THE three tiers of government have been tasked to advocate on violence against children as well as promote the Child Rights Acts.
These among others were the communiqué at the end of the 18th regular meeting of the National Council of Women Affairs and Social Development (NCWASD) presided over by the Minister for Women Affairs and Social Development, Senator Aisha Alhassan.
The meeting ended last week in Lagos.
According to Alhassan, all hands must be on deck to fight the menace because children deserve a life where they can thrive and reach their full potential.
The Minister, who spoke on the theme “Peace, security, and social inclusion: Key building blocks for achieving economic growth and sustainable development”, pointed out it has obviously served as a torch light in the quest for creative ideas and strategic thinking to evolve a nation that we all can be proud of, from the perspectives of women and social development.
The meeting, according to Lagos Commissioner for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Lola Akande, is a work in progress since is a follow-up to the previous ones hosted by other states with remarkable outcomes.
The results, she said, have helped in strengthening the institutional frameworks, administrative structures as well as political will at various levels of government towards better management of the affairs of women.
The 5-day council meeting also advocated support for more women to participate in politics at all levels at the forth coming democratic electoral process; creation of gender desks in all MDAs at all levels and mainstream gender issues in budgeting.
It also recommended establishment of National Counter Terrorism Strategy (NACTEST) Nodal Desk in the 36 States of the Federation and FCT, involvement of State Ministries of Women Affairs (SMWA) and State Ministries of Education (SMoE) as critical stakeholders in tracking the impact of the Home Grown School Feeding Programme in the promotion of the rights of the Child to Education, among others.
A non-profit organisation (NGO), Empower 54, dedicated to humanitarian services and eradication of malnutrition in Africa, has partnered traditional rulers and local government chairmen in Edo State to distribute medication that will improve children and pregnant women’s health.
The medications to be distributed are Albendazol, which is used for treating and preventing various parasitic worm infections for children between six months and five years; and prenatal vitamins for pregnant women for 271, 000 beneficiaries.
According to Empower 54 President/Executive Director, Princess Modupe Ozolua, the medical outreach programmes would run from August to September in Owan West, Owan East, Etsako and Akoko-Edo Local Government Area.
She said the organisation was embarking on the initiative because of its passion for the health of children and also in line with the objective of the Federal Government healthcare project focused on the poor, especially women and children under five years.
A way from the demands of school work, the Women’s Technology Empowerment Centre (W.TEC) is organising a series of camps to expose young girls and boys to top notch ICT skills during the long holidays.
While the She Creates Technology Camps, holding in Lagos and Anambra states, will take only girls the Early Innovators Camp, holding in Lagos, will admit boys and girls,
A statement by W.TEC noted that participants would learn various programmes in the different camps.
The theme for the non-residential She Creates camp, holding at Babalola Gardens, Lekki Phase I, Lagos, between July 23 and August 3, is “Her Robot, her Security”. The participants, girls aged 13-17 will be learning robotics, software design and data analysis during the two-week camp.
In the residential camp, holding August 5 to 18 at the Laureates College, Aviation Estate, Mafoluku, girls of the same age will learn 3D design, mobile app development, data analysis, software design, renewable energy, and digital music production. The theme of the camp is “Keep her safe”.
The camp in Awka will attract girls aged 11 to 18 at the Professor Keneth Dike Central e-Library, Awka, and it has as theme: “The Techpreneurs”. They will learn computer fundamentals, website design (bootcamp), digital animation (ALICE), business plan development, shoe making and wig making.
A 35-year old woman was allegedly beaten to death by a couple over scuffle she had with their children in Okpo village, Ekwulobia, in Aguata local government area of Anambra State.
The deceased, identified as Uju, said to be related to the couple, Mr and Mrs Okafor, reportedly gave up the ghost following series of flogging by the suspects.
The Nation gathered that the children of the suspects were playing football within their compound in the evening of the day of the incident when their ball suddenly fell into the deceased’s pot of soup, which she seized.
“Okafor’s children rushed immediately and reported the matter to their mother who did not take it lightly, as she hurriedly went over to Uju’s apartment and pounced on her,” one of the neighbors said.
The neighbor, who preferred anonymity added that while the fight ensued, her (Okafor) husband, who got wind of the incident, rushed to the scene and teamed with his wife to flog the deceased.
According to the source, the beating persisted until the deceased collapsed and lost consciousness, adding that she was later rushed to Dionye Memorial Hospital where she was confirmed dead by the doctor.
The chairman of the community, Chief Peter Odika, confirmed the incident, describing it as abomination.
He explained that the deceased was Mr Okafor’s second cousin, adding that the village would meet, while they wait for the police to conclude its investigations.
“The accused will be made to undergo certain cleansing rites in order to appease the gods of the land and to avert whatever curse such an abominable act could attract,” he added.
When our correspondent visited the town, some angry women from the village were seen protesting against the act, chanting “it is an abomination, an abomination has occurred.”
Efforts to get the reaction of the state police spokesperson, Mohammed Haruna, was unsuccessful, but a police officer who preferred anonymity, said the suspects were presently cooling in Ekwulobia Police station.
In all states of the federation, it is not surprising to see children attached to beggars asking for aid. It bleeds my heart because I see the future of Nigeria that is hopeless through that child. It is a familiar sense to see children begging alongside their parents, especially when such a parent is handicapped or physically unstable. It is also not surprising that mothers of multiple babies hang at the roadside begging for arms with the babies either sleeping or feeding from a hungry breast. The most annoying of it all is when parents who are not in any way handicapped but also engage in begging alongside with their children.
This is disheartening and the height of child abuse owing to the fact that Nigeria has a child Right Act which is supposed to protect the right, dignity and vulnerability of a child. These children are made to walk a long distance in hunger, wearing unpleasant clothes and most of all in all weather conditions. They are exposed to all sorts of risk which include but limited to accidents, kidnapping, sexual exploitation especially for the female child, health challenges, as well as learning dubious behaviours which may likely metamorphose into criminal activities and consequently may put the society into jeopardy.
A close interaction with some of the kids whom I had to give money and beverages to get their attention, I observed that they are being fed with an ideology that begging is the only way to have food to eat as well as the only way out of penury. I also observed that these children are used to attracting sympathy from people who would want to help because of their condition. Furthermore, it is on record that most of these beggars make close to N2000 and above on a daily basis. These children serve as a gate-way or a means of extorting money from people.
These children yearn for a better life like what their mates have. They yearn for a family that guarantees their protection, they yearn for good and quality education, access to quality health care and above all they yearn for the restoration of their childhood when their parents and the society have to bed them off. It is time for child right activists, social and child welfare workers and the society as a whole to stand up against the use of children for begging on the street.
Two female tenants identified as Mercy and Rose have reportedly disappeared with two children of their landlord at Utese village in Ovia North East local government area.
Names of the children were given as Amada aged four and Christable aged two.
They were said to have been left in the custody of the tenants by their mother who went to the stream to wash her clothes.
The tenants who hailed from Cross River State were said to have moved to the community about three weeks ago and told their landlord that they do farm work and also engaged in hair making.
When their room was broken into, it was discovered that they took their few belongings and vanished.
Residents in the community told the distraught parents that they saw them stopping vehicles on the highway and they thought they were taking the children out as usual.
Speaking to newsmen in Benin City, mother of the missing children, Faith Osaruoname, said she used to leave her children with the tenants whenever she is going out.
Faith stated that she went to the stream with her eldest daughter and when she came back, she was told that the children went out with the children.
She said it was when her husband returned that it dawned on her that the tenants have fled with her two daughters.
“I thought the girls will soon return home with my children so I went to cook. After cooking, I wanted to go and get some water again when my husband came back.
“He asked me about the children and I told him they went out with the tenants. I later ran out to look for them but did find them. I have been calling the numbers of those girls and they were switched off.”
Father of the children, Omokpia Osaruoname, said he has reported the matter at the Okada Police Division.
Omokpia said he was surprised when his two daughters did not come out to welcome him home.
He stated that he was further shocked when his wife told him she has not seen the children since when she returned from the stream.
His words, “I went to Benin by 8am. I left my wife and children at home with the tenants that have not spent up to three weeks. Their mother said she was going to the stream so she left the children with the tenants. My wife said she returned at about 5pmand did not see the children.
“I said at 7pm my children are still not back. My wife ran out and started looking for them. She later called that they said the tenants have ran away with my children.
“People said they saw them stopping taxi. We went to various police check points and the Okada Police Division.
“One is a hairdresser. They don’t have any shop. They begged me to give them a shop in my house and I told them to wait till the end of the year. Some boys in our area who are their boyfriends used to come and see them.
“They said their brother lives in the next village but I have not seen him before. I don’t have their photographs; I don’t know anything about them. They don’t have any property except for carpet, curtains and few clothes.”
The Nigeria Optometric Association (NOA) has said that 33 per cent of children in Cross River have visual defects.
The state Chairman of the association, Dr Onyebuchi Ndukwe, made the disclosure at this year’s outreach programme tagged “Save the sight of the child’’ on Saturday in Calabar.
Ndukwe said the programme was a continuation of the 2017 intervention titled “My sight, My right’’.
“We are looking at ages 5 to 14, at that age, most children are in school and you know that we cannot separate vision from academics; poor vision can lead to poor academic performance.
“The state government had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Brian Holding Vision Institute which would last for two years and the Nigeria Optometric Association is part of that agreement,” he said.
Ndukwe however said his association’s major challenge was reaching children in rural areas.
“Most of our members are based in Calabar and you know the distance between one local government and the other in the state.
“We are advocating for the employment of optometrists in the state civil service who will serve at the local government level to bridge the gap,’’ he said.
An optometrist, Dr Bernardine Ekpeyong, said a current research published by Ekpeyong et al, 2017, showed that refractive errors, conjunctivitis, cataract and glaucoma are some of the major eye defects affecting children in the state.
Ekpeyong revealed that out of the 33 per cent of the children with various eye defects in the state, 11 per cent would need glasses.
She also said that they discovered that 95 per cent of the children in the state had never had eye examination in their lives and that is what they were preaching against.
“We are pushing for physical eye examination for children before school entry because that way, we are sure that any problem would be detected early, early detection is very important for prevention of blindness.
“We target children to prevent amblyopia which becomes a condition when children are not given glasses early enough to correct their sight, thereby making the defect irreversible later in life,” she said.
The expert identified poverty and ignorance as major problems in the fight as most parents were either too poor or did not see the need to take their children to a hospital when there are complaints.
The Commissioner for Health, Dr Inyang Asibong, noted that the state had a vision to make sure that children did not have visual disabilities that were preventable or could be treated.
According to Asibong, the outreach will help check the major eye defects that children encountered and glasses would be given to those in need of glasses.
She said those whose cases could not be handled during the outreach would be referred to the State Eye Care Programme to be treated free at the College of Health Technology.
“We are collaborating with other ministries and departments, and would work with the existing eye care programme in the state to make sure that every child in Cross River is captured and the intervention is sustained,’’ she said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the outreach was organised by the Ministry of Women Affairs in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and the Nigeria Optometric Association, Calabar branch. (NAN)
Sometime ago, a time that seems like eons now, I wrote a piece on this column on children as heroes of our homes. In the piece, I tried to draw attention to the misuse many parents were putting their children to under the guise of bringing them up. I am all for not sparing the rod and all that; but I do believe that children are entitled to a modicum of regard to enable them grow up decently. It is only children whose learning experiences are decent that will turn round to respect the society that brings them up.
Today, as we celebrate children’s day again, I want to draw attention to another aspect of our social deviousness: the sexual assault the society allows its adults to mete out on children. These days, nearly every newspaper gives a sick-making report of one child or the other being assaulted sexually by people who should know better. And the reports keep coming each day. It has got so bad one can conclude that children are no longer safe on the streets, in their own neighbourhoods, in their schools and even in their homes.
From these reports, one gets the impression that there has been an outbreak of wickedness of tsunami proportions to children from the male populace across the world. Listen, it has got so bad even the devil is surprised. Just look at the headlines: ‘Lagos printer rapes a 15-year-old pupil’; ‘Lawmaker arrested for raping 14-year-old’; ’19-year-old molests 4-year-old’; ’65-year-old rapes friend’s 12-year-old daughter’; ’32-year-pld defiles 11-year-old;’ ’65-year-old molests teenage boy;’ ’75 remanded for defiling 2 girls’… All of these within a period of how many weeks or months?
Looking at these reports, I want to join others who are screaming, what is going on? Are we not content with making our children carry the burden of our social irresponsibility, now we have to add our sexual perverseness too? I mean, let’s face it, the Nigerian society has never been considerate of her children. If she had been, she would have borne them in mind from the start of her social construction process. We all would have worked assiduously to leave a worthy legacy for them individually and collectively. We would have worked hard to bequeath to them a society that works: where electricity is not rare, where water flows from the tap, not the end of the child’s bucket, and where food is not a privilege for the child but a right.
In not giving our children any of these, we have rather consigned them to lives of servitude and slavery. In that life, each child now finds himself or herself working as a fetcher of water, primer of generator and hewer of wood in the average Nigerian home. As if these burdens were not enough, we are now adding sexual servitude to their burdens. The question is, who gave us the right to make our children sources of cheap gratification for our sexual perverseness? The devil?
True, many of the culprits when caught claim that ‘the devil’ made them do it. Like I said, I bet even the devil is dismayed that his name is being used so freely; he clearly does not send anyone on such horrible errands. It is therefore no use ascribing these deeds to the devil; he is far too busy. I mean, is he not seeing to the emptying of my pocket, my pot of soup and our national treasury? Give him some credit; he has far more important things to do.
Rather alarmingly, the use of children for sexual gratification appears to be growing. Children appear to be more in demand in the sex-slave trade which cuts across the world’s boundaries now. So, people who were nurtured and allowed by their own parents and societies to grow up into adults suddenly develop bodily lusts which only other people’s children can satisfy. On the other hand, those who cannot afford to participate in transnational sex-slavery defile little children within their own borders.
Hence, what we are witnessing is a renewal of the slave trade, that cost many lives in the past, in a new and deadlier form. This new form is not confined to a particular country or known social circuits, so it would be difficult to fight. It is practiced by people to whom the world bows under normal circumstances. Thus, a seized child could end up being the sex-slave of a lawyer, doctor, dentist, contractor, cleric or even unemployed labourer – no defined status. These, with whom children should normally feel safe, are the ones who help to cut children’s lives short or scar them for life.
Why then are we witnessing this flare up? Among others, the most important reason is perhaps this absence of a well-ordered society where the police and judiciary truly work to apprehend and punish. It has been said that Nigeria has not been able to entrench the reign of justice in the land. I agree. There are many things I should have been apprehended for but which I have got away with so far because of this lack of justice in the land. Just look at my laziness; its colossal. I look forward to that day when justice will reign so that our children can grow up in peace without being sized up by some randy contractor who is licking his lips behind a window.
Modernity may also have a bit to do with it. All these modern contraptions like cable networks, internet or films tend to expose people to social behaviour that is not necessarily beneficial to one’s own society. What the eyes see the brain wants to replicate. It is rather strange that the Nigerian government has over the years not encouraged the print information culture to flourish as the real reformer of character but has rather encouraged the digital culture to grow and become the real destroyer of instincts. Anyone can have any access to any kind of digital literature now from anywhere. This is not good. Too many unformed minds are exposed to the ‘devil’ in them things. Never mind, I still insist the devil may be innocent in many cases ascribed to him; just like the knife is, until it is picked up….
Besides these, the population explosion of the eighties and nineties is coming home to roost. While the governments at that time encouraged parents to breed children indiscriminately, those governments failed to make adequate plans for what would occupy the products of these breeding programmes with. Most of those caught in the acts of defilement are those to whom the economy has not been too kind because of missed or absent opportunities. They are the products of poor planned governmental parenthood.
The Nigerian society needs to wake up and stem this growing scourge. Our children are no longer safe in Nigeria, and I am not exaggerating. This kind of social misconduct is anathema to the traditional society in Nigeria. Children were much valued then and they still have the right to be nurtured and allowed to grow into adulthood, like others before them. They should be allowed to fill their heads with innocent nonsenses, great adventures, stories of heroic deeds, imaginations about great lands, etc. This will teach them to innovate and take initiative in their adult years for societal growth.
Children should not have to worry about predators lurking around them, and adults should not be allowed to make our children bear the burdens of our various gratifications. We need to wake up, so that these headlines may change. Happy children’s day.
Given their penchant for choosing native names with quintessential meaning for their children, one would be forgiven to vouch for the cultural identity consciousness of Nigerian parents. This is because most given names across the various tribes of Nigeria tells a story. However, the essence of the identity consciousness pales the moment one realizes that a four -year-old born in the south western part of Nigeria, who has been named Oluwafirewamiri (God has located me with favour), cannot hold a conversation in a mother tongue but English.
There is a growing trend in Nigeria where parents shy away from speaking their native languages to children while adopting English as a means of communication. The tendency is fueled by the belief that English, as the world’s foremost language of wider communication and opportunity, signifies upward mobility and class. However, research suggests that putting a cap on the number of languages a child is exposed to is a disservice, as such children are denied the ability to acquire language skills which can be beneficial to both local and global communities.
A language expert, Ignatius Usar, told The Nation that the child language acquisition theory clearly explains that children are born with a capacity to learn various languages while growing up, since their minds is a tabula rasa–plain slate.
“It is as a child grows that experiences, including languages, are written on that slate. That is why a child has capacity for many languages than adults”, he said.
Describing the decision of parents who neglect communicating with their children in the mother tongue as poor judgement, Usar also lamented the fact virtually all indigenous Nigerian languages are threatened since parents are not interested in the generational transfer of language as part of the cultural identity.
Agreeing that intermarriages could be a reason why some parents insists on their wards speaking English, he also conceded to the fact the acceptability of indigenous languages for early childhood education has not been helped by the apparent lack of a language policy by the Nigerian government.
“Nigeria’s language policy is geared towards English and to make matters worse, we are
promoting French and Arabic. When we do that as a matter of policy, we are keeping our languages down and promoting other languages. For instance, we have a Nigerian French language village in Badagry, then we have another one for Arabic somewhere in the North, but we do not have a centre for the study of any Nigerian language,” the linguist lamented.
The low acceptance of indigenous language as a medium of instructions for childhood development is a global problem not limited Nigeria. As English continues to gain preeminence as a global language, some countries around the world come up with deliberate language policy to ensure their indigenous languages do not go into extinction. change of status quo. However, that is not the case in Nigeria where English has continued to gain more grounds, to the extent that many parents, both literate and illiterate, invest time and money in ensuring their children learn to speak English, even though scientific evidence suggests that children who first learn to read and write in their native languages learn all subjects faster.
Nigeria’s national policy on education, initiated in the 80’s, also recognized this and there was a resolution that early childhood education should be taught in a child’s mother tongue or language of the immediate environment. Till date, the resolution has been a policy in paper that has not seen the light of the day. One of the major hindrance to the policy is that except in remote areas, many teachers do not speak the language of the immediate community since Nigeria has over 400 languages. Another practical consideration is that text books and instructional materials are written in English. Majority of the indigenous languages are not codified; hence they are not available in written documents.
Despite these challenges, Usar believes that progress can still be made if there are deliberate attempt to ensure that indigenous languages are preserved.
“Language is a living thing. It is born, it grows, and it dies. If you want to keep a language alive, what we suggest is that you codify by ensuring there is a literature for it that can be transferred from one generation to another. This is the area where Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo, the three major indigenous languages edges out other languages”, Usar submitted.
The Craze for British and American Accent
The apathy for indigenous languages amongst Nigerian parents is not only restricted to the preference for English as language of communication. It’s also extended to the point that parents want their children to speak in British and American accent.
Ayanfeoluwa Lawal, a diction and elocution coach, has created a niche for herself in the business of teaching people how to speak well. What confounds her, however, is the encounter of parents and school owners who approach her to teach their children the British accent. “We are in a generation of parents who want their children to sound differently. It’s a misplaced priority and I’m so against acquiring a foreign accent when it’s not coming to you naturally because the best you can be is fake. This is the in-thing in schools right now”, she said.
Lawal also offered that the in-thing amongst elite schools in developed cities around the country is that children are taught to speak in British accent, on parents and school owner’s insistence.
“The focus should be on the proper enunciation and articulation of words. It is sounding your words accurately. What should be emphasized is social intelligibility, which is the ability to be heard anywhere in the world. Nobody cares about your accent when you are eloquent because nobody expects you to have a British accent when you are not a Briton.
“The thing with parents is ignorance and social pressure, so a parent sees a child speaking differently and they also want to transfer that to their children. When I teach children elocution, I start from the science of elocution so that they can understand how sounds work and come together to make words and also how they have to produce the sounds in a particular way.”
Ms Lawal, who manages Quints, a foremost communication and social polish organization in Lagos, said she has encountered situations where parents literary caution their children from speaking their mother tongue in public. Lawal, who never spoke English at home while growing up, said even illiterate parents want their children to speak English in the public so that they can feel important.
“I have a full mastery of my indigenous language, yet I speak English better than those who have spoken it all their lives. First, it’s a thing of the mind because we feel our language is inferior; we feel it’s vernacular; it’s not good enough so we feel that English language is better. I am an advocate of people speaking impeccable English but not at the expense of their local language. If you speak English language so well and you cannot speak your local language, you have lost your identity. One should not affect the other”, she submitted.
Whither a comprehensive National Language Policy?
Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba have long been regarded as Nigeria’s major languages. However, English remains the sole official language in almost all spheres of national activities.
Segun Awonusi
Scholars like Segun Awonusi of the University of Lagos suggested that language policies that favour indigenous identity should be implemented on a sustainable basis. Another linguist, Emmanuel Emenanjo, also declared that Nigeria does not have a language policy but a document that could be called a statement of intention of what a language policy could be.
Since his appointment as the chairman of the National Technical Committee on language policy in Nigeria on 10th of April 2018, Adeniyi Harrison, a professor of Linguistics and African languages at the Lagos State University, carried a weight of high expectations. Harrison who is also the president of the Linguistics Association of Nigeria wants the Lagos State Language Policy which mandates all schools to teach Yoruba in Lagos, replicated in other parts of the country.
He said the Linguistic Association of Nigeria has been advocating that parents, irrespective of the linguistic environment, should teach their children at a tender age to read and write in their various indigenous languages.
“Except from the fact that some give their languages social status, there are some languages in Europe whose speakers are not as populated as speakers of Hausa, Yoruba, and Igbo, but for their social status in the society, these languages are enforced on us. Indigenous languages are embodiment of the cultural repository of knowledge. When the languages are not spoken, the language die and the identities are lost,” he said.
Prof Harrison said when children continue to bear English and biblical names, it does not allow for information on the family background, especially in the African context where people’s names are stories of the family.
“If the person does not bear the name, how do people trace one’s family?”, he asked, adding that same goes for food where there could be a loss of identity and economic opportunities when there is a neglect of local delicacies.
“The more languages a person is able to speak, the more the horizon widens. We are advocating for a multi-lingual society where Nigerians learn each other’s language in order to ensure national unity and cohesion”, Harrison submitted.
The Lagos State government has called on citizens of the state to embrace peace and eschew violence at all times.
The Director , Directorate for Citizens’ Rights under the auspices of the Ministry of Justice, Omololu Idowu Adesina, made the remark during the sensitization programme held at the Ikeja Local Government and environs.
Adesina stressed: “The prevalent cases of domestic violence, violation of human rights and abuse of drugs by the youths was becoming worrisome as an abused mind cannot access the privileges the human rights law could proffer .
:The sensitization programme was also to intimate the public that they can take advantage of the free legal services the directorate offers and this could be accessed either at the Ministry of Justice in Alausa or the One Stop Child Justice Centre domiciled within the premises of the Ikeja Local Government Council.”
”The Directorate provides free legal assistance to members of the public whose rights have been infringed on. We call on the citizenry not to hesitate in reporting any form of abuse witnessed around them.
“Our ‘One Stop Child Justice Centre’, looks into issues of Childs Rights Law such as lack of protection and parental care, Rights to education, Rights to life, survival and balanced development, Rights to health and health services which are protected under the Child Rights Law of Lagos State
