The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Shades

  • 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

    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.

  • 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.

  • Shades of pink (Raising a voice for the Nigerian girl)

    Shades of pink (Raising a voice for the Nigerian girl)

    IT is my pleasure to introduce this column to my esteemed readers. I shall be writing on issues concerning the Nigerian girl. The primary aim is to catch and save the Nigerian girl, and re-orientate the young girl. Also to promote and enhance the development of girls by instilling a sense of self-worth, competence, usefulness, belonging and influence in a so-called male-dominated society. I’ll be addressing today’s most pressing youth issues and also teach them the skills they need to succeed in life while restoring traditional moral values.

    You will agree with me that our destiny is shaped by the decisions we make. Your daughter, sister, niece and that young girl next door need your help. It behooves the entire society to ensure the right upbringing of the Nigerian girl and help her destiny as the society is the ultimate beneficiary. As you read this page every week and encourage the girls around you to read it, your contributions, responses and questions shall be entertained as part of the feedback mechanism. Let’s start with an expose on the state of the girl in today’s society.

    “I arrived this world with great hope and aspiration to enjoy the wonderful life God gave me. ALAS, right from my impressionable years, my thoughts are defiled, the things I see and hear rape my entire existence, my vision is blurred, and my sense of reasoning is beclouded. All because I am in a man’s world.

    I am so trusting because I was created very innocent. Little do I know that I should be very suspicious of every man around me. Every man? Every human!!! Before long, I am stripped of my innocence by a mere look and my hormones only make things worse. Besides, every other girl around me is going through same and our senses are so quick to adjust to the environment.

    All of a sudden, I grow up too soon. However, once in a while, my thinning innocence cries out and a conundrum builds up in my mind and I realise there’s something absolutely wrong somewhere. Yet I am too confused to know what to do. As I turn to my right and my left for clues, the situation only gets worse.

    The heat of the environment is so intense on me that I am choking and practically helpless.

    Obviously, I need help, but who is fit to rise up to the occasion? I am completely lost!

    However, by some special grace, with some strong will and sheer determination I know I can find my way out of this wilderness of shame and abuse. After all, I have the singular privilege of bringing man into his so-called world. So, whose world is it? It’s my world. I can RULE it and decide what happens to me- SOMEHOW!”

  • Shades of violence

    Shades of violence

    It is now over three decades since I first read the gripping novel simply titled ‘Violence’, written by Professor Festus Iyayi, the renowned academic, literary giant, humanist and labour activist whose life was cut short on Tuesday in the most painful and tragic circumstances. The distinguished thinker, writer and combatant for the oppressed died in active service while participating in another phase of the struggle against those debilitating and dehumanising existential realities so graphically depicted in his various literary offerings.

    Although it was his second novel, ‘Heroes’ that won him international recognition and acclaim, ‘Violence’ has made a more enduring impression on my mind. Close to three decades after its publication, it still vividly reflects the appalling human condition in post-colonial Nigeria. Indeed, in many ways the country’s material and moral climate have worsened significantly since Iyayi was inspired to put pen to paper.

    The unscrupulous contractors, thieving government functionaries, powerful women of valueless virtue and other oppressive and exploitative elements portrayed in the book have become even more venal and reckless today in the plundering of the country’s resources than was the case in the 1970s and 1980s. By the same token, the plight of the downtrodden represented in the book by the struggling labourer, Idemudia, and his wife, Adisa, has degenerated abysmally. Poverty, hunger, joblessness, disease, illiteracy and other indices of underdevelopment have worsened. The criminal inequality between an obscenely wealthy elite and the impoverished majority has widened alarmingly.

    Iyayi teaches us in that book that the phenomenon of violence has much wider ramifications than is often associated with it in casual discourse. All too often, we restrict our definition of violence to the despicable activities of armed robbers, kidnappers, rapists, assassins, demented terrorists and other criminals. Yet, he contends that there is a far more insidious and destructive form of violence. This kind of latent or ‘structural’ violence provides the fertile ground in which the earlier, more perceptible types of violence fester to our collective detriment.

    Thus, the assorted and manifold looters of the public treasury including pension fund fraudsters, fuel subsidy scammers, scavenging bank executives, thieving ministers, unscrupulous legislators and their humongous allowances among others are perpetrators of structural violence against society. The late Afro beat king, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, made the same point in his chartbusting album, ‘Authority Stealing’. He sang memorably about the armed robber who steals one thousand Naira while the pen robber steals one million Naira.

    Yes, the fanatical terrorist destroys thousands of lives with his bombs. But the corrupt state official who steals billions of public funds consigns millions to poverty, hunger, disease, squalor, despair and joblessness. Corruption is as devastating as terrorism. One form of bombing is no less destructive than the other.

    It is a sad irony that Professor Iyayi, who dissected the phenomenon of violence with such brilliance and clarity towards the liberation of the oppressed, should himself have his life violently snuffed out on the death traps we call high ways across Nigeria. The circumstances of the distinguished professor’s untimely transition help to highlight the diverse shades of state violence that militate against life, liberty and human dignity in contemporary Nigeria. In that respect, the manner of his exit is as useful to the struggle for the liberation of Nigeria as the prodigious energy he expended to help realize this objective in his lifetime.

    The pathetic state of major highways across the country is a manifestation of the vicious violence perpetrated against citizens by the Nigerian state. This violence takes the form of massive corruption and sheer ineptness. Given the stupendous sums of money made from petroleum in the last 14 years, there is absolutely no excuse for the non-existence across Nigeria today of a vast network of modern and safe highways. Equally inexplicable is the absence of a modern, secure and reliable rail transport network that would considerably ease the pressure on road transportation.

    Describing the Lokoja-Abuja road where Professor Iyayi died as “arguably one of the busiest in the country”, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) lamented that “The contract for its dualisation was awarded about 10 years ago. Quite sadly and unfortunately, no appreciable work has been done, thus turning the stretch into a slaughter slab…The congress holds the view that there is no justification for leaving this road and indeed other critical roads undone”.

    This tragically is the story of most critical inter-state highways in Nigeria today. On September 21, 2005, the one time students’ union leader, pro-democracy activist, human rights campaigner and anti-corruption crusader, Chima Ubani, died in a motor accident on his way from Maiduguri where he had participated in an anti- fuel price hike rally. And on December 20, 2008, the renowned actor, dramatist, teacher and poet, Femi Fatoba, lost his life along with four other colleagues in an auto accident along the Ughelli/Patani road in Delta State.

    The deceased were returning to Ibadan from the Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island, Bayelsa State where they were teachers. Of course, these are only a tiny fraction of the thousands of little known but equally precious lives that have been lost on roads criminally abandoned by a negligent Nigerian state.

    The accident in which Professor Iyayi died was as a result of a collision with a vehicle in the convoy of Kogi State Governor, Wada Idris, on the Lokoja-Abuja road. The escort vehicle in the convoy was reportedly trying to overtake others when it ran into the bus conveying Iyayi and other officials of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). Efforts of Kogi State officials to exonerate the governor’s convoy from blame for the tragedy have been most unconvincing. For, Governor Wada himself nearly lost his life a few months ago when his reckless convoy was involved in another crash. The NLC was thus right in blaming Iyayi’sdeath partly on “executive lawlessness/impunity on the part of the Kogi state governor.”

    Excessively unwieldy, boisterous and aggressive convoys constitute another shade of psychological violence unleashed against the people by wielders of state power in Nigeria.

    Now, why was Professor Iyayi on the Lokoja-Abuja road where he was involved in the fatal accident that claimed his life? He was on his way to Kano to participate in the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting convened by ASUU to take a decision on its protracted strike action that had paralyzed public universities for over four months. Surely, if the universities had been properly funded there would probably have been no need for a strike. Or to be more specific, if the Federal Government had honoured the agreement it freely entered into with ASUU in 2009 and further reiterated through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in 2012, the prolonged strike action would have been utterly unnecessary.

    It is so sad that it was after public universities had been grounded for over four months that President Goodluck Jonathan considered it fit to intervene personally in the dispute and hold talks with the university lecturers. Professor Iyayi died on his way to participate in ASUU’s deliberations on the President’s proposals. Of course some will contend that Iyayi would still have died anyway if it had been so destined, probably. But this does not excuse the utter lack of seriousness with which the Federal Government has handled this national crisis.

    To worsen matters, the Minister of State for Education and lately Supervising Minister of the Ministry, Chief Nyesom Wike, has been actively pursuing his undisguised 2015 governorship ambition in Rivers State rather than face the responsibilities of his office. Despite the prolonged closure of universities he has been busy launching his Grassroots Democratic Initiative (GDI) across local governments in the state and constituting a nuisance to legitimate governance in Rivers. The presidency’s indulgence of this kind of irresponsible behaviour creates the unfortunate impression of utter contempt for Nigerians. It is a direct slap on the face of the public and offers another example of the structural violence against the sensibilities and dignity of Nigerians by temporary occupants of public office