WE WANT A CHANGE!

What else can we say? What can we do?

Our hands are tied. Like a stagnant pool, we watch, as our dreams fade away.

Do we stage a protest and get killed? Or do we remain forever silent?

Our brain-power seems quiescent, yet bursting with unexpressed innovation

But our confidence has been submerged by helplessness, corruption and their likes.

With a deep yearning to grasp our world, they accentuate basic education, “vision 2010”, “you win” and so many other failed schemes.

Enthusiastically we dressed, polished our shoes and carry our CVs

But we are astonished at what we observe; the gateway cannot pass a colony of ants. Thus they classified us not according to our strength, IQ, knowledge or talents but according to how many influential people we know. Another strategy to hamper our bond and unity!

As if that is not enough, decaying societal values, strike actions and other social vices have contributed to the clog in the wheel of our development.

We are intelligent and energetic, yet we are used as elements of power play, narrow interest, violence and political wars. We were fore-runners and active players in the transition that led to this regime. We lost so many friends especially the famous “NYSC 10” who died obeying the clarion call. Yet, the consequences of sell-out choices and sacrifices are leaders who fight their people, care less about our survival and subdue our strength with corruption. Oh! A government who compensates true patriotism with 5million Naira.

We look through the windows, beyond our borders; where our wealthy friends are and where our resources migrate to. We perceive a conducive setting not because their pastures are greener than ours, but because our fields are just for a selected few. The selected ones see us like handkerchiefs for their faces.

We don’t want to be involved in thuggery,

Violence has never been in our plans,

Social vices can never be our choice.

Yet we see ourselves at the centre of all these. Could it be that we are exploited.

We are millions of wailing Nigerian youths who are jobless, underemployed, uneducated and have our lives blighted by poor infrastructure.

We want a change!

Onyekaba N. Charles is an Architect and a creative writer whose first book “SWINGING EMOTIONS” is available in bookshops nationwide. (onyekabaeme@yahoo.com OR http://www.charleyrosu.wordpress.com)

 

NO MAN’S CHILD

April 16, 2012   ·   No Comments   ·  By Charles N. Onyekaba

OBINNA, my 6years old friend lives with his elder sister ADA (16 years old) and two younger siblings in a ‘ face me, I face you’ room located in one of the slums in Delta state. Their Dad died 2years ago of typhoid fever in that same room because he could not afford the outrageous medical bills for his treatment. Their mom died early this year from severe burns she sustained during an explosion from one of the oil pipe lines where she and other habitants of the slum normally go to spill, divert, collect and sell oil products as a means of survival. As a result of their parent’s death, all the kids have since dropped out from school. Obinna now hawks bread everyday and Ada, his elder sister now 2months pregnant hawks fruits in the Sub-urban part of the town.

FUNKE, a 15years old girl who lives in my street here in Lagos dropped out from school last term because her lazy and drunk dad who is married to 2 wives and has 3 other children from women outside marriage said he cannot afford her WAEC fees. Funke turned to her mother who practically, was the one fending for her tuition up to her SS3 from her petty evening trade. But this time, her mother couldn’t help out because she had spent a fortune on  the sick Ayomide (funke’s 6years old sister). Funke thus, resorted to hawking as her means of survival, but unlike Obinna and Ada, Funke hawked her body and only recently tested positive to HIV.

AISHA, 19years, is the only child of her father’s union with Mrs. Yusuf. After her Dad’s death 3years ago, her mother decided to re-marry Mallam Tijani and gave her the option of moving with her to her new matrimonial home or fend for herself. Aisha agreed to move in with her mother but unknown to her mother, her new husband has been sneaking into her daughter’s room for the past 8months. This morning after many obvious symptoms, Aisha was forced to do a pregnancy test by her mum who pressed to know who was responsible for her pregnancy after the Doctor had confirmed she was 3months pregnant. When Aisha confessed to her mum, Mrs. Yusuf sent her to the streets without quizzing her husband, calling her unborn baby a ‘no man’s child’ and threatening to send her to her grave if she ever calls her husband’s name in connection to her present state.

Personally, I might not have a definition for the phrase: ‘no man’s child’ but sure from the three short stories above, I’m sure you will have an image of who our morally-ill society have called a no man’s child. Have you ever wondered what the future holds for those teenagers we see every now and then on the highways hawking? Yet that is the plight of the “Obinnas” of our society who know no other home than the streets. Take a walk to any maternity hospital close to you and listen to the stories of the “Aishas” and the “Adas” of our cruel society. Children who should be in school are now sexually harrassed, misguided and exposed to risks and dangers of life. As a result, teenagers who can hardly take care of themselves are now  becoming mothers, abandoning their infants or are aborting innocent children (the unborn no man’s children).

Okehainialam T.C (1984) in his article: ‘child abuse and neglect’ defined child abuse as the abandonment of infants by unmarried ladies or families, or the exploitation of rural children by elite families. Child abuse can further be seen as any situation where the fundamental human rights of a child is not given adequate attention. Some of these rights include the right to shelter and education. It is no longer news that child abuse in Nigeria is on the increase. What should perhaps be a pressing concern is that the major factor behind this immoral and disturbing act is poverty (as can be observed from the 3 stories above). It’s a shame but it’s true that Nigeria, the 12th largest oil producer and the 8th highest exporter have a statistics that shows that 90% of its citizens live in poverty and 9 out of 10 of her people survive on less than 2dollars daily ( Grey Ireland : poverty and corruption in Africa, 2008).

Sure you will want to know what the country does with all of her money, but pause for awhile and think!……. Your guess is as good as mine. While our corrupt leaders steal more than enough of the Nation’s money for their generations to come, majority of the citizens live in penury and have their lives blighted by poor infrastructure, corruption, joblessness, and lack of public service, that the common man thinks of nothing else but to use his God-given kids to generate a means of survival. Other factors which have given rise to child abuse in Nigeria include: loss of societal norms and values and the seemly timidity of the law to persecute offenders especially when highly placed individuals are involved.

Having analyzed all these, I still don’t think poverty should be an enough reason why a good parent should expose his wards to the ills and dangers of the streets and highways. Our children are our greatest asset and the future of our distressed nation; thus they  should be properly cared for. Government should spend more time thinking of how to better the plight of the common man rather than passing many un-enforced bills on child abuse into law. Every child has a parent and a government. Please let’s give the ‘no man’s child’ a future!

Charles N. Onyekaba is a writer and a poet whose first book: ‘SWINGING EMOTIONS’ is on sale nationwide. (Contact him at onyekabaeme@yahoo.com or www.charleyrosu.wordpress.com)