It is obvious that the newest and perhaps, most rewarding means of making huge money without stress now is child trafficking. Recent human angle stories on most leading national and local tabloids have one or two pages of their paper reporting on the use of children for money-making ventures with the most recent from Thursday’s Sun where mothers were reported to be in the act of selling out their male babies for 400,000 and female babies for 350,000.
When it was reported last week on this tabloid, of the Police’s efforts to track and bring to book the activities of these abusers of children, it was difficult to believe that a mother could give out her child for commercial reasons. Many who read this including yours faithfully, dispunged the idea and reality of such report but on reading and confirming from other national dailies, the truth of the matter struck like a scourge.
It was gathered that mothers, nurses inclusive, collaborate to lure teenagers to give birth to children and sell them out for commercial reasons. Though some confessed using the money for the support of their businesses, others maintained that having the child and keeping them was a cumbersome task they were not prepared for hence, the sales of the infants for commercial reasons.
The subject of child discrimination and that of children’s rights has often times been attributed to sexual harassment, social exploitation and the denial of basic needs like education, clothing and even shelter but, with the way things are improvising, an abomination of the highest order, is upcoming and perpetrators of such are yet to realize it.
The subjection of children into labour is beginning to take different dimension with the introduction of child trafficking. Just as it was reported last week, the now-in vogue selling commodity also occurs in homes when a parent or guardian is “fed-up” of a child, so, they resort to discarding such child.
What can one say of a situation where kids are abducted from the comfort of their homes to an unknown destination only to be found in chains in another state? Did they develop wings? Daily, announcements of missing children is made on the Radio and T.V and all we do is just listen with pity. The sorry sight of over 40 Akwa Ibom children recovered from a “sales home” in Anambra portrays the highest point of child trafficking and inhuman treatment meted on children resulting from intense corruption.
It is shocking to discover that our mothers can no longer be trusted. If a mother can willingly give out her child to be sold in exchange for money, why then should house maids, guardians and drivers be blamed for cornering kids in their care to be sold?
Can it be said that poverty led these women into this? What exactly can be responsible for this and how can this be stopped? This brings us to the concept of rebranding which involves changing the image of the state and country as well from what it is now to what it should be. The attempt is to change the already bad name to a good and lasting one. Agreed, we have erred but we need to come back to our senses and see our wrongs.
It all begins with having the right mentality; parents who feel and believe that the essence of having children is to belabour them with domestic chores and punishment should be made to have a rethink on their mindsets. Children are meant to be loved and catered for, and not to be sold or exchanged for money. For once, those in this act should think of how these children would fair in the hands of the unknown sellers they are giving them to. Would they be re-sold? Would they be treated the way a mother would care for her child? Or would they become slaves? What about the psychological and mental pain a child would feel when he/she learns that he/she was bought with money and would a mother be proud to tell someone that the secret of her success is the child she sold, sacrificed or aborted?
For once, let’s get this into our mindsets, every child has a unique potential to fulfill no matter how bad things were when he/she was born. Besides, would it be wrong for a mother to give up her comfort for the survival of her child who will uplift her tomorrow?
It is really disheartening to know that youths have also given up themselves to be used as baby-producing machines. Men are paid to impregnate the ladies who are also paid, well-fed and catered for to keep the business “booming”.
In the rebranding message, the Ministry for Women Affairs is enjoined to sound the cry against child trafficking and child abuse while the Police are encouraged to continue in their bid to fish out such places to ensure the abolishment of such practices in the state. Parents are also charged to bear only the number of children they can cater for to avoid the temptation of sending them out as maids or even selling them out.
Furthermore, strict penalty should be issued to culprits to serve as a deterrent to others. This will restore the already-trampled dignity of the Nigerian child and restore the confidence of the citizens in the government and vice-versa.
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