Nigeria is a family-knitted country with strong family ties and respect for human lives. Our culture and society frown at child molestation and abandonment. Sadly, there’s been an increase in the cases of child abandonment recorded in the country of recent.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has raised the alarm early that it received 339 complaints concerning the issue in the month of February alone. The cases were recorded across the Commission’s 36 state offices and the Federal Capital Territory.
These children are abandoned in churches, waste dumps, highways, farms, and all kinds of places.
Issues concerning child abandonment are ad a result of poverty, lack of love, and acceptance.
Some children are branded as witches and wizards and are left to die.
Some young women who are impregnated out of wedlock may think of child abandonment as the only means of starting again in life. This and other factors contribute to the problem.
Child dumping is illegal and against nature.
Poverty and homelessness are often causes of child abandonment.
A single mother is more aligned to having to abandon a child, especially in low-income countries like Nigeria.
Issues like physical disability, mental illness, and substance abuse can also lead to abandonment.
Sometimes, some of these babies get lucky and are rescued by members of the public before they die. Some are not lucky, as they sometimes die before help could reach them.
It is an offense to abandon children in Nigeria. According to Section 16 of the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act 2015, it is a criminal offense to abandon children or leave them without a means of sustenance.
The VAPA Act even says any offender, upon conviction, is liable to imprisonment not exceeding three years or a fine not exceeding N500,000.
The Nigerian Child Act of 2003 also stipulated that no child should be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment. This section is also supported by Section 34(1) of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria, which affirmed that every individual is entitled to respect and dignity of their person.
Nigeria is also a signatory to many international conventions aimed at protecting the rights of the child. These include the International Convention on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights of the Child (1976) and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989).
Notwithstanding these laws and conventions, cases of child abuse and abandonment are still very rampant in the country.
Nigeria must continue to condemn this social malaise and address the multiple factors responsible for child abandonment.
Child abandonment is a serious form of child abuse. Such abandoned children may be scarred for life, and many may have to deal with long-term social, psychological, and health issues, while others may die in the process. The dignity of humans is affected and destroyed.
Parents, families, traditional and religious leaders should get better prepared to fight against this unacceptable crime.
By: Ubong Usoro
