Ofoka Yobolisa
26 July 2007
Abuja — You have never heard of Mercy of Kogi. But at least you have heard of orphaned and vulnerable children (OVC). If you have heard of OVC, then you should ask, matter of factly, "who are they and where are they found".
Without much ado, Mercy of Kogi is an unelected representative of about seven million orphaned and vulnerable children in Nigeria who lost both parents to the fatality of Aids pandemic and, ever since then has remained champion of deprived children.
Mercy of Kogi is a 12-year-old, who is in humiliating condition and utter deprivation both at home and at school .
Did we say there are about seven million OVC in Nigeria ? That really is an epidemic proportion that sounds incredible. But recent statistics shows that the number is growing, and fast too, and might hit 8.8 million by the year 2010.
Perhaps, your next question should be, if you are in the least children-friendly, what is the government doing to stem the tide and also to save the lives of OVC?
Incidentally, in Nigeria as well as other African countries, government at different levels had given lip service and sometimes, palliative attention to OVC. Actually, over the years, governments had caused the sporadic increase in the number of OVC through their obstructive policies, programmes and action plans. Policies that never worked, programmes that were mere charades and administrative manoeuvres; action plans that never contained the minutest rehabilitative components necessary for an orphaned child to realize her dreams.
In fact, government over the years, had made fetishes of the national creed for orphaned and vulnerable children, and inadvertently turned this less privileged group into naked, skuzzy children who continue to roam our cold, unfriendly streets without a glimmer of hope.
Suffice it to state here that millions of OVC may be found struggling through life in the home of reluctant relatives and care givers; and, most of them hang out in sleazy apartment blocks and slovenly shacks and often times, go about without food. And Mercy of Kogi, of course is champion of these millions.
Mercy of Kogi, however, is an undaunted child of circumstance who wishes to become a medical doctor, if fate allows, and ride to her clinic in a Hummer Jeep. She also hopes to live in a big, palatial home, get married one day and raise a family. Yes. You can see why Mercy of Kogi is a queen of seven million OVC.
But what structures does government have to provide for professional and competent management of orphaned and vulnerable children? In other words, what is Nigeria 's response to the needs and aspirations of an orphaned or vulnerable child? Just recently, Daily Champion participated in a forum that focused on OVC National Plan of Action organised by Internews Journalism Project in collaboration with UNICEF, USAID and the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs. The forum tried to examine the anatomy of this action plan with a view to finding out its strengths and weaknesses and of course, its linear dynamics.
According to a top ministry panelist, the National Plan of Action for OVC is a document endorsed by the Federal Executive Council and launched on 17 May, 2007. It is a five-year coasted plan that delineates the needs of orphans and deprived children in families and household environments by conducting situational analysis of children and taking into cognizance their broad aspirations.
By way of simple interpretation, OVC national plan of action is a federal government document that would try to ventilate stuffy policies of government that border on the rights and privileges of children especially, vulnerable children and orphans and try to find ways to giving succour and advocacy tailored towards the provision of good quality education, affordable healthcare, shelter, food and needed protection so that the group of children identified as OVC might grow up in an environment necessary to live a fulfilled, normal life.
The document does not loose sight of problems of out-of-school children, of course. It aims to provide vocational services to such children in order that they too, might realize their full potentials.
No doubt, this is a splendid document that if well implemented would wipe the gloom off the faces of OVC. But not unlike many unfairly managed action plans in the past, the document might be fraught with loopholes and mere fantasies.
We all know that national action plans have failed at every level in the past, but certainly we know too, that the failures were from the government and not the people. But let us be clear what we mean by that it was the government that determined the tempo of the action plans; and it was the government that navigated the plans and lighted the path to tread.
For instance, government failed in their national action plans despite the colossal amounts of money and energy put into the programmes to make them work because the implementers of the programmes did not see the need to be transparent in their fiscal policies nor the need to sit back and evaluate the structure and framework of action plans.
This logic holds true before messy national poverty eradication programme, a badly managed programme surrounded by massive insincerity and political jiggery-pokery.
The truth is that, past governments like the just-end bizarre government of Olusegun Aremu Obasanjo cared little about improving the lot of Nigerian masses. They rather cared more about lining their pockets and watching their bank balances grow while the masses rot. Yes, that was the system in the gory days of insensitive, monster governments. Could it be the system this time around with a president who begun by laying his trump cards on the table?
But the structure and framework of the OVC national plan of action shows that it could be different from all previous programmes. It shows that it could be consultative and participatory and might involve the masses at every level of our community. By this very participatory nature of the document the masses will be responsible for ensuring that their children and wards get the benefits enshrined in the document. This is readily possible through a number of coordinating mechanisms and community-based groups such as the implementation committee which looks at a child's needs and proffers solutions, the Task Team which provides technical guidelines, the National Steering Committee which draws members from the community and then the stakeholders forum which makes regular inputs on the way forward. Then of course, the child protection forum otherwise known as child help committee which comprises community leaders, clan heads, school teachers, fosters parents, uncles, aunties and older members of society who will always be on hand to protect the interests of the vulnerable child.
A close scrutiny of the machinery above reveals certain intrinsic features which attest to the feasibility and workability of the document. Of course, a keen observer would not fail to see that the document intends to employ both utilitarian and hypothetical approaches to produce the desired results.
Obviously, the OVC national plan of action is a vast document with a complex organization and a distinct culture and code and, an urgent mandate to protect the OVC. It certainly has moved fast, too, for in less than 30 days after launching the federal ministry of women affairs which has undertaken to implement the document has established OVC units in the 36 states of the federation and Abuja . The ministry also has social welfare units at all the local government areas which coordinates OVC - related issues.
This is very interesting, indeed, but given the enormous responsibilities, has the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs structured itself, too? Or has it only eagerly accepted to undertake to implement the document just to prove its relevance and importance in the new system? Far be it. By its very presence President Yar'Adua's government through the instrumentality of the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, the United Nations and USAID is offering hope to Mercy of Kogi and seven million OVC like her that rot in every corner of Nigeria - and it could be utter cruelty to offer false hope. For the time being, let us hope that the OVC national plan of action is a purely realistic plan and not more fantasies of government. And it is utterly imperative to add here that if the government will not help them, let the government at least not deceive them.
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