Street kids
On Monday, May 27, children in Nigeria will observe the 2013 edition of Children’s Day. While many school children are looking forward to that date with excitement, there are others whose daily routine will not change. In fact, for these children who have been forced to take up adult responsibilities at tender age, thinking of such a luxury is an exercise in futility.
Fifteen year-old Damilola Adewale hawks biscuits at the Iwo Road end of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway everyday.
On Sundays and weekdays, Adewale doesn’t take to the road until about 3pm due to church and school commitments. However, on Saturdays, Adewale and his siblings hit the busy road as early as 7am, to support their mother, who is a single parent.
Adewale said he had never owned a toy and that Children’s Day has no significance to him. He usually spends such days on the highway, running after vehicles to try to beat other hawkers to customers.
Asked if he had any special plans for the coming Children’s Day, Adewale said, “I’m helping my mummy, so I will come out to sell as usual because we have to eat. I know that people celebrate Children’s Day because I see some of my mates in cars as they are being driven past by their parents. We are also usually given a public holiday in school, but for me, I have to sell to eat and go to school.”
Children’s Day is set aside to honour and draw attention to issues that concern children, globally, although, it is observed on different days by various countries.
The World Conference for the Well-being of Children in 1925 set a day aside to honour children. But in 1954, it was proclaimed universally by the United Nations General Assembly to protect children and allow them access to education, no matter their colour or nationality.
In Nigeria , the day is celebrated annually on May 27, when a public holiday is declared for school children. Swings, slides, games, movies and playgrounds are a few of the things that make the day fun for children, but like Adewale, many of them are not afforded the opportunity to truly enjoy the day even though they are often referred to as tomorrow’s leaders.
In fact, a cross section of children who spoke to Saturday PUNCH were not aware of the day’s existence, let alone its value.
At Ijaiye Bus Stop, on the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway, two child hawkers, Bayo Ishola and Moruf Ibrahim, said they had no idea of what Children’s Day was.
The boys, who are classmates in school, also appeared confused when our correspondent asked them to name the day that Children’s Day is observed in Nigeria.
Ishola, 8, asked, “Uncle, what is Children’s Day? Is it like Easter? What do we do on the day? We sometimes do a celebration in school every year but I don’t know if that is what it is. Some of our seniors are chosen to represent the school during matchpasts sometimes but we don’t know if it is the Children’s Day the take them to. ”
“We are in the same class. Our teachers have not told us about Children’s Day. If there is a day like that in our school, our teachers would have told us,” Ibrahim added.
Latifat Ogunjinmi is a junior secondary school two student. Her mother works at a canteen as an extra hand, to cook, wash and wait on customers. Ogunjinmi said she resumes at the canteen from school on weekdays.
According to Ogunjinmi, the thought of Children’s Day had never crossed her mind. She said her mother cannot afford to give her any special treat on that day beyond what they get to eat at the canteen, where she also assists doing what her mother does.
“Normally, children go to the stadium to march and see the governor on Children’s Day, but I don’t join them. My mother will not even allow me since there is work at home and at the canteen. On weekends and public holidays, I wash clothes in the morning, then after, we go to the canteen; that is where I get to play,” she said.
While some privileged children can hope to enjoy the day, playing video games, swimming or running around a park during outdoor games and camping, Sule Jamiu, an apprentice to a tyre repairer in Agege area of Lagos , said he might go to bed hungry on the night of May 27, 2013.
Jamiu said he was living with his guardian, who cared less if he ate or not.
He said, “I don’t even know Children’s Day; maybe later I will be able to celebrate it but now, I’m concerned about my survival. Some of my friends in school will go to Agege Stadium since they play matches there, but I may not be able to go because of my work.”
Mahmoud, 15, works as an apprentice at a tailor’s shop in Ogba.
He said, “What is Children’s Day? What do people do on Children’s Day? I don’t know what it is. That can only concern school children.”
Investigation shows that, over the years, Children’s Day celebration only incorporates school children in its activities. Therefore, children that are not in school, or involved in the usual frantic preparation for march-pasts for the day, are often left out of the celebration.
Blessing Ugwu, 13, a grocery store attendant, at Agege, who is not in school, asked Saturday PUNCH, “Is Children’s Day not the day students that go to march at the stadium are shown on television? I don’t know what day it is. What’s my business with it? I am 13 but I don’t go to school, so, how will I know when Children’s Day is?”
An expert in education management, Mr. Bamidele Omotosho, gave an insight into the indifference and ignorance displayed by many children about Children’s Day. His take was that it was not surprising.
Omotosho said, “The reason is simple. Anytime there is a national event that is not supported by an edict people become indifferent about it.
“People are more concerned about their lives. Any national celebration that does not necessitate the shutting of banks becomes unimportant.
“Another issue about Children’s Day is that there is scanty publicity about it. The Federal Government has not really shown much responsibility about it. The celebration is usually undertaken by the state and local governments.”
He suggested that to give the day more prominence, not only schools should be involved in the activities marking it.
Omotosho added that there is need for parents to be involved.
An expert in child psychology, Dr. Mashidat Mojeed-Bello of the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Lagos, explained that street children may not be aware of Children’s Day because they would “lack the basic information that their mates in school have.”
She said, “These children are in abject poverty and they are psychologically, emotionally and socially neglected, so all they know is to try to survive.”
Bello said such children could be exposed to all forms of danger on the streets and also stand a greater risk of developing psychiatric problems later in life.
She said, “Those children under the watch of parents feel loved because they are taken out, gidven given good food and shown love, but the street children lack the type of love that is being shared on children’s day. They are pushed into the streets to fend for survival for themselves.
“They are exposed to danger and more likely to develop psychiatric disorders, anxiety, depression or substance use disorders. So they may not be able to integrate well and contribute to the society.”
However, Bello said that education should be made free or affordable to accommodate under-privileged children and keep them off the streets.
“There should also be programmes that will assist poor parents; where they can go for help so that their children will not end up on the street,” she added.
However, to many of the children, Children’s Day means nothing and not important enough to commit to memory. Some of the children also gave the impression that Children’s Day is only for the children of the rich, who can afford to celebrate it.
For instance, a group of young boys from the Northern part of the country, hawking water melon in carts at Mile 12 area of Lagos, simply shook their heads, when Saturday PUNCH asked them about their plans for Children’s Day. For these kid hawkers, survival is the major issue.
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