20 October 2009
Godwin Akor — Recently, the United Nation's Children's Fund (UNICEF) organized a sensitization workshop for journalists in Benue, Bayelsa, Rivers, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Enugu, Ebonyi, Anambra, Imo and Abia states, which are under the organization's zonal office in Enugu
Main focus of the workshop was the Child Rights Act, which has been passed into law in nine of the ten states. The only state that is yet to adopt or adapt the Act is Enugu.
Enugu State's delay in passing the law worried participants at the workshop but the issue that was more worrisome was the neglect of children in the zone in spite of the signing of the Act into law in some states.
Whether children are on holiday or not, they are subjected to dehumanizing conditions through hawking. Some parents claim that their children hawk one item or another so as to get money for their school fees not knowing that the Child Rights Act (Law) prohibits such.
Even as some parents claim ignorance on the law, some state governments have not helped matters as the Child Rights Law has been kept in the cooler.
It is an offence under the law for parents to deny their children education but some children are kept at home and used as helpers instead of being given opportunity to exploit their environment for future relevance.
How many children lose their lives when they desperately cross the road to sell items to motorists and passengers on the highway?. How many children are subjected to torture when they fail to meet the expectation of their parents at the end of the day?.
There are cases of where some children are denied food because they fail to realise the expected amount of money from sales of goods hawked.
In many states particularly in the north, girls are denied education on the basis of sex. Parents, who do this claim that women have been naturally assigned the responsibility of taking care of homes. Where is it written that women must be treated as second class citizens?.
Nigeria ratified the United Nations Child Rights Convention in 1991 and later passed it into law as the Child Rights Act. Since then, 22 states have adopted or adapted the Act but the implementation has continued to be a problem.
In Benue State for instance, government officials woke up from slumber when children mobilised by Mrs. Yemisi Dooshima Suswam requested that their rights should be protected at the occasion of this year's African Day of the Child.
The children were promised that a sensitisation campaign would be carried out so that the people, including parents, would know about the Child Rights Act as passed by the House and signed into law by the governor.
This gave the children a ray of hope but since then, nothing has been done in that direction? This problem is not peculiar to Benue. In Cross River and Akwa Ibom states, children are being dubbed witches and sent out of homes..
If not for the sake of UNICEF, the affected children would be open to a lot of hazards. Since witchcraft is difficult to be tested scientifically, the best that can be done to children suspected to be involved is reformation.
In the states where children are hardly immunized against killer diseases, do the parents know that it is the rights of the children to be immunized? Article 24 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child provides that children have the right to good quality health care, clean water, nutritious food and clean environment.
Is it not true that many parents especially those in the villages tell their children to go to the bush to defecate when they are pressed?. How many children die yearly because of various diseases? United Nations records show that in Nigeria, more than one million children die yearly through such hazards.
Article 27 of the Child Rights Convention says children have right to a standard of living that is good to meet their physical and mental needs while article 28 provides that children have right to education just as primary education should be free.
In the HIV/AIDS ravaged states, no policy has been set out to take care of the children, who have lost their parents. What we see is that such children are put in orphanage homes and trained in the primary schools. Of what burden would it be to the government to train orphans up to university level?.
In some cases, government officials say there is no money but a lot of them keep cars that are not used for weeks. They also build houses without anybody living in them for years. These days, we see juveniles driving cars in the name of rich parents. Due to over-pampering, such children engage in cult activities because they call themselves "big boys".
Nigeria realises a lot of money from oil but there is poor management characterised by corruption. Some Nigerians became worried when Mrs Hilarry Clinton, United States Secretary of State berated the agencies set up to fight corruption but we are yet to see how the cases handled by Nuhu Ribadu were concluded.
During the administration of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) applied selective justice. If one says democracy in Nigeria is synonymous with corruption, the politicians would become uncomfortable but they display affluence at the expense of children's education.
Where did Obafemi Awolowo get money to introduce free education in Western Nigeria during his premiership?. When the Senate President, David Mark, was the Military Governor of Niger State, he made it compulsory for girls to go to school and resist the temptation of marrying early. Have the people of Niger State including the former Head of State, General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (IBB) not continued to hold Mark in high esteem because of that singular achievement?.
How many children are roaming the streets because of Boko Haram and the Niger Delta problem?. Nigeria is so poor in keeping records. Birth registration is alien to many states, just as infant mortality has no record. If the states fail to evolve definite policies for the protection and care of children, why is the federal government not doing anything better?.
The universal basic education programme collapsed like a park of cards. Payment of teachers salaries is optional in Nigeria. Some states toy with the issue as if teachers are beggars. When ever there is strike in Nigeria, children suffer to the extent that their primary education foundation becomes so weak.
Kidnappers target children of the well to do so as to be given ransom. Child trafficking is a common feature in Nigeria because some parents believe that they have to trade with them.
So many young girls have become commercial sex workers because of the same reason. When someone dies in Nigeria, people cry so much because of the feeling that his children would suffer. Why should that be? Nigerians have the feeling that they have to take care of their children when they like not knowing that the law has not made their care optional.
Many people waste their money on alcohol on a daily basis and say "proudly" at beer parlours that their children have stopped schooling because of lack of school fees.
There are instances where some states are supposed to pay a counterpart fund of six million naira and access a UNICEF educational development fund of over N400 million but the matter is being trivialized.
Why has primary education collapsed, is it not because of lack of contribution from many states. Some state governments feel that when money is sourced through counterpart arrangement, it becomes difficult to pinch such money, so, they discourage such contribution.
On the matter of lack of care for Nigerian children, all the stakeholders are guilty. The government, parents, individuals and the society are all guilty because of the problem of the shifting of blames.
The United Nations (UN) has established so many agencies which it is funding with money from donor agencies. Many people are of the illusion that the UN mints money. The truth is that many countries and organizations that have less corrupt tendencies set aside some money for the assistance being given to less developed countries like Nigeria.
During the military era, there was less crime though the high echelon of the military enriched themselves so much that today, some of them can fund political parties. Today, it is due process and the rule of law. Why is it that some states find it difficult to pass the Child Rights Act?. Why is it that some states find it difficult to implement the law after its passage.
There are supposed to be community courts established for the trial of children who fail to fulfill their own part of the bargain. There are supposed to be implementation committees responsible for making the law to work. In how many states have these bodies been set up?. Benue state said it would sensitize the people and commence the implementation of the law. When would the sensitization programme start?
Today, children are being mixed with adults in detention. This makes the children to become hardened as they are subjected to an orientation that makes them to be more criminally minded. There are supposed to be remand homes but where are they?. Benue state had one in Gboko but it is in a sorry state. Many states do not know what is called a remand home which is supposed to be like a school of reformatory.
The challenge of giving the children a pride of place in Nigeria is enormous. All hands must be on deck to make this possible. If the society hinges its reason of not caring for the children on poverty, the vicious circle would never be broken. This is the time, the government and indeed, the citizens must rise to the occasion of giving hope to our children.
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