Be Inspired

May 27th of every year in Nigeria is a day set aside to celebrate The Nigerian Child. The day is usually declared a public holiday for the children whilst they in turn are free from the worries of getting ready for school (at least for that day) and go some place else to have fun i.e amusement parks, children’s games, fun programmes et cetera for those who are afforded that privilege, other wise it’s just another day for some children to sit at home, go street hawking to make ends meet, staring into space not sure what this holiday is about (because they can’t even afford to go to school) or what the future has in store for them…To them life has just been so unfair because they suffer so much through no fault of theirs’ and they have grown up  too fast and so soon  (missing out on their childhood) not well equipped to face the pressures and challenges they are constantly been bombarded with…Our children that is who they are…For they belong to the society we live in and by our own hands and acts have made it what it is…

The year was 1954 and that was when the United Nations (UN) General Assembly recommended that all countries should institute a Universal Children’s Day to be observed. This should be a day to celebrate children and draw attention to their problems. Surprisingly, 55 years after, the challenges facing children especially in African countries and other Third World countries are enormous and causing hardship to the children.

However, realising that all is not well with the World’s children and recognising that children have rights that must be documented, the UN General Assembly, promoted, enforced and adopted in 1959, the Declaration of the Rights of the child which addresses the rights of children and youth under 18 years. Also in 1989, the UN adopted the Convention on the Rights of the child, which covers in its 54 articles all the rights of the children. This has to do with health care, education and the right to have an opinion. Since children’s day is to celebrate “Childhood”, it is usually a day for tribute for all children of the world and usually marked with promises by different governments.

But…despite the UN convention on the Rights of the child and the Child Rights Act, despite the addresses of government officials about the state of the Nigerian child and good promises (empty promises if you ask me) to enhance their living standard, it is flabbergasting that the rights of the children of Nigeria, to a large extent are still being violated…The condition of the children remains unchanged, unprotected and their rights violated.

For example, such basic rights as the right to education, healthcare, protection from child labour, trafficking, sexual and other forms of exploitation and drug abuse, right to rest and leisure, play and recreation, right to decent standards of living, right to protection from abuse and neglect, protection from illicit transfer and illegal adoption, right to survival and development and the right to non-discrimination are scarcely respected or enforced. In diverse forms, children are being discriminated against. In some states of the country, discriminatory school fees are being charged. While in some other states, children from some parts of the country are not admitted, all based on ethnicity and or religion!!! Where is the one Nigeria we have been talking about?!

For many Nigerian children, Children’s Day is just a day like any other day. This is because such children are living below poverty line while struggling to make enough money to feed themselves and often, other members of their families. Some children live on the streets doing menial jobs for survival, some face the risk of being sold and trafficked, some are being abused, maltreated and exploited, some are sick with no access to health care, some have no clean water or electricity. In other words, they suffer all days. It makes no difference to them because of hardship as well as abject poverty and the holiday is nothing to them because they don’t even attend school.

As we celebrate Children’s Day, I ask “What About The Children?” Don’t just shrug your shoulders and turn away. Whether we like it or not we are  all they have and they are all we have. To ignore is very easy but our nonchalant attitude towards issues that concern them will cause them to choose the wrong path.  “Agba ki wa l’oja, ki ori omo tun tun wo” Our parents are not helping matters either because they are working from sunrise to sunrise just to make ends meet whilst leaving their children at the mercy of the television, media, internet, house helps, stewards and other domestic staff without proper guidance. Already these children are being set up and  are accidents just waiting to happen. How can they learn? How will they hear? How can they feel? How can they know the right way, the right attitude or anything right for that matter when they were neither taught nor shown nor told?

Like the lyrics of a popular song by Whitney Houston, one of the greatest singing legends of our time, she sang;

“I believe that children are our future,

Teach them well and let them lead the way

Show them all the beauty they possess inside…”

…Because they are the future of the world, They are the hope of the nation, They are tomorrow’s people, They are our inspiration, They are the ones who will make this world a better place for you and for me long after we are gone. They are our children and they live in our society and it is our collective responsibility to ensure that  as adults, we create a world of love where they can grow and thrive, to teach them values and principles that will outlive us. Let’s remember that we were also children and if not for those who loved us and who cared enough to show us, where would we be today? Truth is if we don’t rise up today our children and youths will curse us  tomorrow wondering, What legacy we left in our time for them to continue…

Is that asking for too much?