Accused of witchcraft, abandoned by society: Disturbing fate of street children in Cross River

Findings indicate that they were children when they were branded as witches and thrown into the streets. As the years went by, they formed what could be regarded as a formidable cult and they appear to be on a revenge mission. They are known as the ‘skolombo’ in Cross River State. In this piece, GODWIN OTANG traces the genesis of Skolombo and the efforts to rehabilitate them.

Having subjected Calabar and its environs to incidents of armed robbery, phone snatching, and related crimes, the street children described as skolombo have metamorphosed into a gang. According to findings, members of the group include persons driven away from home at childhood over alleged witchcraft. They engage in diverse forms of drug abuse, smoking and drinking.

The existence of street kids called ‘skolombo’ in Calabar, according to residents, can be traced back to 1993. In 1998, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) funded a five-year counterpart programme with the Cross River State Government, in which they were to train the kids in skills acquisition. However, the government could not continue after 2002.

Mrs Onari Duke, the wife of the then governor, Mr. Donald Duke, made an effort to rehabilitate the street children and she took them to Dan Archibong Lodge. However, according to one of those who used to be on the streets, “those kids used the window blinds as ropes to escape through the windows from upstairs.”

In 2005, the Christ Embassy church, through its Inner City Mission Programme for Rehabilitating the Street Kids, recorded success stories, and produced a lawyer, Naval officer, electrician and several others among the Skolombo kids shepherded off the streets.

By 2006, several of the street children had metamorphosed into a team of robbers. A resident of Calabar South, where one of the  street gangs was said to have begun, said the name, ‘skolombo’ was first used after members of an armed robbery gang, consisting of street boys and girls numbering over 30, robbed a filling station in the area in 2014.

“It was like a thriller movie. Over 30 street boys and girls swooped on the filling station in commando style, shot sporadically into the air and within minutes, collected all the sales proceeds from the cashiers”, the source narrated.

After robbing the filling station, the source added that the leader of the gang, whose face was masked, fired shots into the air and shouted, “skolombo” and the gang members responded, “obtain by force,” and they left just as they came.

In 2009, the Cross River State Ministry of Women Affairs made an effort towards rehabilitating them too. Such efforts to rescue the street children included the  Destiny Child project of the wife of former Cross River Governor, Liyel Imoke.

Speaking on the development, Cross River former Commissioner for Social Welfare and Community Development, Mrs Inyang Enderly, said: “About 201 children have already been removed from the streets and reunited with parents and families. For the skolombo boys, the good thing we tried to do is like we are getting results. We rehabilitate them holistically, send them to child centres and reintegrate them. When they are taken off the streets, we stabilise them.

“The challenge is that when you interact with these children, it is impossible for you to get the truth from them. Usually, they will give you false names. Sometimes, they claim they are all from Cross River State, but later when we ascertain their true states of origin, we do a referral through a formal letter to the state concerned. The ones that are Cross Riverians, we try to reunite them.

“90 percent of the street children in Calabar are from Akwa Ibom. They bring them in at night and dump them at ‘8 Miles’ and disappear. I do not see them as criminals, but a breakdown in the family. In some families, men have not faced their challenges or responsibilities.”

One of such rescue missions for the street children was that of the Rochas Foundation in late 2021. The Foundation is currently helping to reduce the number of street children in Calabar, with a target of about 300 children, and the majority expected to come from the skolombo street children.

According to the Deputy Chief of Staff to the Rochas Foundation, Uloma Nwosu, the children will be supported with provision of education.

Nwosu said: “Cross River is the twelfth school we are establishing in the country. We chose Cross River because through our research, we discovered that there are a lot of out of school children in the state. That is why we are starting here.

“We have been on the streets scouting for the skolombo children in the past ten days. We are making sure that while we are targeting 300 children, most of those numbers will be the skolombo out-of-school children. Once we find them, we give them automatic admission to our school.”

Meanwhile, a female lawyer, Theodora Edim, has this to say on the skolombo issue: “I am aware that there are street children in Calabar, and I was very updated about several efforts that have been made by NGOs, and even government to rescue the street children. But you see, societal problems are infinite.

“However, a child is a child, and every child has rights guaranteed by the Nigerian Constitution and the Child’s Right Act, and these rights should be respected. I am particularly not too happy that some of these children leave their homes, and are abandoned on the streets by their families and parents. I think the legal institutions should look at these aspects of the trend.

“Parents and caregivers who chase, reject and abandon their children should be ready to pay for this crime here on earth and before God, because it is a very big crime against children and our general world. Let every parent take responsibility.”

Also speaking, Lovina Ronani of Basic Right Council Initiative in Calabar, explained that there are over 2,000 street children in Calabar.

“In 2018, I was part of the team that collated data from the three zones in Cross River State. We have over 2,317 children in street situations in Cross River. As I speak, there are more than 3,017 as profiled, as in trained to adulthood, and they are increasing.

“To arrest the trend of street kids, we need a Child Right Law, which we already have in Cross River. But social welfare should be taken care of. The Ministry of Humanity and Social Welfare has to be involved to ensure children are pulled from the streets.

“There should be enforcement of the Child’s Rights Law. Churches too should be checked, to caution against cases of witch branding of children. There should be punishment to serve as deterrent to subsequent caregivers, who go against the law,” Ronani added.