Special Report: Nigeria risks becoming breeding place for future gangsters as child abuse cases mount

The incidence of violence against children is on the high with concerned groups decrying the alarming increase. The growing scourge has also witnessed the clamour for stringent penalties on abusers to end the menace which is ranked as the third highest crime in the country, after economic fraud and drug related offences. AHMED BOULOR reports…

Wearing a well-sewn Ankara dress as she sat at the reception inside the premises of Child Protection Network (CPN) located along Iyana Iba road in Lagos, Aisha (not real name) cut the picture of a young girl who seemed full of life, yet a bit withdrawn.

The abused girl, now 14-year-old, it was learnt, started to suffer the pangs of torture about seven years ago when her dad (now married to another woman) took her to stay with her mom who lives alone in the Igando area of Lagos.

Unknown to her, she was earmarked to recount via an interview the abusive experience she encountered in the hands of her mother which came to the open after she ran away from home and later found a safe haven under the umbrella of the Child Protection Network.

When she was approached to narrate her ordeal, the facial expression of the seemingly happy girl changed, showing she didn’t want to recall all she went through in the hands of the woman she calls her mother.

Her body language also revealed what was going through her mind as she paced aimlessly around the reception area of the office trying to get a hold of what was asked of her.

After much appeal and persuasion, Aisha who’s eyes were now misty, painfully decided to open up on her ordeal which according to her started after her mom complained that she had lost some money, and pointed accusing fingers at her.

Labelled a witch, chained to a chair for a year by her mom

Aisha said her torture in the hands of her biological mother started in 2015 when she was 11-years-old after their pastor labelled her a witch which made her father send her to live with her mother.

She said initially, her mother treated her well but changed her attitude towards her when she lost the sum of N40, 000 (forty thousand) in her apartment and pointed accusing fingers at her.

Aisha said her ordeal got worse when her mother went to church and was also told by her own pastor that her daughter who was spiritually possessed was the one who stole her money.

 “After the pastor told her that I was a witch, she returned home accusing me of stealing her money and that was where my ordeal in the hands of my mother started. I was later sent to a nearby church for cleansing, where I was chained for several days. I was barely fed while I was bound with the chain and somehow I freed myself and fled the church because I couldn’t withstand the hunger I was faced with there.

“I was later apprehended and brought back to the church where I was bound with a bigger chain for three more days before I was released and sent back home. While at home, the torment was unbearable and I was constantly seeking ways to run away because of my idleness. I later summed up courage to tell my mum that I want to go to school but she resented the idea saying my father who had abandoned me was not ready to fund my education”.

Afraid that she could elope again, Aisha said her mother resorted to chaining her to a chair at her home.

“I was chained to a chair by my mum for one year and did chores like washing clothes and plates while I was bound to the chair by chains in her apartment. Our neighbours later got wind of the treatment being meted out to me by my mum who treated me like a prisoner. The experience was not pleasant at all because she usually rains curses on me and calls me unprintable names which I felt so bad about”.

However, Aisha said, a year after, she was chased into the streets by her mom who told her never to return saying if she did, she will be bound with a bigger chain and would be left to suffer.

“My mum chased me into the streets warning me never to return, and days later I was accosted by some policemen who saw me roaming on the streets and they asked me about my parents. I told them they were both dead because that was what my mum told me to say whenever anyone asked me about my folks. The cops later took me to the police station where I was taken to a child shelter”.

‘She bore marks of torture all over’

According to Goldman Kalu, an official of Child Protection Network, Aisha was looking unkept and withdrawn when she was brought to the institution’s child shelter.
He said Aisha bore marks of torture all over her body and found it hard initially to associate with other kids at the shelter.

“She wasn’t looking good when she arrived; you could see the traces of torture written all over her. Aisha was withdrawn and she refused to eat for one week and we applied psychological means to make her cheerful, feel free, associate with other people and most importantly have something to eat.

“As the days unfolded, we saw marks (razor cuts) she got from the torture she
went through in the hands of her mother. There was also a permanent scar around her wrists and legs which she sustained when she was chained. Sometimes she breaks down in tears recalling her experience after she was labelled a witch by her mum.

“She told us that she was chained to a chair for one year and most of the time, she would move about and around the house in chains as she carried out her chores at home, washing the family clothes as the official laundry girl and plates in the kitchen. We tried our best to give her hope and make her understand that despite all she had gone through that she can still live a normal life”.

Goldman said the Child Protection Network, did its best to ensure that Aisha who one day hopes to become a medical doctor got the rehabilitation required for her to be re-integrated into the society and live a normal life like every child should.

“One of the things we did initially was home-tracing which is trying to locate a member of her family. When we eventually reached a member of her family (her mother) who had not seen her daughter for three-years, she didn’t feel excited seeing her daughter. She wasn’t even moved and acted as if she didn’t see Aisha, meaning that when she was chased away from home, her mother never ever wanted to hear from her because of the witch-tag she was labelled with. It was even passers-by and neighbours who had not seen Aisha for a long time that persuaded her mum to embrace her child whom she hadn’t seen for 36-months.

 “We also ensured that she mingles and associates with other children at the child shelter where we have other kids like her. She has been an active participant in daily activities and the church where she is one of the best voices in the choir. For now we have been able to make her feel at home and not to relapse into recalling the torture dished out to her by her mum, even as she is now looking forward to a brighter future.”

‘Why victims wallow in silence’

One of the major reasons cited why most victims choose not to talk about their situation is the fact that parents of such victims of child abuse prefer to save their children from shame and stigmatization.

According to Mrs. Veronica N. Eze, Head, Litigation/Mediation Committee of International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), Lagos, “In many of the cases, children were usually victims as well but their mothers would rather focus on how she will either leave the abusive relationship/marriage with her children or get the perpetrator to stop the abuse.”

Mrs Eze revealed that FIDA mostly receives complaints that border on domestic violence against women which described as often ‘bizarre’ and very ‘pathetic’.

 Reported cases of child abuses from different parts of the country, suggest that there were more of such incidents in Lagos, Ogun and Katsina states.

According to a copy of the Child Protection Network Information Management and Data Collection records cited by Ripplesnigeria, there were 36 cases of violence against children registered by the NGO in Lagos State.

Alimosho LGA leads with a total of 14 cases, followed by Kosofe LGA, 4 cases, Oshodi-Isolo LGA, 2 cases, Mushin LGA, 4 cases, Ikorodu LGA, 2 cases, Apapa LGA ,1 case, Ikeja LGA, 1 case, Ajeromi LGA, 1 case, Shomolu LGA, 1 case, Agege LGA, 1 case, and Ifako-Ijaiye LGA also recording,1 case.

In 2017 alone, at least 31 cases of violence against children were recorded in the media with Lagos leading with 9 cases, Ogun had 4 reported cases while Katsina had 4 cases. Others are Niger State: 3 cases, Kano State: 1 case, Anambra State: 1 case, Ebonyi State: 1 case, Rivers State: 2 cases, Cross River State: 1 case, Delta State: 2 cases, Akwa Ibom: 1 case, Kaduna State: 1 case, Osun State: 1 case, Kebbi State: 1 case and Edo State with 1 case.

 Many stakeholders strongly believe that the cases of violence and abuses against children in the country is far more, as only a small percentage of such incidences are officially reported.

Troubling statistics

Just like Aisha, many suffer such child abuse categorised as sexual (rape), emotional (harassment) and physical (flogging/beating) in Nigeria which is on the high going by a survey conducted by the National Population Commission (NPC) with the support of the United Centres for Disease Control and UNICEF.

The 2014 survey reveals that half of Nigerian children go through at least one violent experience before the age of 18, a growing trend which if not averted could lead to substantial economic losses estimated at 2-8 per cent GDP according to the Nigerian Population Commission.

In 2016, a survey conducted by the NPC with support from UNICEF and the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, revealed that millions of children suffer abuse every year in Nigeria – approximately 6 out of every 10 children experience some form of physical, emotional or sexual violence before the age of 18.