Street children and Nigeria’s future

The neglected, abandoned, rejected, abused, malnourished, oppressed, depressed, suppressed poverty-stricken children walk our streets daily. In Nigeria, we call them “almajirai” while some other countries refer to them as street children. These children fend for themselves by begging as they lack love, care, shelter, etc. They only know how to beg, scramble over leftover foods in our restaurants, hostels, eating joints and waste bins. They carry the rubber dish praying to get food or money from anyone.

No child chooses his/her parents because nature determines the birth place, environment, society, etc of where a child is to be born. God owns the child, children are precious before Him. How we treat them might determine where we spend our eternity.

Prof. Idris A. Abdulqadir of the University of Maiduguri postulated that God has given us these children in trust, and given us guides on how to bring them up and will surely ask us on the day of judgment of what we have done in the discharge of that aspect of what he entrusted upon us. Prof. Abdulqadir rightly observed that there seems to be a conspiracy of silence between the parents, authorities and the society at large. For the parent, the system provides an outlet and drainage for the excess children at home. For the authorities, it is a relief that they do not have to budget for about 7 million almajarai’s education and welfare. As for the elite, they care less as long as their own children are not involved.

We tend to forget so quickly the reasons we have found ourselves in the present situation of insecurity. We do not sleep today because of the fear of Boko Haram insurgents. The bulk of the members of this sect are the neglected children of yesteryears. We see them as nonentities but today we spend huge money on our security and safety by buying guns and all kinds of weapons to protect ourselves. We have several bullet proof vehicles, doors, several scanners in our homes and offices because of the fear of terrorists.

We are in this predicament because we neglected the street children. Government is more concerned about infrastructure but neglecting to develop the human being; a society that neglects her children will pay dearly with her blood. Laws enacted have to be executed to the letter because it is not enough to rid these children off the streets but we need to make conscious efforts to make them enjoy the right to exist. We shall not have a government tomorrow if we constantly look the other way when our children litter the streets.

Providing alternatives for these children will be the only way we can say we have conquered Boko Haram and terrorism in our society. We can only pretend or say we are on top of the situation forgetting that the hungry has no ears and he that is down already fears no fall.

Let us build more bridges than buy more scanners, let us build more handshakes than build more iron gates that imprison us. Let us engage the street children than throw away foods in our dustbins or thrash basket. Let us be the voice of the voiceless, the eyes of these blind children and the legs of these cripples. Let us build human beings first before structures that do not have eternal value. We shall only be remembered tomorrow by our deeds of kindness shown to human being than the structures we have built.

Cultural historian, Bulama Mali Gubio, asserted that the community is expected to take care of the almajirai, as part of what he described as a ‘’communal feeding system’’. Gubio said they have no parents, no teacher, no guardian, no body to take care of them. How are they not going to turn something evil, because they did not know anything called love? Nobody ever loves them, nobody brought them out from the rain, nobody brought them out from the sun, they don’t know where to go and have medications if they get sick. 

Regina Ohihe Igogo,

300 level student,

Department of Mass Communication,

University of Maiduguri, Maiduguri.

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