Iniobong Mbang, 10 year-old boy, is from Nsit Ubiom local government area of Akwa Ibom State. His father died before he was born from an undisclosed ailment. At five, he also lost his mother and had no choice but to live with his uncle and his wife in Uyo, the state capital. Recently he was thrown out of the uncle’s house because they alleged he was a witch after a Pentecostal church pastor allegedly confirmed so.
Iniobong later found a home at one of the orphanage homes run by a foreign group in the state. Iniobong is not alone; there are numerous children like him across the country that are going through one form of abuse or the other, while other children continue to die from preventable diseases everyday, dragging Nigeria’s poor child survival record deeper as the worst in sub-Saharan Africa.
THISDAY recently visited three states in the south-east: Abia, Akwa Ibom and Imo to feel the level of poor child survival record, what the respective state governments and other stakeholders are doing to improve the status of children. Ironically, while the states struggle to make impact, there efforts don’t seem to make much impact as non-governmental organizations as well as foreign agencies collaborate to improve the life of children. The bottom-line is that states need to do quite a lot to improve the poor record of child survival in the states. What is admitable is that the awareness is gradually seeping into the consciousness of Nigerians even in rural areas.
For example, about six months ago, more than 150 children accused of and stigmatized as “witches” in Akwa Ibom State staged a protest march along major streets in Uyo, the state capital demanding their rights and rehabilitation. It was a clear signal or pointer to the level of child neglect in the state. The rally coordinated by a United Kingdom registered charity organization, Steeping Stones Nigeria (SSN) in conjunction with Child Rights and Rehabilitation Network (CRARN) based in Eket local government area of the state, coincided with the International Family Day.
The emotional but colorful protest, which attracted passers-by, caused traffic jam on the roads as the children marched to the State House of Assembly and the Government House where they submitted a voluminous petition signed by over 1, 000 people from more than 30 countries around the world to Governor Godswill Akpabio. Rendering different religious choruses, the children waved placards with inscriptions: “We are not witches,” “Give us our Rights,” “Enact the child rights act now”, “Arrest our parents and false prophets,” among others.
The protest was a further demonstration of the need for the State to domesticate the Child Rights Act.
According to an official involved in the organization of the protest march, without the Act in place, children have no right in the eyes of the law. THISDAY checks revealed that the petition by the children demanded the state government to act swiftly to stop the widespread abandonment, torture and killing of stigmatized children which was taking place in the state.
The Program Director of Stepping Stones Nigeria, Mr. Gary Foxcroft, said “while we do not wish to embarrass the state government, it is clear that the vast majority of the international community see what is happening in Akwa Ibom State with innocent children being labeled as “witches” as a huge scare on the face of humanity”. He said a situation whereby children were being set on fire, buried alive or macheted to death due to this belief must not be tolerated in the 21st century.
“We therefore call on the Governor to do everything in his power to help these children by protecting their rights by ensuring that the Child Rights Act is passed into law before the end of the year,” he said.
Also at the protest march, the President of CRARN, Mr. Sam Ikpe-Itauma observed that the problem of child stigmatization and abandonment ultimately lies with the churches. “Many of them are making huge amounts of money out of this belief, either from deliverances or by mentally enslaving them so that they give plenty of offerings. I do not know how anybody can see this as Christianity. There is no mention of child witches in the bible. It is simply about money and power. It has to stop,” he added.
Ikpe-Itauma further argued that it was high time the Akwa Ibom State government regulates the activities of these churches and some of them who violate the rights of these innocent children should have their churches closed down and their leaders sent to prison. The issue of so-called child witches has attracted increasing national and international attention to Akwa Ibom State in recent months. This unfortunate occurrence has been triggered by increasing number of children being abandoned by their parents after being stigmatized as “witches” by their pastors or the parents. These children then litter the streets of Akwa Ibom and often become vulnerable and target by traffickers.
According to a recent report, a shadowy group known as the “Peace Sisters” from Aba, Imo State was allegedly arrested by the National Agency for Prohibition of Child Trafficking (NAPTIP) and the Civil Defence force recently on suspicion of trafficking 36 children found in their church. All the children were said to have come from Oron local government area of the state. In the course of a research on street children in Oron, it was discovered that over 250 children have been moved from Oron to Aba for ‘deliverance’ and many of them were not returned to the state.
Also speaking on the issue, an Officer with SSNCF, Eket local government, Mr. Lucky Inyang appealed to the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) to ensure child’s rights are protected in places of worship and pastors should be discouraged from preaching about so called child “witches” and demanding fees for ‘deliverance”.
For some stakeholders, it is a relief to see the commitment of Governor Akpabio’s government to protect this delicate group of human being as against the previous manner where, issues of child survival, morality and abandonment in the state was treated with levity, neglect and relegated to the background. As a result, the state was ranked second on the list of states with poor record of child survival and mortality.
For people of Imo State, the present democratic government has indeed brought some relief in the health sector, culminating in drastic reduction of child mortality and promotion of child survival in the state. Granted that the immediate past government of Chief Achike Udenwa left a landmark record in the health sector with the building and equipping of the Imo State University Teaching Hospital (IMSUTH) at Orlu, his successor and the present Governor, Chief Ikedi Ohakim vowed not only to improve on the facilities, but is determined to improve the general health of the people, with special interest in children and pregnant mothers.
A pragmatic approach was adopted by Ohakim’s government as soon as he came into office with issues on children and mothers forming part of his administration’s fourteen-point development agenda. Imo State, with an average population of children aged one to five years of approximately 900,000 attend to about 27 general hospitals at one general hospital to every local government area, one health center to each of the 360 wards/autonomous communities in the state. This is apart from the Federal Medical Center (FMC), Owerri and the University Teaching Hospital at Orlu. It would be an understatement to say that the state is lacking in health care.
While marking his first one year in office, Ohakim announced the approval of the introduction of free medical treatment for children under five and pregnant women in the state. He emphasized that the free medicare service is obtainable at the Imo State University Teaching Hospital (IMSUTH).
In a spirited effort to provide free health care to the citizens of the state, especially the children, Ohakim severally approved the joint partnership with some foreign non-governmental organizations and state government to come to the state to conduct routine medical check-up on both adults and children. This effort, no doubt contributed immensely to the strong health of the people, including children and pregnant mothers. Even in the local scene, some NGOs have on their own initiative conducted series of medical treatment on the citizens thereby complementing the effort of the state government.
While trying to curtail child mortality, it has been observed that rampant cases of diarrhria still occur among the children, which is attributed to the drinking of unsafe water. This was confirmed by a UNICEF resource person, Dr. Steve Okokwu in a lecture titled “The Situation of Children Health in Nigeria and the concept of Integrated Maternal Neonatal Child Health (IMNCH)” in a one-day workshop organized by the Akwa Ibom State Ministry of Health in collaboration with UNICEF, held at Owerri, Imo State capital recently. The lecturer noted that a woman’s chance of dying from pregnancy and childbirth in Nigeria is one in thirteen, adding also that 145 women of child bearing age die everyday from pregnancy related complications equaling 52,900 of women that die annually (of the global 529,000), while 2,300 under five children die daily (about one million annually, or 10 per cent of global deaths).
Okokwu stated that Nigeria is the second largest contributor to under–five mortality (U5MR) and maternal mortality (MMR) in the world, noting that direct causes of maternal, neonatal and child deaths are known and that child deaths are largely preventable and treatable using proven, cost-effective and currently available intervention. He recounted efforts of UNICEF in child survival and child mortality prevention in Imo State, which include the construction of portable water projects, building of toilet facilities and establishment of Child Care Centres (CCC) at the focal communities: Orodo in Mbaitoli Local Government Area, Ehime Mbano Local Government and Orsu Local Government, which are all eloquent testimony of reaching out to the people.
The wife of the state governor, Mrs. Chioma Ohakim has also made good contribution to the safety of the children and pregnant mothers. It has been a routine by her office in conjunction with the State Ministry of Health to organize regular immunization exercises as well as compulsory breast-feeding campaign among all nursing and pregnant mothers. The state of child survival and mortality in the state can best be described as improving, though government is urged not to relent in ensuring that the six child-killer diseases are tackled drastically in other to achieve the millennium development goals (MDGs) target by 2015.
In Abia State, both state government and its development partners have been engaged in evolving a number of strategies to ensure child survival. Director, Primary Health care in the Ministry of Health, Dr. Chukwuemeka Oluoha, said government was quite aware of the health problems facing Abia children hence it has embraced all the child survival intervention measures. He explained that child survival strategies are intertwined as some are specific to children, while others are tied to maternal health issues.
Immunization, which ranks as a major child survival measure, has continued to be implemented vigorously in Abia due to the involvement of the European Union Partnership to Reinforce Immunization Efficiency (EU-PRIME). This EU funded agency with counterpart contribution from Abia State government, has been operating in Abia for the past five years by helping to immunize children against the vaccine preventable diseases. The Abia State Program Manager of EU-PRIME, Roselyn Ita, said immunization coverage was “abysmally low” last year with 42 per cent but presently the cumulative figure has hit 83 per cent, while there is strong commitment to record 100 per cent coverage by December. “Immunization coverage in the state is very encouraging,” she told THISDAY recently in Umuahia, adding that what is of much concern is its sustainability.
Attainment of the goals four and five of the MDGs is intricately tied to the wellbeing of children through concerted efforts aimed at reducing the current high mortality rate. It appears that the EU-PRIME in collaboration with the State Ministry of Health is leaving no stone unturned to ensure that routine immunization is implemented successfully at the grassroots.
Various strategies have been adopted to achieve this goal. Sensitization campaigns are being mounted in all the wards across the state to educate parents, community leaders and traditional rulers on the benefits of immunization to the wellbeing of the child. And the matter is not left at that as EU-PRIME has improvised measures to ensure that mothers comply. “We track defaulters,” said the program manager. She explained that this is done by using the phone numbers entered by mothers on the immunization cards to monitor their level of compliance and to remind them of their duties to immunize their children. In the case of mothers, especially in the rural areas, who have no access to mobile phones, health workers visit their homes to track them and monitor their degree of compliance by checking the immunization cards.
Local Immunization Days (LID) has also been introduced in Abia in addition to the national immunization days. According to Oluoha, the LID which holds in all the 17 local government areas further reinforces the immunization messages. During the period many more children are immunized. The LID has become a regular feature of the immunization program with all stakeholders in the health sector get involved to achieve a common goal.
In addition to the LID, is the community involvement project which entails the revival of the old custom of regarding every child as belonging to the entire community. The state director of primary health care told THISDAY that this particular project would help in sustaining routine immunization in Abia. “People should be interested in children in their environs,” he said, adding that when people begin to ask their neighbors if their children have been immunized the message would sink home deeper.
He justified this view by pointing out that everybody knows about immunization, but not many are putting it into practice, hence when those that comply take it upon themselves to prod their neighbors to immunize their children, the level of believability and compliance would be very high. As the dangers posed by all the diseases militating against child survival are not completely averted through immunization other strategies have been put in place.
For instance, the roll back malaria program is being implemented in Abia with the assistance of both the UNICEF and World Health Organization (WHO). Under this program, thousands of insecticide treated mosquito nets have been distributed to mothers across the state to keep babies away from mosquito bites and its attendant malaria, which is a subtle deadly killer. This is in addition to malaria drugs that are distributed free of charge. Just like malaria/measles which is being fought in its own front as Abia has joined other states to carry out integrated measles campaign.
Nutrition activities constitute another area that government and its development partners have joined hands to save children from dying. It has been established that many children die as a result of nutrition deficiencies due to poverty or crass ignorance of parents who lack the knowledge of the combination of foods to give the children to achieve balanced diet. To tackle this problem, nutrition activities are now going on in health centers in Bende, Isuikwuato and Obingwa council areas. The primary health care director explained that malnourished children are usually detected by measuring their weights and are categorized into malnourished, medium level and severely malnourished.
Like it’s currently done in Abia and Imo respectively, the Akpabio Administration in Akwa Ibom State is not only concerned about the child survival issue, but is also bothered about reducing child mortality.
The State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Welfare, Mrs. Eunice Samuel-Thomas told THISDAY in Uyo, that the State was classified as the second highest in term of child mortality in the past because there was no scheme and program enunciated in the state by the previous administration to really checkmate the monster.
The Commissioner who spoke through an Assistant Director of the Child Development Department of the Ministry, Mrs. Lawrencia Bassey said program of action to curtail mortality rate among children was carried out practically during the reign of Nneyin Alison Attah, wife of the immediate past Governor of the state, Obong Victor Attah. Realizing that malnutrition in children was largely responsible for the high rate of the child mortality, the then wife of the governor came up with a program where she produced Soya beans milk, later popularized as ‘Ali Milk’ and distributed free to the grassroots women to help curb and prevent malnutrition in their children.
With this was in place, she noted that live gradually returned to children exposed to malnutrition and the risk of death. Mrs. Unoma Ekaette Akpabio, who has special interest in children through her pet project—the Family Life Enhancement Initiative has totally repackaged for the child. The disadvantage ones, the depressed, and physically challenged, all now have a renewed hope of surviving.
To actualize her plans for the children, she has built a home for streets children. The exercise is carried out side by side with intensive campaign by the governor’s wife on the need for the women to maintain exclusive breast feeding. Mrs. Akpabio has continue to exhibit her love towards elevating child survival program and reducing child mortality rate by recently encouraging and sponsoring 20 children of Akwa Ibom state origin to attend international conference on “Weather and Sanitation: How it Affects Children” to reduce infant mortality.
Another set of 20 children were sponsored by her to participate in a similar conference in Lagos. The children on returning from the conferences were expected to form children forum at the local government level during holidays to further talk, discuss and enlighten other children on their rights and what is expected of them. But despite that this much is done to encourage child survival, experts say some of the programs are misplaced, while some state governments need to exert more political will in other to see the Nigerian child survive.
THISDAY ONLINE
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