Last week Sunday on NTA’s Newsline, I watched with dismay as yet another report was shown about a twelve-year-old girl named Joy, who was locked up in a zinc cage for eight months. The images were pathetically familiar: a young girl, severely malnourished with her ribs sticking out and her hair falling out. She was so weak she was unable to stand without support. She was discovered accidentally when the neighbourhood kids fell on the cage while playing. As I stared in horror at the life-like skeleton this girl had become, I wondered for the umpteenth time: ‘When did we become like this?’
Every few months or so, NTA and other social media sites are awash with stories of this sort. Stories of children being physically and sexually abused. If the children are not being labelled ‘witches’ and tortured or starved, then it is their body parts that are mutilated or they are being burnt alive.
It is no more news that Ahmed Isa of Berekete radio lost his cool during the week and slapped a woman accused of torturing a child. This woman was said to have tied the hands of the girl, poured kerosene on her hair and then proceeded to set her ablaze. Fortunately, she survived albeit with significant scalp injuries. It is safe to see this girl will battle with alopecia for the rest of her life. Like a lot of Nigerians, I listened with disgust as the woman claimed that ‘she did not know what came over her’ and spiced it with the popular ‘Na devil’ theatrics. No wonder our ‘Ordinary president’ was overcome by rage.
It is time we told ourselves some home truths: Child abuse is endemic in Nigeria. In almost every part of the country and with no tribe being exempt, there are horrific stories of starvation, rape, torture and neglect. We often see and hear of house helps, step children and orphans being abused by the employers, relatives and sometimes even the parents themselves.
Child maltreatment is a devastating social problem all over the world. However tragic and sensational, the counts of deaths and serious injuries provide limited insight into the pervasive long-term social, behavioral, and cognitive consequences of child abuse and neglect. Reports of child maltreatment alone also reveal little about the interactions among individuals, families, communities, and society that lead to such incidents.
Yet, although child abuse occurs in Nigeria, it has received little attention. This is probably due to the emphasis placed on the more prevalent childhood problems of malnutrition and infection. Another possible reason is the general assumption that in every African society the extended family system always provides love, care and protection to all children. Yet there are traditional child rearing practices which adversely affect some children, such as purposeful neglect or abandonment of severely handicapped children, and twins or triplets in some rural areas.
In Nigeria, abuse against children is rampant although it is largely under-reported. Under-reporting stems from cultural justification of certain forms of abuse associated with cultural practices and the reluctance of children to speak about prior abusive experiences. Fear of their assailants’ threats or their parent’s reaction may be the cause of this reluctance. Also, some children may be either too young to understand their experience or unable to speak for themselves.
The Nigerian federal government enacted the Child’s Rights Act (CRA) in December 2003. This Act is a comprehensive legislation which enacts the principles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) 1989, and is aimed at protecting and promoting the well-being of all children, improving the quality of relationships between children, families. The Act, divided into twenty-four parts, includes the following among others: rights and responsibilities of the child: prohibition of various forms of child abuse, care and supervision orders, custody, ward ship and child justice administration. However, we know all this is dogon turenchi as these policies are rarely ever implemented and a certain madam ‘x’ still continues to supply girls from the village as domestic house helps where they may be maltreated. Other reasons why the incidence of child abuse continues to rise, apart from the poor enforcement of law and order, are lack of awareness, poverty, corruption and the negative behavior of parents themselves.
Many people are not aware that some cultural practices serve as an infringement on the rights of children, and are considered abuse. Many of these practices are viewed as normal, especially because they are culturally accepted and have been in existence for a long time. The negative consequences that arise from these practices are thereafter ignored or termed as challenges that are part of the experiences of life. For example, some Nigerian parents beat their children excessively because they believe they need discipline, and do not view it as a form of abuse. This also applies to as the practice of Female Genital Mutilation and other horrific practices.
Poverty is another equally important factor that has led to the persistence of child abuse in Nigeria. Poverty causes educational disadvantages. It causes children to be out of school and into the streets, or homes of monsters who employ them as house helps, with the aim of earning a living or combining the money they earn with their parents’ income. This predicament exposes children to the wrong people allowing them to become criminals or possibly victims of road accidents or endure sexual or physical abuse. It is pathetic the lengths to which we stoop in the name of poverty in this country. As for those who maltreat their help- their excuse is definitely not poverty, rather a deep seated evil in their hearts.
However, I feel the most important factor is our inefficient judicial process. Ordinarily courts must not be influenced by other branches of government when deciding matters. There are also procedural obstacles to obtaining justice through the courts when the parents are the culprits of their children’s abuse. This is because children rely heavily on their parents for judicial relief and cannot take such actions themselves. Furthermore, the cost of the litigation process and the duration could discourage some people from reporting abuse. Also, justice might not be obtained through judicial proceedings because technicalities often result in the offender prevailing. These factors do not deter offenders from abusing children. Due to the various technicalities, such as inadequate evidence, there is a presumption that they can do anything and get away with it. Additionally, there is also the culture of ‘Leave it to God’. Personally, I have seen so many cases of abuse where even though the parents want to take legal action, they are pressured by society to ‘leave it to God’. As if it is not in the holy books that we first learnt about punishment for offences like murder, stealing and fornication.
Parents have a duty to provide an environment for their children where they are protected and cared for, and to facilitate the child’s wellbeing and growth. Children without proper parental care and supervision are easily abused. Parents who send their daughters on errands at night, give them goods to sell, leave them for several hours or days in the hands of housemaids, or send them to live with distant relatives are particularly at risk. Despite the creation of laws to protect children from abuse, lack of proper care from parents will likely cause abuse to occur and persist.
The situation is pathetic to say the list and watching it on national television makes it even more so. Joy’s story and that of many others out there needs to stop. It does not speak well of Nigerians for the world to see how we treat our young so cruelly. Parents need to be held accountable for the well-being of their children. Only then can we move forward.
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