The Nation Newspaper

Tag: perpetrators

  • Abuse of the girl child: different shades, perpetrators and health implications

    Continued from last week

    For normal reproductive  life, a woman must have normal developmental milestones, which must necessarily begin in the girl child;  for an example, the first menstrual flow requires a body weight of 40kg or more. Though early menses may not be regular , it steadies as the girl child grows into maturity and in good health as defined earlier, so that  any deviations from an established normal pattern can be better understood and explained.  Lack of regularity developing within the normal reproductive age can then be used as a diagnostic aid . Children born into happy homes, with adequate nutrition tend to  have  the first menses occurring within  a range of  time period considered normal. They also tend to have less troublesome issues with menses compared with children who are obese, undernourished or malnourished.

    When  well nourished, stress free young cycling teenagers of the same age are kept together in the same apartment or  Hostel for some time, they tend to have menses coming about  the same time . Stress arising from physical, social or emotional trauma apart from being diabetogenic also places more cholesterol in the pathways for the biosynthesis of the female hormones, particularly estrogen. More estrogen than necessary at a particular time for the girl child is capable of evoking stimuli  that will force responses out of her which she may not have the capacity to control .  Stressful conditions  also have a way of weakening the immune system and reducing the ability of  the individual to fight infections. It is therefore more likely for the girl child in persistent situations of sexual abuse to die from infections  compared with older women facing similar challenges.

    Examine the policy that is currently in place in many of the Federal Government owned secondary schools where parents are not  informed that a child  is ill and on admission at the Sick Bay until the illness gets  beyond the capacity of the Medical team  employed by the School. One wonders if the relevant authorities have paused  to consider  the fact that some certain disease conditions do not give the patient  time to become ill ;that by the time it is finally understood that a disease or illness is beyond the professional competence of the managing  medical team an affected Child will have reached the point where her conditions are no longer reversible

    How did it all begin?  Why would any one imagine that a secondary school teenager who happens to know the symptoms and signs of early pregnancy will decide  to confide in the  Nurse  at the Sick bay in preference to her mother?

    In the  present arrangement of policies, rules and regulations,  most if not all the schools and colleges where our young girls are kept are  modified , glorified and regimented correction centres . In the  passion  to get the best out of these children and position them for better life, we have  failed to take into consideration, the  need to establish a routine  health check and  balance system that should be reviewed from time to time ,and in accordance with the School Health programme .

    Cases of child abuse occurring in schools and colleges remain untold until ten twenty and thirty years later, in some cases, victims die and are buried with their secrets

    By keeping them caged, with limited access to communication with their parents except visiting days, substantial periods of the life of the  growing and developing girl child are spent with people about whom the children know but very little.

    As the world  burns and conflicts spread like wild fire burning in the Harmattan period, the girl child is at the greatest risk with little or no room to negotiate herself out of conditions that are clearly unsafe and unfavourable for  health . Many will agree that when families are small, quality of life is better for the girl child for the simple reason that Mom and Dad will want to hold and to cherish .However ,even in polygamous families, every child wants to be loved and cherished ,to belong and appreciated, and out of sight is never out of mind.  Studies have shown that  whether  a family is polygamous or not, the girl child demonstrates unalloyed taciturnity, love and understanding. She sees her father in her  male teacher and her mother in her female teacher . This is the normal expectation. There are exceptions of course , but these are rare .  It is therefore natural that outside the family system, patterns of behaviour of the girl child can be used as an instrument to measure the degree of family cohesion available for the child to enjoy and vice versa . And so depending on the source of abuse,  an abused child is likely to grow up and become an abuser either in the family she will build or  the family she is born into.

    Under the conditions forced upon families by wars and conflicts, the girl child  within the families of internally displaced persons finds herself vulnerable to physical and sexual abuse even from members of the extended family.   Outside that, conditions that cause the girl child to lose one or both parents catapults the girl child into sudden poverty, with little or no capacity to escape physical abuse (including sex abuse) and negotiate for safe or safer sex

    A young woman took a nine year old  girl to the  Children emergency room of  a busy government hospital  crying effortlessly . She appeared exhausted  and barely able to stand  without support . Whereas the  young lady; later identified as  her Step Mom claimed she  fell down from  a tree  and fainted  , there  were scars  distributed asymmetrically on the  left  side of the body of this  girl .  The back regions of her arms and fore arms  showed  well marked healing stripes .  As soon as she was left alone  with the Nurses, she asked to be given something to eat .

    The situation just described is probably an example  of the physical form of child abuse .

    Long periods of separation from siblings ,mom and Dad  have their own independent effects on the girl child. Any forms of abuse by way of verbal, physical ,emotional and psychological insults serve to weaken the ability of the girl child to resist abnormal temptations, either internally or externally generated.  Compared with an adult of the same sex, the brain of the growing child is not as stereognostic. However, it is  likely to accommodate a mental diary of with a larger volume , to absorb and retain for longer time periods.

    As will have been known by many, to be in good health is not the absence of  infirmity or disease conditions, but a state of COMPLETE  physical , social and emotional well being.  Depending on the type, nature and duration, an abused child finds herself fighting to maintain emotional balance throughout life. If she grew up in an environment where she was persistently shouted down, and never allowed to express her self , she is likely to grow up timid and afraid of every move she makes.  On the other hand if she was forced to keep secrets as a result of incidents or activities forced on her, she is likely to grow up confused, with guilt, intra psychic conflicts and thought broadcasts . It is also important to note that depending on   particular circumstances, explosive types of behaviour, suicidal ideation and actual suicide are more likely to arise or develop in a girl child that has suffered  or continues to suffer abuse.

  • Abuse of the girl child Different shades, perpetrators and health implications

    Abuse of the girl child Different shades, perpetrators and health implications

    Poverty and child abuse

    Baby factories are springing up all over the country. The big idea is to get pregnant first and then pray that a good customer comes around to buy. Many of the girls involved do so for reasons of poverty. When there are no buyers, the babies are either thrown away or abandoned .they will end up in motherless baby’s homes , and probably grow up without the moral instructions available in intact homes

    Also, many women send out their daughters to hawk, ending up as street girls and girls of the street

    In addition, women celebrate when  agents of traffickers come to take their daighters to Italy and other parts of the world as sex slaves………

    Single parent hood,fractured marriages ,same sex marriage and child abuse

    In  homes where there is   harmony and parents or guardian are fully involved in the growth and development of  their kids, there are formidable challenges. For reasons too numerous to state here, it is an up hill task, raising a girl child on your own. Family values are very likely to be completely absent, truncated or deliberately misinterpreted. As always there are exceptions ,but the  bottom line is that chances are higher that a girl child in any of these arrangements will suffer abuses, in particular sex abuse ,the nature or severity depending on other circumstances.I am not against any one or particular group here. I am only stating circumstances

    Child abuse in schools and institutions

    In the first part of this article, much  waswritten about the possibility of individuals  entrusted with the care , health and education of a girl child actually contributing to her destruction by  first  tormenting her by many ways and means in order to weaken her capacity to refuse sexual advances.Given anuncompromising  environment, as found in many of our boarding institutions the world over, where a college student is afraid to tell, any thing can happenand sexual abuse can go on unchecked for years  creating a cycle that will see an abused girl child becoming an adult female abuser of women. In many parts of the world,a disturbing trend in remand homes, homes for the disabled  and other places established to serve as correction centres for children with extreme degrees of stubbornness and ,those that have been described as children on the street, is that many of them have become victims of sex abuse, and by individuals employed to take care of them. In boarding schools across the globe, children are for many reasons shut out from their parents and guardian. This has encouraged different forms of abuse; the understanding that except for serious  medical emergencies, parents are allowed to communicate with their parents only during visiting days creates near perfect conditions for adults with deviant behaviour and abnormal orientation  to prey on  victims too young and too fragile to understand  inappropriate  and potentially harmful situations and negotiate themselves out and into safety.

    Religion, culture  and child abuse

    It is well known that doctrines exist that encourage polygamy, polyandry and same sex marriages. Some of these doctrines are fired by religious organizations and fiercely defended. There may be advantages but the dis advantages are numerous. Large families are prone to deprivations, incestuous relationships from poor or conflicting parental control measures, and unhealthy rivalries. In all, the girl child is seriously at a disadvantage since in the understanding of the Nigerian African, the girl child is both an asset as well as a liability. In some communities, men are pressured into marrying more wives in order to have  moremale children and so ensure they have stronger capacity for full representation in family matters.

     

    Education and child abuse

    The woman with little or no education pays little attention to logic, finds it very difficult to break with traditions that are harmful to health, even her own health, most likely to accommodate absurdities .She is likely to look the other way if reporting unhealthy family practices threaten her matrimony .

    Politics and child abuse.

    Only few politicians consider dangers derivable from their actions and inactions. By extreme policies designed to maintain them in power and very comfortable  lifestyle, sometimes running with the hares and eating with hounds, they create wars and  disputes  where women and children become vulnerable-as street hawkers, brothel and non brothel sex workers ,women of comfort etc.

    Genetics and child abuse

    There are some individuals who are born with body composition and mind set tailored towards the abnormal, the absurd, and the wicked.  Knowledge about the disconnect between the acts that these classes of people are capable  of and  the normal human feeling is not  readily available.The traits can be picked up early if parents care and are watchful. They are in the province of  Doctors who are Specialists in disorders of the brain, mind and body.

    Science and child abuse

    Exposure to social media has it’s  good, bad and ugly sides; only few parents monitor their kids, many of whom may be exchanging messages of sexual nature with men old enough to be their fathers . Inappropriate relationships  for age are frequently the hall marks of child abuse.

     

    Way Forward/recommendations

    What  Government can do

    Data bank on sexual abuse will notonly  help in knowing the extent of the problem, it will also help in the design of programmes to address the issues involved

    Policies

    There should be conscientious efforts  with regards to conflict resolutions, to tackle issues of inequalities in the distribution of the common wealth. More  peace committees like the one that saw Nigeria through the 2015 elections are needed in various aspects of our social and geopolitical life as a nation  .As has been canvassed, ‘eyes to eyes  is better  than eyes for eyes’. Dialogue and patience  with groups that have genuine and reasonable grievances will prevent clashes and conflicts that place women and children in harm’s way .

    As concerns poverty, eradication  and not alleviation should be the right thing to do. It is the height of insensitivity and inhumanity for any one to complain about payment of eighteen thousand Naira as minimum wage, even as the current economic situation drives people to eat from waste dumps. Women should be empowered by way of interest free loans, with government  assisting them to form cooperatives. The campaign promise to pay five thousand Naira to unemployed should begin immediately with adequate statistical support. The arithmetic  and methodology can be worked out by setting up task force units drawn directly from the federal and state ministries of economic development where you have statisticians and enumerators among others that can do the job. This will save costs and avoid the mistakes being realized in the implementation of the single treasury account(TSA). Government should also  clear the mess created by corrupt officials in the administration of pension funds and then go ahead to look into social well fare services for the elderly .

    Child healthand  Child rights

    Many of the children that have suffered physical abuse including sexual molestation did not know any thingabout  rights until many years after . There should be health education using social media , and other cheap and simple means .Children need to know they have their own rights, that they don’t have to be afraid to report any inappropriate advances, unusual and unofficial  punishment etc. Authorities can use local and other means of communication so  children become aware that there are channels through which  an abused child can report past and current abuse cases.

    Governments at federal and state levels should  give due considerations  legislative backing to the child rights act and also provide support in the area of finance and logistics to individuals and organizations involved in anti  childtrafficking activities

    Family planning: for over two decades efforts to assist Nigerians accept behaviour change towards healthy family planning services have not been largely successful;    Ignorance due to the very high rate of illiteracy ,religious injunctions and  cultural practices that place the girl child second as necessary but not essential, have  been responsible. Sadly, the poor seem to think it is fun, producing boys and girls they have no means to feed and send to school.

  • Abuse of the girl child Different shades, perpetrators and health implications

    Abuse of the girl child Different shades, perpetrators and health implications

    Poverty and child abuse

    Baby factories are springing up all over the country. The big idea is to get pregnant first and then pray that a good customer comes around to buy. Many of the girls involved do so for reasons of poverty. When there are no buyers, the babies are either thrown away or abandoned .they will end up in motherless baby’s homes , and probably grow up without the moral instructions available in intact homes

    Also, many women send out their daughters to hawk, ending up as street girls and girls of the street

    In addition, women celebrate when  agents of traffickers come to take their daighters to Italy and other parts of the world as sex slaves………

    Single parent hood,fractured marriages ,same sex marriage and child abuse

    In  homes where there is   harmony and parents or guardian are fully involved in the growth and development of  their kids, there are formidable challenges. For reasons too numerous to state here, it is an up hill task, raising a girl child on your own. Family values are very likely to be completely absent, truncated or deliberately misinterpreted. As always there are exceptions ,but the  bottom line is that chances are higher that a girl child in any of these arrangements will suffer abuses, in particular sex abuse ,the nature or severity depending on other circumstances.I am not against any one or particular group here. I am only stating circumstances

    Child abuse in schools and institutions

    In the first part of this article, much  waswritten about the possibility of individuals  entrusted with the care , health and education of a girl child actually contributing to her destruction by  first  tormenting her by many ways and means in order to weaken her capacity to refuse sexual advances.Given anuncompromising  environment, as found in many of our boarding institutions the world over, where a college student is afraid to tell, any thing can happenand sexual abuse can go on unchecked for years  creating a cycle that will see an abused girl child becoming an adult female abuser of women. In many parts of the world,a disturbing trend in remand homes, homes for the disabled  and other places established to serve as correction centres for children with extreme degrees of stubbornness and ,those that have been described as children on the street, is that many of them have become victims of sex abuse, and by individuals employed to take care of them. In boarding schools across the globe, children are for many reasons shut out from their parents and guardian. This has encouraged different forms of abuse; the understanding that except for serious  medical emergencies, parents are allowed to communicate with their parents only during visiting days creates near perfect conditions for adults with deviant behaviour and abnormal orientation  to prey on  victims too young and too fragile to understand  inappropriate  and potentially harmful situations and negotiate themselves out and into safety.

    Religion, culture  and child abuse

    It is well known that doctrines exist that encourage polygamy, polyandry and same sex marriages. Some of these doctrines are fired by religious organizations and fiercely defended. There may be advantages but the dis advantages are numerous. Large families are prone to deprivations, incestuous relationships from poor or conflicting parental control measures, and unhealthy rivalries. In all, the girl child is seriously at a disadvantage since in the understanding of the Nigerian African, the girl child is both an asset as well as a liability. In some communities, men are pressured into marrying more wives in order to have  moremale children and so ensure they have stronger capacity for full representation in family matters.

     

    Education and child abuse

    The woman with little or no education pays little attention to logic, finds it very difficult to break with traditions that are harmful to health, even her own health, most likely to accommodate absurdities .She is likely to look the other way if reporting unhealthy family practices threaten her matrimony .

    Politics and child abuse.

    Only few politicians consider dangers derivable from their actions and inactions. By extreme policies designed to maintain them in power and very comfortable  lifestyle, sometimes running with the hares and eating with hounds, they create wars and  disputes  where women and children become vulnerable-as street hawkers, brothel and non brothel sex workers ,women of comfort etc.

    Genetics and child abuse

    There are some individuals who are born with body composition and mind set tailored towards the abnormal, the absurd, and the wicked.  Knowledge about the disconnect between the acts that these classes of people are capable  of and  the normal human feeling is not  readily available.The traits can be picked up early if parents care and are watchful. They are in the province of  Doctors who are Specialists in disorders of the brain, mind and body.

    Science and child abuse

    Exposure to social media has it’s  good, bad and ugly sides; only few parents monitor their kids, many of whom may be exchanging messages of sexual nature with men old enough to be their fathers . Inappropriate relationships  for age are frequently the hall marks of child abuse.

     

    WAY FORWARD/RECOMMENDATIONS

    What  Government can do

    Data bank on sexual abuse will notonly  help in knowing the extent of the problem, it will also help in the design of programmes to address the issues involved

    Policies

    There should be conscientious efforts  with regards to conflict resolutions, to tackle issues of inequalities in the distribution of the common wealth. More  peace committees like the one that saw Nigeria through the 2015 elections are needed in various aspects of our social and geopolitical life as a nation  .As has been canvassed, ‘eyes to eyes  is better  than eyes for eyes’. Dialogue and patience  with groups that have genuine and reasonable grievances will prevent clashes and conflicts that place women and children in harm’s way .

    As concerns poverty, eradication  and not alleviation should be the right thing to do. It is the height of insensitivity and inhumanity for any one to complain about payment of eighteen thousand Naira as minimum wage, even as the current economic situation drives people to eat from waste dumps. Women should be empowered by way of interest free loans, with government  assisting them to form cooperatives. The campaign promise to pay five thousand Naira to unemployed should begin immediately with adequate statistical support. The arithmetic  and methodology can be worked out by setting up task force units drawn directly from the federal and state ministries of economic development where you have statisticians and enumerators among others that can do the job. This will save costs and avoid the mistakes being realized in the implementation of the single treasury account(TSA). Government should also  clear the mess created by corrupt officials in the administration of pension funds and then go ahead to look into social well fare services for the elderly .

    Child healthand  Child rights

    Many of the children that have suffered physical abuse including sexual molestation did not know any thingabout  rights until many years after . There should be health education using social media , and other cheap and simple means .Children need to know they have their own rights, that they don’t have to be afraid to report any inappropriate advances, unusual and unofficial  punishment etc. Authorities can use local and other means of communication so  children become aware that there are channels through which  an abused child can report past and current abuse cases.

    Governments at federal and state levels should  give due considerations  legislative backing to the child rights act and also provide support in the area of finance and logistics to individuals and organizations involved in anti  childtrafficking activities

    Family planning: for over two decades efforts to assist Nigerians accept behaviour change towards healthy family planning services have not been largely successful;    Ignorance due to the very high rate of illiteracy ,religious injunctions and  cultural practices that place the girl child second as necessary but not essential, have  been responsible. Sadly, the poor seem to think it is fun, producing boys and girls they have no means to feed and send to school.

  • Different shades, perpetrators and health implications

    Poverty and child abuse

    Baby factories are springing up all over the country. The big idea is to get pregnant first and then pray that a good customer comes around to buy. Many of the girls involved do so for reasons of poverty. When there are no buyers, the babies are either thrown away or abandoned .they will end up in motherless baby’s homes , and probably grow up without the moral instructions available in intact homes

    Also, many women send out their daughters to hawk, ending up as street girls and girls of the street

    In addition, women celebrate when  agents of traffickers come to take their daighters to Italy and other parts of the world as sex slaves………

    Single parent hood,fractured marriages ,same sex marriage and child abuse

    In  homes where there is   harmony and parents or guardian are fully involved in the growth and development of  their kids, there are formidable challenges. For reasons too numerous to state here, it is an up hill task, raising a girl child on your own. Family values are very likely to be completely absent, truncated or deliberately misinterpreted. As always there are exceptions ,but the  bottom line is that chances are higher that a girl child in any of these arrangements will suffer abuses, in particular sex abuse ,the nature or severity depending on other circumstances.I am not against any one or particular group here. I am only stating circumstances

    Child abuse in schools and institutions

    In the first part of this article, much  waswritten about the possibility of individuals  entrusted with the care , health and education of a girl child actually contributing to her destruction by  first  tormenting her by many ways and means in order to weaken her capacity to refuse sexual advances.Given anuncompromising  environment, as found in many of our boarding institutions the world over, where a college student is afraid to tell, any thing can happenand sexual abuse can go on unchecked for years  creating a cycle that will see an abused girl child becoming an adult female abuser of women. In many parts of the world,a disturbing trend in remand homes, homes for the disabled  and other places established to serve as correction centres for children with extreme degrees of stubbornness and ,those that have been described as children on the street, is that many of them have become victims of sex abuse, and by individuals employed to take care of them. In boarding schools across the globe, children are for many reasons shut out from their parents and guardian. This has encouraged different forms of abuse; the understanding that except for serious  medical emergencies, parents are allowed to communicate with their parents only during visiting days creates near perfect conditions for adults with deviant behaviour and abnormal orientation  to prey on  victims too young and too fragile to understand  inappropriate  and potentially harmful situations and negotiate themselves out and into safety.

    Religion, culture  and child abuse

    It is well known that doctrines exist that encourage polygamy, polyandry and same sex marriages. Some of these doctrines are fired by religious organizations and fiercely defended. There may be advantages but the dis advantages are numerous. Large families are prone to deprivations, incestuous relationships from poor or conflicting parental control measures, and unhealthy rivalries. In all, the girl child is seriously at a disadvantage since in the understanding of the Nigerian African, the girl child is both an asset as well as a liability. In some communities, men are pressured into marrying more wives in order to have  moremale children and so ensure they have stronger capacity for full representation in family matters.

     

    Education and child abuse

    The woman with little or no education pays little attention to logic, finds it very difficult to break with traditions that are harmful to health, even her own health, most likely to accommodate absurdities .She is likely to look the other way if reporting unhealthy family practices threaten her matrimony .

    Politics and child abuse.

    Only few politicians consider dangers derivable from their actions and inactions. By extreme policies designed to maintain them in power and very comfortable  lifestyle, sometimes running with the hares and eating with hounds, they create wars and  disputes  where women and children become vulnerable-as street hawkers, brothel and non brothel sex workers ,women of comfort etc.

    Genetics and child abuse

    There are some individuals who are born with body composition and mind set tailored towards the abnormal, the absurd, and the wicked.  Knowledge about the disconnect between the acts that these classes of people are capable  of and  the normal human feeling is not  readily available.The traits can be picked up early if parents care and are watchful. They are in the province of  Doctors who are Specialists in disorders of the brain, mind and body.

    Science and child abuse

    Exposure to social media has it’s  good, bad and ugly sides; only few parents monitor their kids, many of whom may be exchanging messages of sexual nature with men old enough to be their fathers . Inappropriate relationships  for age are frequently the hall marks of child abuse.

     

    WAY FORWARD/RECOMMENDATIONS

    What  Government can do

    Data bank on sexual abuse will notonly  help in knowing the extent of the problem, it will also help in the design of programmes to address the issues involved

    Policies

    There should be conscientious efforts  with regards to conflict resolutions, to tackle issues of inequalities in the distribution of the common wealth. More  peace committees like the one that saw Nigeria through the 2015 elections are needed in various aspects of our social and geopolitical life as a nation  .As has been canvassed, ‘eyes to eyes  is better  than eyes for eyes’. Dialogue and patience  with groups that have genuine and reasonable grievances will prevent clashes and conflicts that place women and children in harm’s way .

    As concerns poverty, eradication  and not alleviation should be the right thing to do. It is the height of insensitivity and inhumanity for any one to complain about payment of eighteen thousand Naira as minimum wage, even as the current economic situation drives people to eat from waste dumps. Women should be empowered by way of interest free loans, with government  assisting them to form cooperatives. The campaign promise to pay five thousand Naira to unemployed should begin immediately with adequate statistical support. The arithmetic  and methodology can be worked out by setting up task force units drawn directly from the federal and state ministries of economic development where you have statisticians and enumerators among others that can do the job. This will save costs and avoid the mistakes being realized in the implementation of the single treasury account(TSA). Government should also  clear the mess created by corrupt officials in the administration of pension funds and then go ahead to look into social well fare services for the elderly .

    Child healthand  Child rights

    Many of the children that have suffered physical abuse including sexual molestation did not know any thingabout  rights until many years after . There should be health education using social media , and other cheap and simple means .Children need to know they have their own rights, that they don’t have to be afraid to report any inappropriate advances, unusual and unofficial  punishment etc. Authorities can use local and other means of communication so  children become aware that there are channels through which  an abused child can report past and current abuse cases.

    Governments at federal and state levels should  give due considerations  legislative backing to the child rights act and also provide support in the area of finance and logistics to individuals and organizations involved in anti  childtrafficking activities

    Family planning: for over two decades efforts to assist Nigerians accept behaviour change towards healthy family planning services have not been largely successful;    Ignorance due to the very high rate of illiteracy ,religious injunctions and  cultural practices that place the girl child second as necessary but not essential, have  been responsible. Sadly, the poor seem to think it is fun, producing boys and girls they have no means to feed and send to school.

  • Different shades, perpetrators and health implications

    As was stressed in the previous  part of this article,  child abuse  occurs in different ways . In 90% of cases, the abused girl child finds herself trapped in a vicious cycle  and if she eventually comes out of it, she becomes a very  angry woman, difficult to console ,refusing to be comforted and living either alone as somebody with a complex, or as a partner  in matrimony as a wicked wife and an abuser. This is the common situation, where revelations and confessions are made by adults who were abused when some of their abusers were  in their sixties, early seventies or late 80s . Throughout life some girls  mayfind themselves battling the guilt resulting from not being able to open up before  their biological parents at the time of abuse . They may also hurt every one around them, as they transfer aggression variables , fighting inside (intrapsychic conflicts) .Other women unable to carry the emotional trauma simply take their own lives. Apart from the psychological trauma  that  are usually associated with child abuse,the health implications  of abuse, in particular sex abuse are many, including derangement in normal sexual health, disruption in mother child bonding, breast feeding problems, infections and unwanted pregnancies. In particular, damage to the underdeveloped urogenital system predisposes thegirl  child to infections and diseases, some of which might ruin her ability to bear children in future.

    It has been argued that abuse of the girl child occurs more commonly in towns and cities. Unfortunately, it is difficult to adequately compare , due to the circumstances that prevail when situations of abuse arise. However, there are more baby mothers in the rural communities compared with those in the urban and semi urban regions.  A major problem as concerns sex abuse, is that every thing is shrouded in secrecy. Fear of stigmatization prevents abusedpersons  from talking ,and even in the few cases where abused kids managed to report, police are kept out asno body wants  a daughter to  appear in court to be seen or shamed

    In addition, Organizations  thatare  have shown willingness in  understanding the problem and attacking the roots are not backed by law. There is inadequate funding of research, and so without  statistical  data ,the extent of the problem remains un known.

    Certain conditions ,situations and circumstances occur independently or orchestrate to bring about abuse of the girl child . Indeed it is the prayer of every normal Mom or Dad to live strong, healthy and long enough to provide for a child; particularly the girl child before departing . Except in a few cases where women rape young boys, the female orphan is pathetically vulnerable to physical and sexual forms  of abuse . Though it can be considered as part or parcel of  physical abuse, sexual abuse takes the front seat in this kind of discussion because of the increasing cases of violence of sexual nature being visited on  young women  all over the world . The situation has begun to assume bizarre dimensions with many of the cases that went in the form of rape ending in the death of the girl by murder or suicide

    Conflicts and child abuse

    Any where and any time wars are declared, the girl child comes under attack in different ways; as internally displaced (IDPS), they are vulnerable even to all sorts of assaults.  Loss of one or both parents lead to other problems such as  poverty, interruption or stoppage of education, early marriage,  under nutrition,  street life , sex abuse, including rape, teenage pregnancy ,death , infections, including STI and STD.

    The world of today is held captive by a mixed bag  of leaders with ideological commitments  that have been described as divergent, convergent ,explosive, and barbaric. Some leaders have been described as modern day emperors,being  extremely mischievous, unpredictable egocentric and wicked, setting fire in different political fields of the world for the purpose of using the resulting chaos to increase personal wealth, draw attention to  themselves and their friends . They live in  unbelievable luxury ,while women and children die daily from the conflicts they manage to  create and sustain in distant places ,the world over. Some say other world leaders are like chained Dogs, led and  pushed all over the place by strings attached to other men, perhaps of superior intelligence; emotional, physical; having no minds of their own, always talking about many issues and making many vows and promises they have no intention of keeping. They pass  several commands and instructions  from their masters  to their citizens and cronies at the same time, to confuse them ,becoming confused themselves.  Others have been described as  quiet, taciturn, focused, interested in global peace, equity and the social and economic emancipation of man but running around in circles without any meaningful progress in any area. Among the rest, there are those that have been described as working quietly to ensure that irrespective of race and colour, all men, including women and children are treated as human beings with equal rights to health, and that includes, rights of the child including the girl child. Unfortunately most of the world leaders have found it difficult to break  from party politics and behave as statesmen and elders. Their quest for political power and personal aggrandizement  dictate the  voices of opinion they elect to listen to and the decisions they make .

    Making the poor poorer and widening the gulf between the rich and the rest of society has become a formidable weapon that can be used to tighten the strangle hold on the neck of the poor and  make the whiplash of the economy much more painful. For these, the youths have no better solutions than to head for the streets as hawkers, drug peddlers and other crimes that will eventually predispose a young girl  to different forms of abuse. Beyond that, youths are daring and extremely mobile, and as such can easily be mobilized to become active participants, either for those generating conflicts or individuals pouring fuel on conflicts so every one becomes engulfed in flames ,while they run to safety outside father land.

    Culture and child abuse

    Unlike the developed world ,the African girl child is often trapped helplessly in a web of cultural practices . In some parts of West Africa , the conical shape of the  normal developing breast of a young girl is  considered too attractive and provocative . In order to  take away the eyes of boys and men from the breasts and the  girl who owns them, the breasts are   rendered less attractive by applying hot stones  .  More extreme measures may even involve taking the child to a  local herbal surgeon to drain away tissues and blood ,so as to arrest further development and growth of the breasts. The consequences  as can be imagined  go beyond  what was intended . In  many of such cases, the nipples are burnt off  and  the  girl child is left with  breasts that have no nipples , with serious implications for the child she is going to have in future

    Also, researchers have observed that  in some communities in Africa, families are becoming liberal enough to allow a situation of courtship thrive between a daughter and the person she loves , even when cross cultural issues are involved in the relationship. Other societies  are extremely intolerant, with the result that the girl  child suffers unbelievable levels of physical abuse, sometimes leading to her death.

  • Abuse of the girl child Different shades, perpetrators and health implications

    For normal reproductive  life, a woman must have normal developmental milestones, which must necessarily begin in the girl child;  for an example, the first menstrual flow requires a body weight of 40kg or more. Though early menses may not be regular , it steadies as the girl child grows into maturity and in good health as defined earlier, so that  any deviations from an established normal pattern can be better understood and explained.  Lack of regularity developing within the normal reproductive age can then be used as a diagnostic aid . Children born into happy homes, with adequate nutrition tend to  have  the first menses occurring within  a range of  time period considered normal. They also tend to have less troublesome issues with menses compared with children who are obese, undernourished or malnourished.

    When  well nourished, stress free young cycling teenagers of the same age are kept together in the same apartment or  Hostel for some time, they tend to have menses coming about  the same time . Stress arising from physical, social or emotional trauma apart from being diabetogenic also places more cholesterol in the pathways for the biosynthesis of the female hormones, particularly estrogen. More estrogen than necessary at a particular time for the girl child is capable of evoking stimuli  that will force responses out of her which she may not have the capacity to control .  Stressful conditions  also have a way of weakening the immune system and reducing the ability of  the individual to fight infections. It is therefore more likely for the girl child in persistent situations of sexual abuse to die from infections  compared with older women facing similar challenges.

    Examine the policy that is currently in place in many of the Federal Government owned secondary schools where parents are not  informed that a child  is ill and on admission at the Sick Bay until the illness gets  beyond the capacity of the Medical team  employed by the School. One wonders if the relevant authorities have paused  to consider  the fact that some certain disease conditions do not give the patient  time to become ill ;that by the time it is finally understood that a disease or illness is beyond the professional competence of the managing  medical team an affected Child will have reached the point where her conditions are no longer reversible

    How did it all begin?  Why would any one imagine that a secondary school teenager who happens to know the symptoms and signs of early pregnancy will decide  to confide in the  Nurse  at the Sick bay in preference to her mother?

    In the  present arrangement of policies, rules and regulations,  most if not all the schools and colleges where our young girls are kept are  modified , glorified and regimented correction centres . In the  passion  to get the best out of these children and position them for better life, we have  failed to take into consideration, the  need to establish a routine  health check and  balance system that should be reviewed from time to time ,and in accordance with the School Health programme .

    Cases of child abuse occurring in schools and colleges remain untold until ten twenty and thirty years later, in some cases, victims die and are buried with their secrets

    By keeping them caged, with limited access to communication with their parents except visiting days, substantial periods of the life of the  growing and developing girl child are spent with people about whom the children know but very little.

    As the world  burns and conflicts spread like wild fire burning in the Harmattan period, the girl child is at the greatest risk with little or no room to negotiate herself out of conditions that are clearly unsafe and unfavourable for  health . Many will agree that when families are small, quality of life is better for the girl child for the simple reason that Mom and Dad will want to hold and to cherish .However ,even in polygamous families, every child wants to be loved and cherished ,to belong and appreciated, and out of sight is never out of mind.  Studies have shown that  whether  a family is polygamous or not, the girl child demonstrates unalloyed taciturnity, love and understanding. She sees her father in her  male teacher and her mother in her female teacher . This is the normal expectation. There are exceptions of course , but these are rare .  It is therefore natural that outside the family system, patterns of behaviour of the girl child can be used as an instrument to measure the degree of family cohesion available for the child to enjoy and vice versa . And so depending on the source of abuse,  an abused child is likely to grow up and become an abuser either in the family she will build or  the family she is born into.

    Under the conditions forced upon families by wars and conflicts, the girl child  within the families of internally displaced persons finds herself vulnerable to physical and sexual abuse even from members of the extended family.   Outside that, conditions that cause the girl child to lose one or both parents catapults the girl child into sudden poverty, with little or no capacity to escape physical abuse (including sex abuse) and negotiate for safe or safer sex

    A young woman took a nine year old  girl to the  Children emergency room of  a busy government hospital  crying effortlessly . She appeared exhausted  and barely able to stand  without support . Whereas the  young lady; later identified as  her Step Mom claimed she  fell down from  a tree  and fainted  , there  were scars  distributed asymmetrically on the  left  side of the body of this  girl .  The back regions of her arms and fore arms  showed  well marked healing stripes .  As soon as she was left alone  with the Nurses, she asked to be given something to eat .

    The situation just described is probably an example  of the physical form of child abuse .

    Long periods of separation from siblings ,mom and Dad  have their own independent effects on the girl child. Any forms of abuse by way of verbal, physical ,emotional and psychological insults serve to weaken the ability of the girl child to resist abnormal temptations, either internally or externally generated.  Compared with an adult of the same sex, the brain of the growing child is not as stereognostic. However, it is  likely to accommodate a mental diary of with a larger volume , to absorb and retain for longer time periods.

    As will have been known by many, to be in good health is not the absence of  infirmity or disease conditions, but a state of COMPLETE  physical , social and emotional well being.  Depending on the type, nature and duration, an abused child finds herself fighting to maintain emotional balance throughout life. If she grew up in an environment where she was persistently shouted down, and never allowed to express her self , she is likely to grow up timid and afraid of every move she makes.  On the other hand if she was forced to keep secrets as a result of incidents or activities forced on her, she is likely to grow up confused, with guilt, intra psychic conflicts and thought broadcasts . It is also important to note that depending on   particular circumstances, explosive types of behaviour, suicidal ideation and actual suicide are more likely to arise or develop in a girl child that has suffered  or continues to suffer abuse.

  • Groups to expose atrocity perpetrators

    Two groups, the Attorcities  Watch (AW) and  Omidyar Network Leadership  Forum ( ONLF), have vowed to fight impunity in Africa by exposing its perpetrators.

    They signed a memorandum of Understanding ( MoU) in Abuja during the Pan African Lawyers (PALU) conference.

    AW was reprsented by its board member, Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, while Ms. Agnes Ebo’o and Stanley Ibe signed as individual grantees under the auspices of ONLF, an alumni initiative of the Draper Hills Summer Fellows Programme of the Center for Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL), Stanford University.

    Ebo’o and Ibe, alumni of the Draper Hills Summer Fellows Programme of the CDDRL are joint recipients of the first Collaborative Grants Initiative of the ONLF. The funded project will be implemented in close collaboration with Atrocities Watch and the two alumni grantees.

    Atrocities Watch is a non-profit, Pan African organisation founded and led by Ugandan journalist and former Chairperson of Darfur Consortium, Dismas Nkunda, who is known for his strong pursuit and desire to end mass atrocities and impunity in Africa.

    AW focuses on a number of strategic objectives including using new media and digital tracking of mass atrocities to inform continental early warning mechanisms and offer remedial and preventive actions against occurrence of mass atrocities.

    AW also encourages the inclusion of young Africans in the understanding of the commission of atrocities crimes and helps the young forge future interventions, using fast developing social media.

    “This is a perfect start for us. With this funding, we will certainly be able to unearth those who commit crimes against our people in the remote hope that they will go scot free,” said Dr. Odinkalu.

    Ms.Agnes Ebo’o, a Cameroon-ian, said: “ The project will provide a platform for young Africans to learn about past atrocities and hopefully learn on how to avoid them in the future”.

    Ibe, a Nigerian lawyer, said: “ The grant will support the development of a website that professionals can use to share their work on mass atrocities with a view to exposing those crimes, promote  justice and hopefully preventing future occurrence.”

    Mr. Nkunda said: “The beauty of this collaboration, initiated by a Cameroonian,  a Nigerian and an Ugandan, is that it will help us put our first step into the door of documenting what has hitherto, not been so much in the public domain,  but more importantly,  to make sure that new media can be a tool for combating mass atrocities on the African continent and elsewhere.”

    The six-month project is expected to develop information and a platform that individuals and institutions on the continent can use to build cases for either domestic or indeed, international accountability.

     

     

     

     

  • Perpetrators of gender violence to face prosecution says, IGP

    Perpetrators of gender violence to face prosecution says, IGP

    The Inspector-General of Police, Solomon  Arase, has vowed to prosecute perpetrators of gender-based violence.

    The inspector general spoke in Abuja when he  hosted delegates from the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, led by the Permanent Secretary, Dr. Ezekiel Oyemomi.

    The essence of the visit was to solicit  support to prevent gender-based violent crimes against women and other vulnerable persons.

    According to a statement yesterday by the spokesperson of the Force, Olabisi Kolawole, Arase assured the ministry of his total support on the clampdown of perpetrators of violent crimes and other gender-based violence.

    He noted that the police, under his watch, would be gender sensitive and ensure that perpetrators of gender-based violence refrain from it or face the wrath of the law.

    The police chief, however, urged the public to utilise the Nigeria Police Gender-based platform to report any case in this regard.

  • Robbers kill one in Enugu market attack

    •Several others injured

    Robbers have killed a salesgirl during an attack at the Building Materials Market at New GRA, Abakpa, in Enugu East Local Government Area.

    Several others sustained gunshot wounds.

    The robbers attacked the market at 1pm and raided several shops.

    They stole goods and about N1 million cash.

    An eyewitness, who spoke in confidence, said the bandits operated at the market, located on the NOWAS–Nike Lake Hotel Road, for about an hour without any challenge.

    Traffic on the road was halted as the robbers blocked both ends of the road. They forced motorists to take other routes while those caught in the holdup were forced to lie face down.

    The salesgirl, who was in her employer’s shop during the invasion, reportedly refused to surrender the day’s proceeds to the robbers.

    The bandits shot her dead instantly.

    Another trader was shot in the leg and rushed to a hospital at Trans-Ekulu. A woman in a cement shop, who reportedly hid the proceeds for the day under bags of cement, was hit in the head with a gun butt. She bled from the mouth.

    The woman was rushed to a nearby hospital.

    It was learnt that the bandits snatched a car from a woman and fled the scene.

    Police spokesman, Mr. Ebere Amaraizu, confirmed the incident.

    He said the police were working “assiduously to unmask the perpetrators”.

  • Jonathan orders arrest of perpetrators

    Jonathan orders arrest of perpetrators

    President Goodluck Jonathan directed yesterday the police and security agencies to apprehend the perpetrator of yesterday’s attack on Gen. Muhammadu Buhari in Kaduna.

    The President’s directive was announced in a statement by his spokesman, Dr. Reuben Abati.

    The statement said: “President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan condemns the bombings in Kaduna today which appeared to have targeted former Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari and prominent Islamic cleric Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi.

    “President Jonathan denounces the dastardly targeting of the prominent political and religious leaders by terrorists and enemies of the nation in an odious attempt to inflame passions and exacerbate disquiet, fear, insecurity and sectional divisions in the country.

    “While thanking God Almighty for sparing the lives of General Buhari and Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi, the President extends sincere condolences to the families of those who were sadly killed by the bomb blasts.

    “President Jonathan also commiserates with all those who were injured in the twin bombings in this Holy Month of Ramadan which defy the tenets of Islam, and provide further proof that the terrorists are nothing but blood-thirsty extremists bent on undermining the unity and progress of the nation.

    “The President assures residents of Kaduna and all other Nigerians that the Federal Government will continue and further intensify its ongoing efforts to effectively curb the menace of terrorism in the country.

    “He has specifically directed the Police and other national security agencies to take all necessary actions to apprehend the perpetrators of today’s attacks on Kaduna and urges all residents of the city to give them the fullest possible cooperation and support as they work to bring the terrorists to justice.”