Having been in the diaspora for quite a while now, one can't help but draw comparisons every now and again on the deviations from what obtains in BiafraNigeria(BN) in a wide range of practical issues. One issue that I've seen much need to devote further thought to is the issue of 'house help' a.k.a house boy or girl.

In the diaspora we hear of 'Au pair', child- minder and nanny. The big difference between these and our house help is that whereas it is viewed as a job contract between the aupair/nanny/minder (or their agent in some cases) and the house owner(employer) in the diaspora, at BN, the contract is usually mostly between the employer and agents(usually elderly relatives) as most of the house helps can't enter into any contract because of their age.

Again, whereas people in diaspora go into the job of their personal volition and after completing a basic education course, the people that are usually coerced into becoming house helps at BN are impoverished people who can't afford a basic Education and so do the job as a substitute to studying and as a means to eke out a living.

The problem for the practise back home is two-fold viz; child labour(immoral & illegal) and an increase in the illiterate population. I have deliberately chosen to ignore the abuse some of the house helps suffer in the hands of their masters.

My question now is: If people in diaspora can joggle jobs, family, nursery and hobby, why can't the people back home start learning to look after themselves? Do you think a government ban will achieve anything? Or will it be enough to make it mandatory that any body who takes in a child as a house help must ensure that the house help is trained to at least GCSE level?.

Excellent topic! You seem to have already covered the perplexing dilema of "House help" practice as it exist in BN.

To reverse the trend, several things has to change in BN.

(1)Family planning should be instituted in BN
(2)The cost of "House help" should be increased, and terms of the contract to run until the "house helper" reaches the age of eighteen.

These inevitably creates a bereaucratic jungle in an attempt to run, manage , and enforce the rules guiding both systems.

Obviously,these paradigm shift in domestic "house help" means will run counter to the cultures in BN, because it will forster greater individualism.

In the absence of the foregoing, I am afraid, that those with means in BN, will continue to exploit the poor and the unwary.

To ban the practice of "house help" outright will only encourage "underground" trafficking in young hapless people.

Let's start with the parents of these so called house helps.
(1) Common sense dictates that one should have self control and quit producing more children than they could care for. There should be a deterrent law against over-production of children.
(2) Birth control methods (traditional, scientific, etc) should be employed to regulate over-production of offsprings. The arguement that the bible said be fruitful and multiply has worn thin. For it is a sinful crime to produce children one can't care for.
(3) The best people to assess the need of any child and provide them are the parents.
(4) The archaic mindset of overloading wives with children on the hindsight of collecting bride price (from the marrying off the girls) and having abundant help for the farms should be devolved from the people's psyche.
(5) Any parent giving away an offspring as househelp must register with the designated unit of the police/LGA office.

Now, regarding the duties of the host family for the househelp and the govt..
(1) The househelp must be accorded the same dignity as the host's children/family members. (2) The househelp must be helped to acquire school certificates/diplomas/skills that should help him/her become independent after the househelp tenureship comes to an end.
(3) There should be a strict law against physical/sexual abuse of the househelp punishable by at least two years in prison.
(4) The other spouse should also be punished for aiding and abaiting sexual abuse, if found guilty of such.
(5) There should be a mandatory law of registering househelps in one's LGA.
(6) A mandatory law requiring that all children below the age of eighteen must be enrolled and attending school fulltime must be adopted. (7) Again, its the duty of the immediate neighbors and any concerned citizen, including the victim/househelp to report to the police/LGA reps designated for this issue, any violation of this law.

Why do I have a feeling that you are the kind who have no moral and legal qualms of subjugating housegirls into sexual exploitations. I think your morality is in question, here. The true Igbo culture have no tolerance for such abominable conduct.

I consider myself a conservative. Why do you always have to be so extreme? Are all the future citizens of the New Biafra going to think alike, act alike, dress alike? I don't think that so. We all have our ways and you just have to take the good and the bad in us all to build a strong republic, my sister.

The issue of house help in BiafraNigeria is closely associated with the poverty rampant in the area. No amount of legislation can stop or change the attitude of the beneficiaries.

This whole phenomenom is a function of demand and supply, for as long as there are people there who have more kids than they can take care of, the temptation to send children into servitude remains high.There probably was a time in Igboland when you sent your child to a relative to get some training, this apparently is not the case anymore as the modern version of this practice is far too abusive.

Like Amanda hinted only the education and emancipation of our women folk would check this menace.Family planing, enhancement of our quality of life, and the greater availability of opportunities to women in particular can reduce unnecessary child bearing and subsequently the incidence of child abuse resulting from poverty. In effect solve the problem of poverty and this issue would be brought under control.

I've thoroughly enjoyed your inputs so far.

I agree with you that legislation can only achieve so much, but the sad thing is that we haven't even made a start! I'm supremely confident that legislation can be put in place to at least protect these kids from unnecessary abuses. I think it was Martin Luther King Jnr who said: "though we can't legislate for you to love me, we can legislate for you not to linch me"!(quoted from memory)

I remember one particular Biafran woman who'd "inherited" an orphan for a house help and went on to invest her time and effort in inflicting bodily harm on the poor soul. Now, I was only about 7yrs of age but I still remember some of the more bizare occurrences as though it was yesterday. On one occasion the B woman used a fairly rough piece of fire-wood to break the girl's head and blood was oozing freely to the shock and utter disgust of all the neighbours. I personally do not see any reason why B woman should not spend some time in the white college--but she didn't.

The story had a funny twist and ending for it so happened that B woman took ill suddenly and died. She had two kids of her own and her husband to mourn her. We'd lost contact with the husband after a couple of years, but I hate to think what would become of the kids if they had to be loaned to others!.

Some men have been known to sire kids through their "house helps" who they still continue to treat as lesser beings created to minister to physical and perverted needs(sic).

The condoning of torture and assortment of abuses against househelps breeds an amoral and evil society. It breeds a society of psychopaths who are crime and violent-prone, a society ripe with anarchy, corruption, and dictatorship.

Abused houseboys of today are tomorrow's violent armed robbers, paedophiles, and homosexuals. Abused hosegirls of today are the disease-infected prostitutes and mothers of the future generation. In all, they will produce a society of criminal psychopaths.

So if we all have our dirty but acceptable ways of doing things, however evil and immoral, what kind of society will the new Biafra be? It is imperative that we exercise caution in the trends we set for ourselves and future generations.
For if we uphold oppression, repression, and other kinds of abuses, then we might as well forget Biafra Actualization, roll over and enjoy the rapist decadence called Nigeria. You would love that, won't you?

So what am I saying? In a nutshell, biafra is a just cause. Those who seek it must do so in truth, fairness, and justice.
Therefore, denounce evil when confronted with it.