Tears of Borno kids orphaned by Boko Haram

The orphans include children of locals, civil servants, artisans, teachers, clerics, politicians, security agents and even those of the insurgents.In most instances, the orphans who during the life time of their parents have access to modest life now look haggard, hungry and frustrated.Mukhtar Ahmad, a public commentator in Maiduguri said there are over 500,000 orphans […]

The orphans include children of locals, civil servants, artisans, teachers, clerics, politicians, security agents and even those of the insurgents.
In most instances, the orphans who during the life time of their parents have access to modest life now look haggard, hungry and frustrated.
Mukhtar Ahmad, a public commentator in Maiduguri said there are over 500,000 orphans in Maiduguri.
“I am bold to say this because Borno is a polygamous family. It is very common to see a man with four wives and a total number of 30 children or more. Once he is dead, all the children become orphans and a liability to the society,” he said.
“Now, how many husbands had been killed between 2009 to date?” he asked rhetorically.
Findings by Weekly Trust reveal that the killing of their fathers had thrown most of the children into confusion even as their future look bleak.
Many of them are out school and a lot more do not even have where to stay because in most cases, they are children of not so well to do, who even during the life time of their breadwinners lived in rented, ramshackle houses.
With the demise of their fathers, many of them, including boys and girls have no option but to live with their maternal or paternal uncles and in some instances, squat with neighbours.
For those who have no one to adequately take care of them, begging is the last resort. Others do menial jobs and engage in hawking.
A cursory look at the multitude of school aged children roaming the streets of Maiduguri and Damaturu, begging for what to eat tells a pathetic story of a gleam future for a generation.
Some of the children are accompanied by their widowed mothers.
Larai Musa, a mother of five who was seen in company of three other women along Gidan Madara in Maiduguri said she is 38 years old but could not re-marry after the demise of her husband.
“We have all lost our husbands as a result of the crisis in Maiduguri; all of us have children and dependants. Most of us are full time house wives. So, do you think it is possible for us to just sit at home?”
One of the ladies, who declined to give her name, said they move together with their children to beg for what to eat. “Husbands are not forthcoming because they don’t want to take the responsibility of somebody’s children,” she said.
Investigation by our correspondent reveals that in the last two years, the incumbent administration had spent millions of naira to stabilize countless orphans with a view to giving them a sense of direction and hope for the future.
The intervention normally comes in form of empowering widows with poverty alleviation materials such as knitting and grinding machine who in turn ensures that feed their children.
It was gathered that in many instances, Governor Kashim Shettima personally adopts children whose parents are killed.
He equally directs some top government officials to take responsibilities of orphans, pointing out that the it will be wrong for the affluent people to shield their children in fortresses and top schools while many children who have turned into orphans by man’s inhumanity to man are left to live without a future.
Recently, the magnitude of the misfortune of thousands of orphaned children and widows came to the fore as they were seen in and around the government house, looking for succor, food to eat and cloth to wear for the Eid-el Fitr.
In the first week of the Ramadan, Shettima announced an all round scholarship for 50 children whose parents were killed by Boko Haram insurgents at various times and in different parts of Maiduguri.
The governor made the promise when he hosted the orphans for the breaking of Ramadan fast at the Government House in Maiduguri.
Shettima said the scholarship would cut across orphans from both Muslim and Christian homes, pointing out that the calamity that befell Borno had no boundary because it touched everybody, irrespective of tribe or religion
He also told the orphans to regard him as their father.
Weekly Trust reports that the governor visibly cried when he heard the experiences of some of the orphans who narrated how their parents were killed by insurgents.
A girl whose name will not be mentioned for security reason recounted how her father and mother were butchered by insurgents.
“The attackers stormed our houses in Budum area in Maiduguri and killed my mother and father. I saw how the brutal act was carried out,” she said.
“My parents begged the attackers to spare their lives so that they can take care of us but the plea fell on deaf ears,” she said.
Another boy of about 13 years told the governor that he was fed up with life and was waiting to die because after the killing of his father, everybody deserted him.
Speaking on the plight of orphans and widows, the caretaker chairman of Maiduguri Metropolitan Council Abdulkadir Rahis said the insurgency in Borno State had affected virtually each home.
“We are in a trying moment but we believe in the power of Allah. He has reason for everything. On our part, we would continue to support them and their mothers,” he said.
A philanthropist, Alhaji Umar Goni Aji who is taking care of two  orphans, thanked the Borno State government for supporting orphans and urged wealthy individuals to also assist.
He said the society will be peaceful if the less privileged are carried along.
“Nobody is born a criminal and the society has the responsibility of ensuring that those that do not have parents have right to live and right to education,” he said.
Our correspondent reports that the wife of the governor, Hajiya Nana Shettima is equally championing the course of orphans and women through her pet project- Support for Women, Orphans and the Almajiris.
Last week, the first lady selected 400 widows and orphans and distributed food, money and cloths for them.
Nana said government alone cannot carter adequately for the widows and vulnerable group in the society. She said “individual and organization need to give a token of God’s blessing back to the society by taking care of widows and orphans.”
She noted that assistance to the less privileged will go a long way in reducing the increasing cases of streets begging in the society.
“Widowhood is not by choice, but an inevitable situation that is being experienced at a time in life when a woman loses her husband,” she said.
 “Allah has specifically mentioned in the Holy Qur’an that there is special reward for those who supported Widows and Orphans,” she declared.
A visit to the Fatima Ali Sheriff children home in Maiduguri and Yetim Foundation, another home that takes care of orphans shows that the number of orphans in Borno State is on the increase.
Observers believe that the trend is due to the fact that male are the prime target of insurgency as many are killed either in their places of work, attacked in their houses or sometimes  fall victims of accidental bullets during a crossfire.
Governor Kashim Shettima has called for the establishment a special committee that will take care of children  orphaned by the Boko Haram crisis.
He made the appeal when the committee of peaceful resolution of crisis in the north, headed by the minister for special duties, Kabiru Turaki visited him at the government house in Maiduguri.