Tackling the menace of homeless children

You see them clustering around in twos and bigger groups on every major street, public places, markets and popular religious houses. Others would lurk around, eating from waste bins, pestering passers-by for alms while others would sneak into kerbs arranging empty cans and water bottles. Most of them are male, many of them under ten […]

You see them clustering around in twos and bigger groups on every major street, public places, markets and popular religious houses. Others would lurk around, eating from waste bins, pestering passers-by for alms while others would sneak into kerbs arranging empty cans and water bottles. Most of them are male, many of them under ten years of age.
Despite efforts of government agencies, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO), religious organizations and charities to reduce their ever increasing population by taking them to welfare homes and motherless centres which they run with public or private supports, their numbers keep growing rapidly by the day.
This reporter observed that at the popular and busy Cultural Centre in Calabar which the state government and other organisations frequently patronize, they would emerge from nowhere and aimlessly play about. They become happier if it rains. They then, with the tattered clothes on their backs take dips into the stagnant pool of dirty water which cluster on the fields.
From here they move in the same group of ten or 15 into the dump-sites of the many eateries and drinking parlors to help themselves with the remnants, blocking human and vehicular movement in the process. They also become nuisance in the process.
In the morning before office hours, another group of about seven would usually move from Marian market after scavenging the rubbish generated by the traders, especially the women merchandising foodstuffs.
Satisfied, they would then saunter through the major Marian Road and stop by the infamous Atekong Drive junction where there is usually no night; where the big-time night-crawlers would have sumptuously relished and scattered generous left-overs all over the place.
Here, they would pack as many packs of abandoned or half-eaten ‘take-aways’, suyas, bones of chickens, canned foods, into torn and dirty nylon or sack bags. Done, they move the next five metres to Duke Town Drive in the State Housing Estate where there is a line of giant waste bins which the many high-brow restaurants dump their wastes. This would seem to be their resting point; where they would share their morning collections.
Commissioner for Women Affairs in the state Mrs Edak Iwuchukwu is saddened by the reoccurrence of the menace of street children in the state.She believes that the thousands of street children do not come from the state. She thinks that there is a cabal that specializes in abusing and illegally transporting children across state borders.
 She said this cabal then dump these children in the state because there are avalanche of welfare homes and the state government readily supports the welfare centres.
When she reeled out achievements of the ministry of women affairs in the last one year, journalists confronted her with the issue of upsurge of street children.
She said: “The issue of street children and baby factory belong to ministry of social welfare. When I was commissioner in that ministry we dealt with street children. We had a task force that regularly went round to pick these vulnerable children. I think that there is a cabal that brings in mad people and these homeless children into this state. I say so emphatically because when I was commissioner for social welfare I had occasion to repatriate quite a lot of them to Akwa Ibom and other neighbouring states while others were repatriated to Niger Republic.”
On child trafficking, she said: “we are doing pre-emptive measures. Some two months ago, my office heard that there was a truckload of children from the state which was apprehended in Enugu by NAPTIP. This came to the fore and was mentioned during state exco meeting. Questions were asked as to why arrests were not made then. I can assure that that case is being handled effectively.”
Two of these children spoke to this reporter on why they are on the streets. Inyang Okon, 12 years old, said his parents are dead and neighbours did not know how to contact his father’s brothers in Akwa Ibom State.
Speaking in vernacular, he said: “I cannot sponsor myself to school. I was in primary four when my parents died last year. There is nobody to give me food. That is why I go round to pick any types of foods to eat. I sleep anywhere.”
The second boy said he was seven years old and gave his name as Obeng Inah. He was very active in picking empty water bottles and arranging them  where the older street children direct. “I don’t know who my mother is. My father is not around. My father’s sister did not give me food so I follow my friends to look for food.” He also said that he was from Calabar, even though such names are usually borne by people from the central part of Cross River State.
Some organizations in the state that have taken the challenge of evacuating and resettling these vulnerable and street children is the Destiny’s Child Centre (DCC) and Partnership Opportunities for Women Empowerment Realisation (POWER). Though they have different functions, but these NGOs are sponsored by the wife of Governor of Cross River State, Barrister Obioma Imoke and have basic concerns for the welfare of the less privileged children, including those roaming the streets and those abandoned by parents, as well as women caught up in difficulty.
DCC, for instance, has picked up many of these children from the streets, not only in Calabar, cleaned them up, provided them accommodation, fed, trained and sponsored their education. As they do this, the staff of the centre continue to look-out for thepossibility of linking them again with any of their relations. They would also ensure that if they release them they would be in good care.
For instance, recently Miss Esther Lindsay, one of the house-mates at the centre was re-united with her family in Calabar.
While handing over Esther to her father and other members of her family, Mrs Imoke who was visibly elated, described the scenario as satisfactory and a success story.
She explained that her DCC programme accommodated Esther when she was abused and driven out of the house by her father. She disclosed that the primary objective of the DCC was to rehabilitate street children, reintegrate and reunite them with their family members.
According to her, Esther has been counseled and was optimistic that she will be better behaved since she was one of the best behaved children at the centre.
She hinted that the prosecution of Esther’s parents may no longer be necessary since Esther had agreed to be reunited with her family and thanked Esther’s grandfather for being instrumental to the re-union and advised Esther’s parents to henceforth show her love and care as children are a gift from God.
Mrs Imoke visited the Country Resident Representative of the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA), Ms Victoria Akyeampong who came to explore collaborations with DCC and POWER on issues of children and women. She  frowned at the  reckless behavior of young people has resulted in the increase in unwanted and abandoned children. She cautioned Nigerian children against promiscuity, maintaining that this is one sure way where unwanted children are brought into the world.
Remarking about the menace of street children, the UNFPA boss stated that their reason of coming to Calabar would assist NGOs and governments’ efforts in this direction “because the high prevalence of child marriage and its resultants problems still exist in this area.”
Ms. Ayeampong said: “the focus of UNFPA interventions this year is on adolescent pregnancy, providing assistance to repair the cases of VVF whose prevalence was on the rise in the South/South zone of Nigeria.”