Iniobong Ekponta
Roaming children and teenagers have become part of the ugly side of Uyo, Nigeria’s Akwa Ibom state capital, as the excruciating poverty borne out of the current socio-economic downturn continue to bite with reckless abandon.
The Niger Delta Region, about the largest crude producer in South-South Nigeria, has consistently earns the highest pay from the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee in the last couple of years.
But indices on the ground paint a bleak future for children, who make up a sizable part of the about 7.2 million population in Akwa Ibom.
However, checks revealed that major chunk of the federal allocations end up in the deep pockets of politicians and friends of government, while the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) could only be seen on paper.
According to the recent report from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Akwa Ibom ranks fifth highest among states plagued with endemic unemployment and poverty in spite of priding itself as being the second state with the most Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) inflows.
Besides, the national HIV/AIDS survey indicates that the state still ranks frightfully high among comity of states ravaged by the pandemic.
“This scary picture is an indication that we don’t have a healthy population and the youths stand the danger of being decimated by the malaise, if urgent attention is not taken to remedy the situation,” Dr. Emmanuel Ekong, a clinical Psychologist explains.
“And with most homes seriously affected by the scourge, most children have become orphans; especially in rural areas, forcing them to migrate to where they could get help and that is why you see a lot them roaming the streets of Uyo,” he noted.
Apart, Straightnews gathered that these frustrated children, who are sheltered in dingy places including some schools, Ibom Plaza, churches, under the foot of the University of Uyo (UNIUYO), pedestrian bridge and other unguarded places, live on scavenging major dumpsites for edibles and valuable items for sale.
“From these places, they would move very early to refuse dumpsites to scavenge for valuable things like used plastics, clothes, bottles, iron rods and other items where they usually sell to eke out a living,” Comrade Effiong Akpan, a civil society advocate explains.
“If you go to these major dumpsites along Uyo Village Road, University of Uyo, Ikpa Road by Saint Joseph Primary School and other refuse dumpsites, you see children from the ages to five and 11, scrambling for valuables for sale and leftover foods,” he added.
“Also in the colony are those thrown out of homes because of poverty and labeled as “child witches” by frustrating parents to justify their irresponsible actions against the children,” Mrs. Nene Stephens, children’s rights advocate said.
“Some parents would take a critical look at their children, perhaps for any unusual sign that he or she may not have come from the family genealogy because while the parents are black, he or she is an albino. Therefore, such persona is an evil child meant for the street or evil forest,” she stressed.
“Some parents would go the extra mile of selling such children out because they believe such children bring them bad luck that won’t let them grow,” she added.
Worried by the development, a former Akwa Ibom Governor Godswill Akpabio, had to ensure the domestication of the Child Rights Act, which he signed into law in 2008, making it an offence for parents to abandon their children.
The governor also announced free education and meals for children in primary and Junior Secondary Schools to address the problem of out-of-school children and to check the trafficking in children out of the state to Lagos, Port Harcourt and Cameroon where they are made to serve as house helps.
Sadly, according to findings, the law has not been implemented as several children roam the streets during school hours with most of them found begging at major traffic points.
“What is bad about what our policy makers do every year is that they would budget billions of naira every fiscal year to even include their hair cut, but no appropriation to address children issues,” notes Hon. Emem Edoho, the National President of the Network Advancement Programme for Poverty and Disaster Risks Reduction (NAPPDRR).
The NGO, committed to compelling governments and other development partners to address the challenges of poverty and underdevelopment plaguing the Niger Delta region, he said, has been in the forefront of agitations for a functional system to address the scourge.
The administration of governor Udom Emmanuel, he said, “has taken up the challenges of development plaguing the state.”
“If you check, the governor came with a paradigm shift to tailor the state along the path of industrialization in order to create jobs and empower the youths. That is why the government is gradually taking the state away from its former civil service status into an industrialized economy with over 15 industries at various stages of completion.
“I believe once this policy blossoms; its positive multiplier effects would go a long way towards addressing other challenges in other sectors of the state’s economy.
“With the biting poverty and high level inflation, government should focus on core areas of addressing the pressing needs of the people and subsidized health, education and jobs to ease the burden of the unemployed youths,” he said.
Lamenting the plights of the abandoned children, Lady Enobong Akan, a social welfare officer, noted that “this critical sector is not well captured and considered by government.”
“Government is the single largest spender of cash in any economy and that is why I keep advocating that the children who are the so called leaders of tomorrow should be made to be prepared for the eventual takeover from our aging leaders.
“Planning for the children means planning for the future leaders by getting them well bred, educationally and vocationally trained to be able to step into the big shoes that would be left for them by our graying leaders so they won’t be found wanting in the succession plan,” she explained.
However, the administration of governor Udom Emmanuel, Straightnews gathered, has been investing huge chunk of the state’s funds on creating the right environment for businesses to thrive.
“The simple reason is to engender positive multiplier effects for better welfare for the people,” Chief Nath Udotong, a community leader in Uyo, said.
The administration of governor Emmanuel, he explained, was committed “to spreading the dividends of democracy across all the nooks and cranny of Akwa Ibom,” adding that “between now and when the administration will leave in 2023, over 30 industries will be established to change the civil service status of the state.”
Straightnews learnt that the state government has provided several interventionist programmes towards addressing the problems of stigmatized and abandoned children in Akwa Ibom.
A member of the House of Assembly representing Esit Eket/Ibeno and former Chairman of Budget and Appropriation Committee, Dr. Usoro Akpanusoh, stated that children’s issues are fully captured in the budget
“Yes, (the issues of under-privileged children) are captured in the budget under the Ministry of Social Welfare.”
Besides, it was learnt the wife of the governor, Mrs. Martha Udom Emmanuel, has captured much of indigent children’s burden under her pet programme, FeyReP
According to a source from the office of the First Lady, “the governor’s wife has undertaken several responsibilities to assist the less privileged children, pregnant and poor women, widows and the orphans in Akwa Ibom.”
He revealed that “Mrs. Emmanuel has built houses for widows to accommodate their kids left behind at the death of their husbands, feeding the indigent kids at the orphanage and offering scholarship for the deprived children to get access to functional education”.
Towards de-escalating the problem of abandoned and out-of-school children in the state, Mrs. Imelda Effiong, a guidance/counselor, charged that “government should ensure honest implementation of the Child Rights Act.”
“This regulation was adopted as an article of faith binding on all parents to safeguard their children since 2008. And since then, the law, which was enacted to hold parents accountable for their wayward and straying children, has not been implemented.
“Today, you still find children on school uniforms roaming the streets during school hours, yet the law was made to catch up and punish parents whose children are allowed to roam the streets instead of being in their classes during schools hours.
“Driving on the streets of Uyo, these children are seen in the brisk businesses of hawking sachet water, groundnuts, and pumpkins to banana. Some of them at age six cluster around the street light points at Abak Road, Udo Umana junction, Ukana Offot and other busy spots on the metropolis.
“Many of them as young as five are seen with bucket of water soaked with detergent, soliciting for car owners who would allow them scrub and clean their ‘dirty’ windscreens for a fee,” she added.
First published by Straightnews hard copy on May 31-June 6, 2021
