BY Ugo Aliogo
Ugo Aliogo writes on a nine-year-old girl, Precious Chiwendu, who
was scalded with hot water by her foster mother.
Precious Chiwendu is a nine-year-old child with a budding
ambition. Like her contemporaries her desire has always been to excel in her
academic pursuits in order to unlock the door to her greatness. But due to life
circumstances and the harsh economic conditions, her parents did not have the
financial wherewithal to give this dream the desired support. So, they sent her
to Lagos to become a housemaid to Ifeoma Mbakwe.
Chiwendu began her new life in the metropolitan city of
Lagos, spending most of her time worrying about the certainty of her future and
her relationship with her new foster parent. No doubt, Lagos was a huge city to
her and she found life different here. She saw a human community where people
cared less about others, a far cry from her former community.
Mbakwe was given the sole duty to be a custodian and a
parent to Chiwendu, but she turned out to be a thorn in the flesh for the
little girl, beating her at any slightest provocation and starving her most
times as a disciplinary measure. As a result of these ill-treatments, the
primary three pupil lost every sense of love, care and comfort she was supposed
to enjoy as a child.
On December 27, 2015, something eventful occurred which
exposed to the world what the little girl has been enduring for a while. On
that fateful day, the woman asked Chiwendu to bring crayfish, but she came back
and said she could not find it. She (Mbakwe) accused her of eating the
crayfish. Then in the heat of anger, she took an object which is used for
grinding paper to hit the girl and then poured hot water on her.
Chiwendu said: "She hit me at my back and poured hot
water on me. I complained that my body was paining me. But she told me to go
and sleep. She does not give me food regularly. There is no food for me in the
afternoon when I come back from the school. Sometimes, she would not give me
food in the evening. She always beats me. I want to go back to my parents."
When THISDAY contacted the Lagos State Police Public
Relations Officer (PPRO), Dolapo Badmus, she explained that the girl is in
protective custody, and the woman is already in court where she is being
reminded in prison.
She noted that the case is already in court, and the
police on their part have gathered every evidence and facts on the issue which
they have presented to the court and they are waiting for the court verdict on
the case.
Badmus
further noted that the state command has three divisions that preside over the
case of domestic and sexual violence especially on women and children,
"therefore we advise people to promptly report these cases to the police
and the trained hands will take charge, because we do have cases of people not
handling cases of sexual violence very well."
She added that, "They are at the Ilepuju, Sankoko in
Agege and Adeniji Adele on the Island. But everyone is free to report cases on
domestic violence against anybody in any division. But specifically, these
three divisions are trained in conjunction with DFID. The case of this
particular child is being handled by the Sankoko in Agege division and I was
the one that investigated this case, when I was the Divisional Police Officer
(DPO) therefore there is nothing much for the Police to do than to prosecute.
"What the police can do in their own capacity, is
that we prosecute it so that it can serve as a deterrent to others who are
willing to do that, but it is still the public that have a lot to do especially
in the area of reorientation.
"First, make people to see the inherent dangers in
doing such inhumane act and to make ensure that people are treated with human
feelings. The police cannot know everything, it is the public that will alert
us, but at our own end if when we have such reports, we will make sure we deal
with it decisively so that it serves as a deterrent," she said.
A sociologist and a Senior Lecturer in the University of
Lagos, Dr. Franca Attoh, who reacted to the issue called on government to
examine whether the institutions that are responsible in handling such cases
are running properly, stressing that some of the situations are test cases 'for
us to do a reappraisal to know whether these institutions are actually running
well, if they are not running well what should be done to reposition those
institutions.'
Attoh added that: "Nigeria, has domesticated the
child's rights act therefore any form of violence against a child right should
be prosecuted and the necessary sanction meted out. But beyond this, what the
government should be looking out for is what engenders violence against
children. For instance, why children who should be in school are be used as
domestics? Has government fulfilled its own part of the social contract? If not
then government cannot be completely exonerated from some of these issues? Why
can't government ensure through a policy of free education that all children of
school age are in the school?
"The truth is that government can afford to have
free education from primary to secondary level, there is tuition free, so if
somebody want to go the university, he/she can take a loan and then the
institution should have provisions for things like that.
"There is a social contract between the state and
the government in exchange for tax, there are certain things the government is
supposed to do for the state, one of them is security of lives and property and
ensures the greatest good for the greatest number of people. Therefore what
stops a country like Nigeria from having free education up to secondary school
level, so that if somebody has primary education, it is classified as basic
education? I recall during President Olusegun Obasanjo's administration in
1999, he launched the Universal Basic Education (UBE) programme.
"The programme
scope consisted of six-year primary education, and three years of junior
secondary education which explains that the first six years of your life you
are supposed to have a basic education, then the next three years the
individual will have the junior secondary education which stops at the level of
Basic Educational Certificate (BEC). Then if you were not good in the senior
secondary, the ideal thing would be for the individual to proceed to a
vocational institution to hone your skills in any of the vocations. This is the
reason why you find that there is a new curriculum."
Chiwendu who hails from Orlu in Imo State has been under
the protective custody of the Lagos state Office of Public Defender (OPD) after
she was brought from Rem-Yems Hospital in the Agbado area of Lagos, where she
has been on admission since December 28, 2015.
Meanwhile, the Lagos State Government has adopted the
child, a report in one of the national dailies noted that the Director of the
Lagos Office of Public Defender, Mrs. Omotola Rotimi stated that the state
Governor Akinwumi Ambode and the state Attorney General, instructed the agency
to cater to the girl.
Rotimi said OPD would provide a legal representative for
the victim for the prosecution of the case, adding that their legal
representative will appear in court on behalf of the victim and "we will
ensure that the case is diligently prosecuted to get justice for her."
She added: "The attention of the governor and the
Attorney-General was drawn to the plight of Precious Chinwedu, whose boss
poured hot water on. We were instructed to take over the matter and the girl
has been taken from the hospital with the help of the police. She is now in our
protective custody."
A legal practitioner and the Executive Director of Legal
Defence and Assistance Project (LEDAP) Mrs. Adaobi Egboka stated that there is
the domestic violence prohibition law which has been in existence, but the
challenge is the lack of awareness, "most people in the remote areas, are
aware that there is a law, but they do not know there are legal organisations
that they can use to challenge this type of criminal act."
Egboka also noted that the society views domestic
violence as an issue that should not be taken to the court of law, adding that
70 per cent of women are going through domestic violence in their marriages and
relationships.
She
explained that the public are aware of the Non-Governmental Organisations
(NGOs) and women groups that are willing to handle such cases free, willing to
provide counselling and take it up legally, but illiteracy affects people's
decision to take legal actions against the cases of domestic violence,
"people do not know what to do, and the organisations to reach out to when
they are confronted with these issues."
She added: "I don't want to look at the issue from
poverty point of view, rather from an illiterate point of view. The women are
willing to go to court, but after going to court for the first day, the family
begins to intervene in the issue and persuades her to drop the case. So there
is so much pressure coming from the family on the women not to proceed with the
case.
"This is a child, therefore the Children Right Act
comes into play here. First, the women deserve to be charged to court because
it is a criminal offence, we should not forget the fact that a lot of these
children who come from domestic backgrounds are used as domestic workers, so
sometimes their parents even consent to their coming to live with such people,
but the parents do not know the agony their children go through.
"Even when they know, their parents are a bit
reluctant because of poverty, and lack of awareness on what to do in
challenging such criminal act. But the fact is that many state governments have
made free education available from the primary to the secondary level, so if
parents can begin to take care of their children and send them to these
government schools, they will not be doing domestic work anymore. Most times
individuals involved in such cases wonder how long it will take in the delivery
of justice.
"The problem with our criminal justice
administration in Nigeria is becoming very interwoven and huge. For instance in
Lagos State, we have the administration of criminal justice law and at the
federal level administration of criminal justice in place which has tried to
reduce, but we have not gotten there. Therefore the delays in the
administration of criminal justice in Nigeria have made many people to lose
hope in the justice system. There is also the case of corrupt judges and people
not being able to get help from the judge.
"Apart from the fact that there are women groups
that are willing to support the girl through counselling, the woman should be
made to pay compensation to the girl's family, so in that way, the girl can get
adequate treatment and go back to school. There are foundations such as the
Mirabel centre, they handle issues of trauma, psychological problems and
counseling programmes. There is also the Bimbo Odukoye Foundation, they have a
lot to offer to young girls who have been through cases of assault and other
gender issues."
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