Mohammed is the Director Election Management of the All Progressives Congress (APC)
Principal Partner W.K. Shittu & Co and lecturer in the Department of Jurisprudence and International Law, Faculty of Law, University of Lagos (UNILAG), Mr Wahab Shittu, presented this paper at the 21st speech-making and prize-giving day of Deregos Private Academy, Lagos.
Inclusive education and the school community
Every student has the right to experience an education system which values their uniqueness and supports them to become successful and valued adults.
There is collective responsibility for the wellbeing of the children and young people in our communities. But school communities, in particular, must understand the diversity of their students and families and offer a responsive and inclusive place for all. A flexible, relevant, inclusive and appropriate curriculum is fundamental to building wellbeing and resilience.
For example, in Nigeria the girl-child, in comparison to the opposite sex is usually subjected to demeaning and destabilising situations that places her in a disadvantaged position in the society. Stakeholders in the education sector are therefore urged to inject new innovations into the school system to ensure non-gender discriminatory learning.
Equity education for all, irrespective of gender should be a primary objective as quality and non-discriminatory education is a fundamental human right that should be availed to all persons irrespective of age, sex, and nationality.
Identifying children at risk
Many young people managing a health condition will encounter some difficulty, including learning difficulties, during their school life. Schools must have strategies and processes in place to identify when a student is at risk of disengaging from learning or from school. Early intervention is essential.
Risks for students may involve individual, social, emotional or physical factors. They may also be related to family or community factors.
Responsible teachers and schools
All teachers have a responsibility to respond when a student experiences difficulty with their schooling. Schools have a responsibility to support their teachers by developing a planned, sequential and detailed whole-school approach to student support and by providing relevant professional learning.
Adjustments within the school
An education provider must make ‘reasonable adjustments’ to accommodate a student with disabilities. An adjustment is a measure or action taken to assist a student with disabilities to participate in education and training on the same basis as other students.
An adjustment is reasonable if it does this while taking into account the student’s learning needs and balancing the interests of all parties affected, including those of: the student with the disability, the education provider, staff and other students.
Education in the 21st century:
the challenges
The entire globe is grappling today with an unbelievable rise in violence, crime and worrisome deterioration in the societal moral bearing, responsible citizenship as well as employability skills; with growing number of complex socio-emotional and environmental challenges. At the same time Education, Innovation, Technology & Employability have emerged as the biggest riders for our successful sustenance on this planet. In order to ensure that our students can thrive successfully in 21st century, our schools and our education system will have to keep pace with the changing time.
There is a need to recognise the importance of areas such as social and emotional learning, culture and the arts, and health and nutrition in 21st century education. For example, South Africa’s national curriculum statement indicates that, upon completing formal education, students should be able to identify and solve problems and make decisions using critical and creative thinking as well as work in collaborative environments. It further states that students should learn to communicate effectively through the use of visual, symbolic, and language skills; be able to use science and technology; and demonstrate responsibility toward the environment, the health of others, and an understanding of the world.
Despite ambitions such as these, many students continue to learn in traditional school environments where they sit at desks, passively listen to a teacher’s lecture, and memorise a limited curriculum that is further reinforced through often outdated assessment practices. Teachers often receive little professional support to deliver a balanced curriculum and may, if curriculum are not updated and resourced, continue to use instructional practices that emphasise memorisation and repetition. Students in these settings tend to spend most of their class time bored and disengaged. In other cases, students are burdened with an excessive amount of content. Students in these learning environments are unable to learn at their own pace often leading to delays in the development of critical skills.
All children deserve to have quality learning opportunities to develop to their full potential, an idea that is reinforced by the Sustainable Development Goals, in particular Goal 4 on Education. Aligning national goals with classroom practice and ensuring that teachers have the ability to teach breadth of skills—shifting from a narrow focus on literacy and numeracy—is an important step toward preparing students to tackle 21st century challenges.
Also, teachers and education are of crucial importance in preparing young people and societies for the future. Investing in education and in building a strong teaching profession makes good sense. Denying teachers the essential means to foster learning in the classroom is a crime against our children’s future and violates international law.
Education is strongest in those societies which value and support their teachers and education systems, and in which the morale of teachers is high.
Comparative studies reveal that the strongest education systems are those in which most teachers are proud to be a teacher, and encourage their best students and their children to join what is a high status profession.
Given the challenges facing society in the 21st Century, teachers are being required to take on new roles and must have the knowledge, confidence and resources needed to fulfil legitimate expectations of the community. Teachers must also learn throughout life and develop new skills if they are be effective in teaching others to learn to know, to do, to be and to live together.
Teachers have a crucial role to play in not only the execution of any educational reform designed to help societies prepare for the future, they must be intimately involved in the conception and design of reforms from the outset.
Conclusion
There are important roles that all individuals and stakeholders should play to ensure that the institutional structure dedicated to the provision of basic primary and Secondary education is set up not only to provide children with access to a vague notion of education but to a notion of basic education that can provide children with the freedom to do something with that education once they have obtained it. In doing this, an understanding of a child’s rights under the system is very crucial, particularly in the 21st Century.
The key purpose of education is to ensure that all students gain access to knowledge, skills, and information that will prepare them to contribute to the world’s communities and workplaces. This becomes more challenging as schools accommodate students with increasingly diverse backgrounds and abilities. As we strive to meet these challenges, the involvement and cooperation of educators, parents, and community leaders is vital for the creation of better and more inclusive schools. Inclusion is what comes naturally to an inclusive society.
Now more than ever, children require a new generation of skills to navigate various contexts within our dynamic environment. We have seen over the past decades that access to literacy and numeracy is not enough. Ensuring that the application of education systems provide children with opportunities to develop a broader set of skills for life, learning, and work will allow them to participate effectively and make meaningful contributions to their societies and the world.
In Nigeria, the rights of a Child in the 21st Century Education system must be understood in the context of the contribution of the child to national development. In getting the child to deliver on the developmental aspirations, a stable environment must be created within the school environment for the child to thrive. This would entail creating necessary systems, structures and infrastructure to enable the child actualize his/her potential.
The stark reality of our country’s economic regression presently can be mitigated if the child is clear headed and focused to recognize opportunities, particularly in certain critical sectors such as agriculture, technology and e-commerce. Agriculture because nearly about 180 million Nigerians have to be fed and as such the farmer will always remain relevant. Education must also prepare the child for advances in technology and e-commerce. There are also opportunities in the unconventional business sector such as entertainment in the broad sense including music, movies and material (fashion). The child must be encouraged in the 21st Century to focus on his/her passion without limitations.
It is only when all of these factors are considered in the education of the child, particularly in the 21st Century that we can all beat our chest that the future of the child, undoubtedly the leader of tomorrow is fully assured and guaranteed.
Principal partner at W.K Shittu & Co and lecturer in the Department of Jurisprudence and International Law, Faculty of Law, University of Lagos (UNILAG), Mr Wahab Shittu, presented this paper at the 21st speech making and prize giving day of Deregos Private Academy, Lagos.
I feel really humbled and highly honored by the invitation extended to me to deliver this lecture. When I first got hint of this invitation, my initial reaction was one of fear of disappointing the organisers, not because that would ordinarily be my intention but significantly because of my schedule prosecuting corruption cases all over the country combined with my responsibilities at the University of Lagos. I was afraid today’s very important event may clash with such hectic schedule. I am glad that did not happen because I owe a huge debt of gratitude to the St Bernadette Educational Service and Doregos Private Academy for molding all my children.
I recall that Doregos nurtured my first son Yusuf Shittu who is now a medical doctor, my second son Rilwan Shittu also passed through the Doregos system from nursery school up until Secondary School level and today he is a Legal Practitioner, My third child, Rafiat Shittu was also here as a student and currently a Third Year Law student at the University of Lagos. Of course, the baby of the house Imran Shittu who is perhaps sitting somewhere in the crowd is still very much part of the Doregos system as a SS1 student. I can therefore say that I live, think, breathe and eat Doregos and I can proudly say that this is my second home and my natural family.
Given this background, it would have been unpardonable not to be present here today, for whatever reason. Thank you once again for this privileged invitation.
I am being called upon to examine the topic “Understanding the Rights of a Child in the 21st Century Education System”, incidentally on the occasion of the 21st Speech Making & Prize Giving Day of this great institution. I am mindful of the significance of the magical 21st both in the topic assigned to me and the coincidence of this occasion.
Introduction
Childhood is a time for education, recreation, growth and discovery. All children and young people, regardless of their circumstances and background, must have the opportunity to participate and engage in a world class education system and emerge equipped with the knowledge and skills they need for the future.
Education is a right to which all human beings are entitled. It is both a human right in itself and an indispensable means of realizing other human rights. It plays a very important role in achieving just societies because education can develop a child’s sense of self, sense of community, and sense of citizenship.
Education in the 21st Century
The 21st Century essentially is a period that has generally been characterized by a lot of advancement in thinking, methods, science and technology. This century has witnessed more growth than earlier imagined, with the potential for even more. Over the course of this period, the education sector, particularly primary and secondary education has been under the spotlight. In 2000, the United Nations began promoting the Millennium Development Goal to achieve free universal primary education for all, regardless of gender, by 2015. The MDGS were later replaced by the Sustainable Development Goals with Goal 4 focused solely on Quality Education. Amidst all of this, the rights of a child in a 21st Century Education System still remains a very critical aspect of education in this period.
From an analysis of surveys and research conducted by experts in the education sector, the consensus has generally been that in this 21st Century, from the earliest learners to adolescents, students across age groups are missing out on critical learning opportunities. These opportunities are those that help develop a range of skills, essential to tackle the challenges of our dynamic, rapidly growing world and transform students into mindful, empathetic, critical-thinking, creative, and collaborative beings.
Successfully nurturing the students of the 21st century is the call of accountability & it’s preparation starts with creating a positive school culture with a safe and caring environment with values and empathy for people and environment, embedded in the entire length and breadth of the school climate as well as high student motivation and engagement, a professional faculty culture, and partnerships with families and the community.
The schools therefore essentially need to integrate the creativity, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration skills required of world class workers and ethical citizens & prioritize the depth not breadth of learning, promote cross-disciplinary, team-based problem solving, adapting to the emerging advances in digital technologies & preparing students for working lives that may span a range of occupations, many of which may not currently exist.
In the last two decades, there has been a global movement toward rethinking the learning opportunities children need to thrive in their lives, careers, and make meaningful contributions to their local and global communities. As a result, in many developed countries, national curricula and policies have increasingly reflected learning approaches that focus on the development of the whole person, providing students with opportunities to develop a broad range of skills.
The great educationalist John Dewey’s concept of the centrality of the voice of the learner in the teaching process is mirrored in Article 12 of The United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), which expressly states that when adults are making decision that affect children, children have the right to have their opinions taken into account and their views respected. This concept was further extended in the science of listening articulated and embraced by Loris Malaguzzi in the pre-schools of Reggio-Emilia in Northern Italy.
However it is instructive to note that the voice of the child continues to be largely absent from practice and policy contexts. As parents, teachers and researchers, we need to develop innovative and creative ways to support children in expressing their views and in doing so, develop both the art of a voice and the art of listening. Increasingly research is demonstrating that meaningful participation enhances children’s self-esteem and confidence, promotes overall development and develops autonomy, independence, social competence and resilience. Furthermore children’s higher-order thinking skills are significantly enhanced when children are afforded opportunities to speak.
Parents, teachers and researchers have a particular moral and ethical responsibility to ensure that the inclusion of children’s voices remains a priority in education, particularly in this era of global unrest and uncertainty.
The Rights of a child under
Nigerian Law
Since 1924, when the League of Nations adopted the Geneva Declaration of the Right of the Child, the international community has made a series of firm commitments to children to ensure that their rights-to survival, health, education, protection and participation, among others are met.
The most far-reaching and comprehensive of these commitments is the Convention on the Right of the Child, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1989 and ratified by 192 countries including Nigeria. As the most widely endorsed human right treaty in history, the convention, together with its optional protocols, lay out in specific terms the legal duties of government to children. Hence, children’s survival, development and protection now become a matter of moral and legal obligation and no longer a matter of charitable concern.
In Nigeria, children’s Rights are protected by law under the Child Rights Act of 2003 and held sacred, not only does the law protect the child; it also stipulates punishment for adults who take advantage of children or seek to negatively influence them. The law seeks to prevent cruelty against children while stating the rights and obligations of the Nigerian Child.
Prior to the 2003 Child Rights Act, Nigerian child protection was defined by the Children and Young People’s Act (CYPA), a law relating primarily to juvenile justice. In 2003, Nigeria adopted the Child Rights Act to domesticate the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Meaning and scope of the
right to education
The right to education is a right of every human being, from childhood until the end of life, without discrimination under any grounds.
According to the World Health Organization, “child rights are fundamental freedoms and the inherent rights of all human beings below the age of 18. These rights apply to every child, irrespective of the child’s, parent’s/legal guardian’s race, color, sex, creed or other status”. One of these rights is the right to ‘education and access to appropriate information’
The guarantee of the right to education is an obligation of States Parties in the instruments of International Human Rights Law, because they are the main duty-bearers for all human rights for all. The International Community has a subsidiary and auxiliary responsibility, when States fail. However, the natural primary responsible individuals for the right to education are the parents.
As such, the right to education is a right to an education guided by the values and principles internationally agreed upon and formally incorporated in the domestic Law of the most countries.
The right to education is an empowerment right. It shall empower individuals for the full development of their human personality and participation in society and this right is further closely linked with the right to development, as education is considered a powerful tool in the fight against poverty.
Rights of the child in the 21st century education system
The Convention on the Rights of the Child, which is part of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, sets out children’s right to: education; healthcare; economic opportunity; protection from abuse and neglect; protection from sexual exploitation; and protection from economic exploitation.
The Convention also says that decisions that affect children should be based on their ‘best interests’.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) applies to children under 18. It recognizes education as a legal right to every child on the basis of equal opportunity. Its Article 28 guarantees free compulsory primary education for all; progressive free secondary education that should in any case be available and accessible to all; and accessibility to higher education on the basis of capacity. It states the obligation of the State to take measures regarding school attendance and discipline. It encourages international cooperation in matters related to education, in particular elimination of ignorance and illiteracy and access to scientific and technical knowledge. Its Article 29 defines the aims of education and recognizes also the liberty of parents to choose the kind of education they want to give to their children and the liberty to establish and direct educational institutions, in conformity with minimum standards laid down by the state.
In spite of the existence of the Child’s Rights Law and its status as Nigeria’s most cosmopolitan and most enlighten state, child and forced marriages still go on in several communities in Lagos unabated, reports BETTY ABAH
Amina Hassan spotted the signs with much trepidation. First, they came for her eldest sister, Zainab and two years later, they came for the second eldest, Maimuna. After another two years, when they came for her as soon she turned 16 like the other two before her, as usual with the gleeful wedding party in tow, Amina bolted with all the strength in her sprightly teenage legs. It was only a few months to her Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (SSCE).
“No, child marriage is not for me; my education first”, she blurted under her breath as she fled her home in the Ajegunle area of Lagos.
‘”I ran away from home to stay with a school friend of mine but my family and that of the groom waited patiently for me for those three days’, Miss Hassan recalled. “My father was no more so it was my uncle who was in charge. When I made a brief appearance at home to check if they had left, he got hold of me, beat me black and blue and said I was disgracing the family and shaming our tradition,” She said.
Amina Hassan; fought child marriage to get education, now promoting literacy in the Shuwa Arab community in Lagos
The next alternative was to seek refuge with the police. So, Amina again sneaked out and reported at the nearby Ajegunle-Boundary police station.
“But I received the shock of my life because some of my family members came and after some talk with the DPO, the story changed”, she said. The DPO took a long look at her and asked her to ‘cooperate’ with her family members as they had her best interest at heart.
“I looked him in the face and asked: ‘If I were your daughter, would you also say the same thing—that I should cooperate with them and get married at age 16?”
The obviously ruffled police officer, whom she remembered as having ‘bold, unforgettable tribal marks’, berated her for being a stubborn girl and promptly discharged her case from his station. The wedding party disappeared in great sorrow.
Thus, given up by both family and the police, Amina went on to finish her secondary school in that same year (1993), and university education at the famous Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria and went on to obtain a Masters Degree, the very first person and woman in her generation to accomplish that feat.
Though Amina set herself free by her determination and sheer guts, her two other sisters, Zainab and Maimuna who could not, have continued to live with the consequences of child marriage, decisions made entirely on their behalf by their elderly relatives.
Amina still recollects their ordeals with heavy heart. Fragile-framed Zainab had been tricked into a party ostensibly held in her uncle’s house in the Oregun area of Lagos not knowing it was her own traditional wedding. She was later taken to Asaba in Delta State where her elderly husband, a polygamist, was waiting for her. She later ran back home from her elderly husband, unable to cope.
But the most dramatic was that of her sister Maimuna. ‘We had all prepared for school that morning and were all in our school uniform,’’ Amina recalls. Our uncle addressed Maimuna and told her no school for her that day as her husband had come for her. She had no idea who the man was or what he looked like. “My uncle had made the choice on her behalf. We all started wailing. Our neighbours’ children also came and joined in the wailing, but it was too late as a station wagon was already parked outside ready for her. They took her away in her school uniform. She was in SS1 at Oregun High School and was one of the best in the entire school, always coming first or second’.
Maimuna was virtually bundled and taken to Chad from where, unable to cope with the domestic work (including cooking for her husband’s large extended family), she ran back to Lagos, selling her belongings along the long lengthy and traumatic way from Chad to Lagos heavy with pregnancy, giving birth and losing the child thereafter. Like her sister before her, Maimuna never went back to school.
“My sisters were very intelligent and were well known in school for their brilliance, but these people just ruined their lives’, said Amina, established the Shuwa Arab Development Initiative (SADI), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), after graduating from the university in 2009, to try and right the wrongs of the past and save other girls from the ordeal of girl marriage.
Through SADI, she has facilitated the education of more than 100 children, boys and girls among the Shuwa Arabs (an indigenous community with roots in North East Nigeria) in Lagos.
Thriving culture
The above occurred mostly in the early 1990’s and therefore it could be assumed that child or forced early marriage is a thing of the past in Metropolitan Lagos, Nigeria’s most developed and most urbane city.
Yet, Aisha Nasirudeen, 19, sitting, stroking her three children’s heads idly in the face-me-I-face-you compound of her rundown house on Odo Street in the Obalende area of Lagos, did not just portray the picture of urban poverty. She aptly personified the victim of an on-going and vibrant tradition of child marriage in settler communities across Lagos as relevant government agencies entrusted with the responsibility of acting against it, continue to look the other way or engage only in lame rhetoric.
“My ambition was to become a doctor, but now I know I can’t achieve that dream anymore. My son Yahaha will achieve it for me”, said Aisha who was married off four years ago when she was barely 16 and in Senior Secondary Two (SS2).
Aisha Nasirudeen and her three children
Quiet and tall Aisha, with features akin to that of a model is one of 28 children of a prominent alfa (Muslim cleric) who hails originally from Katsina. She is the last of three wives of Alhaji Mohammed Nasirudeen, who hails from the Upper Volta region of Ghana but converted to Islam and adopted Bornu as his state. He was formerly a disciple of Aisha’s cleric father.
In a tone oscillating between sarcasm and seriousness, Aisha’s husband, Nasirudeen, 44, who runs a thriving restaurant in Obalende, says marriage was the best option for his wife. “You know some of these girls that have a tendency to be stubborn,’ he said, smiling from ear to ear and revealing his beautiful golden tooth. “it is always better to marry them off as soon as possible. It is for their good”, he added with relish.
nlike Nasirudeen, Garba Abu, 55, who came to Lagos 25 years ago, is a repentant man. The Jigawa State-born man who, after over two decades as a security guard, now runs an almost empty kiosk at the College Road in Ogba area of Lagos, and doubles as a water vendor, had given out his three daughters Bintu, Saratu and Sadia as teenagers. Now, with the little earnings from his small businesses he and his wife ensure his younger children,Aminat, 13 and Muritala, 9 get a relatively good education. They are currently pupils in the nearby African Church Primary School, Ifako-Ijaiye.
“There is so much difference between a person that goes to school and the one that didn’t,” he said, casting a distant look at his shrinking wares. “It is easy for an educated girl to get a job because she understands English while the ones that doesn’t understand English loses job opportunities.’
A neighbour who has known the Garbas for several years recounted how one of the daughters, already in secondary school and doing very well, was ‘plucked’ off to her husband’s house. ”On the day of the ceremony, we asked her who her husband was but she told us that she hadn’t met him yet and that one of her sisters had gone to check his place where she would be moving to later in the evening, and that is when she would see him for the first time”.
Deadly consequences
Forced marriages such as the above have sometime led to tragic situations such as the one involving Wasilat Tasiu, a 14-year old bride who poisoned and killed her husband, Umar Sani, and four other guests in Kano a few days after she was married off, in December 2014. According to her, she committed the crime in order to realise her dream of acquiring an education. Another tragic incident involved Rahama Hussaini who killed her husband, Tijjani Nasiru, in March 2015 in protest over being forced to marry the man who was her cousin.
Child marriage, with its devastating consequences on the overall welfare of the girl child remains one of the sore points and clogs in the wheel of Nigeria’s progress. The country, according to UNICEF, has the highest rate of girl marriage in Africa with over 50% of women in the North married off before or by age 16.
According to a recent report by Ford Foundation, about 48% of girls in Nigeria, predominantly in rural areas, are married off before age 18. Cases of Vesicovaginal Fistula (VVF), maternal mortality, have been on the increase especially in rural areas. Also, according to a 2013/2014 UNESCO report, Nigeria has the highest number of out-of-school children in the world, numbering 11/5 million. This owes mostly to economic hardship and government’s indifference to children and the non-implementation of the Access to Universal Basic Education law in addition to the on-going anti-western education insurgency in the north.
Out of this figure, girls are in the majority. The gross lack of interest in girl education and welfare in many regions across Nigeria’s has given rise to child marriage as economically-hit families want to ‘do away’ quickly with their girl children so as to give priority attention to their boy counterparts.
Girls at Agbado and Agege railway area in Lagos; risk falling prey to child marriage
Child marriage not only deprives a girl of education and her childhood but exposes them to sexually transmitted disease such as HIV especially since they are unable to negotiate for safer sex.
A 2014 report by UNICEF titled ‘Ending Child Marriage, Progress and Prospects’ indicates that though child marriage in Nigeria has reduced by one per cent annually in the last 30 years, hundreds of girls are still at risk due to Nigeria’s peculiarly large population. It further revealed that of the world’s 1.1 billion under aged girls, 22 million are already married. The global body also expressed fears that if there is no reduction in child bride practices, up to 280 million girls will be married before age 18. That could even increase to 320 million by 2050 owing to population growth.
Besides, child marriage directly hurts the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Goal SGD 5 which focuses on gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls.
Forced marriages and the impunity thereof is exemplified by the globally known case of the more than 200 girls abducted from the Government Secondary School in Chibok Town, Bornu State, Northern Eastern Nigeria in April 2014 by Boko Haram insurgents. According to their leader in a recorded interview, the girls had been married off. Two years later, despite the worldwide #BringBackOurGirls campaign, not only have 219 of the girls captured from their hostel rooms had their educational dreams aborted, they are yet to be found.
‘Lagos State Government looking the other way’
However, while the reports and researches on girl marriage prevalence have focused on rural areas and especially the North fora long time, recent findings have revealed a steady culture of girl marriage in communities in urban areas such as Lagos. Girl marriage is prevalent, even if at a comparatively reduced rate, in settler communities and secluded populations of the Hausa-Fulani, Nupes, Shuwa Arabs and as well as minority populations from Benin Republic and Togo. The communities include Makoko, Kofiganmen sea side area of Badagry, Ojo, Agege, New Okoba, Ijora, Marine Beach among several others across Lagos.
Makoko, Lagos’ largest slum, a predominantly fishing community which hosts a pout-pouri of ethnicities drawn from across Nigeria, Togo and Benin Republic, is a classic case. According to a report by an NGO, Action Health Incorporated, Makoko has the highest number of teenage mothers. While many of the surveyed and the current are pre-marital pregnancies, hundreds of others are child brides.
On a recent evening as the sun set over Makoko and the impoverished community assumed its rambunctious train of routine evening commerce and camaderie, Juliana Idowu, 17, Rhoda Awahajinu, 16 and Sena Kobozina, 20 sat exhausted in a shop, after the day’s task, fielding questions impatiently from this reporter. They were warming up to go home so as to perform their usual wifely responsibilities of cooking, washing, feeding their children and pleasing their mostly young husbands in a variety of ways. The young mothers and wives have many things in common. Each had a child, each was married and each had her education cut short in order to take on marital roles and is currently learning vocational skills, mainly hairdressing or tailoring. Other than concentrating on their skills, owning their own shops ultimately and rearing healthy children, none had any more ambition. Like hundreds of other girls in the community, some of them became pregnant between ages 14 and 15.
The young wives and mothers of Makoko
Yet a rather more worrying trend in Makoko is that of some parents are not only forcing their teenage daughters into marriage once they become pregnant, but compelling their them to marry much older men in that condition, with the pregnancy.
In this category are Bose Nge, 14 who is pregnant, Elizabeth Avonzetin 18,mother of two, Jane Zanu, 18, also a mother of two and Olorunwa Humgbe Louis who lost her first baby and is pregnant with a second one. While Zannu’s twin brother is in a French school in Badagry, her sole ambition now learning tailoring and being a good mother and wife. All became mothers and wife as teenagers.
“Here, once a girl becomes pregnant, she is expected to identify the boy or young man that is responsible. The girl’s family thus organises a marriage ceremony and sends the girl off to live with the boy as his wife, and if he is still with the parents, she goes to live with them”, said Mariam Kusika, 24, mother of three and herself a victim of child marriage.
The only snag, she added, is when the boy denies and the baales (local chiefs) would wade in. “But most times the girl’s parents are not disposed to keeping her and would quickly ‘dispose’ of her ‘free of charge’ to any willing person alongside her pregnancy. We have seen so many of such cases here,”said Mrs. Kusika, who, after learning from her mistakes, is now hoping to go back to school later this year, and currently earning a variety of skills and running a girl empowerment club.
Paulina Vigan, a trader and mother of one of the pregnant and hastily married Makoko girls, corroborated Kusika’s claims. Her daughter is fourteen years old. And she has no regrets.
‘My daughter is very stubborn,’ she said, her forehead furrowed in a blend of anger and grief. ‘I thank God the parents of the boy who impregnated her accepted and took her in. Our traditions has no room for unwanted pregnancies and the boy who impregnated her is just about 17 years and in JSS Two. If they had refused, I would have sent her far away where nobody knows her until she gives birth or better still, give her and her unborn child to an old man, who might be willing to take her in as the third or fourth wife so as to reduce the stigma. Besides tradition, I couldn’t even have coped because I am just a poor trader and my business is not generating much profit and she has siblings I still have to fend for. I am so sad that she can’t go back to school again, if I had the money, I would have wanted her to become very educated, because I really liked her’.
‘’Child marriage has serious negative consequences for these girls,’ says Bimbo Oshobe, a community worker in Makoko. ‘Besides the health implications due to their unripe bodies, we have discovered that many of these child marriages don’t last because most times both the husbands and wives are too young and inexperienced and therefore unable to handle so many issues. Sometimes too, some of these men are even old enough to be their fathers’, she added. Oshobe advised the Lagos State Government, rather than being detached, to carry out sensitization program or partner with grassroots ngos that would reach the people with the relevant messages and orientation.
Adewale Akintimehin, 74, a retired police officer who has lived in Makoko since 1963, echoes Oshobe’s complaint. ‘The politicians come every four years with promises but we hardly see any of them fulfilled. And, when we demanded to know why, they would either say ‘Rome was not built in a day’, or that they were not the ones in the office in the previous term,’ he said, downcast. Akintimehin however hoped that ‘this Ambode regime would be better than the last one in terms of education’.
“We have seen girls of 14, 15, 16 years, some even 13 getting married here,” he said. Once they are physically developed, they want to identify with a man, or when they are asked to repeat a class,” he stressed. He also blamed the trend of negligence on the parts of some of the parents and peer pressure.
Education pays; Akintimehin and his daughter Ibukun at the airport in Finnland
A respected, outspoken community leader and founding member of the influential The Act of Apostle Church in the locality, Akintimehin said the church and community leaders were working towards reducing the rate of teenage pregnancy and child marriage by encouraging school enrolment.
‘We are now preparing for the annual ‘Makoko Day’ and one of the features of that day is the donations of free WAEC forms to both our boys and girls who are ready and who have passed through some tests to be administered’, he revealed, insisting that things would have been better had government been more attentive.
Amidst the challenges, Akintimehin is highly celebrated in Makoko as being an exemplar in promoting girl child education. By ensuring his first daughter, 44 year-old Ibukun Elizabeth delay marriage and obtain a university degree, he is happier and prouder for it. Ibukun now has a Master degree and lives happily with her husband and two children in Finland and invites her father for occasional holidays. Even in absentia, she remains a Makoko ‘girl hero’.
Abdullahi, a youthful leader of the bustling Hausa community in Agege Pen Cinema area and graduate of the Lagos State Polytechnic, spoke in the same vein. ‘They are so many children here, both boys and girls that are not in school. No government official has ever engaged us to know what is happening here or to try and enrol them in school’ he told this reporter in the office of the Seriki, local chief of the market. The Hausa population here, constituting itinerant traders, artisans and sometimes beggars has increased astronomically since the on-going insurgency particularly in the North East. By all calculation, with lack of education and government’s interest, many of the girls there who currently hawk fura da nunu (cow milk) around the railway side market risk being married off early.
A lot more sensitization, enforcement of law needed
Several attempts in the course of three weeks, to interview the Lagos State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation (WAPA), Mrs. Lola Akande , failed. However, a source at the Lagos State Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation (WAPA) who craves anonymity insisted that the government was trying its best in ‘responding to the cases as they happen.’ ‘The fact that armed robberies happen does not mean the police doesn’t exist’. He urged affected persons to report to the nearest police station as the stations are now armed with human rights and family units.
He further pointed at the Lagos Child Rights Law 2007 which made profuse provisions outlawing child marriage. Also, only in February, he added, the state launched a well-publicised campaign titled ‘Ending Violence Against Children in Nigeria: Priority Actions: Lagos State’, which is was a multi-sectoral response to the 2014 Nigeria Violence Against Children Survey. The launch campaign has the backing of UNICEF, USAID, US Centre for Diseases Control and Prevention and other agencies.
However, Princess Olufemi-Kayode, a child’s rights activist and anti-rape expert and Executive Director of Media Concern for Women and Children (MEDIACOM), argued that government needs to do a lot more if child marriage must become history in Lagos State. “Just like the rest of the states that have passed the 2003 Child Rights Act, the issue is about enforcement”, she said.
Olufemi-Kayode also blamed lack of communication between government and the masses, especially the uneducated. ‘How much of information about such laws do the general public have? Even the police that are supposed to enforce the law don’t even have the necessary information.’ She advised the government to embark on massive public awareness including exploring the use of local languages that are accessible to the masses in addition to utilising such medium of mass communication as the ubiquitous and effective radio. ‘Child marriage is rape by another name because these girls are minors. It disrupts their lives and we must do everything to stop it,’ she added.
According to Victoria Ibezim-Ohaeri, a human rights lawyer and Executive Director of Spaces for Change, an ngo, girl marriage anywhere in Nigeria is a pointed violation of the rights of children and of country’s constitution.
‘The Nigerian Constitution puts the statutory age of adults at 18. Anyone lower than that is a minor and cannot give consent, and marriage is a decision that requires consent and consent cannot be given by a minor,’ she said.
Victoria Ibezim-Ohaeri, Executive Director, Spaces for Change; ‘Child marriage is unconstitutional’.
For citizens below the age of 18, the Constitution imposes certain obligations on states to protect their interests and welfare. Section 17 (3)(f) of the 1999 Constitution requires states of the federation to direct their policies towards ensuring that children, young persons and the aged are protected against any exploitation whatsoever, and against moral and material neglect.
Keep in mind that the child rights legislations follow the tenor of the Constitution. Child Rights Act criminalizes having carnal knowledge of a child below the age of 18. This has been interpreted to mean that 18 years is the legal age of consensual sex in Nigeria. Child Rights Act applies in twenty-four (24) states of the federation (including Lagos) and the Federal Capital Territory.
‘The fact is that though Lagos is a rapidly urbanising and metropolitan society, we must know that Nigeria is basically a cultural society. The traditions and religious practices and dispositions have a great influence over people and so even when come to Lagos or other big cities, those cultures still guide and inform their private lives,’ she added.
Echoing Olufemi, Ibezim-Ohaeri maintained that the Lagos State needs to enforce the Child Rights Act it so vigorously passed to safeguard children within its territories.
‘Having a law is a good step but people being aware and the government enforcing the law is another thing. The enforcement mechanism of the state needs to develop to a stage where it can enforce all the provisions of the Child Rights Act. They have taken some steps like setting up family courts but a lot of gaps need to be filled. Public education can play a major role. The people need to be sensitised as to the risk they put their daughters through. They need to know they are putting their daughters’ life, health, education, and futures at risk, I believe they will consciously make the decision not to marry out their daughters. They get to need to get to that level of consciousness so they can make informed decisions about their daughters’ futures.’
The Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team (DSVRT) will on November 27 and 28 stage a play as part of its advocacy on elimination of violence against women and the girl-child.
Titled: A Past Came Calling, the play will feature internationally acclaimed Nollywood actress, Joke Silva.
The producer, Gbemi Shasore, said the stage play, written by Uche Abriel, is part of the awareness and advocacy activities in support of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women on November 25.
It is being held in partnership with The Simi Johnson Trust for Women and Girls.
She said: “Domestic violence statistics indicate an increase from 21 percent in 2011 to 30 percent in 2013.
“The economic impact of domestic violence is significant and there is evidence that stability in family life can result in an increase of as much as ten percent of national productivity.”
Shasore hoped that the play will increase awareness on Sexual and Gender-Based Violence, the relevant provisions of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011, the most recent Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act 2015, as well as highlight the support services available to victims and the society at large who want to report.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Kaduna State Office, has urged communities in Kaduna State to support stakeholders push for the adoption of the Child Rights Law (CRL) in the state.
Malam Abdulgani Bala, the commission’s Public Affairs Officer in the state, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Zaria on Monday.
NAN reports that the commission recently organised a stakeholders’ validation meeting in Zaria on the re-drafted Kaduna State Child Rights Law.
He said that domesticating the law in the state was long overdue.
According to him, the law, if passed, will go a long way in curbing the soaring rate of child abuse in the state.
“Previous attempts failed because of public misconception about the purpose and significance of the law, which necessitated extensive awareness campaign by relevant stakeholders to enlighten the public.
“But not much would be achieved without community support and involvement, which remains very crucial to the eventual passage of the law.
“We are therefore, soliciting the support of all communities and relevant institutions in the state, so that together, we can achieve the goal of creating an enabling environment for the development of our children.’’
Bala said that the law would equally help institutions, organisations and all stakeholders engaged in child protection in seeking redress on issues of child rights violations in the state.
He noted that currently, institutions involved in protection and promotion of human rights were faced with serious challenges, due to the absence of legal instrument with which to effectively address child welfare issues.
“In most cases, where a state does not provide a law for the protection of the child, we rely on federal laws, constitution and other national and international instruments that have to do with human rights.
“But they slow down our efforts because there are no clear provisions in such instruments that specifically address child issues.
“But with the law in place, everyone will know his or her limitations — the parents, the child, care givers and all relevant authorities handling children issues.
“It will equally not only help in seeking redress, it will also help in educating the public on the limitations of their action; what they can do to a child and what they are not supposed to do to a child.’’
He added that the passage of the law would further ensure holistic development of a child by providing the required atmosphere for physical, emotional and intellectual development of children among others.
The rights of the child are being abused daily despite laws at the Federal and state levels to check the trend. Lagos State has moved a step further to enforce the Child Rights Law of 2003 as it solicits parents and guardians’ support in creating awareness and enforcing the law, reports ADEBISI ONANUGA
TheLagosState government has begun an awareness campaign on the rights of children, urging parents and caregivers to guard their children and wards against abuses and violence.
The Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Ade Ipaye, in an address delivered at the Human Rights “Essay and Debate Competition organised for Private and Public schools, re-affirmed the state’s readiness to continue upholding the rights of every Lagosian including those of the children.
The competition was organised by the Directorate for Citizen’s Rights to form part of the activities marking the Human Rights day.
Ipaye confirmed that as far back as 2003, the state had seen the need to address and protect the children, which culminated into the passage of the Child Rights Law of Lagos State in 2007. The law, he noted, was to safeguard the welfare of a child and eradicate various forms of abuse on the children.
“Prior to the enactment of the law, the issue of abuse and domestic violence against children was perpetually on the back burner of public policy,” he noted
According to him, the theme of this year’s celebration, which is “The Rights of the Child”, is a call for a development of an all-inclusive legal and socio-economic framework to cater for the welfare and well-being of our children.
The attorney-general explained that the theme of this year’s human rights’ day was carefully picked in the light of the fact that in the last one year, more than 500 cases of defilement and rape cases have been reported in Lagos.
He said children contend with several challenges on a daily basis and the onus is on the parents and guardians to ensure that each child is given necessary care and attention.
Ipaye said the principles of human rights should be inculcated in the youth at their earliest formative stage, adding that it would ensure that they imbibe the principles of fairness, non-discrimination, inclusiveness and respect for fellow-beings, irrespective of their ages.
The Attorney-General said efforts to ensure that every Child’s right is protected and given equal opportunity include the establishment of Home and Clinics for the physically challenged children, the setting up of a Domestic Violence Response Team to provide support to victims of abuse, and signing of an Executive Order that establishes a sex offender register and the compulsory reporting of suspected and actual child abuse cases.
He, however, pointed out that the success of all the laws and policies protecting the rights of the children depends largely on the cooperation of the members of the society.
“I will like to use the opportunity of this occasion to enjoin all Lagosians to partner with the government in ensuring that the rights of our children are safeguarded,” he pleaded.
Lagos lawyer, Funmi Falana, who was a guest of honour and keynote speaker at the occasion, suggested a nine-point approach to enforcing the Child Rights Act 2003 in all the states of the federation.
In a paper titled: ”The rights of the child”, Falana advocated for a proper electoral reform to be carried out to facilitate the evolution of responsible leaders needed for advancing the rights of the children.
She said judges, on the other hand, should be made independent to be able to apply the provisions of all laws, including the Child Rights Act, without fear or favour.
She advised that all international conventions and declarations on the rights of children, which Nigeria is a signatory, should be domesticated by the National Assembly to compliment provisions of the constitution and other laws for effective protection of children rights in the country.
She urged the government and Nigerians to pay more and genuine attention to moral and religious virtues, which could make them appreciate the value of being their brother’s keeper and be considerate to the rights and interest of other persons, especially the children.
Falana took a swipe at those states’ Assemblies yet to enact the Child Rights Act into law.
She said because they failed in their legislative duties, the act is not binding on states that are yet to enact it while no court can prosecute violators of the act .
Falana said out of the 36 states of the federation, only 24 have enacted the act. Earlier, the Solicitor-General,Lawal Pedro(SAN), explained that the partnership the state government has with schools would ensure that the children are provided with opportunity to learn about human right.
This year’s celebration included a debate by pupils from various public and private schools from primary to senior secondary schools.
Topics for the debate included: “Children should be seen and heard, Best interest of the Child should be taken into consideration when decision affecting them are made and Child Rights Law of Lagos State does not adequately protect the right of the Child.”
At the end of the exercise, Amina Aziza of Mayor Primary School, Allen Avenue, Ikeja emerged the overall winner.
She was very articulate and eloquent in her presentation. She also won the award for the primary school category with 92 points having defeated her opponent Victoria Fidelis of unity Primary School, Agege who scored 45 points.
