Are there any child services in Nigeria? I guess not, as so many cases of parents abusing their children, emotionally, sexually, and physically. Children are sleeping on the streets with no means of survival. Countless children are left to beg on the streets when there’s no way to fill their stomachs. I remember my service year in the northern part of the country; I would often read in the news about the almajiris, the beggars. These children carry plates everywhere they go and walk in groups, trying to survive. Unfortunately, this has spread worldwide.
Whenever I see children who are supposed to be in school working in the market, carrying loads, hawking, or engaging in various inappropriate activities, I weep for the future. 😭 It's a thing of disgrace to see no provision for these children, and what becomes of them later in the future can be so disheartening. Look at the side of education, it was supposed to be free, but nothing is provided for them, the majority sit on the floor, no free books, and some of these children are left alone to fend for themselves.
Captured from the bush, all of them are from broken homes, living on the street 🤔
Do we have a reliable government? Honestly, we do not, because they seem too greedy and selfish to take care of the masses. It’s truly shameful! Go to any bus stop, children are doing bus conductors, carrying a load, or selling pure water at every traffic jam. Some of them sleep and live in the park. Where are our leaders? What are they doing about this situation? The child support system is it for some set of people or the general citizens?
Children are often found at parties, uninvited, begging for leftover food. Dressed in rags, they collect leftovers as if their lives depend on it. This dire situation contributes to the rising rates of teenage pregnancy in our society. I remember a boy in my school who goes to parties every weekend to gather leftovers to bring home, feeding his family with what he can collect. 🤔
What the government fails to understand is that child services play a crucial role in protecting these future leaders from abuse, neglect, and molestation. They provide a safe haven and support for these young minds who desperately need it.
We need a child services support system here in my darling country, even when we know they take things too far and end up breaking up homes, but we have the assurance it's for the welfare of every child found neglected, abused, molested, and so on.
One thing they can do is to inaugurate a body that will regularise the birthing rate in this country. Let there be a law of 2 kids per family, and let's see the positive outcome it will produce. However, I won't support a child being separated from his/her family if that seems to be the only way out.
This is my participation in the #hivelearners weekly writing prompt on 165 edition 2 on the topic: CHILD SERVICES.
The image is mine.