As the celebration of another Children’s day is now tossed into the annals of history and the goodwill messages from incumbent and aspiring political leaders stop coming in on the day celebrated last Friday, May 27, the reality dawns that on each of these days, street children are practically forgotten and even afterwards.
Who are the street children? In the simplest terms, they are the poor or homeless children who live and depend on streets of a city, town or even villages. They fend for themselves no matter their age. The street children are one of the most vulnerable groups of the urban poor. According to UNICEF statistics, there are about 10.5 million out of school children in Nigeria, providing an insight into this vulnerable class. They face difficulties while living on the streets, and they also develop their own ways to overcome such difficulties. Their own ways most times hurt them in the immediate, in the future or greatly affect their physical, psychological and social development. They suffer to provide a meal, do not have access to clean drinking water, health care services and convenience. They are the first victims of open defecation. They also suffer from absence of parental protection, security and missing connection with their families or any kind of moral and emotional support.
Some scholars have tried to provide a distinction for these Children. The first group, they say, are those who are homeless and are mostly in the urban areas depending daily on whatsoever their hands will lay on as a means of livelihood. The second group are the children who work and live on the streets in the day time but have a home to return to at night, although, some of them occasionally sleep on the streets. Nevertheless, no matter the distinction, both groups are faced with a lot of risks, hazards and behavioral shortcomings.
The major underlining factor causing this humongous number of children living on the streets is economic stress and general poverty. Despite the huge natural and human resources available, Nigeria and Congo Democratic Republic still compete for the position of the poorest countries in the whole world. Nigeria, like the rest of other African countries, is challenged by the menace of quality leadership who it has become a herculean task to eradicate poverty.
As these children lack access to parental and societal control, love, and support, it will be impossible to alienate the security risk they portend to the entire society. Some of them grow up and seek revenge on the society. They feel the society owe them and did not care to invest in their lives and then begin to take revenge through different forms of criminality.
Therefore, to solve this challenge the leadership class must mix governance with kindness, humility and sincere show of affection and concern to those under their leadership. Let government at all levels realize that the violence and present bloodshed seen in different parts of the country is as a result of accumulated results of hostile governance, ruling with intention to cause the people maximum harm, suffering and severe economic stress. These cause breakup in family units and destruction of family values, throwing more children into the streets. So as we lay down the drums from celebrating the children’s day, let’s spare some thought, develop strategies, and outline actions on how to reduce the number of our children on the street.
Written by UMEADI ANIGBOGU
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