THE STATE OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN NIGERIA 2005 - UNDP Nigeria ...

· Child labor and child trafficking· Harmful customary practices, such as child marriage, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) andtribal and tattoo marks· Exploitation of children mainly for commercial purposes, political violence, and thuggery e.gAbuse and exploitation of the “Almajirai” 3The violations against the rights of the child can be greatly reduced by the passage andimplementation of child rights laws in the various states of Nigeria. As at the date of this report, onlyten states have passed the child rights law since the domestication of the Child Rights Act in 2003by the National Assembly. The rights guaranteed for the development, education, survival,protection and participation of children are contained in the Child Rights Act 2003 and all states inNigeria should pass and implement child rights laws for the prevention of the violation of the rightsof children in Nigeria.On March 7, 2006, a 12 year old boy Seye Ajibade and his mother Janet Ajibade were arrested bythe police from Oke­Odo Police Station, Lagos and detained for allegedly causing a grievousbodily harm to Seun Adenrele a young lady of about 20 years. They were detained for two daysbefore being released on bail.The husband and father of the victims, Mr. Ajibade, stated that there was a fight between his son, wife,Seun Adenrele and her father over a misunderstanding. In the ensuing fracas, the said Seun Adenrelewas injured in the eye.The matter was reported at the Oke­Odo police station, Lagos and the police without due regard to theage of the child, arrested him and his mother and detained them in the cell with adult suspects. Uponinquiry on the wrongful detention of the child in adult cell, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) stated thatthis was so as there were no special facilities for child offenders.Contrary to the law, the child was charged and arraigned in open court along with his mother, forcausing grievous bodily harm. Through the intervention of the National Human Rights Commission, theMagistrate ordered the placement of the child at a remand home in the interim.Abdul Saliu, 13, was seen wandering around Jabi park vicinity in Jabi District, Abuja on June 23,2006. On being interviewed, he relayed how he left his home in Kogi State, some weeks earlier.Prior to leaving home, he hawked sachet water at Okene bus stop for his mother. Abdul wasthreatened with beating by his mother on his inability to render proper account of sales on a particularday. To avoid being beaten, he ran away from home, hid inside a lorry loaded with farm produce andeventually fell asleep.While asleep, the lorry left for Abuja. At a stop over at Gwagwa, a suburb in Abuja, Abdul woke up andfound himself in an unknown place. He told the lorry driver his story and pleaded that he be taken backto Okene. The driver handed him over to one ‘Princess’, living in Karmo, another suburb in Abuja andpromised to pick him up on his way back to Okene. At Princess’ place, he was forced to do domesticchores, denied food and constantly beaten up. After two weeks of waiting to be returned home, Abdulran away and ended up at Jabi park and joined a host of other homeless boys who work as porters andtouts in the park.3Almajeri describes street Children in Northern Nigeria55