NLC leaders says parents and guardians of street urchins should be prosecuted for child abuse

NIGERIA Labour Congress (NLC) leaders in Niger State have called on the state government to arrest and prosecute the parents and guardians of street children for child abuse offences.

At the moment, Nigeria has the highest number of out-of-school kids in the world, which a staggering 10m children roaming the streets when they should be in full time education. Many of these children are used to perpetuate violence, are hired as Fulani armed herdsmen and find their way into the ranks of Boko Haram.

They are also carry out acts of ethnic cleansing and are used as religious zealots to burn down churches across northern Nigeria. Apart from this, they engage in other forms of criminal activity like cattle rustling, armed robbery, kidnapping and ritual killings.

Idris Ndako, the chairman of the Niger State chapter of the NLC, said that parents of these street urchins need to be prosecuted to serve as a deterrent. He called for a law that would be binding on all defaulters, noting that a lot of children had lost their destinies due to street begging.

Mr Ndako added: “We continue to say that youths are the leaders of tomorrow but that is only true if they are given the basic training as children. These children are seen begging for food on a daily basis, their identity is plastic plates with rope tied around their necks and they are usually in worn-out, filthy clothes.

“Niger State government should promulgate a law against the trafficking of male children from neighbouring states in the name of acquiring Islamic knowledge, only for them to end up as child beggars. It is a fact that every child has the right to learn in any part the country and the world at large but it has to be the responsibility of parents or funding organisations if on scholarship.

“Underage children cannot be patrolling our streets begging for money and food when they are supposed to be learning in a formal school system and government just looks away. This is child labour and government should do the needful on this matter to save the children and the society.”

According to Mr Ndako, an average Islamic teacher does not have food to give to the teeming pupils under his tutelage and is therefore, left with no choice than to allow them go begging for their daily up-keep. Upon reaching adolescence, many of these children then resort to crime.