Femi TINUOLA
GLOBAL ECONOMIC CRISIS: THE CHALLENGES OF GIRL-CHILD EDUCATION AND ALTERNATIVE JOBS IN NIGERIA
Femi TINUOLAPhD
Department of Sociology,
Faculty of the Social Sciences
Kogi State University, P. M.B 1008, Anyigba Nigeria
Email:
Cell Phone: +234 – 803 – 506 – 0522
Abstract
Unicef reported in 2006 that Nigerian children dropped-out-of-school work in public places i.e the streets and markets with 64percent as street vendors and 13percent as beggars. Real life experiences indicate that the current global economic crisis may have worsened the state of the Nigerian-girl- child in accessing education and finding alternative jobs risky to their health and well being. The Education Minister reported on April 25, 2008 that 62percent of over 11 million children-of-school age who roamed the street are females. The UN, AU and Nigeria charters on the child rights guarantee access to education at all levels and eradication of all forms of child abuse. This study examines the effects of the GEC on the education of the girl-child and engagement in alternative jobs. This study was conducted among six ethnic groups in three States in Nigeria. Data were obtained from 1200 female children between 6 – 14 years selected on purposive random sampling technique in markets, motor parks, toll gates and streets, engaged in hawking. About 50 selected parents went through sessions on in-depth interview. They responded to a semi- structured questionnaire which contains items on demographic characteristics, educational history, parents’ economic conditions, hawking and paid housework.
Findings show that 45 percent recently dropped out of school and engaged hawking to enhance self and family economy, make an average of USD1 gains daily. Hawking takes place in crowded markets, hotels and busy road junctions. There are reported cases of child-sexual abuse for fee. Four percent of the children in paid housework were impregnated resulting in clandestine abortion and adolescence mothers. The need to improve the socio-economic conditions of parents and policy frame implementation that offer socio-economic protection for girl child will reduce the trend.
Keywords: children, economic, hawk, labour, education
BACKGROUND
The world demographic profile shows that, Nigeriathe tenth most populous country in the worldrepresents one-fifth of population of the Africa continent. Various population enumerations conducted have consistently shown that children(0-14) constitute a significant proportion of the population in Nigeria. The first census conducted in 1962/63 shows that out of 55.7 million people, 43.1% were children. The result of the widely accepted 1991 population enumeration indicates that out of about 88.6 million people, about 45%were children (0-14years). The details of the 2006 census are being awaited, but preliminary reports were released early 2009 with a call for all and sundry to be “more focus in giving to the promotion of child-education and the discouragement of negativepractices relating to the children. The preliminary reports released show that the children represent a significant proportion of the Nigeria population.The children demographic data has increased agitation for a separate government Ministry to handle issues relating to the welfare of children in the country, through which some rights of the child can defended and guaranteed.
An introduction to children’s right provides a background of the UN convention on the Rights of the child which recognizes childhood as an important part of life and highlights the special need of child protection, education, nutrition and development. A major highlight of the convention is “free and compulsory education for all children and protection from economic exploitation”.
The UN International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights, General assembly resolution in 1996, article 24 of the Charter of Fundamental of the European Union, African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the child to which Nigeria is a signatory, the Child Rights Act approved by Nigeria Parliament which domesticates the UN convention and AU charter on the Rights of the child, all stipulates that “the child is entitled to receive education, and shall be protected against all forms of neglect, cruelty and exploitation.
The achievement of child right act in education and perfection which began on a clean note in 2000, has suffered a serious setback most especially in countries of the sub-Sahara Africa, as a result of the current Global Economic Crisis (GEC). This has bitten hard on the import-dependent economy of sub-Sahara Africa countries with attending consequences on the state of the Nigerian children. The poor state of the Nigerian child is a fall-out of the socio-economic situations with their parents. Various reports have shown that the Nigerian child now engage in alternative jobs for survival.
A study by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in 2006 found astaggering 15million children under age of 14years engaged in various forms of labour across Nigeria, exposed to long hours of work in dangerous unhealthy and competitive environments. This, according to the reports, results from the inability of parents and governments to fully be responsible for the child welfare. Real life experiences have shown that governments at all levels have failed to provide totally free qualitative education for the children. The situation has continued to worsen as a result of theCurrent Global Economic Crisis. In the year 2000, Nigeria joined over 170countries that met in Dakar, Senegal to reaffirm their commitment to deliver education for all the citizens by 2015. The secondMillennium Development Goal on Education, aim is to provide “all children with access to education”. This is an important goal because it is believed that through qualitatively modern formal education, future generations will have the ability to reduce or put an end to world poverty and help to achieve worldwide peace and security. The goal of education for all children, as agreed, could only be achieved through a systematically organized school system with regulated learning time and standardized curriculum and content. There is the need to access the extent to which Nigeria is committed to achieving the goals of the various charters on children through a social survey. The situation with the children may not have changed considering various reports from officials of the government agencies, Non-governmental agencies, International donor agencies (UNICEF) and other stakeholders in the welfare of children.
A data posted on the internet by African Presson 25 April,2008 quoted the Nigeria Minister of Education saying “it was lamentable that about 11 million children, out of which 4.7million were of primary school age and 5.3million of secondary school age,roamed the streets in the country” and engaged in all forms of child labour to support their education and family economy. An article in the PUNCH Newspaper of March 25, 2008 page 14, credited to media advisory unit of UNICEF indicated that “no less than 10 million children of school age are out of school in Nigeria.”
The Acting Secretary, National Commission for Mass Literacy, Adult and Non-Formal Education, Alhaji Jibrin Paiko made a revelation in Tribune Newspaper on September 9, 2009 that about 46,340,000 Nigerians out of about 140 Million people cannot read nor write. He indicated that about 776 million illiterate adults and 75 million children are out of school world wide (The Tribune Newspaper, September 9, 2009). World Development Report 2010 on Development and Climate Change released on September 16, 2009, shows that a quarter of the population of developing countries still lives on less than $1.25 a day. One billion people lack clean drinking water; 1.6 billion, electricity; and 3 billion, adequate sanitation. A quarter of all developing country children are malnourished.
In 2006, key data from UNICEF showed that an estimated 93million children worldwide are subjected to violence, exploitation and abuse. The report showed an estimated 93million children of primary school age were not attending schools, out of these, 48.5million were girls.
UNICEF reported in 2006 that Nigerian children, some of whom neither attended formal nor dropped out of school, engaged in various forms of labour either for their education or support family economy. Specifically the reports statistics showed that Nigerian children work as follows: Street vendors(64%), Beggars (13%), Shoe shiners (04%), Car washers (06%), Scavengers (05%) and Feet washers (08%). A study by Tinuola(2009) found that children engaged alternative jobs to support the family economy and safe for secondary and tertiary education. In Nigeria, the legal and constitutional framework of the bicameral nature of the legislature gives the Federal, State and Local governmentspowers to legislate and implement policies on education. Most of the laws passed by the Federal legislature on child education require similar passage at the state Houses of Assembly for domestication and implementation. However the domestication of the Laws on children and its implementation are influenced by factors such as the political will of the leaders, the financial economy of the State among othersocio-cultural considerations. In Nigeria, the Child Right Act was passed by the National Assembly and signed into law by the President. In some States, the bill has been signed into law and it is now a crime to engage a child below 18 years as a house help. The law also seeks to eliminate street hawking by children.
With various charters by several legal framework of action signed by the Nigerian government, there is the need for an independent social research to assess the level of compliance and implementation of child-friendly programmes towards attempting a pragmatic description of the state of the Nigerian child. A field social survey, independent of government influence, like this, will achieve this purpose.
Objectives of the research
Mainly, this study examines the effect of the Global Economic Crisis on the education of the girl-child and engagement in alternative jobs. The working objectives are to examine:
The state of the education of the girl-child
Incidence and prevalence of alternative jobs and places where such jobs take place
Dangers of street hawking by the girl-child
Hypotheses
Children dropped out of school are significantly proportional to the socio-economic state of the parents occasioned by GEC
The incidence of the child sexual abuse is directly proportional to places of alternative jobs
With more gains from menial jobs, children hawkers will go back to school?
Techniques of data collection and analysis
The study was conducted in two Political States in North central Nigeria comprising the Hausa, Ebira, Igala, Idoma, Tiv and Filani ethnic groups. About 200 children (6 – 14 years) were sampled on purposive random from each of the ethnic groups making a total of 1200 children for the entire study. The instrument of data collection is a semi structured questionnaire which is divided into four sections to achieve an in-depth and comprehensive data collection. The sections are demographic characteristics, education history, parents’ socio-economic conditions and alternative jobs. The instrument contains 60 percent close - ended questions and 40 percent of the questions were open - ended to give room for respondents-initiated-responses. The instrument was validated by a group of experts in Education, Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Child Development and Social Sciencesdrawn from three State universities in Nigeria. A reliability coefficient of 0.98 of the instrument was achieved with the use of chi-square. The instruments were administered by 6 trained field workers who are university graduates of the Faculty of the Social Sciences and are specifically drawn from each of the ethnic groups. This was done to facilitate better responses from the children who could not speak English language. Data were collected, collated, edited and coded for analysis with the use of Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Data were reported in frequency / percentages in tabulation while relationships between variables were tested and ascertained with the use of chi-square technique and Pearson Product Moment Correlation Co-efficient.
Funding
Funding for this research was provided through savings from my personal income. The finance of the research at any stage was not connected with any organization or government establishment. Consequently, the research is independent of the influence of government or any other external bodies.
FINDINGS
This section presents discussions, presentations and analysis of data obtained from the respondents. It is divided into three sections to address sequentially the objective of the study. The sections are demographic characteristics, the state of education of the child, incidence of alternative jobs and in-depth analysis of hawking and its consequences on the status of the girl child.
Section 1
CHARACTERISTICS OF SELECTED CHILDREN
This section provides insight into the data obtained on some social, economic and demographic characteristics of the children selected for the study. This study was conducted among 1,200 children in two selected States in North Central Nigeria. Data showthat majority of the children (62%) were in the 11 – 14 years age bracket while the remaining 38percent were between 6 – 10years of age. The mean age of the respondents stood at 10.8years. Half of the sample was Muslims while 38percent were Christians, just 4 percent were adherent of traditional religion, the remaining 8percent did not indentify with any religion. Religions norms and values are social determinants of human behavior and social interaction most especially when it is defined as way of life of a group of people. In some States in Northern Nigeria, an Islamic religious sect “Boko Haram” went on rampage, killing about 800 people in July 2009 to buttress their opposition to Western education. After many years of campaign against western education, the sect also argued that women and girls should be kept in doors and should not be allowed to feature in public places. Adherents and followers of the Islamic sect have no flair for Western education and their children are not allowed enlist in formal schools. On whether the selected children had parents, a greater proportion (68%) had both parents while 32percent had at most one parent or might have lost the two parents either to death, divorce or marriage separation.
A little above half (54%) had ever had sex while the 46percent had not engaged in sexual behavior. Further investigation into the age at first sex found that 83% had their first sexual experience at age between 12 – 14 years while 15 percent experienced first sex at age between 9 – 11years, just 2 percent had first sex at age between 6 – 8years. The average age at first sexual experience was found at 12.5years. This data indicates a drop in the average age at first sex across Nigeria. In parts of Southwest Nigeria, Oguntimehin (1992) found the mean age at first sex at 18years, Tinuola (2003 & 2005) found the mean age at first sex at 17 and 16 respectively. The involvement of children in sex at 12.5years for whatever reason is a form of abuse and poses serious threats their health and well being
Section 2
PARENTS’ SOCIO-ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS
Questions were asked from the children on some socio-economic characteristics of their parents.Responses are presented below:
Data show that 36 percent of the parents had no formal western education even though 22% of them had Quran education. Half of them had primary education, while 10percent had secondary and only 4% had post secondary education respectively. Those who had post secondary education attended Technical Schools, Colleges of Education, Polytechnics and Universities to obtain certificates with which they secure jobs in the local council areas and schools.
About 45 percent were farmers engaged in the cultivation of arable crops for subsistence some of which are maize, millet, rice and yams, 15% were traders, 10% were artisans engaged in carpentry, hair dressing, photography, and block molding and laying while the remaining 30% were in the employment of the government. Three - fifth of those in government employment were school teachers while the remaining two-fifth engaged in local council offices in the secretariat.
Most parents engaged in occupation outside government employment had hard times estimating their monthly incomes, data on income of parents provide estimates of their parents’ income. On the average a parent earned between N5000-N10,000 monthly. Only 25% earned above N10,000. With the conversion rate of N154 = IUSD, the mean monthly income of parents stood at 50USD per month. This translates to USD 1.7 daily income.
On the nature of accommodation, forty – five percent resided in one room apartment with members of their family, 35% of them lived in two rooms while 8% had two bedroom flat, 10% resided in a flat of three bedrooms, while only2% lived in a self-contained bungalow. The mean number of room for each respondent’s parents is two rooms. In Nigeria, houses are mostly owned by individuals who could afford to build them, where government housing estates exist, they are acquired by rich individuals and government workers. This influences the policies on housing. Generally, the entire household has access to radio, 62percent television and less than 15% had access to the internet services.