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Now that the euphoria of this year’s Children Day’s celebration is over, we need to really take steps in eliminating all barriers to the overall development and growth of children in our nation. Universally, children represent the future, and ensuring their healthy growth and development ought to be a prime concern of all. A working child protection system is unarguably a prerequisite for any nation aspiring for growth and development. Regrettably, as the smallest, weakest and least powerful members of society, children are the most vulnerable to all forms of violence—physical, sexual, and emotional.
Violence against children is pervasive. Violations occur in the home, school, work place and online. The perpetrators often include the very people children are expected to trust: parents, caregivers and other family members, friends, teachers and intimate partners. Violence against children marks them – often for life. Sometimes the marks are visible: bruises and broken bones. But the harm that violence causes children also affects their mental and physical health and their ability to function in the world.
Going by reports of increasing cases of violence against children especially in the Nigeria mass media, this year’s Children’s Day’s theme: “Creating safe spaces for children: our collective responsibility” is very apt. It shows demonstration of clear commitment on the part of Nigeria’s government to end violence and also provides an excellent opportunity to speak up on behalf of all vulnerable children in the country.
Creating safe environments requires that adults take responsibility to ensure safety wherever young people spend time. This process starts with recognizing situations and behaviours that create unsafe environments and being committed to making the required changes. It means examining our personal and organizational values and determining the best interests of the child.
In Nigeria today, fundamental rights of children are being encroached upon on a daily basis without appropriate sanction. And this is so, not because we don’t have laws and policies on child protection but due to lack of social consensus and political will to successfully implement laws and policies.
According to global survey conducted in 2012 by The Economist Intelligence Unit, Nigeria is rated as one of the worst countries in the world for children or for a child to be born.
In September 2015, President Buhari launched a Year of Action to End Violence Against children and called on all Nigerians to join this battle. He renewed his commitment in October 2016 by launching a long-term campaign, aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals, to End Violence Against Children by 2030. The Presidential Campaign has been translated into a national modelling programme, spearheaded by the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, to strengthen child protection systems. Nine states have already rolled out this programme.
Also, in a statement by the UNICEF Nigeria Deputy Representatives Isiye Ndombi, Nigeria was the first country in the West African sub-region and the 9th country in the world to conduct the Violence against Children survey in 2014. The survey provided the first nationally representative data on the prevalence of sexual, physical, and emotional violence among children in Nigeria. The findings, released at the end of 2015, highlighted that millions of Nigerian children are suffering violence every year and most are suffering in silence. 6 out of 10 children will suffer some form of emotional, physical or sexual violence before they reach the age of 18. Many of them encounter violence over and over. Yet, less than 5% of the children that seek help receive support.
But the sad reality is that child right protection policy in most states and at the federal level is adequate only on paper. It has been issue of conducting survey without corresponding functional action plan backed by funding. This clearly explains reasons why violation of children persists. Sexual abuses, which include but not limited to child marriage is a form of child abuse that has become a scourge in our society. Cases abound where fathers, uncles, guardians, male teachers, clerics etc have sexually molested under-age girls. Some engage in child violation for ritual purposes and most time this leads to mental disorder on the part of abused child with perpetrators escaping sanction.
Today, we still have many children whose habitation is on the streets and since they domicile in the streets, they are generally referred to as street children. These are children that have historically been labeled and considered as delinquents, street urchin and Almajiris among others. Some of these children were driven from home because of maltreatment by mothers, step mothers, fathers, and step fathers, as a result of death of either of their parents or as a result of broken homes. These children are denied their basic rights and are exposed to physical, sexual and all sorts of harm and abuses and also live in inhumane and deleterious conditions.
The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) distinguishes between two different groups of street children based on their family situations but both have a common characteristic in that they spend their lives on the streets. The first categories are of children “on” the streets. These are children who work and maintain regular relationship with their families. The second category is of children who are “of” the streets and consider street their home. The streets are where they eat, sleep, play and make friends. Children in both categories have much in common; they have unstable emotional relationships with adult world, a negative self image, social stigma, violence, exploitation and uncertain futures. In other words, street children suffer physical abuse, psychological abuse, neglect and often sexual abuse.
The increasing spate of child abuse with its attendant consequences therefore calls for urgent assessment, prevention and mitigation in order to secure the future of Nigerian children. The truth is that our child protection system is weak and we need to strengthen it. We are all duty bound in this respect.
The change must start from home as innocent mistakes in many homes today is that of dysfunctional relationships between parents and children. Parents nowadays expect schools to do it all alone for them. The point here is that most of the problems we expect governments and others to fix for us will never be solved if at the home front we refuse to buckle –up. It is also crucial for all stakeholders in the society to understand every infringement that constitutes child abuse and be involved in the effort to bring about change. It is also important for us to support our various State Child Right Protection Policies and make use of correctional centres when necessary rather than abuse our children.
On a final note, we must understand that safe spaces can only be created for children by tackling the issue of violence and abuse from all angles and at all levels. This includes developing protective laws and policies, promoting services, targeting programmes at those who most need them, and raising awareness to promote social change. And in all these, everyone has a role to play.
Rasak Musbau
Musbau is of Features Unit, Lagos State Ministry of Information and Strategy, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos
