Killed on the streets: How begging dashes girls’ dreams

As the economic situation bites harder in Nigeria, families are inclined to have their children contribute to providing for the family. This has impacted the educational pursuits of many children, especially girls, who bear the brunt of providing for their families through various forms of child labour, street begging being the chief among them. In this report, NCHETACHI CHUKWUAJAH explores the far-reaching effects of this on girls and how it can truncate the attainment of their dreams.

 

Baby Udu catches sight of a young man walking towards the spot where she stood with seven of her friends. Briskly, she walks up to him and begs for alms before being joined by two other girls. They would walk five feet behind the man while pleading with him for money. Now exasperated, the man gives Baby and her friends some money. Gleefully, they turn back to congregate at their usual spot on the roadside around Dugbe market junction in Ibadan, Oyo State.

This was on a sunny Thursday afternoon in late September, more than one week after primary and secondary schools across Nigeria had resumed for the 2022/2023 academic session.

When Baby saw this reporter approaching her and her friends, she came expectantly, like she and her friends have done daily for many months since coming to the state from the northern part of Nigeria, sometimes till very late at night.

Though Baby doesn’t know how old she is, why her family had to leave their hometown or what state she comes from except “I am from Arewa,” she wants to be a medical doctor so that “if my siblings fall sick, I will be able to treat them.”

Dreams killed daily on the streets

Aisha Habu and Aisha Yayi, who are Baby’s friends, said they attended Islamiyya schools back home in the north but joined their parents to beg in Ibadan and do not know what the proceeds of their begging are used for.

“I go to Islamiyya school in the north but I don’t want to go to the conventional school. We give our mothers the money we make; we don’t know what they do with it but we usually give our parents the money we make,” Habu said in Hausa.

“I am schooling in the north in Islamiyya school. I don’t want to go to the conventional school because my mother will not allow me. I am not sure my mother will allow me to go to school even if there is money,” Yayi said with a smile which exposed yellowed teeth.

Sherifa Umaru and Remila Idi are among the girls who beg at a spot around the Ojoo roundabout in Ibadan.

Having escaped the insurgency in their home state in the north, which they do not know, with their parents, Sherifa, Remila and others have resorted to begging although they nurse dreams – to become soldiers.

“I want to go to school because I want to become a soldier. I want to help my people and family,” Sherifa said.

Halimatu Sadia is one of the women who beg at Ojoo in Ibadan after escaping bandits’ attack in Mokwa, Niger State in January this year with only the clothes on her back. With a bullet scar on her left arm, Halimatu said the girls were inclined to become soldiers in order to avenge the displacement and disruption of their peaceful and tranquil lives in their villages before Boko Haram insurgents struck.

Like Baby, Sherifa, Remila and their friends, many other girls in Nigeria have big dreams but are currently out of school.  The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), in data released in September 2022, estimates that 20.2 million children in Nigeria are out of school. The United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) had in May 2022 said that 60 per cent of the 18.5 million children in Nigeria who are out of school are girls.

With a lack of basic education, it appears these dreams are daily being killed through the instrumentality of street begging and other forms of child labour, which clearly, is a violation of their rights as enshrined in Nigeria’s Child Rights Act of 2003.

In Ibadan metropolis, some of these girls can be seen in places like Bodija Market, Ojoo, Sabo, Mobil junction along Ring Road and Challenge. Their hot spots are usually places with high volumes of traffic where they get to see ‘privileged’ people to beg alms from, most times in the company of a parent or guardian.

They are seen most times running after moving vehicles, meandering in-between cars in traffic or following behind potential helpers for a distance up to 100 metres in a bid to get any form of alm. These expose them to many risks including that of being knocked down or run over by moving vehicles or fall victims of other forms of harm like sexual molestation or abuse and kidnapping.

‘We want our children to be educated but we don’t have the resources to do so’

Basira Audu, a woman in her late 20s, was seated on a raised surface on the roadside near Dugbe market junction while carrying her one-year-old toddler.

Basira said she came with her two children from Jigawa State about two months ago because of poverty and hardship. Though her nine-year daughter attends the Islamiyya school in her village, they resorted to begging to make ends meet but hoped to make enough money so that her children can acquire an education.

“As we are here, they (the children) will join us to beg but when we go back to the north they will continue with their Islamiyya school and the Islamiyya school is free. We only give them maybe N20 or N50 to give as appreciation to the teacher who is teaching them Islamiyya.

“We are honestly praying that God will help us so that we will stop all these walking around and begging because personally, I am tired. I just came here recently, about two months ago but I am already tired. I am really praying that God will help us so that we can go back and settle down and enjoy life.

“I came here with two of my children. What we do with the proceeds from begging is to buy food for our children and ourselves. The little we get is only enough for us to buy food; we don’t have any extra to send our children to school.

“When people tell us to send our children to school, honestly, I believe it is for our own good. For instance, if you give me a book to read and I can read, I will know what is inside but if you give me something to read, I cannot read and my children cannot read; it is not good. Our prayer is that God will help us and we will get what we are looking for and go back to our houses and settle down; maybe, do a business or something so that we can get money to send our children to school,” Basira said in Hausa.

All forms of child labour are unlawful, pose societal risks – Rights activist

Mrs Abiade Abiola, a lecturer of law with Lead City University, Ibadan and president of the Human of Substance Empowerment Initiative (HOSEI), averred that subjecting children to any form of labour is a violation of their rights as children and poses huge societal risks.

“Most of them that are sent out to the streets are sometimes violated sexually by adults, subjected to verbal and psychological abuse, and some of them go hungry.

“All these things are a violation of their rights because they are not supposed to go through all these according to the provisions of the Child Rights Law. They are supposed to be fed as and when due, they are not supposed to cater for their needs or be used as child labour for profit making by their guardians or their parents,” she told Nigerian Tribune.

Abiola noted that the impact of such exposure could cause life-long impacts in the lives of the children and society by extension. She noted that some of them become emotionally or psychologically traumatised, depressed, withdrawn and antisocial.

“When you jeopardise the lives of children, you are jeopardising the sanity and orderliness of the society because these children will grow up and become risks to society and other children that are enjoying the protection that children should enjoy.”

She said ending the menace requires proactive and collaborative efforts from all stakeholders, urging the government to prosecute violators. “I believe that by the time the parents and guardians of all these children are held accountable, we will have less of them on the streets. But as long as they are not held accountable, there is no sanction, nobody is doing anything to protect these children, they will continue to violate the rights of these children with impunity since nobody will punish them.

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“There needs to be a societal change of attitude from everybody. We need to treat this as a societal problem. Until we see it as a pandemic without sentiments, we will continue to treat it with levity.

“So, we shouldn’t look at the one-directional aspect of it that they are bringing in money; what about their future and the negative things they are exposed to that can truncate their destiny? Is it worth it in the long run? The disadvantages of exposing children to this (child labour) and the permanent effects it will have on their lives is it not too grave a crime to pay for momentary elimination of poverty? And at the end of the day, how much do they really bring in?

They keep going back to the streets despite government efforts – Governor’s aide

Alhaji Murtala Ahmed, the Special Assistant to the Oyo State governor on Community Relations I (Arewa) said the state government provided a place at Akinyele for the beggars and other vulnerable people, unlike what obtains in other states where they are repatriated to their states of origin.

For some of them willing to learn any trade like tailoring, she said, the government is supporting them. Also, the government has tried to send some of the children to school several times in the past but their parents don’t want that, said Ahmed.

“We have taken them off the streets three times but each time they ran away because they want to keep begging for money on the streets. About two weeks ago, we carried them from different places in the state to a place at Akinyele and put security men, Amotekun, at the door to bar them from escaping. They are given food three times a day there; the Governor bought food items for them. Even those that have little children, the government bought diapers and baby food for them.”

In a telephone interview with Nigerian Tribune, Ahmed said, perhaps, they prefer going back to the streets because “every day, some of them make between N3,000 and N5,000 from the small amount people give them while begging.”

Going forward, Ahmed said, “any of them (beggars) caught on the streets, if he/she doesn’t want to stay at the place provided for them at Akinyele, he/she must go back to the north or wherever they come from. That is what other states like Lagos and Ogun are doing now. That is why many of them are coming to Oyo State because the Governor is accommodating.”