What Nigeria is getting wrong about vulnerable children-

By Rita Okoye

As Nigeria continues to grapple with street begging involving children, particularly children with disabilities, concerns are mounting over the country’s approach to vulnerability, child protection and public safety.

A disability inclusion advocate has argued that Nigeria must stop viewing children with disabilities on the streets primarily through the lenses of charity, nuisance or public order and instead approach the issue from the standpoint of rights, protection and development.

Uriji – Oshen Morphy said the presence of a child with a disability at a traffic junction begging for money should prompt deeper questions about the circumstances that brought the child there, including access to education, healthcare, social protection, family support and the possibility of exploitation.

Excerpts:

Your recent opinion article, “Rethinking Disability in Nigeria: Building a Society Designed for Inclusion,” generated considerable discussion about how Nigeria treats persons with disabilities. I would like to take that conversation further, particularly concerning children with disabilities who are found on the streets. What is Nigeria getting wrong?

This is the basic problem that we have, I believe, always been dealing with. We are still primarily looking at children with disabilities through the lens of charity or nuisance or public order, and not the lens of rights, protection and development.

We tend to immediately think about giving money to the child when we see him or her at a traffic junction begging for some money. At times we ignore the child. We say that sometimes we are complaining that the begging on the streets is spoiling our cities.

Often government officials take the children off the streets. But few ask the most critical questions: What is wrong with this child that put him on the street? What was the reason for taking the child there? Who is the child’s parent/carer? Does the child go to school? Does the child appear to be being exploited? Is there healthcare or rehabilitation available for the child?

Now what does that kid do when the funds dry up? Those questions are more important than whether or not we gave the child the money of ₦100.

The child with a disability at the traffic light requesting cash is not just another statistic of poverty. That child is a citizen whose education, safety, dignity and future may be in jeopardy.

Are you suggesting that every child with a disability who begs on the street is being exploited?

No. It is important to not assume anything about a family. There are varying situations. There are many families that are very poor. Some caregivers can have disabilities. Some household members may be separated due to conflict and or other crises.

There may be those who are unable to access social protection, healthcare and education. But sometimes the exploitation is also deliberate, and, unfortunately.

The point is that these situations cannot be just seen by looking at a child on the street. This is why government must have an effective child protection and social-support system.

The correct reply to a child on the street each day is not to take that child away and place him/her back into the circumstances that led him/her to be on the street. It is necessary to go under the surface of the matter.

You have spoken about society creating disability. How does that argument apply to children on the streets?

It is strongly applicable. Suppose a kid with a physical disability, residing in a poor neighborhood, without any accessible school, affordable transportation, rehabilitation services and social protection. The behaviour of the child could lead to begging.

Then we gaze at the child, and say, “This is a child with a handicap who is begging on the street.” But what we are witnessing are the effects of a few institutional failures.

This could be one cause. Poverty might be one. It could be inaccessible education, too. Lack of social protection may be another. It could be stigma.

So the street becomes where all those failures are brought together. That is why I say that we need to stop asking only “Why is this child begging?” Let us question: “What went wrong before this child got to the street?”

But street begging is also a public-safety concern. Shouldn’t government remove children from the streets?

The government does have a role to make sure children are not placed in dangerous surroundings. However, the removal is not protection.

We have simply shifted the problem from one location to another if a child is taken off a dangerous road and put elsewhere without seeking to understand what brought the child to the dangerous road in the first place.

We should be saying that public safety should be more than “clearing streets.” It should include safeguarding children and young people from exploitation, violence, trafficking, abuse and exposure to hazardous environments.

It should ensure children have access to education, healthcare, food and family support and safe accommodation if needed. Children with disabilities cannot be put to wait, waiting for society to realize that something is amiss, in front of a busy road for hours.

There is a tendency among Nigerians to describe street beggars as a security threat. Do you think that is unfair?

It can be unfair to criminalise vulnerability. Vulnerable persons cause a public-safety problem, as opposed to being vulnerable to public-safety risks.

A child is standing on a roadside by the highway. Money can be raised by a child who is being used for this purpose may lead to exploitation of that child.

A child missing from school is at risk over the long-term. If a child is not properly protected he or she could be subject to abuse.

Thus, the government should start by asking itself the question, “How do we protect these children and prevent children from becoming street connected in the first place?”, rather than, “How do we remove these children from our streets?” That is a much more way of doing things.

Nigeria has a Disability Act. Doesn’t the law already address some of these concerns?

Yes, and there is an important point there. The Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act, 2018 was passed by the Nigerian Federal Government and became effective in January 2019.

The law includes provisions for the protection and integration of persons with disabilities, among other areas, education, health care, accessibility and discrimination. It also has a provision on the employment of a person with a disability for begging for alms.

So there is no need to pretend that Nigeria does not have laws. The real question is “how” the implementation is done.

A law in a statute book cannot alone transform the life of a child. Where a child with a disability is not in school, he or she is exposed to abusive circumstances and cannot access needed support services, what are the problem areas of the institutions charged with ensuring that the laws are carried out?

What particularly concerns you about children with disabilities?

Their vulnerability can be exacerbated. Children already rely on adults to take care of them and to provide them with the basic needs to survive.

A condition of disability may impose other communication and mobility problems, education and access to services. You can have a child who is poor, disabled, out of school, unable to communicate easily with authorities and dependent on adults for movement and care.

That little one is very fragile. That is why our protection systems must be greater in such kids, and not less.

It is also important to keep in mind that disability is not a one and done experience. A blind child may encounter different obstacles than a child with a physical handicap. A deaf child may encounter unique challenges from a child with a mental disability.

What role does society play in perpetuating the problem?

An extremely important function. We sometimes make street beggars a market.

Economically, if motorists routinely leave gifts for children at specific locations, it is a strong possibility that someone will put kids there.

It is a hard talk to have, but it needs to be had. Compassion, however, if unaccompanied by a protection system, can unwittingly reinforce bad practices.

If we want to help a child, then we cannot be content with handing him money through the window of a moving vehicle. We need to question how that child can get to school, how they can access health care, how they can access rehabilitation if needed and how they can live in a safe family environment.

We must shift from transactional to sustainable protection.

Are you saying Nigerians should stop giving money to children on the streets?

I would not say to people, “Just do it.” I would not simplify the question for people and say, “Just do it.”

People give money because they see suffering and they want to do something about it. The urge to go out and help people should not be blamed. But we need to recognise that individual charity cannot substitute for public policy.

That is not proof of the Nigerians’ level of compassion if millions are relying on motorists and pedestrians to get them through their day. This is proof that there is a lack in the social protection system.

The answer thus has to be institutional. The government should find vulnerable children, improve services to the social and family level, provide support to the families, promote inclusive education and do not exclude children with disabilities from social services.

Civil society has its role, too, but not all the constitutional and social responsibilities can be delegated to NGOs and philanthropists.

You mentioned education. How important is inclusive education in preventing children with disabilities from becoming street-connected?

Education is not just about maths or English. It is one of the most powerful means of social inclusion.

If a child is unable to attend school due to physical inaccessibility, non-existence of qualified teachers to support them, learning materials, or financial issues on the part of the family, the child becomes increasingly removed from the mainstream of society.

The longer a child is out of the education system, the higher the probability of long term poverty.

Thus, talking about street children, one cannot talk about the street without talking about the schools. So why not ask each local government: How many of the children in your community have a disability? How many of those are in school? How many are not in school and why is that?

This is the sort of information that should drive policy.

Is this primarily a federal government responsibility?

No. It is a government responsibility at all levels.

The Federal government has a significant role in legislation, national policy, co-ordination and standards. State governments are essential as their states host education, healthcare, social welfare and a number of other aspects of local service delivery.

Local governments have an important function in identifying vulnerable households and linking them to services; they are closest to the communities.

We need coordination.

Try to visualize a child with a handicap being spotted in the street. What happens next? To whom is the child going? Who assesses the family? Whose responsibility is it to make sure that the child is safe at home? Who organizes enrolment in the school? Who is giving assistive support?

If the answer to those questions is not clear, then we do not have a protection system. Interventions are isolated.

What about the parents? Should parents who take children to beg be prosecuted?

If there is intentional exploitation or abuse, then the law must be allowed to be followed.

Again, the difference between exploitation and poverty must be recognized.

Suppose that a mother has a child who has a disability, and that she does not have any income, no social protection, no access to health care, and no accessible school for her child.

Taking the child out to beg will not solve the problem if she is punished. The state should be aware of the household situation.

We need to be very strong in our opposition to exploitation and at the same time work to overcome poverty and exclusion that can lead to vulnerability. Otherwise, we could be stamping out one symptom and not addressing the cause.

What do you think is the biggest misconception Nigerians have about disability?

Inclusion is not about exclusion. A person’s disability is not a barrier to participation in society.

It means that the kid is able to make it to school. It implies that the parent is able to get health care for that child. It means that the family can benefit from the social protection.

Accessible means that public buildings are accessible. It indicates that information is on hand in suitable format. It means that the child is safeguarded from exploitation.

It implies that the child is given a chance to learn skills and to later become economically involved.

It also means that disability is taken into account at the outset of designing a programme rather than at the end by the government.

Inclusion is not “after-the-fact” inclusion. Inclusion involves creating the room for them to enter, participate and contribute.

If you had the opportunity to advise the incoming government in 2023, what would be your first three recommendations concerning children with disabilities?

Inclusion is not about exclusion – a person’s disability is not a barrier to participation in society. It means that the kid is able to make it to school. It implies that the parent is able to get health care for that child. It means that the family can benefit from the social protection.

Accessible means that public buildings are accessible. It indicates that information is on hand in suitable format. It means that the child is safeguarded from exploitation.

It implies that the child is given a chance to learn skills and to later become economically involved. It also means that disability is taken into account at the outset of designing a programme rather than at the end by the government.

Inclusion is not “after-the-fact” inclusion. Inclusion involves creating the room for them to enter, participate and contribute.

You have repeatedly used the word “inclusion.” What does inclusion actually mean in practical terms?

I would like them to look beyond the money. Look at the child.

Ask yourself what circumstances brought that child there. Ask whether the child is in school. Ask whether the child is safe. Ask whether someone is exploiting the child. Ask whether the family needs support.

And ask what kind of society allows a child to depend on strangers at traffic lights for survival.

The child should not have to prove their vulnerability before society responds. We should not wait until a vulnerable child becomes a public-safety problem before we decide that the child deserves protection.

The real measure of a society is not how generously its citizens give alms. It is whether its institutions are strong enough to make begging unnecessary for a vulnerable child.

And when that vulnerable child has a disability, our responsibility becomes even greater.

We should stop seeing the child as a problem on the street and start seeing the child as a citizen whose future is being lost on the street.