NGO calls for resuscitation of communal training of children

ayodele johnson

February 17, 2017 7:39 PM

A CPN official said that the state had the right to take custody of children, if living with their parents or guardians would be destructive to them.

A child abuse case.

The Child Protection Network (CPN), an NGO, on Friday called for the resuscitation of the communal-children-training approach to address contemporary destructive techniques employed by some parents and care–givers.

Mrs Comfort Zawaya, the Deputy Coordinator of CPN in Plateau, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Jos that some parents and guardians were fond of treating their children and wards in ungodly and barbaric ways.

Zawaya spoke against the backdrop of spates of reported cases of child rape and the recent battering of two girls, six years and eight years respectively, by their father in Plateau.

NAN reports that Mr. Christopher Sule, an evangelist, was reported to have been beating his children for three years, leaving deep scars all over their bodies.

The situation persisted until the head teacher of the children’s school, where their mother was also a teacher, reported the incident to the social welfare officer after futile efforts to address the situation failed.

“The communal children upbringing, which is now perceived as archaic, helped in checkmating ungodly and barbaric treatment of children and wards by parents or guardians in the past.

“The mind your business approach’’ of the present day society is one of the reasons there is an increase in the cases of children who suffer psychological and physical tortures from care-givers.

“It is unfortunate that when neighbours witness barbaric treatments toward children; they rather record and upload them on Facebook, even if immediate rescue is needed.

“It is very sad and is applicable to these minors who will live with the deep scars inflicted on them by their fathers as their own training method,’’ she said.

She expressed concern that the mother of the girls was living in denial as she tried to justify the treatment meted out to her children by her husband.

Zawaya said that when the CPN interviewed the children’s mother, Mrs Rachael Christopher, she said: “My husband has been acting out of anxiety. He wants them to excel in their academics.’’

The CPN official said that the state had the right to take custody of children, if living with their parents or guardians would be destructive to them.

Zawaya said children at such ages would always have a vivid retentive memory of what happened to them as kids when they grow up.

The experience would become a mental and psychological torture to them later in life, she said.

ayodele johnson