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 Daily
Independent Online.
* Thursday, June 17, 2004.
Six thousand Nigerian children in detention?
A recent
startling revelation by the United Nations International Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF) that
more than 6,000 Nigerian
children are held in remand homes, foster institutions and
police cells under juvenile
related offences, has once more brought to the upper reaches of national
discourse the human rights status and hypocrisy of the present Administration. At
a media briefing to evaluate the progress so far made since the
passage of the Child Rights
Bill by the National Assembly in 2003, UNICEF also said about eight
million Nigerian children are engaged in exploitative child labour while
the country serves as provider, receiver, transit and stopover location
for child trafficking. This is unfortunate.
There is no doubt that our country is in a state of anomie.
Nigerians have now degenerated from occasional abuse or breach to total
undermining of the laws of the land and international conventions that we
are signatory to. Hence crimes like child abuse look such a trifle that
they become a non-issue as Nigerians now contend with horrendous
criminalities like ritual murders and hired assassinations. Our descent
into the Hobbesian state of nature where life was brutish, nasty and
short, has continued unabated. National ethos have indeed gone awry.
While we note that our national values started degenerating with the
advent of the military in political governance, it is lamentable that rather than being remedied, the
situation has deteriorated further, five years into a supposedly civilian rule.
Aside from incessant cases of exploitative
child labour and illegal detention of children, another disturbing
phenomenon is the increasing rate of missing children, abandonment and
theft in our hospitals and other maternity homes. Investigations reveal
that child theft thrives more
in illegal maternity homes and clinics. The deviants have even gone beyond the issue
of stealing newborn babies to now striking deals with single - parent
mothers to part with their babies. In other words, mothers on their own
volition now agree on the terms of sale of their divine endowment, and
sometimes for a token of two thousand naira. It is also a fact that these
unholy institutions that indulge in these crimes get more of their
patronage from prostitutes who usually bear unwanted babies.
Apart from our adoption of the United
Nations Convention on the rights of the child in 1991, our municipal laws sufficiently provide for the
rights of the child which include, rights to life and protection from all
kinds of harm and human degradation. There have always been adequate laws
to guide and regulate the Nigerian society. Even there are enough labour
laws to curb the excesses of Lebanese, Indian and Asian nationals who
have turned their factories in Nigeria into slave camps for our teeming
jobless youths who cannot
gain admission to tertiary institutions and who serve as
casual labourers just to eke
out a living. Regrettably, what is lacking is total observance and
implementation of these laws. There is also the endemic penchant among Nigerians to
undermine rules and regulations. And the reason for this points
poignantly to one direction. It is the abdication of responsibilities
especially on the part of
the government. It also has to do with the fact that the nation is still in the grip of those who
believe that might is right. Abject poverty is also a prime cause of this
evil.
Our national values and pride have ironically been
thrown overboard, and this has led to the negative syndrome of “everyone
to himself (including the little child) and God for us all”. Indeed, what
is being bemoaned is a reflection of the deepening sorry state of our social crisis.
The leadership has failed to provide protective services to the citizenry
and the neglect is wide - spread. It shows that our shameless and
sadistic ruling - class is not interested in the future of the country.
For a nation that ill - treats its children ultimately has no future
since today’s children are leaders of tomorrow.
There is an urgent need for the authorities to reverse their
lukewarm attitude and strive to eradicate the deplorable conditions cited
by UNICEF in the aforesaid report. Besides the international dimension of
the embarrassment the nation might suffer from this blemish, further
inaction will be a great disservice to the nation as the young ones held in
the same prisons with hardened criminals could become easily
corrupted.
Government should at the same time set its eyes on creating a social security scheme for poor
Nigerians; it should remove all the bottlenecks that have made it
impossible for indigent Nigerians to acquire basic formal education. This
will enhance the acquisition of good and gainful employment by the people
to serve as a palliative.
citizens who are being subjected to botched and battered hopes. The
government should wake up from its slumber in making sure that children’s
lives are protected. Those six thousand children in detention should be
released and rehabilitated without delay. Enough of these nefarious and
shameful activities.
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