The Nigerian child
From Folasade Folarin, Abuja
Today, the 20th anniversary of the birth of the universal Child Rights Act and six years after Nigeria adopted it, 15 states are yet to key into the Act that protects children's rights. This report on the North-western zone of the country captures the huge work yet to be done
BORROWING the words of popular musician, Asa, there just might be "fire on the mountain and nobody seems to be on the run". This, ironically, depicts the situation in Nigeria where many children parade the streets all day peddling various goods to put food on the table or to make ends meet.
Some children roam the streets looking miserable and wearing the pain they feel for a future they could have but do not think they would have. Others take to life on the street, which they are part of but do not really understand the intricacies until later in life when it becomes fully imbedded in their lives.
In recent times, the lot of some others is that they have been labelled witches by parents, guardians and even so called pastors who use this means to milk money off their parents or guardians. Others reside in dirty alleys and streets in the north bearing the exalted title of almajiri, begging for alms to feed for the day.
There are also cases of child molestation and rape, violence against children both at home and in the streets, killing of children for no just cause, child labour and trafficking, neglect of children by parents for their own purposes and life fulfillment, which give such children emotional trauma.
Yet, in the same country resides some who do not have to think of where their next meal will come from, bother about a roof over their heads, clothes to wear, or education is not an unattainable dream for this category of people. Are they by any means different from the almajiris, house-helps, street hawkers, child prostitutes or child witches that Nigeria has in abundance or do they all have the same rights and privileges guiding and protecting them?
Of course they do not have a different set of rights protecting them. Ordinarily, every human being is entitled to basic rights such as freedom, right to life and liberty, freedom of expression and civility before the law, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to participate in culture, the right to food, the right to work, and the right to education among others.
For children, there are additional basic rights which include the right to life, his or her own name and identity, to be raised by his or her parents within a family or cultural grouping and have a relationship with both parents, even if they are separated.
All of these seem impossible because they are not aware of their existence. Indeed, there exist rights that seek to protect the existence of children worldwide. It is the Child Rights Act (CRA).
The United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) was adopted and opened for signature by the UN General Assembly on November 20, 1989 but came into force on September 2, 1990 after it was ratified by the required number of nations. As of December 2008, 193 countries have ratified it, including every member of the UN except the United States (U.S.) and Somalia.
The Convention generally defines a child as any human being under the age of 18, unless a country's law recognises an earlier age as majority age. It deals with child-specific needs and rights and requires that states act in the best interests of the child, also acknowledging that every child has certain basic rights, including the rights embedded in the CRA.
The UNCRC acknowledges that children have the right to be protected from any form of abuse and exploitation, to express their opinions and have them heard and acted upon when appropriate, to have their privacy protected and requires that their lives not be subject to excessive interference. Under the CRA, capital punishment is forbidden for children while signatory states are obliged to provide separate legal legislation for any child in any judicial dispute.
Passed in Nigeria in 2003 but adopted by only few states, the full impact of the Act has not been felt, as states that have not adopted it cannot exactly claim to represent their future appropriately.
Twenty years on and marked in Nigeria today, the CRA is yet to be adopted in 15 states.
Sokoto, one of the states yet to adopt the Act but with aspirations to do so soon, has a vision to produce a society where greater resources will be committed to the education of children, their healthcare delivery, fight against hunger and poverty, negative practices,_habits and other vices in the society. However, achieving this would require that the children have a platform to fight for what is rightfully theirs.
At present, the issues of child protection and welfare in Sokoto State is handled by the Ministry for Women Affairs and Child Development, an offshoot of the defunct women commission. It has a mandate to evolve and implement policies, programmes and projects that would enhance and improve the socio- economic status of women as well as children in the state.
The_Director, Child Development of the Ministry of Women Affairs and Child Development in the state, Hajiya Zubaida Aliyu noted that the activities of the ministry include the sensitisation of women and children on important issues affecting their welfare and development. She said that this was with a view to creating the much-needed awareness on those roles they were expected to play in the task of building the society for the overall development of the state and the nation at large.
Aliyu disclosed that although the bill on the adoption of the CRA has not been passed, a high level of success has been achieved by the ministry in uplifting the welfare and protection of the children as well as their participation in many state and national activities. On the child rights act, she said that the state government plans to set up a high-powered inter-ministerial committee soon.
The committee, Aliyu explained, would comprise of all the relevant stakeholders, which includes: Religious, traditional, opinion and political leaders and government officials as well as lawmakers. The act, she said, would be implemented soon considering its importance to the development and welfare of the children and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that relate to children. This would involve turning out a report, which would be used to produce a white paper and the draft bill for presentation to the state House of Assembly later.
Similarly, to ameliorate the plight of the almajiris in the state and give them a chance at a better life, Commissioner for Religious Affairs, Prof. Garba Maitafsir said the state had set up four model almajiri schools in strategic locations in the state. The gesture, he said, would enhance qualitative and functional knowledge given to the almajiris by the traditional almajiri schools.
Maitafsir added that it would also serve as a means of discouraging street begging and immoral acts by the almajiris.
Amazing however is the fact that some of the almajiris in Sokoto claim to be aware of their rights to education and some other basic rights but with no instrument to claim them.
Kasimu Mohammed who hails from Sabon-Gari village, said: "I know about western school and I want to get education, but my father wants me to get the Qur‡nic education before I join the western school later".
Another almajiri, Dan-Basiru Salisu, said: "I want to join western school as soon as I can so that I can combine the two forms of education which are all important"._
The two forms of education should be further integrated to enhance even socio-economic development of the country while bolstering the morality of the children and youths, they urged.
In Kebbi State, the bill has not been passed into law, but the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Alhaji Aminu Musa Jega said the bill is presently receiving attention and that it would soon be passed into law.
"We would pass the bill but we must consider our exigencies as parents", he said.
He noted that if the bill is passed into law, children would have their full rights, especially now that children's parliament have been set up and inaugurated. It is through the parliament government would know their needs and grievances.
But the Commissioner for Justice, Barrister Kasimu said that the passage of the CRA bill was not the responsibility of his office but the state House of Assembly, which he said was making all efforts to see to the passage of the bill.
He said: "Whether the bill is passed or not, our children have a future but we would not hastily pass the bill without considering its religious implications especially on the power of parents on their children".
On child protection issues, the Commissioner for Women Affairs in the state, Hajiya Habiba Ibrahim Umar said her ministry in collaboration with the pet project of the Governor's wife, Hajiya Zainab Dakingari's Foundation was doing all it could to promote the welfare of children by enforcing the law against child trafficking and molestation of children by their parents or any other person.
She stated that the almajiri system is part of the custom and tradition of the Hausa-Moslem community, but that the way it is being practised was not as ordained by Islam, which is why her ministry is doing its best to put some control measures on the system by providing decent and conducive learning atmosphere so that the almajiri would be fully integrated into the formal school system. Punishment would also be meted out to parents who deny their children western and Islamic education, while a comprehensive policy on their health was in the works since a child of below six years in Kebbi enjoys free medical care.
The Director, Child Development of the State Ministry for Women Affairs, Hassana Hassan Warra said if the bill is passed into law, it would discourage early marriages and save female children from the dangers of Visco Vaginal Fistula (VVF) and other domestic violence.
Another state yet to pass the bill is Niger. Its almajiris protested the kind of life they were living, without any hope of survival.
A junior secondary school student, Rahman Suleiman said education did not cover all the needs of a child, but "it is very important to allow children make decisions for themselves as it relates to them".
Another, Bukky Ositokun said she is not comfortable with men who take children as wives: "It is outright child abuse. A girl does not have what it takes to be a wife, yet these men go ahead and marry them, then, when they misbehave they deal with them. It is sinful, it is unfair".
Other children condemned the Nigerian state for bringing about the conditions that promote children roaming the streets. "This generation of ours should not be neglected and relegated to the background because we are also humans and should be treated as such, we are to be seen and heard", they said.
Little wonder a representative of Bayelsa State in the children's parliament, Balalemi Seiyaboh once said "the realisation of the MDGs by 2015, is dependent on the ability of states in Nigeria to implement the CRA that was passed into law by the National Assembly in 2006, which will help the Nigerian child know his or her rights and also know when those rights have been infringed on".
Speaker, FCT Children's Parliament, Hafsat Kaigama said the CRA has become a platform for meeting the needs of children, because according to her, many children's lives had been changed. The bill has been passed in the Federal Capital Territory.
Hafsat, while referring to the children as the future generation and one not to tamper with, appealed to policy makers, saying: "To all the policy makers across the federation, the passage of the CRA is very important because it would go a long way in helping children. Children are the future leaders, if you help a child today, you're helping yourself tomorrow, so, it's just saving the nation".
However, a social activist, Hajiya Bilkisu, said there were other issues militating against the implementation of the CRA at the community and the regional level. She said some of the provisions of the act like "you are not allowed to chastise a child, the issue of age of marriage, and the policy in marriage affect the right of a child also".
The issues are being addressed, she said, with state governors in collaboration with civil societies and development partners, particularly UNICEF, DFID, and UNDP to domesticate the CRA.
Minister for Women Affairs and Social Development, Mrs. Salamatu Hussaini Suleiman, advocated for policies and plans to be translated into programmes and projects that would touch the lives of people, particularly those at the grassroots and community levels as they are most affected.
However, among priority programmes for her Ministry is girl child education, rehabilitation of street children, passage and implementation of the CRA and the national plan of action for Orphaned and Vulnerable Children (OVC).
