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Focus
PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 26 — SUNDAY 27, MAY, 2012
Feeding from filth
Thousands of Nigerian children still search refuse dumps for daily bread By A’isha Biola Raji
T
omorrow, children all over the country would be celebrating World Children’s Day. However, as many young ones engage in celebrations laced with exciting activities, many others would be wallowing in filth and hard life even in many wealthy countries including Nigeria. At a time their counterparts in other climes are celebrating better education, better homes, better clothes and better living standards, thousands of Nigerian children are still roaming the street, without education and good homes with many of them scavenging for a living at numerous refuse dumps in various cities across the country. Apart from the children of the rich and the struggling middle class, most children in the country are daily subjected to untold hardship as their parents struggle to provide for them in the face of scathing economic hardship in the country. Due to the hardship that has gripped many homes many of these children are involved in many dehumanising and life threatening jobs, ranging from very tedious vocations to scavenging for a living. Child scavenging is not relatively new in Nigeria. Many of them are now competing with adults as they dig through refuses in search of abandoned materials that could be sold for some money which goes to support the family upkeep. Statistics show that the number of children involved in scavenging is growing by the day as those already involved become a recruiting point for their friends. These children are constantly running the risk of serious health problems, social deviations and economic abuses. A check by Peoples Daily Weekend shows that many of the children at refuse dumps are victims of child abuse especially child labour. Many of them started by going to the refuse dumps to dispose refuse for the family. During their runs, they will stay back to try to forage the filthy dumps with the view to get some “valuables” that could be used for play or for sale. Every morning, while their peers are heading to the schools, these youngsters are sent to the dumps with loads of refuse
Many Nigerian children labour in refuse dumps generated by the family and neigbours. For the family, it is chore but for the neigbour it could be followed by a fee which goes back to the family. After series of visit to the dumps, the youngsters will begin to form groups and delve into scavenging for material ranging from household property to used electronics and wears including shirts, shorts and shoes. While some of the items are brought to the family where they are washed or repaired and used, many others are sold to dealers, who take them to recycling dumps (Panteka) for sale. Speaking to Peoples Daily Weekend in Idu, a satellite town in Abuja, a kid scavenger in who simply gave his name as Tanko said his mother always send him to the dump to dispose refuse and encouraged him to help neigbour with their refuse for a fee. “I come to the refuse dump (boola) everyday to dispose refuse for my mother. I also dispose refuse for neigbours and I give the money I collect from them to my mother”, said
Tanko, who said he was nine years old. Asked how he moved from refuse disposer to scavenger, Tanko said he met some youngsters at the dump, who introduced him to scavenging. “People come here to see whether they will get something from the rubbish. Some families have money and they throw away things even when they are still good. So we look for such things. Sometimes if they are very good items that can be used at home, we take them home and the others we sell to some people who buy them to sell to some companies”, he said. Items Tanko takes from the dump includes cutleries, plates, children shoes and electronic equipments. Sometimes, we get good items such as shoes and sometimes we get electronic which we sell to electricians. Sometimes some of those things will be good”, he said. Another kid scavenger, who gave his name as Bala has a wheelbarrow, which he said was hired for him by his mother. Smeared with dirt and filth, Bala, who said he is 11 years has
already started doing waste disposal with some adults. “My mother hired the wheelbarrow for me and I join other “mai boola” refuse disposers to pack refuse for people”. He said he makes from N300 to N500 a day, which he gives to her mother. One devastating issue is that these children are denied education and at the same time exposed to serious health and social hazards. While Bala said he was in school but had to drop when his parents could no longer afford his education and that of his siblings, Tanko said he has never been to school. The two kids, whose case mirror the ordeal of thousands of others in the country yearn earnestly for education as the hinted the reporter. “I am always sad when I see other children going to school every morning” said Bala. “I wish to go to school Tanko bemoaned” A look at the kids show signs that they have been running serious health risks as they are very ill equipped for the job. Asked if they are aware of the
risk they are running, the kids gave different answers. However, on the whole, they did not see any health hazard in the job they do. “My mother did not tell me that I will have disease”, Tanko said though his body showed signs of rashes. Apart from health hazards, the kids are daily exposed to adults with deviant characters and run very high risk of imbibing habits such as drinking, smoking and fighting among others that could hamper healthy psychology in them. Many Nigerians and organizations have been worried over this and there have been several moves to salvage the situation. One of the key approaches is poverty alleviation. This can be achieved through rigorous fight against corruption in such as way that money being siphoned from the system could be directed to improve living standards in the country. All that is necessary must be done to save the situation as the future of the nation is indeed in danger unless a drastic step is taken to rescue the future of the Nigerian child.