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Nigeria among 10 worst conflict-affected countries to be a child ― Report

Nigeria and six other African countries have ranked among the top 10 worst conflict-affected countries to be a child.

A 2019 Global Childhood Report released by the Save the Children listed the ten countries to include Nigeria, Afghanistan, Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iraq, Mali, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

While global progress has saved millions of childhoods since the year 2000, the report raised concerns that statistics in these countries are “troubling prospects when one considers the consequences” including migration and displacement.

The report titled “Changing Lives in Our Lifetime” which was released in commemoration of the 2019 International Children’s Day also ranked Nigeria as 170th of 176 countries in its End of Childhood Index Rankings having recorded 465,000 more girl-marriages since 2000.

Results from the report also said Nigeria may overtake India as country with the largest burden of adolescent births considering global trends.

Nigeria dropped by 109 points in the latest ranking for End of Childhood Index score from the 395 total points recorded in the year 2000. Nigeria had 504 of the possible 1000 score in the latest ranking.

Other criteria considered in the report include tendencies of children to suffer ill-health, malnutrition, exclusion from education, child labour, child marriage, early pregnancy, violent deaths and other reasons childhood come to an early end.

The report also showed that Nigeria recorded 100.2 deaths of children under five years per 1,000 live births in 2017 and a 43.6 per cent possibility that a child between the zero and 59 months suffers stunting between 2013 and 2018. 38 per cent of children of primary and secondary school age in Nigeria were out-of-school between 2013 and 2018

It also showed that 50.8 per cent of Nigerian children between ages five and 17 were engaged in child-labour between 2013 and 2018 while 22.2 per cent of Nigerian adolescents between ages 15 and 19 were married off or were in a union between 2013 and 2018 with 109.3 adolescent births recorded per 1000 births in 2106.

It also added that the population of forcibly displaced persons by conflict, recruited and used as child-soldiers was 1.3 per cent while 5.4 deaths of children under the age of 19 per 1000 was recorded in 2016.

However, experts on refugee and children issues in Nigeria have berated the inadequate attention the government have devoted to issues of refugee, crisis management and migration in the country.

The experts who spoke to Tribune Online said the high rate of insurgency in the northeast, unrest in southwest and farmers/herdsmen crises has a negative toll on the Nigerian populace particularly the children adding that these are enough reasons for Nigeria not to rank well among the comity of nations.

Executive Director, Stephanie Peacebuilding and Development Foundation (SPADEV), Dr Olaifa Temitope, told Tribune Online that: “Children, world over have always been at the receiving end of crises suffering all forms of conflict pangs ranging from hunger, rape, diseases, non-access to education and a host of other negative effects.

“Nigerian children are in the grip of the throes because of the multi-faceted conflicts being experienced throughout the nation in the form of herdsmen/farmers conflict, Boko Haram insurgency, banditry, kidnapping with large volumes of deaths, destruction of property trailing them.

“The Nigerian child is constantly harassed and traumatised by various violent and deadly images that are permanently etched in his/her memory.

“Government should be decisive on ending these wars. There is no amount of aids that can cater for the teeming number of IDPs scattered all over the country.

“The mind needs a level of clarity to function optimally. A mind encumbered with negative images cannot perform cognitive functions because the child’s mental alertness in already impaired.

“The implication of this is that children in migration are likely to be more concerned with their safety and provision of their basic needs particularly food, than any other issue.

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“Therefore, concerns of cognitive growth, proper socialisation might not be of ready consideration to him. He might subconsciously repel mental tasks and this will inadvertently affect his educational growth,” Olaifa added.

Another expert, Gift Jimoh, the Chief Executive Officer of Gift Jimoh Foundation added that it takes a lot longer for children to deal with traumas of crises,

“Nigeria should be highly worried because these crises do not only affect the child wellbeing and upbringing but could also, endanger the child’s life.

“The Federal government has a big role to play in ensuring that war and crisis are drastically reduced if not stopped. Of course, we can’t stop couples living in these areas from having children, but we can stop or reduce these crises, or make sure that children are safe during these crises by providing all the necessary needs for such children.

“One of the major things that affect a child’s emotional and cognitive growth, brain development and socialisation is migration. Children tend to be easily affected by migration, even as adult, you will agree with me that there is a physiological transition when you migrate from a place.

“It takes a whole lot for an adult to be able to adjust, how much more a child? Especially when the environment is not conducive not only can it have a lasting change or effect on the child growth academic potential etc. but it can also affect this child as an adult thereby causing a lack of self-esteem and the inability to fully take responsibility,” Jimoh said.

Meanwhile, the Global Childhood Report also showed that “in the year 2000, an estimated 970 million children were robbed of their childhoods due to these causes. That number today has been reduced to 690 million – meaning at least 280 million children are better off today than they would have been two decades ago.

“A comparison of End of Childhood Index scores finds the overall situation for children has improved in 173 out of 176 countries since 2000.

“However, the world has made less progress in reducing adolescent births and child homicide and there has been no progress at all in reducing the number of children living in areas of violence and conflict.

“In fact, the number of children living in war zones or forced to flee their homes due to conflict has skyrocketed since 2000.

“Today, 1 child in 4 is being denied the right to a childhood – a time of life that should be safe for growing, learning and playing. These stolen childhoods are increasingly concentrated in the world’s conflict zones.

“As noted above, of the eight indicators we examine, displacement due to conflict is the only one that is on the rise. There are 30.5 million more forcibly displaced people now than there were in 2000, an 80 per cent increase,” the report added.

Nigeria among 10 worst conflict-affected countries to be a child ― Report
Tribune Online