Message from Aisha: The Plight of the African Child? We are All to Blame!

Aisha is one of my brilliant postgraduate students and she is happy to share her response to an earlier blog post. Her message is both inspirational and a call to action and applies across Africa as we count down to 2013 Day of the African Child on the theme: “Eliminating Harmful Social and Cultural Practices Affecting Children: Our Collective Responsibility”. Many thanks Aisha for the wonderful thoughts:

The way I have always seen it is that every Nigerian is accountable for what happens in, and to Nigeria. I am to blame, you are to blame, the ordinary citizen on the street is to blame, and everyone is to blame.

In 1999, I graduated from a public school, the Federal Govt College Ilorin It was one of the best of its times, academics, athletics, infrastructure etc. 5-6yrs later, my parents made my younger brother apply to the Nigerian Turkish College in Abuja (the federal schools were no longer good enough).

In 1999, there was no option for me; it was either ABU Zaria, or ABU Zaria. The question was only whether I would be admitted to study medicine in the prestigious university I had dreamed of all my life, since my father had attended the same university. 6 yrs later, my younger brother was admitted to the Nigerian Turkish Intl University, Abuja. The public universities were no longer good enough. If your parents had the money, they were even less appealing.
How am I to blame? What if I mentored an almajiri, fed him three square meals, and facilitated his entry to orthodox school, alongside his Islamic school, mentored and trained him to acquire a degree, is that not one person off the streets? Knowing that literacy begets literacy, he is likely to send all his children to school, probably mentor one person as he was mentored, and thus a cycle of literacy begins, yet I haven't done it. I have thought about it in theory but I haven't done it, so I am to blame.

How is the ordinary man on the street to blame? Last semester, during a visit to witness firsthand juvenile justice proceedings, one of the offenders, a 10 yr old boy had stolen a laptop, however as the judge asked the father some questions, it became glaring there was NO parental supervision at all. Parents were divorced, child was with the father, and father worked from morning to evening and hung out with friends at night. Child didn't go to school. The father was to blame for not wanting a better life for his child, not making efforts to safeguard the future of his child.

How are professionals to blame? They go on strike for the wrong reasons. Doctors, teachers etc. they go on strike because of five naira, but do not lend their voices to topical issues.

Back to my song, it has to start from one person. We have to brighten our corner and guide someone across the bar.

What if the community came together to fix the school in that picture? They wouldn't lack artisans who could do it voluntarily. They wouldn't lack those who could chip in a kobo or two, for goodness sakes, they could construct a blackboard by themselves; they could construct desks and chairs with their own hands.

I am not even blaming the government now, because Nigeria's problems have far outweighed the capacity of government alone.

I think we as a people can do it, if we are focused, if we don't think of the personal or monetary gains, we can turn the lives of millions of children around.

We usually see community service as Oyinbo-ish, but I think given the right ingredients, we can do it and personally I think it is the long term solution to most of our current problems.

The Plight of the African Child? We are all to blame!!!p

Whom do we blame this time round? What hope for the Future?

In Soweto uprising of 1976, thousands of black school children marched in protest against the poor quality of their education. Many years after "independence" (and we are now "in charge" of our own destiny) has there been any change? The situation has gotten worse, in most cases, for the African child. Shown in the pictures above captured by Punch Newspaper photographer less than  a week ago were school children of Idimu Community Primary School at the heart of a State that brands itself as the "Centre of Excellence" in Nigeria. You could just imagine what would be going on in the non-"Centre of Excellence" States. This represents the fate of many public schools and the sorry state of Africa children in the post-colonial era. Our kids are getting very unfair deal considering the vast amount of resources available to nation states in Africa. Public school system, in most cases, has completely broken down and school pupils right from primary school level have found solace in cultism and other social vices in order to find some meaning to the deplorable condition around them. A few who can afford the prohibitive cost, send their children to private schools. One of my blog readers from the Northern part of Nigeria sent me a thought provoking comment on the pervasive "almajirai" syndrome in the North thus: "The issue of almajirai is a burning one up North, and I think it represents an end, on the continuum of child abuse and neglect. It also highlights the plight of the African child. Any negative thing you can think of, can be found in an almajirai population (poverty, illiteracy, malnutrition, infections, infestations, substance abuse, conduct disorders, reckless sexual behavior etc). These same African Children (almajirai) are available as guns for hire, to perpetrate violence in the society. Our children and future generation are not safe if we don't make the continent a safe and conducive place for all children. Here is my own poser sir, The African Child..What Hope For The Future?"

Her poser captures the urgency of need for a collaborative action to save African children from a perpetual "life sentence" of abuse and neglect through generations. 

Whom do we blame this time round for the worsening state of the Africa child in a rich continent, where our "brothers and sisters" are now in power? 

Whom do we blame for the lack of basic infrastructure for care of children? 

Whom do we blame for the outrageous child mortality rate in Africa? 

Whom do we blame for prevailing malnutrition and failure to thrive in African children? 

Whom do we blame for abysmal standard of education in our public schools? 

Whom do we blame for absence of child protection services? 

Whom do we blame for churning out a damaged generation of child soldiers? 

Whom do we blame this time round? 

I blame myself. 

I'm ashamed by the pitiable state of the African child I see daily. 

We have betrayed our children. 

We can't afford to continue this way. 

It's our Collective Responsibility to make that much needed change in our little corners. 

The time is NOW!

2013 Day of the African Child: Is the Night Over?

As I prepare to give a talk at a forum being organized in commemoration of 2013 Day of the African Child on the theme, “Eliminating Harmful Social and Cultural Practices Affecting Children: Our Collective Responsibility” I could not stop thinking about the precarious state of the African child in the twenty first century. While a few African countries have made some effort at tackling prevalent cultural and social menace bedeviling the African child, most of Africa only pay a lip service to Child Rights. In 2003, Nigeria passed the Child Rights Act to domesticate the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The law, though passed at the federal level, would only be effective if also passed by State Assemblies. It has remained largely an "ink effect" on paper as most the States in Southern part of Nigeria that have passed the law are yet to put up any visible and modern Child Protection System as provided for in the law, while most the Northern States have not even bothered pretending about protecting "Child Rights" as the State Assemblies are yet to consider domesticating any aspects of the Child Rights Act despite pressures from the civil society. The impunity of this posture and the "dark night" it portends of any child in that part of the world, and similar setting, was evident in 2010 when a serving senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Ahmed Yerima, in the same National Assembly that passed the law just some years back, "married" a 13 year old girl! Indeed, the man who was old enough to be the child's grandfather actually "bought" the poor Egyptian child for $100,000 of a dowry! Meanwhile, under the National Child Rights Act, the legal age for marriage is 18 years. And to underscore the despair of the Nigerian child (and African child in general) and how impotent the law could be in protecting him or her against the tyranny of bestial calibres in the garb of culture, religion and inordinate considerations, the "marriage" took place at National Mosque in Abuja, the capital city of Nigeria where the laws of the land should be illuminating every space of the city. The Nigerian State could not rise up to protect one child who represented the face of numerous children wailing in dark recesses in different parts of the country under the bondage of primitive practices which clearly put their lives, potential and future on the line. Female genital mutilation is still occurring unchecked in different parts of Africa and boys are still subjected to primitive and brutal rites of passage in some culture. Child labour, child trafficking and sale of babies are all "booming" with highly placed people involved. The justice system seems ill prepared and apparently uninterested in issues of crimes against children. We have attended to some cases of child sexual assault in which police officers are yet to show any interest in the forensic evidence collected. Meanwhile, if you check out the children of "leaders" in Africa and folks like Ahmed Yerima, their children are most probably schooling in the best of schools abroad or best of private schools within; well catered for and protected. On the other hand, an average public school in Africa is simply a disaster for whatever a school is meant to be. The conditions that necessitated the Soweto Uprising in 1976 are still very much with us in Africa and has gotten worse and more convoluted. The Day is yet to come for the Africa child. The gloomy night overshadows their destiny while government officials, on "special" occasions,  make speeches that are drown by extended squawk of vultures devouring our children. We can't continue this way and we must use the theme of 2013 to dismantle unfounded social, cultural and religious arguments that have so far been used to destroy the future of Africa. Our continent remains underdeveloped partly because our children have been stripped of dignity, and their souls entangled in conflicts and unresolved injuries inflicted upon them. It is, therefore, not surprising that African children usually thrive outside the continent where there is a system of Child Protection, and rule of law that applies to everyone irrespective of status, power or position. I'll lend my voice to the battle cry to save our children and save Africa. We must not underestimate the power of our Collective Responsibility. What are you doing?

Good News on Tackling Violence Against Women

If we stay the course and continue to mount pressure on leaders and concerned institutions in Africa, in our advocacy for positive change, we'll definitely get some results. It may come in trickles and sometimes the rate may be frustrating but it is a persistence worth enduring. The message from Abuja, Nigeria, from the National Assembly as reported recently in the Nigeria Tribune is a fitting recognition, by the legislature, of the dangers posed by unchecked violence against women and the vulnerable in the society. The stage is now ripe for intense campaign and awareness programmes on what constitutes violence against women. People, especially women, generally don't talk about sexual violence because of  fear of stigmatization and further victimization by largely an uninformed public predicated on baseless cultural malpractices. There is also urgent need to train the police, members of the judiciary, and other relevant practitioners on the subject of Gender Based Violence especially on management modalities of the various conditions and on the impact on victims, their families and the entire society. In one informal meeting I had with some investigating police officers in Nigeria, all of them were seeing a "Rape Kit" (sexual assault forensic evidence kit), used in the forensic investigation of cases of sexual violence, for the first time! While an enabling law is urgently needed, there is equally a pressing need to begin to equip relevant personnel with the necessary knowledge, skills and facilities to make the law meaningful to the ordinary citizen who may need the protection and services prescribed by such law. Promulgating necessary laws should not be an end by itself but should rather emerge simultaneously with the provision/availability of necessary infrastructure, expertise and resources. In the meantime, we can follow up on "Law to punish violence against women coming soon" to make it a reality, and this effort needs to be replicated in all African countries where there is need to tackle this hydra headed monster of Gender Based Violence from all angles.

Sexual Violence: Another Sad Report and A Tragic End

When will there ever be a national outrage and citizens' action to put a STOP to incessant sexual violence and gender based violence against females in our community? Unfortunately, for every report that makes it to the newsroom, there are countless women who are dying in silence or dead already.
The government will have to take an active role in stemming the tide; our National Assembly will have to urgently review the archaic laws and pass appropriate Acts to address this social cancer. It is also time appropriate support services were provided including forensic medical service. Another woman is slaughtered like an animal!

"Uncivilised Treatment of Female Suspects": Bundled Editorial of a National Daily

The Editorial page of  May 7, 2013 in one of the front-line national newspapers in Nigeria focused on a very important issue on the subject of maltreatment of female detainees in police cell and prisons with regards to sexual abuse. We have inadvertently tolerated such gross violations of Human Rights at our police stations, detention centres and prisons as part of  some hopeless resignation to fate in the hands of people who are supposed to serve the citizenry and protect human dignity but have turned their staff of office against the people and constituted themselves maximum authorities. Unfortunately, one of the factors fueling gender based violence is the pervasive female stereotypes in our community. It is this stereotype that portrays women as objects for possession and for pleasure, and it's not surprising that most women unfortunate to be detained in police cells or prisons in Nigeria, and most of Africa, bear scars of sexual abuse(most of time silently).

Laudable as the effort of Punch Newspapers to bring this malady to the national discuss might be, it is nonetheless laced with a typical stereotype which tends to classify women as "vectors" of diseases and not rightly as humans who have been abused, often by men who are mindless and in actual sense are vectors of human failure, depravation and low life. The following statement in the Punch Editorial: "But more frightening is the health hazards such sexually harassed female detainees pose to the wider society when freed. Certainly, they become agents for the spread of sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV/AIDS, gonorrhoea and syphilis. Other contagious ailments such as tuberculosis and cholera easily spread"  is ill informed and most unfortunate.

Punch Editorial should be educated that "more frightening" is the impunity of those in authority who abuse their power and violate the vulnerable; "more frightening" is a society which has become unsafe for everyone of us; "more frightening" is the savagery and inhumanity in our midst; "more frightening" is the complacency of the entire society which has failed to hold people to account and firmly demand for justice; "more frightening" is the lack of support services for survivors of sexual violence; and "more frightening"  is the absence of appropriate forensic medicine service for the management of the survivors, and for collection of forensic medical evidence for the justice system. These and more are the "more frightening" situations that an informed Punch Editorial should have been concerned about, rather than the apparent re-victimization of already traumatized women in that poorly conceived statement which is dripping from a poisonous gravy of female stereotype as sexual objects that are "vectors" of diseases following sexual assault. This has been responsible for the stigmatization and continuing violence that survivors of sexual assault experience in our society. Punch Newspaper should withdraw that unfortunate statement and correct a wrong impression which has devalued a beautiful case the paper has tried to make for the respect of human dignity in their Editorial page of this day.

Baga Massacre: The Missing Item in the Report

Baga massacre is only different this time round because it has occurred in 2013, and in a different location. Regrettably, we have witnessed  previous massacres and ongoing indiscriminate killings in Nigeria which  have not been accounted for. This is also in addition to numerous man made disasters in different parts of the country, in which figures are estimated in varying proportions by different interest groups and government agencies. The usual motion  by those in authority is a quick and despicable mass burial, and thereafter, we never get to know the exact number of victims and whom they are. Victims of these mindless disasters, like in all disasters, deserve to be identified; they deserve the respect, dignity and right of "listening" to their remains tell us whom they are, what happened, how it happened, and what caused their death. This is what forensic autopsy does in disasters or massacres or in any forensic investigation of death. A good number of answers will be provided if a proper autopsy is carried out on the deceased, and one vital information that is both a matter of human right and dignity and also of crucial clue to understanding the circumstance of event is proper identification of victims. In our usual hurry to "move on", these victims are buried in mass graves like animal remains, and the lives of their loved ones are thereby "suspended" indefinitely in search for answers that may never come.

The regular reports that are submitted to government by relevant agencies do not contain the names of victims of such massacres or disasters, as the case may be. Figures are just figures and worse still, are even wide estimates as if dealing with mere objects. But we can identify with a name. A name is a relation of someone-a father, mother, sister, brother, son, husband, wife etc. The impact of a name (and not a figure) brings home the implication of an irreparable loss. It is a 100% loss to a family, a community and a nation. This is what is usually missing in the disaster report that government receives. The reports are usually hollow, without soul and without the essence of humanity. We cannot understand fully what happened to the victims of Baga massacre until a forensic autopsy is conducted on ALL of the remains. It is not too late to do so. Even if the bodies have been buried, they could still be exhumed and accorded appropriate examination as we "listen" to what they have to tell us about that fateful day in Baga. It may be a long and meticulous process, but it's a yield of TRUTH we cannot afford to sacrifice on the altar of "convenience"; it is human right and dignity for the deceased; it's proper closure for their families and friends; and it's soul searching for a nation that desperately needs a rediscovery and a true identify. If government is ready to follow through the right procedures in death investigation through forensic autopsy and related processes, we can mobilize appropriate personnel for the task at any time.