THE COMMUNITY AND THE CHILD ~ Barr. Evans Ufeli Convener, Cadrell Advocacy Centre

 Evans Ufeli Esq

Children are perhaps the most veritable legacy in human history. The questions of our world and the emerging influences of cultural and religious ideologies cannot be dealt with in one earth life, so this leaves us with the profess of continuity as the younger generation braces into the gap to create more questions and perhaps answer existing ones left behind by their progenitors.
A child represents the future, the hope of a balanced world is tied to the future and the future is heavily influenced by our actions or inactions today. These permutations are universal principles that defines every human society. It is pertinent to note however that government policy formulation is important in this focus – the Community and the Child. The policy on the child is critical to every nation that desires a positive future.
In advanced countries, serious efforts are put into enacting legislations that in the long run will support the education and upbringing of children. These advances are made such that the future of the child is well taken care of because this ultimately determines the future of the country at large. The greatest resource in the history of man is human capital. Human capital is consciously developed from cradle true serious policy formulation and research.
In Nigeria, policies and legislations targeted at protecting the right of the child have not yielded the desire result because there are no consistent, conscious and continuous effort to drive this course from the part of government and the private sector. This is an unhealthy situation. While it is the immediate responsibilities of parents to take care of their children by creating the right atmosphere for them, the government must make laws and renew existing ones to look into the welfare of children because that is where the future spreads from.
The enactment of the child Right Act and other laws connected thereto is a huge effort of the government in the right direction but not much attention has been paid to the enforcement of these laws. Many states in Nigeria hadn’t adopted the Child Right Act for example, for reasons that are inexplicable. As we celebrate children on this day we must set out an agenda to reflect on the lives of the Nigerian Child in their respective communities. We must call the government to use this season to deliberate and decide on what best can be done to safeguard the lives of our children. We could use this day to call on our governors who are yet to adopt the child Right Act in their respective state to do so in the interest of the life of a child.
It is said that psychologically, between the age of 0 – 12 is the formative years of a child and whatever the child is exposed to at this stage will determine how the child will turn out. Again whatever get into that child between that 12years to 30years will define his life in the next sixty years. From the foregoing analogy , one can deduce that we have a serious burden at hand. We must watch and know what get into our homes when our children are between the ages of 0 – 30 as this will go a long way to direct their subconscious mindset and their lives in general.

We celebrate children’s day with March Pass and other forms of merriment every year but we don’t give serious thought to the child who even at the parade ground in the March Ceremony is living under abusive parents, guardians or relatives. It’s really a difficult time to be a child. Children in many homes all over Nigeria are living under very threatening and abusive relationships. Children are raped, curse, killed, beaten, accused of witchcraft, mutilated and sometimes driven out of the house. We can’t close our eyes to this, something very urgent must be done to address this anomaly.
Legally speaking, in Nigeria, children’s Rights are protected by law and held sacred, not only does the law protect the child; it also stipulates punishment for adults who take advantage of children or seek to influence them negatively. The law seeks to prevent cruelty against children while stating the rights and obligations of the Nigerian Child .Prior to the 2003 Child Rights Act, Nigerian child protection was defined by the Children and Young People’s Act (CYPA), a law relating primarily to juvenile justice. In 2003, Nigeria adopted the Child Rights Act to domesticate the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) is an international human rights treaty that grants all children and young people (aged 17 and under) a comprehensive set of rights.In regard to legal contracts, the Act states that No child shall enter into a contract, except as provided by the provisions of the Act and any contract, except a contact for necessaries, entered into by a child for repayment of money lent or for payment of goods supplied to the child, shall be void. Other rights of the Nigerian child according to Part II of the Child’s Right Act ie) from section 3 to section 15- Right to survival and development.- Right to name.- Freedom of association and peaceful assembly.- Freedom of thought, conscience and religion.– Right to private and family life.- Right to freedom of movement.- Right to freedom from discrimination.- Right to dignity of the child.- Right to leisure, recreation and cultural activities.- Right to health and health services.- Right to parental care, protection and maintenance.- Right of a child to free, compulsory and universal primary education, etc.- Right of a child in need of special protection measure.- Right of the unborn child to protection against harm, etc.The Act prohibits Child marriage in sections 21, 22 and 23 as no person under the age of 18 years is capable of contracting a valid marriage, and accordingly a marriage so contracted is null and void and of no effect whatsoever. In addition, parents and guardians are precluded from arranging or facilitating child betrothals and any person who marries a child; or to whom a child is betrothed; or who promotes the marriage of a child; or who betroths a child, commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine of N500,000; or imprisonment for a term of five years or to both such fine and imprisonment.It is against the law in section 24 of the act to tattoo or mark the skin of a child, any person who tattoos or makes a skin mark on a child commits an offense under the Act and is liable on conviction to a fine notexceeding five thousand naira or imprisonment for a term not exceeding one month or to both such fine and imprisonment. Section 25 of the Act prohibits the act of exposing a child to the use or trafficking of narcotics drugs or psychotropic substances any any person found guilty is liable on conviction to imprisonment for life. Section 26 of the Act prohibits the act of employing a child for the facilitation of criminal acts as an offense under the Act and any person found guilty is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term of fourteen years. Section 27 prohibits the Act of Abduction, removal and transfer of a child from lawful custody. In other words, No person shall remove or take a child out of custody or protection of his father or mother or such other person having lawful care or charge against the will of the father, mother, or other person. Section 30 says no child shall be used to beg for alms, prostitution, domestic or sexual labour, hawking goods or services and deprive a child from the Compulsory, free universal Basic Education. Whoever is found guilty of this shall be liable to 10 years imprisonment. Section 31 of the Act says it is unlawful to have sexual intercourse with a child; any person who contravenes this provision commits an offense of rape and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for life. Where a person is charged with an offence under this section, it is immaterial that- the offender believed the person to be of or above the age of eighteen years; or the sexual intercourse was with the consent of the child.It may be interesting to note that a child may bring an action for damages against a person for harm or injury caused to the child will-fully, recklessly, negligently or through neglect before, during or after the birth of that child. Also, where the father of an unborn child dies intestate, the unborn child is entitled, if he was conceived during the lifetime of his father, to be considered in the distribution of the estate of the deceased father. Where the mother of an unborn child dies intestate before the child is delivered, the unborn child is entitled, if he survives his mother, to be considered in the distribution of the estate of the deceased mother.Other sections of the Act also provide for the right of the Nigerian Child, these sections of the Act that relate to legal issues affecting the Nigerian child include; The duty of the State to protect children and investigate the plight of children who need special care and protection; child labour;harmful publications that negatively influence children; adoption, custody and guardianship of children and the Child Justice Administration system. However, we hereby call on all states of the Federation to domesticate this law as the law has only been passed in the following states:Abia, Akwa-Ibom, Anambra, Benue, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Ekiti, Imo, Jigawa, Kwara, Lagos, Nassarawa, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers, Niger, Bayelsa, Kogi and Taraba. States that have not passed the law: Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Enugu, Gombe, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara.