By Edoamaowo Udeme
When 189 world leaders gathered in New York in the year 2000 to create the 8 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the aim was for the least developing countries to be carried by developed ones along development lines. Nigeria through the then President Olusegun Obasanjo stepped its own down to 4 key thematic areas, Poverty reduction, Employment generation, Wealth creation and Value reorientation with the hope that once those targets are met, Nigeria would have succeeded in reducing by half all the 8 goals. Sadly, as at 2019 when there had been a crossover from 8 MDGs to 17 SDGs, Nigeria ranked 159 among 162 countries in achieving MDGs/SDGs.
Of the 232 SDGs indicators, The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)has identified 35 that most directly concern children and will be the major focus of UNICEF’s efforts to monitor and report on ‘progress for every child’ during the SDG era.
Case 1
6 yr-old Ubokobong Peter from Ikot Ofon Ikono is not in school, first, is being stigmatized because she currently has two vagina holes as a result of being sexually molested by her father. Peter, her father started fingering her when she was 1 year-old and her mother, after pleading and begging him to desist from it, had kept quiet only to raise an alarm when she turned 3 and her father used a scissors to cut up her vagina for easy entry. Which means, no more using fingers but penis instead. Second, despite being arrested, her father may be soon released as the Child Rights and Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) Act laws haven’t being implemented despite being domesticated, so just like other cases, her father may walk free any moment from now
Third, the government failed her because had there been implementation of those rights, even an onlooker would have intervened on her case without batting an eyelid
Case 2
Udeme is a girl of 22 and has a set of twins for her father. Having lost her mother at a tender age, her father started sexually molesting her at 14, he monitors her movement, practically walking her to school and back, people looked at him as a doting father who practically worships the ground her daughter walks on. Some believe he is a protective and good father, but behind the fatherly look and attitude lies a monster who doesn’t let his child sleep at night, he ensures she has no friends lest, she spill the beans.
When she got pregnant, tongues started wagging as to how it happened under her father’s watch thinking that when he finds out, she would be dead meat. But he took care of everything and still harboured her until the twins were born. Udeme confided in a friend how many times she attempted suicide, goes into depression and even nursing the feelings of killing him.
Before having her child, her father had cut her off from mother’s family, even his own, so nobody would notice their relationship. She has attempted running away but she keeps wondering where she would go. Udeme has heard of Child Rights VAPP Acts but according to her, she believes that if she leaves or reports the incident, she would still be sent back to her perpetrator, her father. “The government cannot help me, where will I live and how can I cater for my children?” she asked in a resigned tone.
Case 3
In Bauchi, a father started sexually molesting his three daughters at tender ages, his wife their mother had several times con fronted him in private on why he is committing incest, he boldly told her he cannot afford to leave 4 beautiful women in the house and look elsewhere.
Their mother, to save face, has adopted the culture of silence and beg the kids to tolerate their father until they are grown enough to either go to a boarding school or get married. The kids have nowhere to go as they aren’t sure what the government might do to help.
The lists of sexually exploited and educationally deprived children is endless and the government is not helping matters.
On if Nigeria will achieve SDGs in 2030 considering the gross neglect of implementation of Child Right and VAPP Acts, Professor Sheikh Danjuma Abubarkar, Head of Department of Geography, IBB University, Lapai, Niger State and the Lead Resource Person, NYSC SDGs Advocacy Project said “It is a 70 % Yes and 30% No.
“Yes, because if a people or a particular community has put together some machinery in motion whether rightly or, there are policies on ground, some activities have taken place, it means that there is a possibility of achieving that goal even if it were done with a myopic mind or with selfish thinking it is achievable because there could be an accident where the right person will be on the right seat at the right time, it will be achieved against the interest of the saboteurs and No, because of the sluggishness, the ignorance of the strategy to put in place, except we decide to change our attitude and that change of attitude is another vague statement because there is nothing on ground to teach Nigerians how to change attitude that is why the No is 30%”.
On his own part, Engr. Yusuf Yahaya, National Resource Person,’OSSAP-SDGs/NYSC’ SDGs Advocacy Project Nigeria noted that
“There is a big challenge imitating against achieving the SDGs in Nigeria. Mainly the continued neglect of the rights of children in most states of the country despite domestication of the Child Rights Act. Even though 30 out of the 36 states in the country, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have so far domesticated the Child Rights Act since its passage into law, implementation is mostly absent in some states and effective in other states”.
“For Nigeria to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the plight of women and children’s rights must be taken very seriously. The neglect of children has contributed a lot to the poor performance of Nigeria in the world ranking for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Children are being denied their rights to education and adequate healthcare, poor and decaying public education for which children of the masses look up to, lack of portable and sanitation which rendered many children out of school in search of water for domestic chores, discrimination against children and riding cases of child labour everywhere is alarming. A close look at the 17 SDGs, you will that most of the SDGs were about child rights in terms of the targets and the indicators for measuring results and success, but you see the goals cannot be attained when children are denied rights to survival, education, good health, freedom, peace, and others”.
Yahaha proposes three ways for Nigeria to achieve SDGs by focusing on children
“The citizens, the press, and the civil society as watch bearers must wake up to their responsibility to hold the government, public office holders and other duty bearers accountable because in all these the government has a bigger role to play also. In terms of policies, there are certain things people cannot do as individuals. We have good policies and laws in Nigeria but a cancerous problem is implementation, accountability, and follow up, lastly, the need to holistically address household poverty which affects the child directly and may end up denying the child all other rights. SDGs-3 is on good health and being, but poverty as a major factor is causing malnutrition, poor child well-being, and the resultant effect is that Nigeria remains off track to achieve the SDGs target”.
If Nigeria does not address the urgent need of implementing the Child Rights Act, then once again, it will not meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) target and the rights of the children will be continuously violated as the perpetrators will continue to be emboldened to act and commit more havoc after all, nobody is watching.
