The Future We Neglect: Children’s Rights in Nigeria

By Onyekachi Eke

In human rights, children’s rights form the most delicate and critical threads.
World Children’s Day is not just a date on the calendar, but a profound reminder of our collective responsibility to protect, nurture, and empower the most vulnerable members of our society.
These rights are universal, transcending boundaries of language, religion, gender, disability, or socio-economic status.
Children are not just small humans, but the very architects of our collective future.

My journey as a young journalist brought this reality into sharp focus during a story I covered about child hawkers in Kaduna State. I witnessed children as young as three years old forced to become breadwinners, robbed of their fundamental rights to rest, play, and enjoy childhood, talk less of the exposure to child predators. This experience sparked a profound question: Can we do better?

Nigeria ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1991, promising protection for every child under 18. Yet, the stark reality paints a different picture. Out-of-school children are increasing, child labour is rampant, and the basic rights of children are continually violated.

The Convention outlines comprehensive rights for children, including protection from kidnapping, access to free primary education, safety from harmful work, and protection from sexual abuse and exploitation. However, in Nigeria, these rights often remain theoretical rather than practical.

The challenges are multifaceted. Children are recruited by terrorist groups in the North-East, drug abuse among minors is alarmingly high, and many children find themselves in adult detention centres. These violations represent a systematic failure to protect our most vulnerable population.

The proliferation of child labour, trafficking, and exploitation demonstrates a critical societal breakdown. When children are forced to work instead of learning, when they are exposed to substances and violence instead of being nurtured, we are compromising not just their present, but Nigeria’s entire future.

This year’s World Children’s Day theme – “Listen to the future. Stand up for children’s rights” – is a powerful call to action. It challenges each of us to examine our role in protecting children.

Strategic Approaches to Protecting Children’s Rights

Moving forward, comprehensive action is essential:

1. Continuous Education: Parents, guardians, and government officials must be consistently educated about children’s rights.

2. Community Engagement: Revive the traditional communal approach to child-rearing, where the entire community takes responsibility for children’s welfare.

3. Policy Implementation: Strictly enforce existing laws protecting children and close legal loopholes that enable exploitation.

4. Economic Support: Create systems that prevent families from relying on child labour for survival.

5. Holistic Protection: Develop robust mechanisms to protect children from abuse, trafficking, and recruitment into harmful activities.

Children are not just passive recipients of care; they are powerful agents of change. By investing in their protection, education, and well-being, we are directly investing in Nigeria’s future.

The responsibility lies with every adult. When making decisions, we must always consider their impact on children. Our collective commitment can transform the bleak trajectory and create a brighter, more secure future for the next generation.

As the old saying goes, it takes a community to raise a child. Today, that community must be more vigilant, more compassionate, and more committed than ever before.

Featured image: AllAfrica